San Diego Coconut Trees

[SouthernCATropicals]

January 14, 2026

 

Before the Santa Ana winds comes in usually is the coldest temps of the year where I’m at and these last few days got down to mid 40’sf. Last year that same event brutalized my coconuts but this year the damage is very minimal. It’s kinda hard to see, but there is some spotting and leaf burn on the older fronds especially.

 

Unfortunately, the biggest coconut is extremely close to the powerlines now. My advice to people is assume that your coconuts will be as big as a date palm. We’ll see how that goes.

This coconut looks probably the best but it actually got an extremely bad white fly infestation. I smothered it in insecticide and will keep doing that when it comes back.

 

This coconut might look ugly but I think it has a lot of potential. It is infested with white fly but I smother it with insecticide.

[rockinrickyfox]

its nice to see your palms still going on even with minor setbacks like pests and the cold. if your trees fruit i wonder if you could start a cultivar of california hardy coconuts. i've heard people say its not possible because they dont have cold tolerant traits as a ultra tropical plant yadda yadda. but howcome different coconut palms have more frost tolerance then? just because something doesnt live somewhere naturally doesnt mean it can't develop traits to better suit the location. did you know there are tropical apple trees? apple trees are from the fridgid cold steppe of central asia. basically the same climate as the midwest. they should not have the traits to be evergreen and have adaptations to the heat and latitude and yet they do. dorsett gold and king david are natural apples that are evergreen and need zero chill and they grew from random seeds they werent bred on purpose. i know apple trees arent coconut palms but still. i have some new nectaplum seedlings from a spice zee and they are evergreen even though the mother tree is deciduous the poor thing does struggle to loose its leaves every year lol . i have a two year old tree from the same plant from last year and it has not gone dormant this year or last year its evergreen and is currently pushing out new growth already with all the old leaves still on it like it has adapted to living in a climate with almost no dormancy. plants are more adaptable than we think. different cultivars get more tolerant to different locations and eventually they drift away. this is how you get other cultivars of crops. with trees its takes a bit more time than annuals but you see with annuals some of them naturalized in my yard despite needing to be babied on the first year! even some wheat and oats. same thing with beans i planted. they get more tolerant to the local climate and droughts the more they breed in it the more their genes are exposed to it they mutate.

[Palms1984]

Your coconut palms are looking very good.  Last year and this year so far has been very mild and warm in the urban areas of San Diego.  I have a Licuala grandis which has been outside in a protected spot for two years, and is now growing a new frond.  I find it pretty amazing!  
 

I know in the College Area where I live (on a south-facing hill) temps very rarely go below 43 degrees during winter. 

[SouthernCATropicals]

10 hours ago, rockinrickyfox said:

its nice to see your palms still going on even with minor setbacks like pests and the cold. if your trees fruit i wonder if you could start a cultivar of california hardy coconuts. 

Thank you😀

I would love to work towards that. If anything, the vigor of the biggest coconut makes it way more suitable for coastal California climate, so if it ever did fruit then I’d hope the resulting plants would have that vigor or maybe more. There isn’t frost here but achieving good healthy growth in lower temperatures is what makes this one special. The smaller green one lacks that vigor completely, it waited until the hottest part of summer to really grow again. That isn’t suitable for my climate.  The yellow one really isn’t a good candidate, but I think it’s just so pretty and unique haha. Plus since it’s in a pot, I have the ability to take better care of it

[SouthernCATropicals]

6 hours ago, Palms1984 said:

Your coconut palms are looking very good.  Last year and this year so far has been very mild and warm in the urban areas of San Diego.  I have a Licuala grandis which has been outside in a protected spot for two years, and is now growing a new frond.  I find it pretty amazing!  
 

I know in the College Area where I live (on a south-facing hill) temps very rarely go below 43 degrees during winter. 

Thank you! 
 

It has been really warm at night this winter, I’m sure they really appreciate that.
 

Wow that’s really cool the licuala growing now. I would love to try those if I had space. Such a pretty Palm. I’m just a few neighborhoods west of you. 

[rockinrickyfox]

14 hours ago, SouthernCATropicals said:

Thank you😀

I would love to work towards that. If anything, the vigor of the biggest coconut makes it way more suitable for coastal California climate, so if it ever did fruit then I’d hope the resulting plants would have that vigor or maybe more. There isn’t frost here but achieving good healthy growth in lower temperatures is what makes this one special. The smaller green one lacks that vigor completely, it waited until the hottest part of summer to really grow again. That isn’t suitable for my climate.  The yellow one really isn’t a good candidate, but I think it’s just so pretty and unique haha. Plus since it’s in a pot, I have the ability to take better care of it

i wonder if those kanoa hawaii nuts would be similar to your big one. from what i've heard most famous cocos we know of in the state are descended from what vacationers bring back from hawaii. i know kyle has experience growing them here and tolerating the cold.  might be a cultivar worth trying out for future reference although i know you're probably out of space by now haha. im for sure going to take a crack at them in February i just want to wait for the days to get a bit longer. been a pretty warm winter so far.  

[SouthernCATropicals]

7 hours ago, rockinrickyfox said:

i wonder if those kanoa hawaii nuts would be similar to your big one. from what i've heard most famous cocos we know of in the state are descended from what vacationers bring back from hawaii. i know kyle has experience growing them here and tolerating the cold.  might be a cultivar worth trying out for future reference although i know you're probably out of space by now haha. 

There is certainly no place for them in ground, unless I took out a fruit tree in the front. I’m kinda over the taste of ice cream bean so that might be a candidate lol. I would definitely take on a Hawaiian coconut with a big coconut seed as well as a red spicada. Maybe I’ll look into ordering them like you in marchish. I’d keep them in big pots until they’re bursting out of them.
 

I think I need more coconuts to better understand the different types like you said hah.  Btw my insta username is the same, I grow other fruit trees.