Cocos nucifera - trials in the Coachella Valley

[mnorell]

I did a casual trial this last season with three types of coconut and--now that spring has sprung out here in the Palm Springs area--wanted to share the results, and see if anyone else has anything to report from any "desert Cocos" experiments this year? Please keep this thread going with some of your results!

BACKGROUND:

Last March I began ordering and planting some coconuts:

- Two just-sprouting Cocos from Miami, supposedly 'Panama/Pacific Tall' but when I received them, the three-pointed nosebeak indicated to me these were most likely either 'Jamaican Tall' (='Atlantic Tall') or perhaps a "PanJam" cross (though that is just speculation, as I don't know that cross's fruit look like). Although I'm keeping in mind their label when sold to me, I was surrounded by mature Jamaicans and Panamas in the Keys and I recognize these fruits as Jamaicans...so I'm going with "aff. Jamaican"

- Two just-sprouting coconuts from Puerto Rico, these were advertised as "King Coconuts," a somewhat squat, early and heavily bearing type. I believe what's usually referred to as "King Coconut" is from Sri Lanka or India and has deep green leaves and bright orange, smallish/medium-sized fruit. I was given one of these and planted it in the yard on Big Pine Key, but only got one fruit before we sold the house, and it didn't sprout. (I asked the Cuban-born guys on my arborist's crew, and they told me it was a 'Coco Indio.' They seemed quite confident in their opinion.) In any event, the pair I bought for this trial from Puerto Rico were very green and different from what I had in Keys landscape, so I just call them 'Puerto Rican King.'

- In early April I bought one two-gallon (3-4' O.H.) Cocos from a nursery in Miami, advertised as a 'Red Spicata.' It looks a lot like a Malayan Gold to my eye, and I was suspicious...my memory from Dave Romney's farm (where he grew his Spicatas in a segregated zone) were a deeper color...but I see others (including Meg in Cape Coral) with Red Spicatas and they are more golden/orange so I assume that's what I received. It definitely grows faster than the Gold Malayans I had planted in the Keys.

All five of these coconut palms were planted in more-or-less south-facing winter sun-traps, with partial to moderate canopy for summer, and all but two received a lot of winter sun...but all were in "winter-warm" positions. The 'aff. Jamaicans' and 'Puerto Rican Kings' were nuts with an eophyll just emerging but either no emergent root, or a barely emerging one. I planted them straight into the ground with the nut 1/2-to-3/4-ish above ground-level, as I would always do at my old garden in the Keys. I wanted to let them form their roots unmolested. I learned in the Keys that, while coconuts are very easy to rip out and replant somewhere, and recover amazingly well, those that are planted directly in situ from an unsprouted nut seem the fastest and strongest/most robust, and in general, the happiest.

For those of you outside of SoCal's low deserts...our winter was a few degrees above normal throughout December; then we had a cold, wet first half of January, with a somewhat warmer 2nd half. February was pretty much a rinse-and-repeat of January. Our lows here got down around 33.5F at 2m height one morning, with probably a half-dozen mornings in the 34-37 range. (Which means plants at ground level in open areas without canopy may have hit the freezing mark.) Otherwise mostly 40F-45F for a low, and anywhere in the 60s F for a high, with scattered days in the low 70s F. So probably about average overall for my area, I'm guessing just a degree or two cooler than average for the three-month period Dec-Feb overall, particularly for daily highs. It was miles better than last year, which was quite the chill-fest and in which I lost quite a number of juvenile plants I had put out (including a Malayan green coconut) in what I discovered to be a cold-air drain coming into a section of our rear yard. Some of that air runs around the house into the pool courtyard where I planted these coconuts, but our pool most likely neutralizes that as the air moves over it and in fact the pool may bring up the ambient for some of the planted areas by a degree or two (at most), but I haven't measured the exact temps in these beds. It appears that these beds with the Cocos definitely took low 30s at ground-level for one or several nights.

