Do you think my two red nuts look happy?

I would worry about the green part... see a Doctor soon!

Man, I think green nuts may be too late. Green stem might still be hope.

You guys ARE nuts!

Your nuts look orange to me.

Yike, looks like jock itch . . . time for the fungicide!

I was afraid to even look at this thread.......but yet....here I am.

Are these actual Moose nuts? Or......

ROFLMAO! Great thread!

those nuts are gold!

better than "blue nuts"

or, no nuts at all . . . .

Voluptuous nuts. Wish I had some like that.

Your nuts look orange to me.

For a Red Malay dwarf - this is about as red as they get. Same coloring as the Red Spicata cultivar. They both have more of an apricot hue than true red.

Already little red nuts forming on the palm for next year.

Nice, I thought petiole would also be orange. When did it start flowering ,Moose?

It started flowering three seasons (years) ago. Of course it is almost guaranteed that your first flowering coconuts will abort, and they did. These nuts are from last years flowering.

I told you my nuts were happy.

Its being a bit prolific in its flowering this year.

Many more nuts are taking so far ...

another "red" spathe is emerging

Only has two foot of trunk

As stated before, the first flowering of Coconuts usually abort. This is last years (and first) flowering of the Fiji dwarf cultivar (Samoan dwarf).

The Fiji dwarf trunk only has @ 2 ft of wood, but is very fat and the leaves are much larger than the Red Malay dwarf

Shouldn't Fiji dwarf have a bole at the base of the trunk?

Not sure Keith. I got this from Dave Romney who hand pollinates his coconuts then covers the inflorescence to prevent Mutts. Pretty certain this is the real deal Fiji dwarf.

Not sure Keith. I got this from Dave Romney who hand pollinates his coconuts then covers the inflorescence to prevent Mutts. Pretty certain this is the real deal Fiji dwarf.

is Fiji dwarf the same as a samoan dwarf? there is possibility it will thicken up? how long to get that much trunk?

Not sure Keith. I got this from Dave Romney who hand pollinates his coconuts then covers the inflorescence to prevent Mutts. Pretty certain this is the real deal Fiji dwarf.

is Fiji dwarf the same as a samoan dwarf? there is possibility it will thicken up? how long to get that much trunk?

Alex - I believe that the Samoan dwarf and Fiji dwarf cultivars are the same. I learned this from Ryan (Palmarum) from another post about a year and a half ago. Ryan has a habit of double checking his facts before posting on this forum.

This trunk is now 23 inches in diameter, which is not very skinny. Yes I believe that its girth will expand more but not more than an inch or two. The vascular bundles should swell a bit more. Since the trunk is beginning to elongate the maturing of the vascular bundles is nearly complete.

The base will continue to expand but that will be a function of the root initiation zone developing to support the palm has it thrusts upward.

Here is the base of the trunk with measuring tape. The felco nippers are for scale too.

Two feet in diameter sounds about right. It must just be that the picture doesn't do it justice.

And yes, Samoan dwarf and Fiji dwarf are synonymous. Here's a publication on the variety that's pretty interesting:

http://www.cogentnetwork.org/images/publications/catalog/countries/Fiji_49-53.pdf

Thanks Keith - that is a very informative link.

Looks like there is a spathe emerging on the Fiji (Samoan) dwarf. Hopefully these will hold this year. Last years flowers got pollinated, a few nut buds occurred but they aborted.

I got 3 warning points on my permanent record here for a thread like this - life is not fair.

every time I log on - I see those points

I also was banned for 2 weeks

Edited June 17, 201412 yr by trioderob

I resisted looking at this thread, alas, I gave in.

The spathe popped open, flowering and the bees are a buzzing. See some Coconut nodules budding. Hopefully it can hold Fiji Nuts this year.

Another spathe is forming on the alternate side of the Fiji Dwarf

You guys are hoping for coconuts to form, while on my trees I climb up and cut off all forming nuts and inflorescences as well. I don't want them falling down on anyone or on the bromeliads below. I'm due for another climb soon. Soon they'll be too tall and I'll have to hire a Samoan or Micronesian to climb and trim for me - they do it with ease.

The spathe popped open, flowering and the bees are a buzzing. See some Coconut nodules budding. Hopefully it can hold Fiji Nuts this year.

Fiji Dwarf 1.JPGFiji Dwarf 2.JPGFiji Dwarf 3.JPG

The little nuts are holding so far. Hopefully we will be harvesting Fiji Dwarf Coconuts next year!

Another spathe is forming on the alternate side of the Fiji Dwarf

Fiji Dwarf 4.JPG

The spathe erupted, flowering has ensued. Time for the honey bees to work their magic.

So let ma ask the old question.....should seed once their harvest, be planted on their side or upright for best germination? I gave my 10-12 seeds to one of my workers several months ago and he planted them all upright in their pots. Not one has germinated. I believe they should be planted on their sides, just like in nature when they fall from the trees. But who knows, maybe the seed were no good, which I doubt.

I a

So let ma ask the old question.....should seed once their harvest, be planted on their side or upright for best germination? I gave my 10-12 seeds to one of my workers several months ago and he planted them all upright in their pots. Not one has germinated. I believe they should be planted on their sides, just like in nature when they fall from the trees. But who knows, maybe the seed were no good, which I doubt.

I agree Jeff. They germinate on their side...not upright...usually without any "help"

Looks like next years crop of red nuts are holding. There may be a whole lotta red nuts than just this years two.

Wow, they look great. I hope my Green Malayan that has been in the ground for about a year (10.5 months) and has about 15 inches of woody trunk will be putting up a spathe soon.

John

I'm really shocked at how orange your nuts are, yet the petioles are green more like a Green Malayan or Jamaican Tall. I always thought that the petioles and nuts of pure Malayan Dwarfs always matched each other in color. Are you sure that is not a hybrid?

John

I have a Fiji Dwarf (Niu leka) that I purchased from the Romneys about four years ago. It went in the ground at the end of 2010 and now stands 10 feet tall overall but still has no trunk. Yes, the leaves are really large and broad, and of course not a sign of any flowers. Meanwhile from the same shopping trip I had a Panama Tall sitting in its 7gal container languishing for quite a while, and I finally put it in the ground 2-1/2 years ago, a few feet from that Fiji Dwarf. That little 7gal plant is now 25 feet tall (!) and this week I noticed its first flower. Talk about the difference between night and day...I never had any idea a coconut could grow that fast. It is truly astounding.

And on Jeff's question about planting orientation, I do think most people plant them on their "side," and they of course do sprout naturally around here that way, but when I was at the Romneys' place, I noticed that all the 3-gallon nuts that were sprouting were planted on end, with the tip sticking straight up out of the soil. When I asked Carol Romney about this, she said they sprout perfectly well that way and that it basically amounts to a space-saving way to sprout large numbers of coconuts in smaller containers. It looks strange but it works!