Coconut palms 1 year anniversary in the ground San Diego/Tijuana region

[GottmitAlex]

Well today is the big day. 1 year in the ground for my golden Malayan dwarf coconut.

What began as a late summer impulsive purchase has turned out to be a great adventure.  I am not out of the woods by any means. At this stage it would only take one dip into the low 30's to wipe em out. But still, I am hopeful. 

^^2016^^

^^Originally planted horizontally on native soil. July 27th 2016.^^   

^^Replaced its plot with pure sand and planted it in a vertical manner (yes, a tad bit too close to the fence) August 29th 2016. One year ago to this day.^^

 

^^ Mirror "Techniques" in order to give them more light/heat throughout those colder months.^^

 

Well, here is the coconut along with all the other cocos planted between September 2016-Feb 2017. 

I would like to say thank you to all the members here for their support, tips and advice.

Especially to Cristóbal for the pure sand idea and Walt for advising me to "tear down that wall". I took out several dog-eared fence planks in order that the cocos get a lot more sun. They have grown exponentially since. I do water almost every day during the summer. The moisture meter reads between 1-2 after 24 hours.  In the spring I watered every 2-3 days. 

Without further ado, here's the birthday boy. The one that started this whole thing. 

 

^^Narrow garden atop a 24ft. rock-retaining wall^^ (What you see on the other side is my neighbors roof about 5 ft. below wall height)

^^Storebought Mexican tall dehusked golden  coco germinated in outdoor bathroom (Nov '16) shown  in next pic ^^

As it stands right now:

1 Golden Malayan Dwarf, 2 Green Pacific talls, 1 B. alfredii, 1 Storebought Mexican tall germinated in outdoor bathroom-now greenhaus-lol Nov 16' (golden!!) dehusked,  1 Jamaican/Atlantic tall coco and 1 B. fenestralis.  

Except for the golden Malayan dwarf (birthday boy) and the storebought coco, all the talls have half of their leaves pinnate already. Incredible.

God-willing it's going to be a jungle out there. 

Thanks again Palmtalk!

 

 

Edited August 29, 2017 by GottmitAlex

[PalmatierMeg]

They all look great. Good work.

[Gonzer]

Well I'll be! None too shabby.

[Cluster]

Good job they all look nice!

[kinzyjr]

Looks wonderful!  What will be real interesting is if they start setting fruit in a few years.  Keep us updated.

[Silas_Sancona]

A sweet start to a fantastic future for sure..  

Curious if Mex talls are commonly sold in the markets down there, or did you have it shipped.. can't remember how you'd obtained it. 

[GottmitAlex]

42 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

A sweet start to a fantastic future for sure..  

Curious if Mex talls are commonly sold in the markets down there, or did you have it shipped.. can't remember how you'd obtained it. 

Thank you.

It's the common dehusked coco in the supermarkets.  The same goes for the markets in San Diego as well. Most have the small chiquita-banana oval style sticker saying -Jal, MX- or Product of Mexico (Jal, Mex).

[Walt]

Looking good! I'm delighted to see how much progress your coconut palms have made. I got a chuckle out of the "tear down that wall" statement (ala the late Ronald Reagan with regard to the Berlin Wall).

I have no doubt you can deal with an occasional winter time cold blast in the low 30s. That shouldn't be a problem at all. I can say that as I've kept my Malayan green dwarf in the low 20s, and I mean very low 20s (20.7 F) back in December of 2010. It's the cooler soil temperatures, I believe, you will have more of a wintertime problem with.

I think it is imperative to give all the soil and concrete around your palms as much direct sunlight it can get during the winter months. I think I would install in the coconut bed areas the black porous polypropylene weed barrier fabric that is sold on rolls. That will help absorb the sun's radiation while letting moisture pass from soil to air/air to soil as needed.   

In any event, I hope your coconut palms survive long term. Thanks for the update.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

One year down, 17 more to go.

[DoomsDave]

Viva Alex!

[Silas_Sancona]

16 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

Thank you.

It's the common dehusked coco in the supermarkets.  The same goes for the markets in San Diego as well. Most have the small chiquita-banana oval style sticker saying -Jal, MX- or Product of Mexico (Jal, Mex).

Thanks Alex, Good to know.

Wanted to ask since, if my memory is correct, it had been discussed previously by Mr. Coconut in another thread that this variety might offer better potential cold tolerance vs. others. 

[Jdiaz31089]

They look great Alex! I'm curious now, in regards to warming up the soil temperature in winter: do you think that covering the soil with a clear sheet of plastic could help increase soil temperature? I just thought of asking this as my neighbor is employing solarization as a method of killing and removing his lawn. The method increases soil temperatures so as to kill existing vegetation and any seed that may be on the surface. I imagine a similar method could be used to cover the soil surrounding the coconuts and thus increase the soil temp. Any thoughts on that? 