I tried to avoid watering any of these over the winter (though their roots may already be out and about scavenging at a little distance), and I have just started tossing them a little bit with the hose the last week or so. Substrate here is granitic alluvium, with organic and mineral amendments, but a fast-draining, sandy/chunky quality predominates.

Photographs below were taken today, 10 March 2024.

aff. Jamaican:

No. 1 was planted in the shadier spot of the two aff. Jamaicans. The plant didn't grow as tall as its more sun-basking twin, but also kept a deep, rich green color over winter, while the other did a slight "caramel blanch” but not really bad at all. Both put on four leaves last season; and both of these I would rank as top performers among the three I trialed this year, and they have continued to push (slowly) through warm periods this winter and maintained a very good winter appearance. Note in the photos below the "pinch" on the fruit that (to me) tells me these are likely Jamaican Talls.

aff. Jamaican No. 1:


aff. Jamaican No 2:



Puerto Rican Kings:

These were a complete disappointment. It is a type I've never seen before, the nut is smallish, pretty round, and the juvenile leaves also are fairly small for Cocos, and solid green. Both of these specimens made it through January and then melted...all leaves crispy brown. The remaining green spear that was left on both was brown by the end of February. Because all of these received the same culture and had the same overall baseline, I take this as a strong indicator that there is indeed a wide variation in cold- and cool-hardiness among the various types of Cocos nucifera.

No. 1:


No. 2:



Red Spicata:

This grew robustly last year, and I allowed it to go right into pretty strong sun. It grew rather quickly and robustly. It went into winter with six leaves. There was a little sunburn on some of the leaves, and because I let it have the strongest winter/low-altitude sun, the juvenile bifid leaves also blanched somewhat and burned at the tips. Some of the burn may be cold-related as this was fairly exposed (no winter canopy) and no doubt got right down around 32-34F I'm assuming the blanching and any sunburn will diminish as the tree gets larger, fully pinnate and self-shading; and once I have more canopy. Like the aff. Jamaicans, it pushed through warm periods this winter and is once again growing. Performance I would rank as excellent...it is obviously a very strong plant...but winter appearance is fairly ragged in its first year. Again, hopefully this will improve.

[Jadd Correia]

I appreciate everything about this post. The thoughtful breakdown of each type grown, emphasis on southern exposure for winter months with eventual canopy protection. Keep up the solid work and updates.

[DoomsDave]

@mnorell thank you for this post! We’ll be foaming at the mouth for news, as it develops, good or bad.

[kylecawazafla]

Wow! I missed this post! I will let you know updates of my coconuts in El Centro, CA! Unfortunately I don't live here full time, and the person who waters them in the summer frequently forgets (they're planted at my work since I don't have a place) so can't control the watering as well as I'd like. 

[kylecawazafla]

I had two survive beautifully for one summer and two winters, but the second summer they weren't watered  were about 4 feet tall. They were both from a local grower on the big island. I am now trying two more from the same source in the ground in an area where they hopefully won't shut off of the water randomly. They've already spend one summer and one winter in pots.

[bubba]

I believe Michael has the master’s touch together with the location/ climate that will deliver Cocos nucifera to California. His background in the Florida Keys combined with his long-term California background are important factors. Add to that his time in Natchez, Miss., where he worked with a much colder climate, he has got the chops!

[mnorell]

Kyle, please post and keep us updated on your Cocos in El Centro. We know that they've been grown in Mexicali successfully to fairly large size and you're all of 15 miles away from there.  I'm sure we would all love to see your success, as well as anyone else in this zone.

And thanks for the kind words, Keith, though I feel even after five years rather like a newbie trying these in this desert environment, since I am originally from the much cooler climes of San Diego and L.A....and I've already lost quite a few Cocos here in that time through bad placement, etc. So I'm becoming keenly aware of the shortcomings of this area as compared to the insanely easy cultivation of Cocos I enjoyed in the Keys, a far cry from anything we can hope for out west. At least we have proof that it has been done before in the Coachella Valley, and I enjoy this sort of challenge...to get something in the right combination of variety/cultivar, soil composition, and placement/canopy conditions that can a) survive and carry a decent crown of leaves; and b) have maximum attractiveness for the greatest part of the year. 

