Can cocos survive in Lindos,Rhodes in Greece?

[mlovecan]

  On 4/21/2025 at 3:54 PM, Than said:

Ι bet they throw away those that don't look perfect and immediately replace them. Perhaps they replace them weekly so they have lush and healthy looking palms available at all times. That's why they don't bother putting them indoors. My guess.

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The only time of year they get coconut palms coming into their stock is in the spring and early summer. There are no new ones coming in that could replace the ones outside. All their live plants are kept outside and are their plastic plants are inside the building. It's been that way since the store opened. 

[mlovecan]

  On 4/24/2025 at 10:17 AM, southathens said:

Also maurice if I remember correctly you told us that you were planning to plant the 3 year old coco on the ground in April 2024.

Did you manage to plant it on the ground?

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No, I decided I would wait a few more years.

 

[bubba]

Maurice,

Is there any way you could get a Pacific Tall variety or even a relatively large existing Cocos nucifera that you could transplant?

[Than]

  On 4/25/2025 at 8:38 AM, mlovecan said:

The only time of year they get coconut palms coming into their stock is in the spring and early summer. There are no new ones coming in that could replace the ones outside. All their live plants are kept outside and are their plastic plants are inside the building. It's been that way since the store opened. 

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I find it hard to believe that the cocos plants you posted have survived a winter outdoors looking so perfect. I'd expect some burning edges at least.. 

[southathens]

  On 4/25/2025 at 8:42 AM, mlovecan said:

No, I decided I would wait a few more years.

 

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yeah maybe that's wise!

Do you have a recent photo of the surviving 3 year old coco?

[southathens]

  On 4/2/2025 at 6:07 PM, southathens said:

Below the updated 30 year POR climate normals for Rhodes AP 

Mind you that the AP is around 15 km from the Port of Rhodes which is considerably milder during the winter compared to Paradeisi. Its a clear Csa climate, with very mild winters and mild summers (by Greece's standards). Zone 11a. Temperatures have never dropped below 1.2C or reached over 40.2C from 1977 when the new AP and HNMS station are operational. A truly maritime climate by Greece's standards. 

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Also an interesting find according to the journal below regarding sunshine hours for Greece.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00704-014-1125-z

It appears that Greece is one of the very few remaining countries in the world to exclusively use Campbell-Stokes heliographs for sunshine hours while the vast majority of the world (the US as well) has adopted the past 30 years automatic heliographs which significantly overestimate sunshine hours compared to a CS heliograph.

So in plain English when comparing the sunshine hours of Greek met stations please always add around 200 more hours of annual sunshine for an accurate comparison with the rest of the world.  Effectively the Rhodes AP should be around 3400 hours of annual sunshine with an automatic heliograph. 

This might be very important for Rhodes gardeners such as @mlovecan who might need to run international sunshine comparisons in order to manage and plan their cultivations more efficiently. So Maurice please bear in mind that according to HNMS Atlas here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20170921184739/http://www.hnms.gr/hnms/greek/pdf/Climate_Atlas_Of_Greece.pdf 

SE Rhodes where you are located is considered the sunniest place in Greece (alongside Kasos, Karpathos, Kastellorizo and South Crete with minimal differences).

Lindos, Lardos and SE Rhodes in general is probably getting around 3500 hours of annual sunshine with an automatic heliograph. 

@Phoenikakias @Victor G. @Janni @Than @Foxpalms

[mlovecan]

  On 4/25/2025 at 1:16 PM, bubba said:

Maurice,

Is there any way you could get a Pacific Tall variety or even a relatively large existing Cocos nucifera that you could transplant?

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I would love to but it could be quite difficult and expensive. Moving plants around the EU is quite simple as it's a common agricultural zone. Unfortunately, there is nowhere in the EU that coconuts grow. The Canary Islands are part of Spain but outside the EU (and quite distant from here). The location colsest to me would be Egypt. There are importers in Sicily who bring palms from Egypt (that's how Red Palm Weevil made it's way to the island). I've been to most parts of Sicily and never came across a single palm wholesaler. The owner of a garden center 40km away used to fly there twice a month when we had cheap direct flights to Catania Sicily (about 20 eur) and he brought a variety of unique plants from Sicily - he would have the contacts and his transport is all worked out already.  I never thought of asking him but, now that you have me thinking about it,  I will definitely ask him. I was there last Saturday and expect my girlfriend probably will want me take here there next Saturday when she returns to Poland anyways.

