Can Coconut Trees Grow in New Braunfels, TX

[Seabass1]

Is it possible to grow coconut trees in New Braunfels? I was wondering if climate change has extended the coconut trees' range to go up north.

[Jimbean]

That depends on what you mean by growing.  For the duration of the lifespan, no, unless you build a greenhouse around it.

[Seabass1]

For the purpose of aesthetic reasons.  It would grow in the ground. 

[JLM]

Climate change has not really had an effect on extending the range of coconuts long term.

[kinzyjr]

3 hours ago, Seabass1 said:

Is it possible to grow coconut trees in New Braunfels? I was wondering if climate change has extended the coconut trees' range to go up north.

Welcome to PalmTalk!  Not really.  To get any significant viability out of them, you'd need to be in Corpus Christie or further down in the RGV.

[Seabass1]

2 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Welcome to PalmTalk!  Not really.  To get any significant viability out of them, you'd need to be in Corpus Christie or further down in the RGV.

Oh, alright. Another palm that I was wondering that could grow in the ground is a royal palm.

[Seabass1]

Specifically, a mature one.

[Robert Cade Ross]

1 hour ago, Seabass1 said:

Specifically, a mature one.

Unfortunately it’s to cold for a royal , I’m in Houston-9B and going to test out 15-20 royals and see what happens this winter.

as alternative would be a queen palm they wouldn’t be long term but I don’t see why would would not live 8-12 years for you .

[Jimbean]

6 hours ago, Seabass1 said:

Oh, alright. Another palm that I was wondering that could grow in the ground is a royal palm.

Post February 2021 in Texas, no coconut survived, and only royals in the Brownsville area survived.  Severe freezing events like the February 2021 Texas freeze are one of the best indications you can have for long term suitability. 

Edited July 16, 2022 by Jimbean

[bubba]

Seabass was one of my favorite characters in that overlooked great movie (Bottle Rocket) that started the careers of the Wilson brothers! Great name! From time to time, I find myself wondering about whatever happened to Seabass! Welcome to Palm Talk!

[Robert Cade Ross]

5 hours ago, Jimbean said:

Post February 2021 in Texas, no coconut survived, and only royals in the Brownsville area survived.  Severe freezing events like the February 2021 Texas freeze are one of the best indications you can have for long term suitability. 

There are a handful of coconut palms that survived you just have to look hard . But 97% where destroyed 

[Xenon]

9 hours ago, Jimbean said:

Post February 2021 in Texas, no coconut survived, and only royals in the Brownsville area survived.  Severe freezing events like the February 2021 Texas freeze are one of the best indications you can have for long term suitability. 

Just a nitpick, but there is also widespread survival of royals inland in McAllen/Mission/southern Hidalgo county and of course South Padre/the coast. 

Edited July 16, 2022 by Xenon

[Seabass1]

22 minutes ago, Xenon said:

Just a nitpick, but there is also widespread survival of royals inland in McAllen/Mission/southern Hidalgo county and of course South Padre/the coast. 

By the way, is there an updated Texas hardiness zone map?

Edited July 16, 2022 by Seabass1

[kinzyjr]

1 hour ago, Seabass1 said:

By the way, is there an updated Texas hardiness zone map?

@Xenon posted a quick sketch of one here: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/66320-florida-freeze-and-weather-station-data/&do=findComment&comment=971477

[Jimbean]

5 hours ago, Xenon said:

Just a nitpick, but there is also widespread survival of royals inland in McAllen/Mission/southern Hidalgo county and of course South Padre/the coast. 

The super cold-hardy Rio Grande royals.  We're still waiting on those seeds)

[Xenon]

51 minutes ago, Jimbean said:

The super cold-hardy Rio Grande royals.  We're still waiting on those seeds)

There are hundreds (thousands?) of them, just normal royals 

[Collectorpalms]

This made me LOL at first. then after some digging, At current Co2 levels increases we are about 300 years from an ICE free globe, then you can grow whatever you want if you have water to plant them, and can breath. 

Until then expect killer ( washingtonia Robusta and Queen )freezes every 20 years, or even more often as weather patterns really become turbulent.

[Seabass1]

Are coconut trees becoming more popular in South Padre Island?

[Xenon]

2 hours ago, Seabass1 said:

Are coconut trees becoming more popular in South Padre Island?

They all died in the mega freeze last year. The oldest ones on the island were planted around 2000. There were some slightly older ones in the Brownsville area.

[SeanK]

On 7/16/2022 at 12:43 AM, Cade said:

Unfortunately it’s to cold for a royal , I’m in Houston-9B and going to test out 15-20 royals and see what happens this winter.

as alternative would be a queen palm they wouldn’t be long term but I don’t see why would would not live 8-12 years for you .

. . . or Parajubaea

[Xenon]

1 hour ago, SeanK said:

. . . or Parajubaea

too hot and more tender to cold than a queen, maybe you could baby one and keep it "alive". Never seen anything resembling an adult palm in FL or anywhere else in the deep south. It's from equatorial highlands, probably the last place it wants to be is TX sauna-furnace combo

queen is cheap and a nearly carefree rocket until the next cold blast (then you simply replace them) 

 

 

[richtrav]

On 7/15/2022 at 8:40 PM, JLM said:

Climate change has not really had an effect on extending the range of coconuts long term.

It has, but down in Tamaulipas, where their range of general cultivation has moved approximately 60 miles farther north. La Pesca had been their traditional northern line of cultivation on the coast, now they are widely being grown at Carboneras. There are a few survivors in protected areas as far north as Valle Hermoso and Matamoros where a heat island effect helped them out.