Cocos are pretty at any age, easy to procure, fairly inexpensive, and fast in heat; and thus, if they are an annual, or only survive a few years...so be it. But I do feel that there are one or more forms out there that are going to prove themselves to be amenable to culture here. I have two new coconuts in the ground, one is an additional Jamaican and the other is a humongous (large football) fruit that I bought from a vendor in Maui (they don't know what it is). I will post updates in the near future on the second-year plants (all three of which are progressing) as well as these new ones...so please, other like-minded desert denizens, plant away and document your results!

[bubba]

Michael, 

There are very few, if any, with your diversity of experience and knowledge! There is no question that the desert region of California presents the best opportunity for Cocos nucifera, as it has already demonstrated. I look forward to your concentrated efforts on this fun project that I am certain you will undertake with aplomb.

[mnorell]

I don't know that I could ever live up to that commendation, Keith...we have a lot of very diverse, very experienced and very talented growers on this site and in this society...and the only thing I suspect after about 40 years of doing this (in a number of rather crazy places, always confounded by freezes, hurricanes) without giving up...is that I must be mentally ill! I just wish there were more of us out here in this hellfire valley who could do their own takes on finding the right combination.

While we have the more challenging near-coastal "Zone 23" area in the capable and very successful hands of GottmitAlex plus a few other brave souls, I'm hoping that some of our very knowledgeable colleagues out in Arizona will take up this idea and start testing as many types of Cocos as can be procured in favored areas of the Phoenix metro, Yuma, etc...since some of our very perceptive scouts have located at least two very nice coconut specimens in that area, at least one of them being grown by (if I remember correctly) average folks who just--a la La Quinta--planted a souvenir coconut and it prospered, sans any of this fancy Palm Society technique. We need someone who loves trialing "impossible" things in the ground and has succeeded admirably in the AZ section of the Sonoran desert (Yoo-hoo to Bottle Palm Scott @aztropic and the rest of the Wild Bunch...I know there are quite a few of you).

Onwards and sideways!

[bubba]

Your self-effacing commentary is predictable! There certainly are many areas in the desert region that are likely suspects. My money is on you notwithstanding your modest caricature.

If the La Quinta Coconut can spring into being without a master, anything is possible in the right micro-climate in your desert region. Would love to see Az or Silas get excited about this. The sight of Coconut palms against those beautiful desert mountains would be boldacious.

[DoomsDave]

On 6/5/2024 at 5:52 AM, bubba said:

Your self-effacing commentary is predictable! There certainly are many areas in the desert region that are likely suspects. My money is on you notwithstanding your modest caricature.

If the La Quinta Coconut can spring into being without a master, anything is possible in the right micro-climate in your desert region. Would love to see Az or Silas get excited about this. The sight of Coconut palms against those beautiful desert mountains would be boldacious.

Considering all the other places coconuts grow, too, including Saudi Arabia. So, a little desert heat won't hurt them.

[DoomsDave]

Coconuts are a lot more adaptable than I thought.

Below is the picture of a specimen an old guy in Irvine gave me back in January 2020. He'd grown it for like 20 years in his thumbnail apartment, kept a bit overheated, in that time-honored old-guy style, which I think was why it grew. He gave it away because he was moving to Colorado; I'll bet he could have kept it going there, too, in another hot old-guy apartment, though its size eventually would have gotten awkward.

If he'd posted here asking if you could grow one in the house, I might have told him don't bother. GOOD THING HE DIDN'T ASK ME!

That thing was a ravishing beauty! There's so many lessons in this whole deal, my poor brain is spinning.