[mlovecan]

Btw., when you talk about the record for northern most coconut, Stelios in Cyprus is about 200km / 120 miles south of me at about 34.8 degrees and his coconut is trunking - extensive comparisons of his climate to mine show very little difference:

:

[southathens]

  On 4/26/2025 at 7:22 AM, mlovecan said:

Btw., when you talk about the record for northern most coconut, Stelios in Cyprus is about 200km / 120 miles south of me at about 34.8 degrees and his coconut is trunking - extensive comparisons of his climate to mine show very little difference:

:

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Your climate is actually significantly milder to Paphos during the winter. Around 2C warmer in winter minimums actually. 

Paphos recorded close to freezing Ts this year , it dipped to 0.7C and Larnaca AP was down to -1.1C  in February. Limassol Port also dropped to 0.0C . This is due to Cyprus's huge landmass which sometimes allows crazy T inversions even on the coasts!

Here more info

https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/58897-update-of-my-coconut-in-cyprus/?page=7#findComment-1204425

[mlovecan]

@southathens - ok, here is my 3 year old cocos today. It's not much to look at and hasn't even gone pinnate like the one I lost to my cat that was the same age last year.  Last summer was sheer hell. I expected more growth but blame the heat. Just fertilizing my palms today as it seems the garden is now waking up from the winter. Should be pinnate on the next leaf or the one after that:

[mlovecan]

And this one is for Bubba - you told me a number of years back that if I could grow a hurricane palm, I should be able to grow a coconut. This is my Dictyosperma album var. 'rubra' today.  It actually pushed a couple of spears over winter (from left: Roystonea Regia, hurricane palm and then a piece of my CIDP / Roebelenii)

 

[southathens]

  On 4/26/2025 at 7:49 AM, mlovecan said:

@southathens - ok, here is my 3 year old cocos today. It's not much to look at and hasn't even gone pinnate like the one I lost to my cat that was the same age last year.  Last summer was sheer hell. I expected more growth but blame the heat. Just fertilizing my palms today as it seems the garden is now waking up from the winter. Should be pinnate on the next leaf or the one after that:

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Thank you for this!

The heat last year was indeed brutal. Your neighboring Lindos had 32C mean summer T.

That equals 24/7 32.0C for 92 consecutive days...Peak T was 43.6C in June!

I am also surprised it survived. Hopefully soon it will look much better! 

Have you ever had a coco surviving that long outside before?

[mlovecan]

Yes, last year was something special, hopefully. If it's part of a trend, I can see this island becoming pretty much inhabitable. What would normally be a heatwave lasting between 3-7 days ran into nearly 10 weeks. I found myself stocking up on groceries to avoid even leaving the house. This winter was exceptional as well. My grapes lost all their leaves in late fall as usual but started growing again around Christmas. Bananas never stopped growing this year. First time.

[southathens]

  On 4/26/2025 at 10:12 AM, mlovecan said:

Yes, last year was something special, hopefully. If it's part of a trend, I can see this island becoming pretty much inhabitable. What would normally be a heatwave lasting between 3-7 days ran into nearly 10 weeks. I found myself stocking up on groceries to avoid even leaving the house. This winter was exceptional as well. My grapes lost all their leaves in late fall as usual but started growing again around Christmas. Bananas never stopped growing this year. First time.

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Statistically speaking it is nearly impossible for Greece to have a repeat of the 2024 summer. According to the papers I read this must be 1 in every 500 years heatwave...We've never seen this before the past at least 2 centuries that we have data from Greece. 

You are right about this winter. South Crete locally had a mean max T for January at 20.1C! It was crazy mild/hot winter indeed. 

[mlovecan]

  On 4/26/2025 at 10:02 AM, southathens said:

Thank you for this!

The heat last year was indeed brutal. Your neighboring Lindos had 32C mean summer T.

That equals 24/7 32.0C for 92 consecutive days...Peak T was 43.6C in June!

I am also surprised it survived. Hopefully soon it will look much better! 

Have you ever had a coco surviving that long outside before?

