Anyone Have Any Coconut Sprouts In S. Central FL?

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

Hi,

Do any of you have any coconut sprouts in Central or South Central Florida?  If so, what variety are they and would you be willing to ship me some to Texas?  Please let me know what the shipping cost would be. 

Thanks,

John

[Cocoa Beach Jason]

There is a guy who sells coconuts in 5 gallon pots that he gathered locally in Cocoa Beach. He just takes piles of them and barely buries them in mulch and they sprout like crazy. He sells them out of his front yard right about when they go pinnate. He has what are presumably mixes because there are all kinds around here. We still have quite a bit of the tall variety around here and many of his are from that. I believe so because the trunk of his larger mother trees have huge boles at the base and are very stout. I don't know if he ships. I doubt it.

Personally, I have recently gathered some fruit of the tall types when I see them on the ground. I have a few that have sprouted after being buried in mulch for about 4 months (and they even sprouted right after this winter). I don't ship or anything like that. The few I have I am keeping. I will keep gethering talls and getting them to sprout. Once I get all the back up palms I want maybe I will ship you a couple but that would be months away. 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

  On 4/20/2016 at 12:36 AM, Cocoa Beach Jason said:

There is a guy who sells coconuts in 5 gallon pots that he gathered locally in Cocoa Beach. He just takes piles of them and barely buries them in mulch and they sprout like crazy. He sells them out of his front yard right about when they go pinnate. He has what are presumably mixes because there are all kinds around here. We still have quite a bit of the tall variety around here and many of his are from that. I believe so because the trunk of his larger mother trees have huge boles at the base and are very stout. I don't know if he ships. I doubt it.

Personally, I have recently gathered some fruit of the tall types when I see them on the ground. I have a few that have sprouted after being buried in mulch for about 4 months (and they even sprouted right after this winter). I don't ship or anything like that. The few I have I am keeping. I will keep gethering talls and getting them to sprout. Once I get all the back up palms I want maybe I will ship you a couple but that would be months away. 

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Okay, Jason.  Thanks.  I would appreciate it.  I collect a lot of them off the beach here that come from the Gulf Coast of Mexico and the western Caribbean, but out of every hundred I collect, I may only get 15 to 20 to sprout.

[Cluster]

Hello John I am glad you seem to be back, did you end up getting those coconuts from Rio Grande Valley? I asked you on your thread before

Do you really need that many coconuts, 20 coconuts sprouted, that is Madeira Island coconut population

I hope you get more coconuts from Florida. I am still unable to get a coconut, so I am trying now to sprout supermarket coconuts:)

Edited April 20, 2016 by Cluster

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

  On 4/20/2016 at 3:11 AM, Cluster said:

Hello John I am glad you seem to be back, did you end up getting those coconuts from Rio Grande Valley? I asked you on your thread before

Do you really need that many coconuts, 20 coconuts sprouted, that is Madeira Island coconut population

I hope you get more coconuts from Florida. I am still unable to get a coconut, so I am trying now to sprout supermarket coconuts:)

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Hi Pedro,

I only got a dozen from the beach at Boca Chica (Rio Grande Delta) on Saturday.  All the others I have collected lately are from North Padre Island near where I live.  I hope someone can ship me some sprouts from Florida.  I would like some Jamaican Talls, Mayjam hybrids, Maypans, and Mallayans, all of which they have over there.  Maybe I could send you a coconut sprout.  Check to see if there are any prohibitions on your end.  I would hate to carefully box up a good healthy coconut sprout for you just to have your government confiscate it.

John

[Cluster]

That is very nice of you John, you don't have to! Regardless if I am unable to find something till August (when hopefully I go there), who knows maybe I will ask for your help and of course I would inform myself in advance about any prohibitions.  

With so many coconuts with you I take it you will have a fortress of them or something, a small coconut jungle in texas:). Looking forward to see some new pictures of your oldest coconuts and the new ones too. 

Thank you!

 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

  On 4/20/2016 at 3:48 AM, Cluster said:

That is very nice of you John, you don't have to! Regardless if I am unable to find something till August (when hopefully I go there), who knows maybe I will ask for your help and of course I would inform myself in advance about any prohibitions.  