[mnorell]

I'm very impressed with that house-plant. I certainly can't keep a coconut alive (well, I probably can't keep ANYTHING alive for long) as a houseplant. I love that he even got the curved trunk going. Dave, as you are usually wont to say, "Swoon!" Have you thought about committing it to the warmest spot in the ground you have open? (Though somehow I suspect that you, like most of us, have already assigned the sweet-spots long ago.) Just think, it could be the beginning of the Legendary La Habra Coconut!

The one big negative in the desert (as well as a dry house environment) with Cocos is that the leaf-bases just don't want to fall off like they do in a humid subtropical/tropical environment. Not that a little elbow-grease wouldn't solve that problem. They peel Washingtonias and even Trachycarpus, which must both be a more difficult task...

[bubba]

Got to love the “Legendary La Habra Coconut”. Another grand master showing chops!

[DoomsDave]

1 minute ago, mnorell said:

I'm very impressed with that house-plant. I certainly can't keep a coconut alive (well, I probably can't keep ANYTHING alive for long) as a houseplant. I love that he even got the curved trunk going. Dave, as you are usually wont to say, "Swoon!" Have you thought about committing it to the warmest spot in the ground you have open? (Though somehow I suspect that you, like most of us, have already assigned the sweet-spots long ago.) Just think, it could be the beginning of the Legendary La Habra Coconut!

The one big negative in the desert (as well as a dry house environment) with Cocos is that the leaf-bases just don't want to fall off like they do in a humid subtropical/tropical environment. Not that a little elbow-grease wouldn't solve that problem. They peel Washingtonias and even Trachycarpus, which must both be a more difficult task...

Alas, the poor thing died.

It was featured as a freebie in the forum and a Palm Talker got it, but I think tried to transplant it too soon even in his greenhouse. The reason I didn't keep it is because I'm certain my winter temps would have killed it. That's the big thing I've gleaned so far from information I've gotten here. The guy who had it had a hot apartment. I can't afford to keep my house that hot.

I'll bet you'd have a better shot in the desert than I would at least in the winter.

[DoomsDave]

Just now, bubba said:

Got to love the “Legendary La Habra Coconut”. Another grand master showing chops!

Alas, the Denizen of the Death Camp decided he couldn't keep it. Too cold for me. It died for the guy I gave it to.

The old guy in Irvine had other palms that the Palm Talker took and they grew for him. Coconuts can be tricky, but if I get to be old enough to get dispensation to have an overheated house or apartment I might try one as a houseplant.

[mnorell]

Dave, I think you should try sprinkling more Cocos seeds at your magical garden in La Habra. The nicest one I've seen in the OC (maybe the whole coast, along with Alex in Tijuana) is the Santa Ana coconut. Aren't you even a little bit warmer than Santa Ana?

[DoomsDave]

1 minute ago, mnorell said:

Dave, I think you should try sprinkling more Cocos seeds at your magical garden in La Habra. The nicest one I've seen in the OC (maybe the whole coast, along with Alex in Tijuana) is the Santa Ana coconut. Aren't you even a little bit warmer than Santa Ana?

OKAY!

I might try. Thinking about it, maybe up against my infamous Earthquake Wall for some extra winter heat.

[mnorell]

That's the spirit we expect from DoomsDave! Veni, Vidi, Vici!

[DoomsDave]

20 hours ago, mnorell said:

That's the spirit we expect from DoomsDave! Veni, Vidi, Vici!

Well, realistically, it's likely to be Mortem Mmortem et Mortem (Death, Death and more Death) at least as far as coconuts go.

 

BUT, maybe some sandy soil on a mound i.e. the "Saintluciei Treatment" might work, at least for a few seasons.