[GottmitAlex]

40 minutes ago, Jdiaz31089 said:

They look great Alex! I'm curious now, in regards to warming up the soil temperature in winter: do you think that covering the soil with a clear sheet of plastic could help increase soil temperature? I just thought of asking this as my neighbor is employing solarization as a method of killing and removing his lawn. The method increases soil temperatures so as to kill existing vegetation and any seed that may be on the surface. I imagine a similar method could be used to cover the soil surrounding the coconuts and thus increase the soil temp. Any thoughts on that? 

Thanks J! 

Yes I have been thinking about this very issue ever since I read Walt's comment. I think his suggestion to employ a black porous weed barrier fabric would be better suited since it would allow for, as he mentioned, the moisture to flow in and out of the soil as needed. As opposed to just a solid sheet which will just keep in and augment the humidity levels. This sounds great in theory, but in practice, with the cold air, it could be detrimental because the soil will be significantly cooler at nights with all the high moisture levels. 

What worked for me this past winter as you can see from the pics is the black lava sand as 1/2" top soil.  The supplemental brood lamps are focused on the sand and in turn the soil adds on a few extra degrees, heat rises and warms up the small cocos.

Each 36 pound box/bag of the black lava sand shipped to Cali is about 35 bucks. I have had to purchase several since every 4 months the lava sand diffuses within the regular sand due to watering and even though they say the lava rock/sand has many mineral quality and nutrients, the main purpose of having it is as top soil in order for it to heat up the sand and ultimately the cocos roots beneath it.

Taking that into account, here again, I like Walts suggestion wit the poly porous black fabric. Which is pretty much what you are recommending but with a different product. Thanks!!

 

 

Edited August 31, 2017 by GottmitAlex

[DoomsDave]

Ran screaming

[GottmitAlex]

Year and a half.

Sans the Jamaican tall seedling. Which, btw, was replaced by the red Haari Papua dwarf.the garden is coming along. April 9th and 31c....

Edited April 10, 2018 by GottmitAlex

[enigma99]

Looking good!

[GottmitAlex]

I uh, forgot to add the pics of the two pacific talls.  

[GottmitAlex]

Aaand  here's the B.fenestralis. This guy, just as the coconuts, is growing at an incredible rate. I can't say the same about my Alfie.....getting to the point: my Nov 2016-germinated Mexican golden tall is 10x faster than my 2016 3-year old alfie. That says it all...

The Fenestralis. (From Joe Palma)

Talk about "monsters in our gardens" I've got gremlins... 

Edited April 10, 2018 by GottmitAlex

[sandgroper]

Your coconuts are looking great! Are those  heat lamps or lights that you have over the palm?

[GottmitAlex]

3 hours ago, sandgroper said:

Your coconuts are looking great! Are those  heat lamps or lights that you have over the palm?

Thank you. They vary from 20 to 80 watt LED grow lamps. Some 6500k full spectrum studio fluorescent lamps as well.

The ones that have heat lamps at ground level are the coconuts. These are basically brood heat lamps. I only activate them when it gets below 8c. Those are focused 75%  on the soil and the rest on the base of the coco.

 

 

[sandgroper]

On Wed Apr 11 2018 23:10:12 GMT+0800, GottmitAlex said:

Thank you. They vary from 20 to 80 watt LED grow lamps. Some 6500k full spectrum studio fluorescent lamps as well.

The ones that have heat lamps at ground level are the coconuts. These are basically brood heat lamps. I only activate them when it gets below 8c. Those are focused 75%  on the soil and the rest on the base of the coco.

 

 

Cheers mate! I've been trying to think of a way to keep the foliage warm for the coming winter on my coconut palm and heatlamps were one of the ideas I had. I've had a few other thoughts so I'll experiment a bit and see what I come up with. Thanks for letting me know. 

[GottmitAlex]

1 hour ago, sandgroper said:

Cheers mate! I've been trying to think of a way to keep the foliage warm for the coming winter on my coconut palm and heatlamps were one of the ideas I had. I've had a few other thoughts so I'll experiment a bit and see what I come up with. Thanks for letting me know. 

If your temps do not reach freezing, don't worry about the fronds. The meristem and roots are of import. You might get a bit of frond burn here and there, but, by and large, the main focus points are the meristem and dry soil/no cold we roots.  I don't know what your temps are there, but here they have not been below 2c (2015, as lowest low). They do stay cool though. 8c-10c hence the heat lamps on those particular nights.

Cheers

Edited April 14, 2018 by GottmitAlex

[sandgroper]

8 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

If your temps do not reach freezing, don't worry about the fronds. The meristem and roots are of import. You might get a bit of frond burn here and there, but, by and large, the main focus points are the meristem and dry soil/no cold we roots.  I don't know what your temps are there, but here they have not been below 2c (2015, as lowest low). They do stay cool though. 8c-10c hence the heat lamps on those particular nights.

Cheers

The temps here don't get any colder than the temps you've mentioned but I have noticed cold damage on the fronds in the past although I've never had any trouble with the ground temp being too cold. The coconut I have now has done much better than any other coconut I've tried to grow in the past but I've spent a lot more effort on trying to protect the fronds this time around which seems to have made a big difference.  Will keep fighting nature and see how it goes, either way it's fun trying to grow these plants outside their climate range, even better if we have a win! Cheers mate!