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Your numbers don't really match the reality. It was over 45 many, many days. It never reached the highest I've ever experienced down here - 52 degrees in June 2008 or 2009. It was 52 here in July 2023 also just as the fire was sweeping the island. The closest I've seen to last year was 2006 when we had about 47 for 3 solid weeks.  

 

[southathens]

  On 4/26/2025 at 10:20 AM, mlovecan said:

Your numbers don't really match the reality. It was over 45 many, many days. It never reached the highest I've ever experienced down here - 52 degrees in June 2008 or 2009. It was 52 here in July 2023 also just as the fire was sweeping the island. The closest I've seen to last year was 2006 when we had about 47 for 3 solid weeks.  

 

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Nah Maurice,

I am talking about official WMO stations here. Locally I don't doubt it might have been slightly hotter, especially in the wider Lindos area where you live.

But we can't really compare Ts from private non fan aspirated stations (especially in Lindos where it is practically an oven during the summers) to official WMO stations. In any case Lindos NOA station recorded the highest official temperature ever recorded in Rhodes the past 70 years that we have reliable WMO data. And that was 43.6C in June 2024. 

Below you can see the official data from Lindos NOA WMO station. 

36.6C mean max July temperature for coastal Rhodes (or any coastal location of an island in Greece that is) is pretty much unheard of only notable exception was August 2021 with 37.2C mean max in Lindos. Please don't pay attention to pharmacies thermometers or random non fan aspirated stations. Stick to Lindos data for an accurate representation of your local climate. 

[mlovecan]

I don't know how bad the temperatures were in July 2023 as we were travelling around Sicily for most of July. That was so brutal hot also, we are only doing July vacations in North Europe now - it's so refreshing. When we were about to leave Sicily, we got a call from Aegean telling us Catania airport was gutted by fire. We were stranded in Sicily for nearly a week. As only a few flights were leaving, we had to cross the island to Palermo and there was a fire next to Palermo airport. 

When we arrived back in Greece, the air was full of smoke. We were forced to evacuate by the police for 3 days. My whole garden suffered. Just over the mountain to south of Lardos, it looked like the moon. 

This year is pretty much decision time for me. If it's as bad as the last two years, I will be selling my place and probably moving to Portugal.

[southathens]

  On 4/26/2025 at 10:32 AM, mlovecan said:

This year is pretty much decision time for me. If it's as bad as the last two years, I will be selling my place and probably moving to Portugal.

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No it won't be. Like I said, statistically its impossible to have a repeat of the 2024 summer in Greece. So stay in Rhodes!😀

Ok it will of course remain hot especially in the wider Lindos area but it will be a shock if we had a 2024 repeat.

July 2023 was also hellish! You are right. Here are the Lindos data for July 2023. 

42.7C was the peak T but it was pretty brutal for weeks. Just check the maxes. The minimums also were unbearable...

And here is how Lindos is looking year round from 2014 when the station started operation, in terms of mean maximum temperatures.

[bubba]

Maurice,

I had never seen the picture of the Coconut Palm grown by Stelios in Cyprus! That is a legitimate Coconut and I would suggest that it constitutes the new world champion! Your ability to grow a Hurricane palm is absolute evidence of your ability to establish Cocos nucifera at your Greek Island. When it reaches the proportions of the Coconut grown by Stelios, it will become the world champion! Forget the difficulties of transplanting a mature Coconut at your property! Please keep us updated and I will readily admit that I did not believe that it was possible until now. Thank you!

 

[mlovecan]

  On 4/26/2025 at 12:46 PM, bubba said:

Maurice,

I had never seen the picture of the Coconut Palm grown by Stelios in Cyprus! That is a legitimate Coconut and I would suggest that it constitutes the new world champion! Your ability to grow a Hurricane palm is absolute evidence of your ability to establish Cocos nucifera at your Greek Island. When it reaches the proportions of the Coconut grown by Stelios, it will become the world champion! Forget the difficulties of transplanting a mature Coconut at your property! Please keep us updated and I will readily admit that I did not believe that it was possible until now. Thank you!