[mnorell]

You never know...nothing ventured, nothing gained (sorry, I have to stop with these aphorisms)...but Alex has shown (and it's the same here in the desert by default) that sand is a godsend, and i do think south or west-facing in the coastal plain is going to be the ticket. And the variety you use may very well have a big impact. As you probably know, it seems the successes have tended toward the "Hawai'ian Tall" type that people have brought back from their vacations. I would add that the Jamaican Tall (I'm pretty sure it's that) that I bought as a Panama Tall from a company in Miami has done the best for me out here, at least in the heat/cold of the desert, your mileage may vary greatly of course in La Habra, and there are a lot of types of Cocos out there to be tried, so take your pick and spin the wheel!

[bubba]

You guys don’t need any stinking coconuts but I suspect you will! Remember what you ask for…

[DoomsDave]

1 hour ago, mnorell said:

You never know...nothing ventured, nothing gained (sorry, I have to stop with these aphorisms)...but Alex has shown (and it's the same here in the desert by default) that sand is a godsend, and i do think south or west-facing in the coastal plain is going to be the ticket. And the variety you use may very well have a big impact. As you probably know, it seems the successes have tended toward the "Hawai'ian Tall" type that people have brought back from their vacations. I would add that the Jamaican Tall (I'm pretty sure it's that) that I bought as a Panama Tall from a company in Miami has done the best for me out here, at least in the heat/cold of the desert, your mileage may vary greatly of course in La Habra, and there are a lot of types of Cocos out there to be tried, so take your pick and spin the wheel!

That variety from Hawaii might be a thought. The guy out in Palm Springs who hosted us had one, and Hawaii gets cool for quite a while. Though, I recall going to places just up from the shore where it got and stayed too cool for too long and coconuts were conspicuously absent.

Hmmm.

[mnorell]

Seeing as we're at the end of 2025, I am posting the current condition of my coco-test here in the Palm Springs area. I see I never posted one at the end of last year, mea culpa. So I'll bring it up to date.

Of my newer specimens, only one was a new type...the large "football cocos" from Kanoa Hawai'i received in April 2024 that I noted above. It grew from a nut with eophyll to a six-foot plant in one season, absolutely beautiful and amazing, but during last winter the central spear started to dry out..followed out by the whole plant. So...strike-out on that one...

In spring of 2024 I added another Jamaican Tall (sold as a Panama from the same source as the others, Let's Grow Florida), planted in a protected jungle glade under canopy, facing southeast but under quite dark but slightly dappled shade most of the time. I've labeled this one as aff. Jamaican No. 3. This I planted next to the spot I had placed the now-dead "giant football" Cocos, but this one has thrived and has excellent appearance.

The older aff. Jamaicans No. 1 and 2 have done well. Very similar to the other two I have in an adjacent area under slightly more sunlight. All of these have good appearance now, a couple did throw a stunted leaf after their first winter but I think this has lessened now. All of these coconuts put on about 3-1/2 leaves this past season.

The supposed red spicata I purchased from Eureka Farms in Miami has much better appearance this year, and also put on 3-1/2 leaves or so this year. This one really does not want the strong horizontal sun during heat waves in fall. The two leaves facing that direction did yellow from this exposure, however, the other large leaf, which faces north, looks perfectly healthy.

I added another red spicata this last summer and it is not yet planted, though I have it in more sun, southeast exposure, in the general area I plan to plant it this coming spring. It looks a little ragged after being grasshopper food for a while, exposure to sun from its probable greenhouse origins, etc. So I will photograph that one in 2026 once I have it in place.

All in all, I can say that these two varieties have persisted and seem to be improving in appearance and show no real upset with winter cold or lots of shade. In fact, they really look much better in a good amount of shade. Perhaps (and this I will test with the newer spicata) conditioning in more sun during summer will prevent the sun-scorch that the spicata has shown in fall.

Current photos taken within the last month:

Presumed Jamaican talls:

aff. Jamaican No. 1:



aff. Jamaican No. 2:


aff. Jamaican No. 3 (planted spring 2024):

Red Spicata No. 1:

 

[mlovecan]

Interesting what your take is on those Pacific Talls from Let's Grow Florida. I bought and imported two of those coconuts and I am growing them here in Southern Greece.

