I Need Coconuts!

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

Hello Everyone,

I live in Texas, and I am a coconut palm fanatic. I hope to be moving to the Brownsville area (Zone 10A) soon, and I need a source of coconuts. I am especially looking for good viable nuts of the golden and yellow Malayan as well as the Maypan. I am also interested in any sprouts of these varieties that anyone may have. Please let me know the shipping cost.

Thanks,

John

P.S. You can reach me at: mr.coconutpalm@yahoo.com

[Tyrone]

Hi Mr Coconut Palm,

Welcome to Palmtalk. I love your name. I once was considering "Mr Coconuts" as my online name, after a monkey in The Simpsons, but stuck with my own name in the end. We have a common interest in the coconut palm. I'm sorry I can't help you out with your request though. I'm trying to grow a Golden Dwarf Malay here in Perth Australia.

Best regards

Tyrone

[John in Andalucia]

I'm wanting to grow at least one this summer, but my only local source is the supermarket variety, and they always end up splitting badly. I need a proper one with exocarp/mesocarp intact. So come on, someone here is watching them wash up on the shoreline, or knows where to pick them up intact, so put me down for one!

[spockvr6]

John-

Your best bet might be to try ordering through your local Home Depot. If they can order for you, you can get green/yellow Malayans in 3 gallon size for $10-12.

[Xavierdlc61887]

only in florida do u get those prices larry

[fastfeat]

John--

USPS will mail coconuts (with husk) within the Continental US for about $3-4 first-class mail if you write the addresses directly on the husk. I sent a bunch of these as cheap Xmas gifts to friends and family on the west coast last year. They thought it was really cool to get a coconut in the mail!

If you can't find any local sources, send me your address via PM and I can probably find you some good, unsprouted ones to send your way. No guarantees on germination, but viable ones are pretty easy to get here.

[John in Andalucia]

Ken,

Sending you a PM (he's fast, he's good, there's nothing he can't do - he's FASTFEAT!! wooo-hoooo!! )

[Tad]

the problem with cocnuts in south Texas, even in brownsville or on the island is THEY WILL FREEZE!!

[Jim in Los Altos]

They've got lots of sprouted cocos at my local OSH store for $12.00 but the variety is not on their labels. I've seen them on occasion at Lowe's and the Home Depot for roughly the same price.

[osideterry]

I love coconuts so much I'm growing anything that remotely resembles one. (Beccariophoenix, Parajubaea torallyi and sunka, Phoenix rupicola, Dypsis leptocheilos, Howea forsteriana...) But not a coconut. As palmotrafficante once so eloquently put it, "THEY WILL FREEZE!!"

[Jon North Padre Island]

I have never seen a coconut for sale in south Texas where the sellers knew the variety.

And regarding the comments of my friend palmotrafficante (vide supra), what will not freeze under the proper conditions. However, coconuts grow fast and if they freeze, grow another one.

That said, I would not put all of my palms in the same basket. That is, if all you are going to grow in Brownsville is a collection of coconuts, you are going to get hurt occasionally. So, put a few, more cold hardy species among the coconuts so there will be some vegetation left after the occasional freeze. The last serious freeze in south Texas was 1989 if I am not mistaken.

[Tad]

I have a coconut of the golden variety, it grows well in the summer and suffers through the winter, and I know it is living on borrowed time. Hell here in the valley royals are a better bet than cocnuts. you might sell a few but you will have a hard time getting any real money for them, they sorta shut down and dont grow during our mild winters, developers here in the valley are the cheapest in the world and have no desire to invest in quality landscaping, thats why most growers here sell 90% of their product out of town, ala houston,austin,dallas,san antonio,el paso,lake charles etc, etc, etc, getting seed that are not certified ly free, and bringing another round of ly to the valley, boy thats sure nice like we dont have enough problems with asian scale the red palm mite and fusarium, all thanks to idiots who import crap from places they shouldnt. not naming any names CUBAN MAFIA IN HOMESTEAD:) ooooo get some citrus trees shipped in too so we get canker and greening....ahhh and now the chance to jump on old palmo, "oh there are 20 foot tall coconuts in harlingen and los fresnos,and brownsville and the island." 20 foot overall been there for a while and always sorta look like they just got kicked in the groin. I hope you do it, I hope ya make a bazillion dollars and proove me wrong! I hope you have all the succes in the world with your coconut farm, I just dont personally see it happening. all this is my opinion and we know that it aint worth squat!