 

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Thanks Bubba. We have spoken about this subject before and your positive reactions have definitely inspired me. That Hurricane looked pretty beat up after the first winter but once summer kicked in, it never looked back. It probably would be a lot bigger if I had irrigation on it but I had issues with the system back there and never found it really necessary to put it back in order as it is the cooler part of my garden - only morning sun / afternoon shade back there.

In terms of hardiness comparison between a hurricane and a cocos, how close do you see the two? There is nobody here in Europe I can ask this question and your comment years ago has always stuck with me.

 

[southathens]

  On 4/26/2025 at 12:46 PM, bubba said:

Maurice,

I had never seen the picture of the Coconut Palm grown by Stelios in Cyprus! That is a legitimate Coconut and I would suggest that it constitutes the new world champion! Your ability to grow a Hurricane palm is absolute evidence of your ability to establish Cocos nucifera at your Greek Island. When it reaches the proportions of the Coconut grown by Stelios, it will become the world champion! Forget the difficulties of transplanting a mature Coconut at your property! Please keep us updated and I will readily admit that I did not believe that it was possible until now. Thank you!

 

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I completely agree.

I am not sure if Maurice realizes the extent of his accomplishment. We never had a coco (even potted) surviving outdoors in Greece for 3 whole years. I mean OK i don't think we can count the Praktiker cocos that are outside the shop in Rhodes city because every night they go back inside the shop.

So Maurice right now has the perfect opportunity to establish a new world record. To be honest I was so scared to ask about an update after the hellish 2024 summer as I was almost certain that his coco would not survive. I am really happy it did!

Come on Maurice, you are so close to a new world record!!!

The Hurricane palm doing so great is all the evidence you need that your coco will do it.

We are all rooting for you! 😇

[southathens]

  On 4/26/2025 at 12:57 PM, mlovecan said:

Thanks Bubba. We have spoken about this subject before and your positive reactions have definitely inspired me. That Hurricane looked pretty beat up after the first winter but once summer kicked in, it never looked back. It probably would be a lot bigger if I had irrigation on it but I had issues with the system back there and never found it really necessary to put it back in order as it is the cooler part of my garden - only morning shade there.

In terms of hardiness comparison between a hurricane and a cocos, how close do you see the two? There is nobody here in Europe I can ask this question and your comment years ago has always stuck with me.

 

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I say once your coco becomes pinnate again in a few weeks  take the next step and plant it on the ground.

This will lay the foundations for the new world record. Remember that both the 2022 cold snap or the 2023/2024 heatwaves are once in a century occurrences for SE Rhodes. Strictly statistically speaking your coco has great odds at succeeding for the new world record. 

[mlovecan]

  On 4/26/2025 at 1:04 PM, southathens said:

I completely agree.

I am not sure if Maurice realizes the extent of his accomplishment. We never had a coco (even potted) surviving outdoors in Greece for 3 whole years. I mean OK i don't think we can count the Praktiker cocos that are outside the shop in Rhodes city because every night they go back inside the shop.

So Maurice right now has the perfect opportunity to establish a new world record. To be honest I was so scared to ask about an update after the hellish 2024 summer as I was almost certain that his coco would not survive. I am really happy it did!

Come on Maurice, you are so close to a new world record!!!

The Hurricane palm doing so great should motivate you further. We are all rooting for you! 😇

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Actually Praktiker was leaving those coconuts outside. That's what really surprised me as they continued to do so even during our 2024 January cold spell. They do have a couple of things in their favour: there is an overhang over the area where they keep the plants and they are quite close to an area that some guy is growing flawless papayas. Only one area in Rhodes I'm know of has a papaya that is so perfect but it's on it's own. The location close to Praktika has about 20 of them - all about 5m tall. This is where Praktika keeps their plants:

[southathens]

  On 4/26/2025 at 1:13 PM, mlovecan said:

Actually Praktiker was leaving those coconuts outside. That's what really surprised me as they continued to do so even during our 2024 January cold spell. They do have a couple of things in their favour: there is an overhang over the area where they keep the plants and they are quite close to an area that some guy is growing flawless papayas. Only one area in Rhodes I'm know of has a papaya that is so perfect but it's on it's own. The location close to Praktika has about 20 of them - all about 5m tall. This is where Praktika keeps their plants:

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wow!

So they do leave them outside. I can't believe these have survived. I am thinking they might be around the same age as your coco. 