Green Malayans Dwarfs are grown to about 1.5 - 2m in a massive greenhouse up in the Netherlands and sold as temporary landscaping / temporary houseplants all over Europe in large quantities. Ikea sells (we finally get an Ikea here on my island this spring) what appears to be a Yellow Malayan Dwarf and, somehow, examples of these are managing to make it through multiple Mediterranean winters - even colder ones than mine. 

We were supposed to go to Jamaica October 30th and I had plans to bring back a Jamaican Tall and a couple of Maypans but the vacation got cancelled when Melissa struck 2 days before,  so we ended up in Thailand instead. It would be nice to have had a Jamaican Tall and been able to compare to what I have from Let's Grow Florida - I've been to Jamaica several times but never really paid that much attention to coconut shapes until recently.

That said, I am extremely pleased with whatever these two cocos are as they happliy take full sun during our hot and arid summers (>45C / 113F) and came out remarkably green and intact compared to the sun-battered and yellowed Green Malayans Dwarfs I've been playing with over the years. I've only recently been able to get the dwarfs through winter by keeping them in pots and giving them shade in the summer and full sun in the winter, with the intention of putting them into the ground when they can take the sun. Though, I'm not sure the dwarfs ever will. They really are wimps. 

Our winter has been warmer than usual. We have had daily highs of >20C (68F) up until about 3 days ago. I marked the spears for the first time on all three cocos last Monday and was surprised they all put on some growth since then. My Malayan Green pushed its' spear about 1 cm (.4 inches) but the Talls only pushed about 2 or 3mm. In summer time, the Talls clearly grew at a faster rate than my dwarf.

Coconut diversity is definitely the key to finding a coconut that works with a particular climate. Only this spring I learned I can bring coconuts into the European Union without any need for pytosanitary certificates, so I want to get my hands on as many different varietie as possible. When spring comes and I am sure there is no chance of coconuts freezing to death waiting to change planes up in Frankfurt, I will be bringing a bit more variety of cocos from India. An exporter there sells sprouted coconuts for 0.15 eur each. Looks like he gathers all extras from farmers in his area and, as you can see, there seeems to be no lack of diversity:     

[Than]

Can't believe I hadn't seen this post so far. @mnorell the way you structure your description of your cocos experiment is perfect. Step by step, with all the necessary info, to the point.. great source of knowledge. I bet you had good grades in writing at school!

 

 

 

[mnorell]

9 hours ago, mlovecan said:

Interesting what your take is on those Pacific Talls from Let's Grow Florida. I bought and imported two of those coconuts and I am growing them here in Southern Greece.

Green Malayans Dwarfs are grown to about 1.5 - 2m in a massive greenhouse up in the Netherlands and sold as temporary landscaping / temporary houseplants all over Europe in large quantities. Ikea sells (we finally get an Ikea here on my island this spring) what appears to be a Yellow Malayan Dwarf and, somehow, examples of these are managing to make it through multiple Mediterranean winters - even colder ones than mine. 

We were supposed to go to Jamaica October 30th and I had plans to bring back a Jamaican Tall and a couple of Maypans but the vacation got cancelled when Melissa struck 2 days before,  so we ended up in Thailand instead. It would be nice to have had a Jamaican Tall and been able to compare to what I have from Let's Grow Florida - I've been to Jamaica several times but never really paid that much attention to coconut shapes until recently.

That said, I am extremely pleased with whatever these two cocos are as they happliy take full sun during our hot and arid summers (>45C / 113F) and came out remarkably green and intact compared to the sun-battered and yellowed Green Malayans Dwarfs I've been playing with over the years. I've only recently been able to get the dwarfs through winter by keeping them in pots and giving them shade in the summer and full sun in the winter, with the intention of putting them into the ground when they can take the sun. Though, I'm not sure the dwarfs ever will. They really are wimps. 