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

I have a coconut of the golden variety, it grows well in the summer and suffers through the winter, and I know it is living on borrowed time. Hell here in the valley royals are a better bet than cocnuts. you might sell a few but you will have a hard time getting any real money for them, they sorta shut down and dont grow during our mild winters, developers here in the valley are the cheapest in the world and have no desire to invest in quality landscaping, thats why most growers here sell 90% of their product out of town, ala houston,austin,dallas,san antonio,el paso,lake charles etc, etc, etc, getting seed that are not certified ly free, and bringing another round of ly to the valley, boy thats sure nice like we dont have enough problems with asian scale the red palm mite and fusarium, all thanks to idiots who import crap from places they shouldnt. not naming any names CUBAN MAFIA IN HOMESTEAD:) ooooo get some citrus trees shipped in too so we get canker and greening....ahhh and now the chance to jump on old palmo, "oh there are 20 foot tall coconuts in harlingen and los fresnos,and brownsville and the island." 20 foot overall been there for a while and always sorta look like they just got kicked in the groin. I hope you do it, I hope ya make a bazillion dollars and proove me wrong! I hope you have all the succes in the world with your coconut farm, I just dont personally see it happening. all this is my opinion and we know that it aint worth squat!

Thanks to all of you who wrote back to me. I appreciate the info. I am just wanting to start a small niche nursery on the side while I teach full time. I will also do small scale residential landscaping too, since I have exerience as a landscaping supervisor, with palms being my specialty. Whenever my wife and I are able to buy a home in the

Brownsville area, I plan on having several varieties of coconut palm in the yard, including the Hawaiian Tall, which is one of the most beautiful (petiole color of a golden Malayan, but curved trunk with bowl of a tall variety and VERY FAST GROWING- about 5ft. per year once in the ground). I also plan on planting a couple of royals, queens, dates, foxtails, the old standby robustas, a couple of native sabals, and whatever else I have room for. As far as working for me goes, in the beginning, it will just be my wife and I, but as I start getting more clients, I am sure I will need some help, especially with the landscaping. If anybody knows of any 3br, 2ba hmes with 1.5-2 acres in the Brownsville/Los Fresnos area for sale for under $75,000, please let me know.

As far as coconut palms freezing in the Rio Grande Valley, on January 1, 2001 the overnight low temperature in Homestead, FL south of Miami, dropped to 28F! I know because I was living in Coral Springs,FL at the time. That was a bad winter that really hurt the tropical horticulture industry down there and just about wiped out the sugarcane industry there. As stated above, the last major coconut killing freeze to hit the Valley was in 1989, so why not plant these beautiful palms there? I have been told be longtime residents of the Valley that coconut palms were quite common there in the 1970's.

As far as bringing in LY susceptible varieties goes, it's too late, the Valley has had lethal yellowing off and on in the date palms there for decades. Besides LY has not been the epidemic in the Valley that it has been in the Caribbean and South Florida. I don't think we have too much to worry about, especially if people start planting a wide variety of coconut and other palms, mixing in resistant varieties with the more susceptible ones.

Anyway, here is my email address: mr.coconutpalm@yahoo.com I can also be contacted on weekends at (813) 777-9624 and during the week at (979) 779-8504. My mailing address is John Purcell, 1416 E. William J. Bryan Pkwy., Bryan, TX 77803 for anyone who has access to viable coconuts they could ship to me. I will pay for the cost of shipping as long as its not outrageous.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

John--

USPS will mail coconuts (with husk) within the Continental US for about $3-4 first-class mail if you write the addresses directly on the husk. I sent a bunch of these as cheap Xmas gifts to friends and family on the west coast last year. They thought it was really cool to get a coconut in the mail!

If you can't find any local sources, send me your address via PM and I can probably find you some good, unsprouted ones to send your way. No guarantees on germination, but viable ones are pretty easy to get here.

Fastfeat,

Thanks, here's my contact info: mr.coconutpalm@yahoo.com (979) 779-8504 or (813) 777-9624 (weekends only- yes it is a Tampa cell phone sent to me by my son for my birthday so I can talk to him for free, but I only get free airtime on it after 9:00 at night and on the weekends), and here is my mailing address: John Purcell, 1416 E. William J. Bryan Pkwy.,

Bryan, TX 77803.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

Hi Mr Coconut Palm,

Welcome to Palmtalk. I love your name. I once was considering "Mr Coconuts" as my online name, after a monkey in The Simpsons, but stuck with my own name in the end. We have a common interest in the coconut palm. I'm sorry I can't help you out with your request though. I'm trying to grow a Golden Dwarf Malay here in Perth Australia.