But I am really puzzled as to how they survived. I mean they are in Rhodes city which is milder than Lindos in terms of winters but Praktiker is located at 100 meters altitude in the interior of the city which is considerably cooler compared to the Port of Rhodes...

[mlovecan]

This is an aerial view of the papayas close by.  Praktiker and the papayas are at the peak of the same hill, in the extreme South of the city of Rhodes which is the extreme North side of the island. As you know I am mid Island - we are half a USDA zone warmer than Rhodes city, on average.

[bubba]

The ability to grow a legitimate Hurricane palm and Cocos nucifera are directly correlative! Stelios is now the champion but you are steps away.
 

I never would have thought it to be possible! I believe our discussion started many years ago when we discussed pictures that I saw of an island that was not nearly as far south owned by Aristotle Onassis with mature Coconuts lining his beach. I am certain that you were correct in your conclusion that they were annuals, transplanted and replaced by someone with unique abilities (worldwide shipping). Thank you to southathens for his work in exposing this incredible microclimate that you enjoy!

[southathens]

  On 4/26/2025 at 1:23 PM, mlovecan said:

This is an aerial view of the papayas close by.  Praktiker and the papayas are at the peak of the same hill, in the extreme South of the city of Rhodes which is the extreme North side of the island. As you know I am mid Island - we are half a USDA zone warmer than Rhodes city, on average.

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This is impressive! Truly.

I had no idea these plants can do so well in such an unfavorable position climatologically speaking. I am honestly very very surprised.

However we need to be a bit careful on the inferences regarding the USDA zones in Rhodes. For example I am certain that you have a warmer USDA zone compared to Praktiker location BUT at the same time the extreme northernmost coastal part of Rhodes where the Port of Rhodes is located almost certainly beats you or any other location in coastal Rhodes in terms of winter mildness.

We can see this from the stunning met data from the Port of Rhodes which from the looks of it might be able to even beat or at least tie the winter mildness of coastal Kasos, south coastal Karpathos or Kastellorizo. This is due to the maritime effect the northenmost coastal tip of Rhodes receives year round...

[mlovecan]

Praktiker is top left, the papayas are bottom right. The tag "Gathan Magical Entertainment" seems to have just been added but the location is basically a shed, a fenced in compound and a whole bunch of papayas hanging off 5m trees The papayas are about 400 m from Praktiker:

[southathens]

  On 4/26/2025 at 1:25 PM, bubba said:

Thank you to southathens for his work in exposing this incredible microclimate that you enjoy!

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You are so welcome!

It's not exactly a microclimate. If we are talking about the Lindos area per se. The wider Lindos area is extremely heat prone from April until October due to the local orography and geography and the fact that constant N winds blow from the Aegean. The famous Meltemi winds. 

These winds reach the leeward side of Rhodes after having travelled from the windward side of the island through the huge Attavyros mountain and the countless hills and smaller mountains of Rhodes. This causes significant heating of the air due to the friction with the mountains/hills which then reach the leeward wider Lindos area as foehn winds

These winds are incredibly hot and the unique characteristic of the Greek islands receiving constant Meltemi winds results in the leeward side of Rhodes to experience 24/7 foehn winds throughout the summer. I mean just the idea that we currently have an area in the Med sea reaching 22.0C mean annual Ts is simply crazy. Try coastal Med Israel, Egypt , Lebanon...anywhere really in the Med and you can not find such high mean annual Ts from official fan aspirated meteorological stations!

[mlovecan]

  On 4/26/2025 at 1:25 PM, bubba said:

The ability to grow a legitimate Hurricane palm and Cocos nucifera are directly correlative! Stelios is now the champion but you are steps away.
 

I never would have thought it to be possible! I believe our discussion started many years ago when we discussed pictures that I saw of an island that was not nearly as far south owned by Aristotle Onassis with mature Coconuts lining his beach. I am certain that you were correct in your conclusion that they were annuals, transplanted and replaced by someone with unique abilities (worldwide shipping). Thank you to southathens for his work in exposing this incredible microclimate that you enjoy!

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Good to know that. My hurricane has been neglected for years and just keeps on growing.

Yes, I confirm Onassis' island of Skorpios does not have coconuts today. When you mentioned that before, I spent a lot of time scouring images of the island and could only find a few photos of Filabustas. 

