Two Of My Padre Island Beach Coconut Sprouts

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

Here are two of my coconut sprouts from coconuts I collected off the beach at Padre Island this summer.  The first one sprouted in July and is 39" tall!  I think it is a hybrid cross between a Mexican Tall and one of the Malayan Dwarf varieties.  The second one sprouted in August and has a sprout leaf (the first leaf) that is 16.5" tall.  That is the tallest sprout leaf of any coconut palm I have ever sprouted.  I think it is a pure Mexican Tall variety, which comes from the Gulf Coast of Mexico south of the Rio Grande Valley, and is the most cold hardy variety in the Western Hemisphere.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1808591666049724&set=pcb.1751765031750659&type=3

[palmfriend]

John,

great news - and they are looking so beautiful!

Congratulations!

Do you have any plans with them - finding a spot in your yard or giving them away?

best regards

 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

5 minutes ago, palmfriend said:

John,

great news - and they are looking so beautiful!

Congratulations!

Do you have any plans with them - finding a spot in your yard or giving them away?

best regards

 

Hey Lars,

I plan on keeping these two and using them as replacements for any of my in ground coconut palms that I might lose over the next couple of winters.  I have a total of 8 in the ground now, and it would be great if they all make it through the winter, but since coconut palms are marginal here, I am afraid I will lose at least a couple of them.  Our normal winters here are barely mild enough for coconut palms to survive the winter, but unlike southern coastal California (the Newport Beach coconut palm comes to mind), we warm up very quickly in late February and early March, so they get plenty of warm weather here about 80% to 85% of the year, which allows them to grow to maturity here and even produce a few coconuts when we have several consecutive mild winters in a row.

John

[palmfriend]

34 minutes ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Hey Lars,

I plan on keeping these two and using them as replacements for any of my in ground coconut palms that I might lose over the next couple of winters.  I have a total of 8 in the ground now, and it would be great if they all make it through the winter, but since coconut palms are marginal here, I am afraid I will lose at least a couple of them.  Our normal winters here are barely mild enough for coconut palms to survive the winter, but unlike southern coastal California (the Newport Beach coconut palm comes to mind), we warm up very quickly in late February and early March, so they get plenty of warm weather here about 80% to 85% of the year, which allows them to grow to maturity here and even produce a few coconuts when we have several consecutive mild winters in a row.

John

John

Thank you for your quick reply and for letting me/us know how you are planning to go on with your "babies".

 I am wishing you all the best and as mentioned before: knowing they will be in good hands!

best regards

 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

8 minutes ago, palmfriend said:

John

Thank you for your quick reply and for letting me/us know how you are planning to go on with your "babies".

 I am wishing you all the best and as mentioned before: knowing they will be in good hands!

best regards

 

Thanks, Lars.

[GottmitAlex]

Incredible! I am beside myself pondering at the hyper speed of growth of those coconuts. Especially the "hybrid". Congratulations and keep us updated.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

19 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

Incredible! I am beside myself pondering at the hyper speed of growth of those coconuts. Especially the "hybrid". Congratulations and keep us updated.

Thanks, Alex.  I too am amazed at the very rapid growth rate of the palm in the first photo, as well as the size of the first leaf of the palm in the second photo.  The fact that I haven't even fertilized either one at all (I usually don't start fertilizing coconut sprouts until they are about 8 months old, since they feed off the nutrients in the nut for about that length of time), makes their growth even more amazing.  I can only recall about 3 other coconut palms I have had that had a growth rate at all close to this, and they were two sprouts I grew in Florida from nuts that I think were hybrids, and a Hawaiian Tall (Golden Variety) sprout that I got shipped to me several years ago, but even these didn't grow quite this fast, nor have as large a first leaf as my palm in the second photo has.

John

[Walt]

John,

Congratulations on your new babies. They both look healthy.

I'm going to try to sprout some coconuts off my green Malayan dwarf, just to see if I can do it. I'd like to get one more just to be able to say I grew it from a nut from my own palm. I'd like to grow more coconut palms but my climate is just too marginal (unless I protect them on the worst winters). I've recently noticed more and more homeowners on lake front properties and properties near lakes planting new coconut palms. Not trunked ones, but ones maybe 8 feet or more high overall. I plan to keep a close eye this winter to see how they fare compared to my coconut palm.

Walt

[RR soFLA]

Those look great! Best to keep 'em in pots and portable for a while yet.

-RR

[Zeeth]

If you post the direct URL of the picture on facebook, rather than the URL of the post, it should usually save as the picture itself on Palmtalk. 

 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On ‎10‎/‎11‎/‎2016‎ ‎7‎:‎26‎:‎39‎, Walt said:

John,

Congratulations on your new babies. They both look healthy.