Best regards

Tyrone

Thanks, I thought it would be a good name for an email contact for my nursery when I get it stared. Since I am not up on the metric system, can you tell me what your normal lowest temp is in Farenheit during the winter, and what your annual average temp is? Good luck with the golden Malayan. They are pretty, just remember to keep it fertilized with a good palm fetlizer with micronutrients 3-4 times per year, and a layer of mulch about about two inches deep around it will help cut down on weed problems and add organic matter to the soil. Remember, never use any kind of weed killer near coconut palms or any palm for that matter.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

I have never seen a coconut for sale in south Texas where the sellers knew the variety.

And regarding the comments of my friend palmotrafficante (vide supra), what will not freeze under the proper conditions. However, coconuts grow fast and if they freeze, grow another one.

That said, I would not put all of my palms in the same basket. That is, if all you are going to grow in Brownsville is a collection of coconuts, you are going to get hurt occasionally. So, put a few, more cold hardy species among the coconuts so there will be some vegetation left after the occasional freeze. The last serious freeze in south Texas was 1989 if I am not mistaken.

Hey Jon,

Do you know the variety of coconut palms you have in your yard? What is your normal lowest temp each winter at North Padre? I estimated the normal lowest at South Padre to be around 35 or 36, which puts it in Zone 10B! Why they don't grow more coconut palms there, I don't know. They just need some supplemetal watering and would do great there, especially if given a little fertilizer. There is a man I met there that has a lot of influence on the island who is wanting to get the coconut palm started as a regular landscaping palm, so hopefully with my help, they will be quite numerous there in a few years.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

I'm wanting to grow at least one this summer, but my only local source is the supermarket variety, and they always end up splitting badly. I need a proper one with exocarp/mesocarp intact. So come on, someone here is watching them wash up on the shoreline, or knows where to pick them up intact, so put me down for one!

Hi princeofpalms,

What is your normal lowest temp there in Farenheit each winter and what is the normal high and low temp there in January? If your normal lowest is 30F or above and you have normal daytime highs and lows in January of at least 67F in the day and 50F at night, then a coconut palm should do alright there, especiall an Atlantic Tall variety, since the tall varieties are slightly more cold hardy than the dwarf varieties. If you can make a trip to the Canary Islands, just bring back some coconuts or even some sprouted nuts from there. I have seen some photos of some beautiful coconut palms in the western part of the Canary Islands. I don't think they do well in the eastern Canaries because it is too dry there.

John

[Tad]

purcell, your an ag inspectors dream come true! good luck!

[John in Andalucia]

Hi princeofpalms,

What is your normal lowest temp there in Fahrenheit each winter and what is the normal high and low temp there in January? If your normal lowest is 30F or above and you have normal daytime highs and lows in January of at least 67F in the day and 50F at night, then a coconut palm should do alright there, especially an Atlantic Tall variety, since the tall varieties are slightly more cold hardy than the dwarf varieties. If you can make a trip to the Canary Islands, just bring back some coconuts or even some sprouted nuts from there. I have seen some photos of some beautiful coconut palms in the western part of the Canary Islands. I don't think they do well in the eastern Canaries because it is too dry there.

John

Hi John,

Lowest temp here is around 40F, but only for a few hours overnight for a few weeks in Winter. The usual, sustained low over Winter is around 45F. Jan high average I'd say is between 60 & 65F. I don't really get the chance to travel but I know there are coconuts growing in the Canaries - just don't know anyone who lives there who might send me one. As you can see from the temps, it's borderline here, what with the low humidity, but it could be interesting.

[Jon North Padre Island]

Hey Jon,

Do you know the variety of coconut palms you have in your yard? What is your normal lowest temp each winter at North Padre? I estimated the normal lowest at South Padre to be around 35 or 36, which puts it in Zone 10B! Why they don't grow more coconut palms there, I don't know. They just need some supplemetal watering and would do great there, especially if given a little fertilizer. There is a man I met there that has a lot of influence on the island who is wanting to get the coconut palm started as a regular landscaping palm, so hopefully with my help, they will be quite numerous there in a few years.