Onassis was one of the richest men in the world with the largest privately owned shipping fleet. If he had a taste for anything I imagine he could have just told one of his trusted people "I want this put here - get it brought there from wherever".

[southathens]

  On 4/26/2025 at 1:43 PM, mlovecan said:

Good to know that. My hurricane has been neglected for years and just keeps on growing.

Yes, I confirm Onassis' island of Skorpios does not have coconuts today. When you mentioned that before, I spent a lot of time scouring images of the island and could only find a few photos of Filabustas. 

Onassis was one of the richest men in the world with the largest privately owned shipping fleet. If he had a taste for anything I imagine he could have just told one of his trusted people "I want this put here - get it brought there from wherever".

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Skorpios could not possibly accommodate cocos. 

Skorpios island is nowhere near as mild as Rhodes and the South Dodecanese during the winter. 

[southathens]

  On 4/26/2025 at 1:31 PM, mlovecan said:

Praktiker is top left, the papayas are bottom right. The tag "Gathan Magical Entertainment" seems to have just been added but the location is basically a shed, a fenced in compound and a whole bunch of papayas hanging off 5m trees The papayas are about 400 m from Praktiker:

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Maurice also just to give u a heads up.

Currently over in the Greek met forum you have many many Greeks rooting for your coco success.

If you can't read Greek try google translate

https://weather-club.gr/main/index.php?/topic/484-στατιστικά-και-τροπικές-καλλιέργειες-που-μπορούμε-να-φτάσουμε-το-ελληνικό-κλίμα-στα-όρια-του/

[mlovecan]

Oh no. Now you're giving me stage fright. Let me clarify a couple things about your posts over there - looks like I will have to take my cocos to a friend's open-air bar during my vacation this year. It will be hot and now I can't lose the thing to the heat:

- I am not Dutch (I grew up in Canada and I have British citizenship also). The cocos come from a Dutch grower who has been germinating those things and selling them all over Northern Europe as far as I remember (I came to Europe in 2000). I have contacted the grower in the past - both on the phone and via email. He's a very nice guy who would love to see his product be much more than an annual. I could not findthese cocos in Rhodes until Praktiker started bringing them in. I brought a few of them from Germany / Hungary and Italy but I had to go to those place to work at the time. Since COVID, I only work at home - been working for a few years for a bank just outside of Amsterdam. Of course, being home, my success has increased a bit (previously I given up on trying as I had zero success - always dead by Christmas) 

- Praktika has not been growing those specific coconuts for years. Those ones would have been brought into the store sometime between May and July. When I took those photos at Praktiker, it was about a week into the cold snap. I was quite surprised to see they left them outside during the whole cold snap and I even drove by one night after closing to confirm they were leaving them outside 

- They have been bringing these cocos in for about 8 years now. The first year, they brought in about 20-30 . Each year, they have increased the volume. Now, I would guess they are bringing in around 300 / year.  At first, they were all gone in September. When I was there last week, they still had about 8 left over from last year

- Every year, I meet more people at Praktiker cash buying the things. I always discuss their purchase with them. In about the 3rd year I saw a young couple buy one and I caught them just as they were getting on their scooter to take it home. We had quite a lengthy discussion and they were quite keen to listen. Last year a young girl of about 10 years was in front of me at the cash with her mother. Not only were they buying the cocos but they were buying a really nice pot, some soil and some fertilizer. They were planning on using quick release fertilizer but I quickly brought them some slow release and they told the woman at the caseh they wanted the slow release and not the liquid stuff they originally brought over 

- my oldest cocos succumbed to the heat. my youngset one was taken out by the cat. The one photographed today is the middle one. I showed a photo of the oldest one last year

- as I said, Rhodians are buying these coconuts. If there is a sweet spot somewhere they can grow, I'm sure it will be found. A dentist from Rhodes opened up an office in Lardos a couple years back. My girlfriend has been bugging me to fix two broken teeth I have had for years. My girlfriend broke a filling and told me "ok, now we can go try that dentist together" now. When I looked up his website, the first thing I saw was this photo. Of course, the cocos wouldn't last long and I was so stressed about the pain, I didn't notice if it was even there. However, I knew I found the right dentist and I wasn't wrong - he's a really cool guy:

[pietropuccio]

  On 4/26/2025 at 12:57 PM, mlovecan said:

In terms of hardiness comparison between a hurricane and a cocos, how close do you see the two? There is nobody here in Europe I can ask this question and your comment years ago has always stuck with me.