Our winter has been warmer than usual. We have had daily highs of >20C (68F) up until about 3 days ago. I marked the spears for the first time on all three cocos last Monday and was surprised they all put on some growth since then. My Malayan Green pushed its' spear about 1 cm (.4 inches) but the Talls only pushed about 2 or 3mm. In summer time, the Talls clearly grew at a faster rate than my dwarf.

Coconut diversity is definitely the key to finding a coconut that works with a particular climate. Only this spring I learned I can bring coconuts into the European Union without any need for pytosanitary certificates, so I want to get my hands on as many different varietie as possible. When spring comes and I am sure there is no chance of coconuts freezing to death waiting to change planes up in Frankfurt, I will be bringing a bit more variety of cocos from India. An exporter there sells sprouted coconuts for 0.15 eur each. Looks like he gathers all extras from farmers in his area and, as you can see, there seeems to be no lack of diversity:     

Maurice, I am pretty certain the Let's Grow Florida "Panama/Pacific Talls" are actually Jamaican/Atlantic Talls due to the pinched "beak" that is not a general feature of Panamas. We had many of both types growing on our property in the Florida Keys and so I'm fairly certain of this distinction. Both types have a significant bole and tend to lean and curve due to their large, heavy crowns pushing them over somewhat. But the Panama has a distinctive nut-shape, notable even up on the tree. And the Jamaican virtually always has that distinctive tri-corner beak. There are also notable color differences in the petiole between those two. When I lived in the Florida Keys, the Panama was such an incredible grower for me (one raced upward to about 25' overall height from I think a 7-gallon in 2-1/2 years). Meanwhile, the Jamaicans are just very slow as juveniles, at least they were for me in the Keys. The Panamas would outrun them from seed in no time.

I'm frustrated that I have not been able to get any true Panamas for trial here. I think that their naturally fast growth might make them better candidates, if they can handle the winter season, as compared to the slower Malayan Gold, Jamaican, et al. But the Jamaicans seem to have more hardiness, at least here in the Palm Springs area. But there is a caveat in that I gave a Jamaican seed to Keith Zimmerman (Zeeth) when he visited my garden in the Keys and he planted it in west-central Florida among other established Jamaicans, and he said it was nowhere near as winter-hardy as the climate-selected Jamaican old-growth coconuts that were established there. So provenance is probably worth considering as a factor when you're sourcing your seeds.

The Malayan Gold we had in the Keys was a nice tree that bore lots of fruit, but it was fairly slow. The worst thing was that the leaves would blanche or burn in winter even in that warm climate. And the whiteflies for some reason just loved that one over the other types. I haven't searched for it here in California because of my experiences with it in Florida...although I believe Alex in Tijuana had success with that type. I planted a couple of Green Malayans here when we bought this house, and they both died, but I think that was because I was going back and forth between coasts at the time and I stupidly planted them in full sun with inconsistent watering, so I can't make any claim to winter-hardiness here for that type. They were strong growers for me in the Keys, especially the volunteers from our trees, they were quite fast and robust (a quality possibly explained by out-crossing).

It's great that you can import coconuts freely to the EU...from my reading and some posts here in the past, it looks like two of the most promising candidates are the types cultivated in Southern China (such as the Hainan Tall) and also the one commonly grown in upland/inland/northern areas of India, and hopefully that's the same one you'll be getting from your vendor there. I hope you can locate some of these difficult-to-source types and give us some positive reports from your garden!

[mlovecan]

I came across Hainans in Indian websites just once and have not found the vendor again. It's quite possible they are commonly known as something else. The Maypan is referred to as Mawa, for example.

I have been told Rajasthan was a location in India where cold hardy coconuts were required. However when I looked into it further, I found they grew varieties from all over India with technique being more important than variety.

