I'm doing cocos again!

[Kai]

Found this nice little cocos in my local gardencentre for €10.

I put it in the old pot of Pal's Lytocaryum insigne #1404 with some of the famous seramis pinebark mix.

Some time ago I already decided that when I'd come across one of these, I'd give it another try. I still feel the pain of having to let my previous cocos go when I moved to Amsterdam. In 8 years time it had grown into a palm of stature and I still miss it. Hope this little guy will in time grow into a worthy substitute!

Wish me luck everybody!

[PalmatierMeg]

It's beautiful and I hope it grows well for you. So sorry to hear about your previous Cocos. I still remember the great photos you posted of it growing by your aquarium.

[John in Andalucia]

Good luck, Kai!

I like the title, btw.  Have you 'fallen off the wagon' again? 

Several years ago in Spain, one of our local garden centres brought in a load of coconut palms (from the Canary Islands?) that were shadehouse-grown and very stretched. Mine didn't last long in the summer wind and dry heat on the south coast.

[Kai]

22 minutes ago, John in Andalucia said:

Good luck, Kai!

I like the title, btw.  Have you 'fallen off the wagon' again? 

Several years ago in Spain, one of our local garden centres brought in a load of coconut palms (from the Canary Islands?) that were shadehouse-grown and very stretched. Mine didn't last long in the summer wind and dry heat on the south coast.

Hi John, Yeah coco-loco again!

These greenhouse coconut sprouts are fragile little things. I know the first challenge is to get it acclimed to my bright indoor conditions. Best time of year would be now I think. And then the second challenge is to let it get used to full sun conditions in my garden. Best time would be same time next year I guess. The second challenge is going to be tough, this spring even my Beccariophoenix got sunburn while last year it was in full sun for the entire summer and not a spot. I gues a few months indoors in winter really weakens a palm and I need to be even more carefull.

[Rickybobby]

Good luck

[Kai]

1st days growth.

At this rate I'll be having coconuts next year!

[Pal Meir]

23 hours ago, Kai said:

Found this nice little cocos in my local gardencentre for €10.

I put it in the old pot of Pal's Lytocaryum insigne #1404 with some of the famous seramis pinebark mix.

Some time ago I already decided that when I'd come across one of these, I'd give it another try. I still feel the pain of having to let my previous cocos go when I moved to Amsterdam. In 8 years time it had grown into a palm of stature and I still miss it. Hope this little guy will in time grow into a worthy substitute!

Wish me luck everybody!

Different from Cocos insignis (Martius) Cocos nucifera likes wet feet!

[Nj Palms]

Always good to try again!

[Palmensammler]

What a beauty. Always worth a trial, but I'm afraid that in winter time I would kill it because of lack of light and humidity. How did you manage to keep it alive for 8 years?

They are sometimes available in a garden center or at IKEA and don't cost a fortune

Eckhard

[Kai]

2 minutes ago, Palmensammler said:

What a beauty. Always worth a trial, but I'm afraid that in winter time I would kill it because of lack of light and humidity. How did you manage to keep it alive for 8 years?

They are sometimes available in a garden center or at IKEA and don't cost a fortune

Eckhard

Hi Eckhard,

I managed to keep it looking good by placing it not too far away from a large tropical reeftank. Many liters of water evaporated from the tank and the sump. I had to add 2 to 3 liters of distilled water every day. This kept humidity up year round, though it wasn't very good for my house (fungus on the walls ). It also stood before a large south facing window for as much light as possible. This worked pretty good.

Now I have a room for my palms which is equally light with a row of south facing windows. The room is not heated with central heating so humidity is not getting very low in winter. The low angle of the sun in wintertime ensures direct sunlight on the leaves for quite a few hours and winter temperature lows are around 18°C. Now in summer much warmer of course. So, with a good amount of light and not very low humidity I have some good hope it's going to grow and look good. But we'll have to see.

[Pal Meir]

I had a Cocos nucifera also for 8 years indoors in a normal living room, but I didn’t care about humidity at all; the only thing I did care was keeping it always in 10 cm standing water (tap water, not soft rain water). On the 2nd photo (1981) you can see only a part of the palm in the background near the window; the palm died because it grew too tall and bumped the ceiling.

The photo on the left was taken in 1981:

[GottmitAlex]

On 5/13/2018, 3:20:07, Pal Meir said:

I had a Cocos nucifera also for 8 years indoors in a normal living room, but I didn’t care about humidity at all; the only thing I did care was keeping it always in 10 cm standing water (tap water, not soft rain water). On the 2nd photo (1981) you can see only a part of the palm in the background near the window; the palm died because it grew too tall and bumped the ceiling.

The photo on the left was taken in 1981:

Wonderful. Is there any way cocophiliacs in Europe can acquire dwarf varieties? I have noticed even on European palm forums, the reason they lose their indoor-grown cocos is due to ceiling  height limitations and not because they can't grow them.