John

John

No se, senor. As I stated -vide supra- no one who sells coconuts in South Texas knows the variety. Ergo, neither do I at this time as all were purchased locally. I have two with yellow petioles and two with green petioles. If the buggers survive long enough to make fruit, maybe all interested parties can get together, treeside, and discuss possible parentages (of the trees). I agree wholepalmedly with the P-trafficante that they have a difficult time even in the mild winters here. Typically, the first two or three leaves that come out in the spring are somewhat stunted. Adonidia merrillii does the same thing if not slightly worse. My first coconut which I trailored home from Homestead, Fla, died three years later of crownrot. I had an outbreak of the disease in the jungle here which i eventually cured with Tru-ban, but only after losing that coconut (about 6 or 7 feet of trunk and producing coconuts), as well as an A. alexandrae and an Adonidia. All three of these palms had been through the freaky Christmas eve Snow storm of 2004. That was our coldest temperature (30 F) for about 12 - 16 hours of the seven years I have lived here on Padre Island (norte). Then in 2006 we had a late feb-early march cold snap which went on in the mid thirties F for about a week and a half, and then in April, the crown rot began showing up. It affected many palms, which were brought back from the brink into good health, although the three mentioned above, se murieron.

Maybe later, if the sun comes out I will shoot some pics for you.

[JimR]

The problem in South Texas and the Texas coast (Ok, in Texas generally) has nothing to do with average or normal low temperatures. The problem is that we all know that every few years we will have abnormally low temp.'s. Worse still, in my opinion, are the late cold snaps in March and April (even May once in a while) that come just when new buds are appearing. The late cold snap in 2006 did much more damage to my palms than the freak snow of 2004. On Key Allegro, the normal low temp. is probably about 34, but it still hit 28 in 2004. That is the difference between life and death for a coconut. Anyway, my point is just that, in Texas, it is misleading to think in terms or "normal" lows without taking the extremes into account.

Hey Jon,

Do you know the variety of coconut palms you have in your yard? What is your normal lowest temp each winter at North Padre? I estimated the normal lowest at South Padre to be around 35 or 36, which puts it in Zone 10B! Why they don't grow more coconut palms there, I don't know. They just need some supplemetal watering and would do great there, especially if given a little fertilizer. There is a man I met there that has a lot of influence on the island who is wanting to get the coconut palm started as a regular landscaping palm, so hopefully with my help, they will be quite numerous there in a few years.

John

[Jon North Padre Island]

John,

Attached are several pictures of coconuts bought locally. They are sort of beat up looking as I had some of them for a while. I have been delayed in planting by delays by contractors in renovations and pool building.

As you see these are all with yellow petioles

[Jon North Padre Island]

John,

Obviously the last two images on the previous page were the green petioloes

Here is the trunk of my previous coconut that died a couple of months after a 10 day mid thirty F cold snap.

[Tad]

maybe if you were more influential it would have fared a little better

[ruskinPalms]

Well, I had two yellow malayan dwarfs that I planted a couple years ago. Now I am down to one. One of them died from some kind of crown rot, probably from an extended cool period, in the late winter and early spring of 2007. It just kept putting out stunted fronds and antifungals didn't seem to work. I never tried bleach or peroxide though. My other one saw around 29F (28F was measured at the NWS only 2 miles inland from my house) this winter in January, surrounded by a night or 2 in the mid to upper 30s. But looking back on that data, the cold spell was immediatly followed by a week of high temps in the upper 70s to low 80s! My Cocos took some damage, but it has made a few normal fronds since then and is rapidly pushing more now that the weather has really heated up and is staying hot. I am surprised at how well it is doing. Even the fronds that were damaged seem to look a little better now. So the point of my rambling is that you should try cocos on the south TX coast and anywhere else that is borderline because you might be surprised. The greater number and variety that you try will increase your chances for success.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

John,

Obviously the last two images on the previous page were the green petioloes

Here is the trunk of my previous coconut that died a couple of months after a 10 day mid thirty F cold snap.

Jon,

Thanks for the photos. With some TLC, they should do fine as long as we don't have the 83/89 type winters and as long as we don't have any more of that freakish week and a half of mid 30's temps you mentioned. That kind of weather is even unusual for that length of time in south central Texas, so it would certainly be rare where you live.