With so many coconuts with you I take it you will have a fortress of them or something, a small coconut jungle in texas:). Looking forward to see some new pictures of your oldest coconuts and the new ones too. 

Thank you!

 

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Pedro,

Some would be for me, but some I would sell when they are a little bigger at the local farmer's market on Padre Island.  I would like to become the Johnny Appleseed of the coconut palm on the South Texas Coast.  There is more interest in them around here now, but no local nurseries carry them.

John

[Cluster]

John

I can't think of anyone else there with so much dedication to the coconuts, I hope you do well, fingers crossed:)

Edited April 20, 2016 by Cluster

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

  On 4/20/2016 at 4:11 AM, Cluster said:

John

I can't think of anyone else there with so much dedication to the coconuts, I hope you do well, fingers crossed:)

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Thanks.  I do too.

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

John,

Make sure you know your regulations.  Coconuts are subject to certain restrictions by TX Dept of Agriculture.  We've got some critters you don't have yet and you don't want to be the guy that introduces them.  Google TX quarantine Coconuts Cocos nucifera and you'll get some good info.  For example, don't bring any coconuts into TX from one of the counties where we have Red Palm Mites unless they have been treated.  

Funny story about regulations:  in FL we call the disease that came from the RGV into central FL (Tampa area) Texas Phoenix Palm Decline.  It appears to like P. sylvestnis more than my cats like that smelly cat food that comes with "gravy".  Here TPPD likes Sabal palmetto too, and thats real bad since we have gazillions of them allowing the disease to spread like crazy.  In TX TDA calls it Lethal Decline of Phoenix Palms (notice the absence of  the word "Texas").  TDA put a quarantine on palms from infected FL palm growing areas to prevent us from sending it - TX Phoenix Palm Decline - back to TX!  Obviously someone picked up on how odd it would have been had they put a restriction on palms from FL siting TEXAS Phoenix Palm Decline.  Irony aside, there is some solid science behind the quarantines because TPPD isn't found all over TX.  And TDA didn't single out FL growers, it also restricts intrastate shipments of palms from the RGV into non-infected areas for the same reasons.  But if you don't know the whole story, it'll make your head spin.  Sorry for the digression, but since I was rambling about shipping restrictions, I couldn't help but tell this story from the perspective of a Florida Palm Geek that just happens to be in the Horticulture industry.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

  On 4/21/2016 at 1:41 AM, Keith in SoJax said:

John,

Make sure you know your regulations.  Coconuts are subject to certain restrictions by TX Dept of Agriculture.  We've got some critters you don't have yet and you don't want to be the guy that introduces them.  Google TX quarantine Coconuts Cocos nucifera and you'll get some good info.  For example, don't bring any coconuts into TX from one of the counties where we have Red Palm Mites unless they have been treated.  

Funny story about regulations:  in FL we call the disease that came from the RGV into central FL (Tampa area) Texas Phoenix Palm Decline.  It appears to like P. sylvestnis more than my cats like that smelly cat food that comes with "gravy".  Here TPPD likes Sabal palmetto too, and thats real bad since we have gazillions of them allowing the disease to spread like crazy.  In TX TDA calls it Lethal Decline of Phoenix Palms (notice the absence of  the word "Texas").  TDA put a quarantine on palms from infected FL palm growing areas to prevent us from sending it - TX Phoenix Palm Decline - back to TX!  Obviously someone picked up on how odd it would have been had they put a restriction on palms from FL siting TEXAS Phoenix Palm Decline.  Irony aside, there is some solid science behind the quarantines because TPPD isn't found all over TX.  And TDA didn't single out FL growers, it also restricts intrastate shipments of palms from the RGV into non-infected areas for the same reasons.  But if you don't know the whole story, it'll make your head spin.  Sorry for the digression, but since I was rambling about shipping restrictions, I couldn't help but tell this story from the perspective of a Florida Palm Geek that just happens to be in the Horticulture industry.