I really have my doubts I will obtain any purebread variety at all in India. I saw some real interesting photos of quite specialized government-developed ones on Amazon.in and got a bit excited. However, when I read the reviews, it was not unusual to see something like "this is not variety X, I know the variety and this is not it". If I can't get a pure variety from the US, I guess I shouldn't really expect a pure variety from India. That said, whatever variety / hybrid I bought from LetsgoFlorida likes my climate, so I am happy. Your description of the nut matches the two I have.

So, I plan to just buy a box of the different shaped ones from the photo above in Spring and hope for some surprises.

I don't know why the Gold Malay Dwarfs are doing so well in the Mediterranean region as it is known to be more cold-tolerant than the Green Dwarf but OMG, the success is shocking. The "new" one discovered recently in Paphos (an identical climate to mine) looks so bloody good I had to go locate it on streetview before I believed it wasn't a hoax. It's absolutely flawless. The woman who planted it just took it home from Ikea and threw it into the ground. It has a gentle slope, next to the house facing south with a small cement wall at the top of the slope and not far away - all favourable but nothing radical was designed to protect it or anything. The Spanish one records much colder temps than my location. He planted two and one has survived 4 or 5 years.

My attitude now is to just locate more varieties and see what works. Definitely more than cheap enough out of India. Even Amazon ones can cost just one or two dollars. Working with a single variety - the Green Malay Dwarf is not the answer as hundreds are sold every year just on my island and we have several promising microclimates. I'm not aware of any accidental succeses. Tens of thousands are produced evey year by the man in Netherlands and he is not aware of any success other than ones sent to the Canary Islands. Interestingly, he recently started germinating and selling the gold ones as well. None have made it to the one store that has his coconuts on my island.  I'm in there all the time and have only seen the green ones. So far. 

[mlovecan]

This one is not buried as deeply as the other I have. But it looks identical to the one you refer to as "Jamaica no. 2"

[mlovecan]

(in your March 11 2024 post, that is)

[kylecawazafla]

That's too bad to hear about the Kanoa Coconuts! The ones I got for El Centro, CA, handled the winters without problems before they dried out in the summer when the water was cut off. I just visited the La Quinta, CA, coconut a few days ago... it's seen better days! 

[kylecawazafla]

Does anyone know where this coconut came from in Palm Desert, CA? It even fruited but was sadly cut down. 

[mlovecan]

I think I read before it was a Hawaii tall.

[mnorell]

10 hours ago, kylecawazafla said:

That's too bad to hear about the Kanoa Coconuts! The ones I got for El Centro, CA, handled the winters without problems before they dried out in the summer when the water was cut off. I just visited the La Quinta, CA, coconut a few days ago... it's seen better days! 

I don't think anyone knows what variety that gorgeous palm in Palm Desert (senselessly murdered) might have been...but I do remember reading that the La Quinta coconut was brought back from Hawai'i, assuming it was a "Hawai'i Tall," though that may be a faulty presumption since many types exist in the islands...also I believe there is controversy over giving the most common tall Hawai'ian type a varietal name, since some think they are a form known under a different name originally. 

Kyle, I am surprised to see the La Quinta coconut looking so ragged. I think that one always suffers sometimes at the end of the cold season and sometimes the end of the hot season, but we've been quite mild for months now, with no extreme cold (a low of 40F at my house so far, which is usually (though not always) within a degree or two of the La Quinta coconut's location. Perhaps there is also a water issue? I drove by that palm a few months ago and while it wasn't looking great it was definitely better looking than this new photo you took. I think that Cocos are really at their best with a bit of shade at the height of the day in the low desert, and of course the La Quinta is in sun for the vast majority of the day, which can be a brutal punishment. Mine certainly maintain a very good appearance under shade, and they don't really seem to suffer in winter here without heavy sun-exposure.

That's also very interesting about your experience with the Kanoa coconuts. But did you receive any with the fruit like a huge football? The person at Kanoa told me they just send whatever is ready, and they don't really pay attention to which variety...as it sounded like they collect them from a plantation of mixed types. But while not 100% positive, I'm pretty sure chill was the culprit in its demise.