Starting Coconut seeds?

[The Silent Seed]

OK guys,

I know this might be a joke to most of you "pro's" - but I'd love to have a Coconut start from seed. I've tried, but failed in the past. I bought your typical coconut in a food market, and put it in a plastic bag of moist soil, and forgot about it for a few months - nothing. It got all sloshy inside. Trash.

I'd love to try again, but with success. Pointers? Hints? (I know I can just buy a plant, but what's the fun in that?)

[displaced_floridian]

I lived in Miami for many years and have sprouted many coconuts outside. If it's a viable seed, bury it on it's side so that it is 1/2 way in the soil. Soil must be well-draining, but kept moist--water every few days. The soil temp should be over 70F at all times. If it doesn't germinate in a few (not more than 4) months, try another.

[The Silent Seed]

Is there any way to tell if a coconut at the store is viable ? (I'm talking about the husked ones that look like a bowling ball.)

[Bae72]

I just bumped a similar thread asking roughly the same questions. Great minds.

Would love to know the answer.

[pilou]

The seed has to be dry 1st (~1 month)... and you should listen the water inside...

In my garden, I have many germinated coconut...

Just keep it in wet place... not necessary in soil... but sure NOT in plastic bag ! and wait 3 or 4 months... some coconut specie need more time : 6 to 8 months...

At home, they germinate even on cement, in the corner of my home.. or in the lake !

[tropicbreeze]

Your problem with store bought coconuts is you don't know what's happened to them on the way from the tree to the store. I think a lot of them end up chilled along with all the other fruit and vegetables they travel with. I'd say that most of them would be dead before they even reached the store. They really don't take long to germinate. I throw the fallen nuts into a corner of the garden to get them out of the way. So I have dense thickets of young coconuts growing in a few corners.

You should be able to hear the water sloshing around in a good coconut. When you can no longer hear the water sloshing it's either that the coconut has started to sprout, or else that the coconut is dead. After a couple of months of no sloshing and no shoot then it's very dead. I don't think there's any simpler method than that. Just off the top of my head, I'd say you'd probably have less than 1 in a 100 chance of a store bought one having survived the trip. So not a matter of being a "pro", just a question of whether you have a viable seed/nut.

Your best bet is to go to Florida, or wherever they grow, and collect some fallen nuts. Or else get someone from there to send you some. If you lived closer to me you could collect a hundred or more at various stages. I can't even give them away here, hence the piles of germinating ones laying around.