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Hi Keith,

I know about the quarantine on sprouted coconuts coming out of Florida due to Lethal Yellowing, but I as well as many other people have disregarded this quarantine since you probably know that we have Lethal Yellowing here in our Date Palms (some people call it Phoenix Palm Decline, but it seems to be extremely similar to Lethal Yellowing).  I heard from a wholesale coconut grower or coconut broker in Florida about 17 years ago that there is a way to pay a couple of hundred dollars and get a USDA certificate to get sprouted coconut palms shipped out of Florida.  I don't know if this certification still exists or not, but it might be something for me to look into, since I would like to be a regular supplies of coconut palms for the South Texas coast.

I have a degree in Agriculture and years of horticulture and landscaping experience.  I think some degree of government regulation is necessary and a good thing, but the quarantine on coconut palms coming out of Florida IS RIDICULOUS!  Some regulation goes way to far and crosses the line into fascist police state control freak crap and this quarantine is a prime example of that.  The same leaf hopper that carries Lethal Yellowing can be found on any one of a number of palms that are still allowed to be shipped from Florida, so to single out one species because it is susceptible to the disease when other palms can have the leaf hopper that carries it on them is absurd.  Fortunately, Lethal Yellowing is only very sporadic here, so therefore I wish we could get a lot of pure Jamaican Talls over here due to their increased cold hardiness over the Malayans.  There are some Jamaican Talls in South Florida that seem to have a high degree of natural immunity to Lethal Yellowing as they have escaped the epidemic in South Florida and are doing just fine.  Getting good viable seed nuts off these palms would be good for those in Florida who want to continue growing the Jamaican Talls and for those of us in South Texas who want a fast growing and somewhat more cold hardy coconut palm.

John

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

John, you make some good points about LY.  But thats not the only Coconut pest quarantined.  Don't forget Red Palm Mite, and maybe others.  TPPD (Phoenix Palm Decline), isn't identical to LY because it has a different host range.  It may be the same species, but its killing S. palmetto whereas LY never has.  Here's a similar comparison.  Fusarium oxysporum is a fungus that attacks many plant species.  Fusarium oxysporum pathovar canariensis kills Canary Island Date Palm (but not much else).  So TPPD and LY may have a similar relationship though they are not fungi but mycoplasm diseases as is Pierces disease in Grape.  The key concern is the host range.  And I can tell you, I wish something (even government regulation) had prevented the introduction of TPPD to Florida.  Its horrible watching all the Phoenix palms and Sabals dying.  Our Sabals are a very important species in our ecosystem, they aren't just collector plants.  Phoenix, well they aren't native, but they are an important group of palms for ornamental purposes.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

  On 4/22/2016 at 8:02 PM, Keith in SoJax said:

John, you make some good points about LY.  But thats not the only Coconut pest quarantined.  Don't forget Red Palm Mite, and maybe others.  TPPD (Phoenix Palm Decline), isn't identical to LY because it has a different host range.  It may be the same species, but its killing S. palmetto whereas LY never has.  Here's a similar comparison.  Fusarium oxysporum is a fungus that attacks many plant species.  Fusarium oxysporum pathovar canariensis kills Canary Island Date Palm (but not much else).  So TPPD and LY may have a similar relationship though they are not fungi but mycoplasm diseases as is Pierces disease in Grape.  The key concern is the host range.  And I can tell you, I wish something (even government regulation) had prevented the introduction of TPPD to Florida.  Its horrible watching all the Phoenix palms and Sabals dying.  Our Sabals are a very important species in our ecosystem, they aren't just collector plants.  Phoenix, well they aren't native, but they are an important group of palms for ornamental purposes.

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Keith,

I do believe in some government regulation to a point, much more than most others who call themselves conservative nowadays do, but I think in the case of banning coconut palms from leaving Florida for the last 35+ years is ridiculous.  When it comes to pest and disease problems, I have found that since I went 100% ORGANIC 4 years ago, my plants are doing 3 times better than they ever were before with virtually no pest and disease problems.  Pests and diseases like to attack weak unhealthy plants grown in bad conditions, rather than attacking healthy plants grown in good conditions.

John