I'm going to try to sprout some coconuts off my green Malayan dwarf, just to see if I can do it. I'd like to get one more just to be able to say I grew it from a nut from my own palm. I'd like to grow more coconut palms but my climate is just too marginal (unless I protect them on the worst winters). I've recently noticed more and more homeowners on lake front properties and properties near lakes planting new coconut palms. Not trunked ones, but ones maybe 8 feet or more high overall. I plan to keep a close eye this winter to see how they fare compared to my coconut palm.

Walt

Thanks, Walt.   I would like to see a lot more people planting them around here too and on the island.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On ‎10‎/‎11‎/‎2016‎ ‎7‎:‎24‎:‎24‎, RR soFLA said:

Those look great! Best to keep 'em in pots and portable for a while yet.

-RR

Thanks.  That's what I am planning on.  These will be replacements for any of my in ground ones that I might lose over the winter, and if all my in ground ones survive, then I will just have to find a couple of spaces in the yard to fit them in next spring .

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On ‎10‎/‎11‎/‎2016‎ ‎7‎:‎24‎:‎24‎, RR soFLA said:

Those look great! Best to keep 'em in pots and portable for a while yet.

-RR

By the way Roland, welcome to the forum.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On ‎10‎/‎11‎/‎2016‎ ‎7‎:‎35‎:‎21‎, Zeeth said:

If you post the direct URL of the picture on facebook, rather than the URL of the post, it should usually save as the picture itself on Palmtalk. 

 

Hey Keith,

I am not sure what you meant by that.  Every time I try to upload photos from my digital camera straight to Palmtalk, I am told my photos are too large, and I don't think I have the means on my computer to resize them.  I don't even have Word on this computer.  I bought it used a couple of years ago, and just assumed all computers had Word on them.  To sell a computer without the basic software already on it, is like selling a car without a steering wheel!  Anyway, I have been posting photos on Palmtalk by way of linking to Facebook, since Facebook lets me post my photos as is from my computer.

John

[Zeeth]

Just now, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Hey Keith,

I am not sure what you meant by that.  Every time I try to upload photos from my digital camera straight to Palmtalk, I am told my photos are too large, and I don't think I have the means on my computer to resize them.  I don't even have Word on this computer.  I bought it used a couple of years ago, and just assumed all computers had Word on them.  To sell a computer without the basic software already on it, is like selling a car without a steering wheel!  Anyway, I have been posting photos on Palmtalk by way of linking to Facebook, since Facebook lets me post my photos as is from my computer.

John

I get the "too large" warning a lot, so I know what you're saying. What I'm saying is that your Facebook uploading technique can actually directly post the pictures to Palmtalk if you right click on the image on facebook and click "copy image address", then paste that link into palmtalk.

Here's an image to give you an idea of what I mean:

[Zeeth]

The Mexican tall coconut is really interesting though. The first leaves are quite large, which is something that you don't always see!

[RR soFLA]

19 minutes ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

By the way Roland, welcome to the forum.

Thanks, happy to join in.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

1 hour ago, Zeeth said:

I get the "too large" warning a lot, so I know what you're saying. What I'm saying is that your Facebook uploading technique can actually directly post the pictures to Palmtalk if you right click on the image on facebook and click "copy image address", then paste that link into palmtalk.

Here's an image to give you an idea of what I mean:

Hey Keith,

When I right click, I only have the option of "Copy shortcut" if I right click on my Facebook post, or "Copy" if I actually click on a photo on my Facebook post and open it up to a larger size then right click on the larger photo on Facebook.

John

Edited October 14, 2016 by Mr. Coconut Palm

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

1 hour ago, Zeeth said:

The Mexican tall coconut is really interesting though. The first leaves are quite large, which is something that you don't always see!

Keith

I have been trying for a few years to get a pure Mexican Tall sprout, but the overwhelming majority of the beach nuts we get to sprout over here are likely some type of hybrid (probably Maymex hybrid crosses between one of the Malayan Dwarf varieties and a Mexican Tall) or just pure Malayans of either the green variety or golden variety, with a few being of pure yellow variety.  Unfortunately, very few of our beach sprouts turn out to be pure Mexican Talls, but this time around, I think I actually have one due to the elongated triangular shape of the nut (since the Mexican Tall, like the Jamaican Tall seems to have a triangular shaped nut), overall size of the nut, and very large first leaf.  In regards to my hybrid that I posted a photo of, most of our hybrid sprouts have some degree of hybrid vigor, but this one is growing like it's on steroids!

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

1 hour ago, RR soFLA said:

Thanks, happy to join in.

You're welcome.  Happy to have you here.

[Zeeth]

8 hours ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Hey Keith,

When I right click, I only have the option of "Copy shortcut" if I right click on my Facebook post, or "Copy" if I actually click on a photo on my Facebook post and open it up to a larger size then right click on the larger photo on Facebook.

John

Check your PM.