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On ‎8‎/‎30‎/‎2017‎ ‎4‎:‎34‎:‎39‎, Silas_Sancona said:

Thanks Alex, Good to know.

Wanted to ask since, if my memory is correct, it had been discussed previously by Mr. Coconut in another thread that this variety might offer better potential cold tolerance vs. others. 

But what Alex has is likely the Pacific Tall from the west coast of Mexico, since these nuts come from Jalisco, Mexico, whereas the true Mexican Tall comes from the Gulf coast of Mexico from Matamoros down to the Bay of Campeche.

John

[GottmitAlex]

16 hours ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

But what Alex has is likely the Pacific Tall from the west coast of Mexico, since these nuts come from Jalisco, Mexico, whereas the true Mexican Tall comes from the Gulf coast of Mexico from Matamoros down to the Bay of Campeche.

John

That is correct. But I still label it as a Mexican pacific tall because it is from ,well, Mexico. Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mex. And in my particular case, a golden variety.

[GottmitAlex]

Here's an update on the garden sliver.

April 15th, 2018

 

 

Edited April 15, 2018 by GottmitAlex

[GottmitAlex]

Every 6 months +or - I'll be keeping you folks abreast of the garden.

[sandgroper]

Thanks for posting the video, it’s a great way of seeing what ideas others have come up with to keep their palms growing, cheers!

[GottmitAlex]

The newest spear of the golden Malayan dwarf is opening up and, by golly, this one resembles Sauron's helmet.  Lol

 

[GottmitAlex]

One coco to rule them all!

[Cluster]

Wow it is really Sauron. One coco to rule us all, one coco to find us, one coco to bring us all in this thread and in the addiction binds us all.

 

[sandgroper]

That little palm looks fantastic,  its doing really well. It's nice having a win sometimes! 

[GottmitAlex]

On 5/31/2018, 10:33:09, sandgroper said:

That little palm looks fantastic,  its doing really well. It's nice having a win sometimes! 

Thank you!

83F 3:06pm pst

I got thinking about this.

My "theory" about tropicals in Socal is this:

Even if there are 10a/10b zones beachside, that only means (in our 32.4+ latitude) it will never feeeze there. However, it will likely remain cool there for the better part of the year.  Foggy, cloudy. The suns rays will not penetrate and provide the needed warmth to certain species.  I have concluded the optimal areas are 10-20 miles inland. The threshold terminates once significantly higher elevation beginso ( 260+ meters above sea level in our latitude). Temperatures a bit inland compared to beachside are 8-12f+. In the longrun it translates to growing things which cannot be feasible seaside.  I am pretty sure in our marginal climate this "theory" holds true.

 

 

Edited June 6, 2018 by GottmitAlex

[sandgroper]

1 hour ago, GottmitAlex said:

Thank you!

83F 3:06pm pst

I got thinking about this.

My "theory" about tropicals in Socal is this:

Even if there are 10a/10b zones beachside, that only means (in our 32.4+ latitude) it will never feeeze there. However, it will likely remain cool there for the better part of the year.  Foggy, cloudy. The suns rays will not penetrate and provide the needed warmth to certain species.  I have concluded the optimal areas are 10-20 miles inland. The threshold terminates once significantly higher elevation beginso ( 260+ meters above sea level in our latitude). Temperatures a bit inland compared to beachside are 8-12f+. In the longrun it translates to growing things which cannot be feasible seaside.  I am pretty sure in our marginal climate this "theory" holds true.

 

 

Very interested in reading your posts Alex, I'm a long way from you but I don't think our climates are  too dissimilar so knowledge you've gained through experimentation is always great to follow. Thanks for sharing your efforts.

[Josh-O]

I must applaud the hard work and all the effort. If there is anyone on earth that could pull it off it would be certainly you amigo!

[DoomsDave]

1 minute ago, Josh-O said:

I must applaud the hard work and all the effort. If there is anyone on earth that could pull it off it would be certainly you amigo!

It’s a lotta work to run 

screaming

[Josh-O]

Just now, DoomsDave said:

It’s a lotta work to run 

screaming

all the attention to detail is extraordinary

[Chatta]

I always enjoy seeing pedros and coconuts together :)

[GottmitAlex]

15 minutes ago, Josh-O said:

I must applaud the hard work and all the effort. If there is anyone on earth that could pull it off it would be certainly you amigo!

Thank you Josh!!!!!!! 

[GottmitAlex]

5 hours ago, sandgroper said:

Very interested in reading your posts Alex, I'm a long way from you but I don't think our climates are  too dissimilar so knowledge you've gained through experimentation is always great to follow. Thanks for sharing your efforts.

Thank you for following. If there is anything I can do or have done to contribute in any way, shape, matter or form to the hobby/Palmtalk, count on it. 

Edited June 7, 2018 by GottmitAlex