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I'm sorry to disappoint, but there is no correlation between the hardiness of Dictyosperma and Cocos nucifera. Here in Palermo (Sicily) Dictyosperma lives without problems, Cocos dies inexorably.

[southathens]

  On 4/26/2025 at 2:37 PM, mlovecan said:

Oh no. Now you're giving me stage fright. Let me clarify a couple things about your posts over there - looks like I will have to take my cocos to a friend's open-air bar during my vacation this year. It will be hot and now I can't lose the thing to the heat:

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Yes please don't lose it to the heat! 

Come on don't be nervous. What you have achieved is a first for Greece so far . You had the experience, killed a bunch of them while trying throughout the years and now you are on the verge of setting the new world record! It's obvious you will attract a lot of attention. Both domestically in Greece and internationally. 

I think your experience with the cocos is very important and has led to this point of actually going unintentionaly to set the world record! Thanks so much for the clarifications especially regarding Praktiker!

Please do keep us updated. 

Many people will be anxious to hear how your coco is doing!

I am also leaving here the archived link of data from Lindos last year which have been phenomenal for a location in Europe

 https://archive.ph/udR63

[bubba]

As it relates to the correlation between the Hurricane Palm and Coconut, please review the Palmpedia site that specializes in California/Mediterranean climates and view the scrawny Hurricane Palm specimens in California areas that have successfully grown Cocos nucifera. Pietropucuccio's Hurricane specimen is magnificent at Palermo and I cannot explain why Cocos nucifera has failed when such a beautiful Hurricane specimen has prevailed. 
 

However, it is not mutually exclusive. The Cocos nucifera grown in Cyprus by Stelios is compelling evidence suggesting that Maurice's "live and let live" Hurricane Palm augurs very well for the future of his Cocos nucifera to become the world champion in several years when planted.

[southathens]

  On 4/26/2025 at 5:01 PM, bubba said:

The Cocos nucifera grown in Cyprus by Stelios is compelling evidence suggesting that Maurice's "live and let live" Hurricane Palm augurs very well for the future of his Cocos nucifera to become the world champion in several years when planted.

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Yeah I also believe this. 

Provided of course Maurice does not move to Portugal and abandon the Rhodes coco project 😛

[Foxpalms]

  On 4/26/2025 at 10:15 AM, southathens said:

 

Statistically speaking it is nearly impossible for Greece to have a repeat of the 2024 summer. According to the papers I read this must be 1 in every 500 years heatwave...We've never seen this before the past at least 2 centuries that we have data from Greece. 

You are right about this winter. South Crete locally had a mean max T for January at 20.1C! It was crazy mild/hot winter indeed. 

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I have a feeling this summers going to be a hot one for us here in western Europe and not so hot for eastern Europe. Usually when we have hot weather it's cooler over there. Unless a huge area of high pressure sits over all of Europe.

[southathens]

  On 4/27/2025 at 2:04 AM, Foxpalms said:

I have a feeling this summers going to be a hot one for us here in western Europe and not so hot for eastern Europe. Usually when we have hot weather it's cooler over there. Unless a huge area of high pressure sits over all of Europe.

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Most of the times when the W is hot the E is cooler and the opposite. 

However in some years we can see both the W and E Europe having hot summers. This is mostly true for SW/SE Europe. NW Europe is a different issue all together. But yeah I really hope this summer will allow some respite for Greece. It's been 2 hellish summers...

[bubba]

La Quinta, California is located at 33.6 degrees north and has what I believed to be the furthest northern Cocos nucifera in the world. Reports from Port Elizabeth, SA have never been supported by evidence.

The trunking Cocos nucifera in Cyprus is located at  34.8 degrees north and consequently the world champion! Maurice at 36 degrees north would definitely become the world champion. This latitude is equal to Nashville, Tennessee for comparison! This is mind boggling to those on the east coast of the US. Florida tops out just under 30 degrees north for comparison.