Edited May 16, 2018 by GottmitAlex

[Moose]

6 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

Wonderful. Is there any way cocophiliacs in Europe can acquire dwarf varieties? I have noticed even on European palm forums, the reason they lose their indoor-grown cocos is due to ceiling  height limitations and not because they can't grow them.

Koo Koo for CoCos

[Kai]

15 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

Wonderful. Is there any way cocophiliacs in Europe can acquire dwarf varieties? I have noticed even on European palm forums, the reason they lose their indoor-grown cocos is due to ceiling  height limitations and not because they can't grow them.

Just go on vacation to a place in the tropics and take some germinating coconuts home. Dutch customs considers these coconuts fruit and we are allowed to bring a maximum of 5kg fruit back.

[Reynevan]

26 minutes ago, Kai said:

Just go on vacation to a place in the tropics and take some germinating coconuts home. Dutch customs considers these coconuts fruit and we are allowed to bring a maximum of 5kg fruit back.

Wow, that's a nice idea. Where did you check that you're allowed to bring them back ? Is that some airport regulations or so ?

 

Edit: It appears we're both under EU laws, so indeed 5kg is allowed!  Thanks.

Edited May 17, 2018 by Reynevan

[Kai]

17 minutes ago, Reynevan said:

Wow, that's a nice idea. Where did you check that you're allowed to bring them back ? Is that some airport regulations or so ?

 

Edit: It appears we're both under EU laws, so indeed 5kg is allowed!  Thanks.

These aren't airport regulations but customs regulations. Customs regulations are on display for everybody, for example on a government internet page.

I can't speak for other countries but I know these are Dutch customs regulations.

[GottmitAlex]

10 hours ago, Moose said:

Koo Koo for CoCos

You think?

 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On ‎5‎/‎12‎/‎2018‎ ‎4‎:‎14‎:‎05‎, John in Andalucia said:

Good luck, Kai!

I like the title, btw.  Have you 'fallen off the wagon' again? 

Several years ago in Spain, one of our local garden centres brought in a load of coconut palms (from the Canary Islands?) that were shadehouse-grown and very stretched. Mine didn't last long in the summer wind and dry heat on the south coast.

Yeah, it's definitely NOT good to grow them in a greenhouse, unless it's just to protect them on a few cold winter nights, but other than that, they need to be outside in full sun to look their best and be the strongest they can be.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On ‎5‎/‎17‎/‎2018‎ ‎7‎:‎15‎:‎00‎, Kai said:

Just go on vacation to a place in the tropics and take some germinating coconuts home. Dutch customs considers these coconuts fruit and we are allowed to bring a maximum of 5kg fruit back.

I wish our horribly corrupt U.S. Government would let us bring back sprouted nuts!  If they would let us do that, I could bring sprouted Mexican Tall (the most cold hardy variety of Coconut Palms in the Western Hemisphere) nuts across the river from Matamoros, which would be the perfect variety to grow to maturity along the South Texas Coast and in the Rio Grande Valley.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On ‎5‎/‎17‎/‎2018‎ ‎7‎:‎33‎:‎04‎, Reynevan said:

Wow, that's a nice idea. Where did you check that you're allowed to bring them back ? Is that some airport regulations or so ?

 

Edit: It appears we're both under EU laws, so indeed 5kg is allowed!  Thanks.

You are very lucky, unlike us Americans forced to live under a horrific Fascist System that will never even think of allowing us to bring back seeds or sprouted coconts!!!  We the public, have ABSOLUTELY NO FREEDOMS WHATSOEVER HERE IN THE U.S.!  "Land Of The Free, Home Of The Brave", NOT!  More like, LAND OF THE FEE, HOME OF THE SLAVE!!!  I KNOW SO MANY AMERICANS,MYSELF INCLUDED THAT WANT TO PERMANENTLY LEAVE THIS HORRIBLY CORRUPT U.S.A., INC.!!!

John

[Kai]

4 hours ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

You are very lucky, unlike us Americans forced to live under a horrific Fascist System that will never even think of allowing us to bring back seeds or sprouted coconts!!!  We the public, have ABSOLUTELY NO FREEDOMS WHATSOEVER HERE IN THE U.S.!  "Land Of The Free, Home Of The Brave", NOT!  More like, LAND OF THE FEE, HOME OF THE SLAVE!!!  I KNOW SO MANY AMERICANS,MYSELF INCLUDED THAT WANT TO PERMANENTLY LEAVE THIS HORRIBLY CORRUPT U.S.A., INC.!!!

John

Well John,

While it might be a littlebit easier to build up a nice palmcollection in the Netherlands due to our current customs practices, we have probably one of the worst climates to grow these palms. It's never perfect you know.

If I were an American living in America I'd probably would want to get out as well as even from abroad I can't stand the current administration. I think it's a bit off topic though.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

1 hour ago, Kai said:

Well John,

While it might be a littlebit easier to build up a nice palmcollection in the Netherlands due to our current customs practices, we have probably one of the worst climates to grow these palms. It's never perfect you know.