Anyway, I am 90% certain that you have two golden Malayan dwarfs and two green Malayan dwarfs. If they were tall varieties or even hybrids, they would most likely be significantly taller already for their age with longer leaves and they would probably be at least slightly curved, whereas yours seem to be very straight trunked a tell tale sign of Malayans. Granted, every once in a blue moon, a tall will be straight and a dwarf will have a curve, but this is usually not the case. The only thing I worry about with yours is that since North Padre has slightly cooler day time highs in the winter than the Valley and South Padre, that yours may suffer at least when they are young, since coconut palms, especially dwarf varieties do not like cool days. This is why they don't grow in Galveston, even though Galveston rarely gets below 30F. If for some reason you lose yours, try replanting with Mexican Talls from your nearby beach. They will have the best chance for longer term survival in your area. Just grab some of the biggest coconuts full of milk from the beach before the tourists get them and put them in a 5gal. pot of a mixture of beach sand and organic potting soil and set them out in full sun and water them every day and they should sprout within 2-4 months. I would say that about 70% of the coconuts that wash up on our beaches are Mexican talls, about 20% are Malayans from Mexico, and the other 10% are hybrids.

John

[bubba]

It seems that the best variety would be those that fruit between Tampico and Brownsville.If Lethal Yellowing is an issue,innoculate.Go for it and have some fun!Same for John in Andulusia!

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

The problem in South Texas and the Texas coast (Ok, in Texas generally) has nothing to do with average or normal low temperatures. The problem is that we all know that every few years we will have abnormally low temp.'s. Worse still, in my opinion, are the late cold snaps in March and April (even May once in a while) that come just when new buds are appearing. The late cold snap in 2006 did much more damage to my palms than the freak snow of 2004. On Key Allegro, the normal low temp. is probably about 34, but it still hit 28 in 2004. That is the difference between life and death for a coconut. Anyway, my point is just that, in Texas, it is misleading to think in terms or "normal" lows without taking the extremes into account.

Hey Jon,

Do you know the variety of coconut palms you have in your yard? What is your normal lowest temp each winter at North Padre? I estimated the normal lowest at South Padre to be around 35 or 36, which puts it in Zone 10B! Why they don't grow more coconut palms there, I don't know. They just need some supplemetal watering and would do great there, especially if given a little fertilizer. There is a man I met there that has a lot of influence on the island who is wanting to get the coconut palm started as a regular landscaping palm, so hopefully with my help, they will be quite numerous there in a few years.

John

Jim R,

I had no idea that Zone 10a reached as far north as the Key Allegro/Rockport area. I thought that North Padre and maybe Port A by the skin of its teeth might barely be 10A, but not the Rockport area. Anyway, normal winter temps are a good guide to what you can plant where, that is why all the gardening books include the climate zone map. Even though South Florida is soundly in Zones 10A, 10B, and 11A, they too have horribly bad winters about once every thirty to forty years. Take the winter of 2000/2001 when I lived in Coral Springs. That winter for about two and a half weeks the NWS was issuing frost and freeze warnings all over South Florida, and on Jan. 1, 2001, the morning low dropped to 28F in Homestead, just 20 miles north of Key Largo, which has never recorded a freeze! So, therefore I say to all my fellow coconut lovers who live from Port A southward, go for it! Enjoy them while they last, and when they do die from a bad winter, just plant some more of these beauties the following spring!

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

It seems that the best variety would be those that fruit between Tampico and Brownsville.If Lethal Yellowing is an issue,innoculate.Go for it and have some fun!Same for John in Andulusia!

Hey bubba,

I think you are right. Ripe coconuts from the area closest to Brownsville would probably produce the most cold hardy palms since seeds from the northernmost range of any tropical plant will usually produce at least slightly more cold hardy offspring than seeds of the same variety from much further south. I wish we could get some pure Indian Talls from Central India here, since I think these are probably the MOST cold hardy variety of coconut palm, with the Mexican tall being our most cold hardy local variety. I think the Indian Tall is hardy down to about 26F, with the Mexican tall being hardy to about 27F.

John

P.S. As far as cold hardiness and LY resistance are concerned, I have been told that initial studies with the Fiji dwarf, are proving 100% resistance to LY, but it is probably one of the least cold hardy, only being hardy to about 31/32F, and very susceptible to prolonged cool weather. I know a woman in the Bayview (near Port Isabel) area who had one of these and it died after a cool spell a couple of winters ago, while other coconut varieties in the area did just fine.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

Hi princeofpalms,

What is your normal lowest temp there in Fahrenheit each winter and what is the normal high and low temp there in January? If your normal lowest is 30F or above and you have normal daytime highs and lows in January of at least 67F in the day and 50F at night, then a coconut palm should do alright there, especially an Atlantic Tall variety, since the tall varieties are slightly more cold hardy than the dwarf varieties. If you can make a trip to the Canary Islands, just bring back some coconuts or even some sprouted nuts from there. I have seen some photos of some beautiful coconut palms in the western part of the Canary Islands. I don't think they do well in the eastern Canaries because it is too dry there.