If I were an American living in America I'd probably would want to get out as well as even from abroad I can't stand the current administration. I think it's a bit off topic though.

Kai,

There are a lot of tropical countries I would love to live in, but Americans like me are LITERALLY POLITICAL/DEBT PRISONERS here, kept here against our will!  If you are a college graduate like me, underemployed and barely able to buy groceries and pay your bills, then you can't even get a passport to leave the country if your student loans are in default!  So, they give you a choice between eating and keeping a roof over your head and paying back your student loans!  "Higher education" here is just another CRIMINAL ORGANIZED CRIME ENTERPRISE just like everything else in the U.S.A.!!!  There was a report on the national news last year that said the federal government here is sending U.S. Marshals out to arrest us college graduates that are too poor to pay back our student loans and are threatening us with federal prison, as if we are some kind of criminals for just making the mistake of going to college!!! LIFE IS ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE HERE, DESPITE ALL THE PROPAGANDA TO THE CONTRARY!!!

John

[Palmaceae]

10 hours ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Kai,

There are a lot of tropical countries I would love to live in, but Americans like me are LITERALLY POLITICAL/DEBT PRISONERS here, kept here against our will!  If you are a college graduate like me, underemployed and barely able to buy groceries and pay your bills, then you can't even get a passport to leave the country if your student loans are in default!  So, they give you a choice between eating and keeping a roof over your head and paying back your student loans!  "Higher education" here is just another CRIMINAL ORGANIZED CRIME ENTERPRISE just like everything else in the U.S.A.!!!  There was a report on the national news last year that said the federal government here is sending U.S. Marshals out to arrest us college graduates that are too poor to pay back our student loans and are threatening us with federal prison, as if we are some kind of criminals for just making the mistake of going to college!!! LIFE IS ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE HERE, DESPITE ALL THE PROPAGANDA TO THE CONTRARY!!!

John

Hey John,

I have great respect for you but I have to disagree with your comment about our country. With all our imperfections I believe we are still the best country in the world. I have been to 3rd world countries including China, and trust me we are extremely blessed to be here. We are not perfect but it could be a lot worse.

Happy Memorial Day!

[Kai]

Ow jeez, however much I like getting replies, I was still hoping we could just hold on to my coconut topic please?

[Palmaceae]

31 minutes ago, Kai said:

Ow jeez, however much I like getting replies, I was still hoping we could just hold on to my coconut topic please?

Sorry Kai, I am just proud of my country.

But on topic nice coconut, when I lived up north I never had much luck growing coconuts in the house, always too dry in the winter.

[John in Andalucia]

How is the Malayan Red Dwarf on the 'coconut hardiness' scale?

Seen on eBay - $15 plus $20 International shipping from Malaysia for a sprouted nut!

 

[John in Andalucia]

So having returned from a visit to Kew Gardens today, I decided to have a nose around the Middle Eastern fruit & veg shops in my neighbourhood for a viable coconut to play with 

These are some of the smallest I've seen in the shops, from India I am told, but that's all I know. Well, I found a really heavy one (the others were all empty!) and decided to try and breathe life into it.

The glass of Chablis is optional, but a sharp blade essential for lifting the lid on the embryo... and...

Here's a nice healthy embryo!

Now it's in my germination box, no soil, just daily misting. Now only time will tell...

 

[Kai]

On 28-5-2018 20:28:01, John in Andalucia said:

So having returned from a visit to Kew Gardens today, I decided to have a nose around the Middle Eastern fruit & veg shops in my neighbourhood for a viable coconut to play with 

These are some of the smallest I've seen in the shops, from India I am told, but that's all I know. Well, I found a really heavy one (the others were all empty!) and decided to try and breathe life into it.

The glass of Chablis is optional, but a sharp blade essential for lifting the lid on the embryo... and...

Here's a nice healthy embryo!

Now it's in my germination box, no soil, just daily misting. Now only time will tell...

 

John, did it work?

[John in Andalucia]

Kai - no it didn't, unfortunately. But I did buy the sprouted Malayan Red Dwarf mentioned earlier, and that's doing great:

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/56974-a-coconut-in-london/

 

[wimmie]

On 5/12/2018, 5:31:55, Kai said:

Found this nice little cocos in my local gardencentre for €10.

I put it in the old pot of Pal's Lytocaryum insigne #1404 with some of the famous seramis pinebark mix.

Some time ago I already decided that when I'd come across one of these, I'd give it another try. I still feel the pain of having to let my previous cocos go when I moved to Amsterdam. In 8 years time it had grown into a palm of stature and I still miss it. Hope this little guy will in time grow into a worthy substitute!

Wish me luck everybody!

Kai, if you would like to try an orange one, I got an address for you where to get them.

Wim.

[Kai]

On 11-10-2018 21:29:19, wimmie said:

Kai, if you would like to try an orange one, I got an address for you where to get them.

Wim.

Hi Wim, please pm me with the info. Thanks!