John

Hi John,

Lowest temp here is around 40F, but only for a few hours overnight for a few weeks in Winter. The usual, sustained low over Winter is around 45F. Jan high average I'd say is between 60 & 65F. I don't really get the chance to travel but I know there are coconuts growing in the Canaries - just don't know anyone who lives there who might send me one. As you can see from the temps, it's borderline here, what with the low humidity, but it could be interesting.

John,

I think your area would be really borderline even for a tall variety just because of the cool weather in the winter. But if you can find a tall variety coconut, try to sprout it and see what happens.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

Well, I had two yellow malayan dwarfs that I planted a couple years ago. Now I am down to one. One of them died from some kind of crown rot, probably from an extended cool period, in the late winter and early spring of 2007. It just kept putting out stunted fronds and antifungals didn't seem to work. I never tried bleach or peroxide though. My other one saw around 29F (28F was measured at the NWS only 2 miles inland from my house) this winter in January, surrounded by a night or 2 in the mid to upper 30s. But looking back on that data, the cold spell was immediatly followed by a week of high temps in the upper 70s to low 80s! My Cocos took some damage, but it has made a few normal fronds since then and is rapidly pushing more now that the weather has really heated up and is staying hot. I am surprised at how well it is doing. Even the fronds that were damaged seem to look a little better now. So the point of my rambling is that you should try cocos on the south TX coast and anywhere else that is borderline because you might be surprised. The greater number and variety that you try will increase your chances for success.

Bill,

What size are your coconut palms, and do any of them in your area fruit?

John

[Tad]

I had no idea that Zone 10a reached as far north as the Key Allegro/Rockport area. I thought that North Padre and maybe Port A by the skin of its teeth might barely be 10A, but not the Rockport area. Anyway, normal winter temps are a good guide to what you can plant where, that is why all the gardening books include the climate zone map. Even though South Florida is soundly in Zones 10A, 10B, and 11A, they too have horribly bad winters about once every thirty to forty years. Take the winter of 2000/2001 when I lived in Coral Springs. That winter for about two and a half weeks the NWS was issuing frost and freeze warnings all over South Florida, and on Jan. 1, 2001, the morning low dropped to 28F in Homestead, just 20 miles north of Key Largo, which has never recorded a freeze! So, therefore I say to all my fellow coconut lovers who live from Port A southward, go for it! Enjoy them while they last, and when they do die from a bad winter, just plant some more of these beauties the following spring!

John

[gsn]

Mr. Coconut,

The only problem I see with your plans, is that you intend to start a nursey growing coconuts in a marginal climate. You are going to have to nurse these plants from seedling to marketable size,and as we all know the smaller the palm the less COLD hardy they are ,in most instances.

It is one thing to plant a few coconuts in ones landscape ,to see how they fair,or if they can make it in ones marginal climate. But an altogether different animal,if ones entire nursery can be wiped out in a single cold event. For me the gamble wouldn't be worth the risk,but that is just me!

Good luck with your venture!

Edited May 6, 2008 by gsn

[JimR]

John--

I am afraid I did make my meaning clear. In South Texas and the Texas coast, normal winter lows are NOT a good guide to what will survive and/or thrive here. That is why the garden books that simply cite climate zones are often so misleading. Yes, Florida may have anomalously cold weather once every 30 or 40 years. We might have it once every 5 years. You also have to take into account when we can get cold and hot. We may have 2 weeks of 80+ weather in December, which tricks the tender buds into showing themselves, just in time to get hammered with a week of cold and wet. Likewise, late Spring cold snaps come often enough (though not every year, thankfully) to be considered almost normal. My point is just that "normal low temperatures" do not even begin to tell the story and should not be the basis of your analysis of what "should" survive.

P.S.--I would not consider inland Rockport Z10a, but Key Allegro clearly is.

P.P.S.--I would love to learn more about the Indian Tall. The idea of a coconut that can survive 26F is pretty incredible. However, in general, don't all coconuts stop growing at around 60F?

Jim R,

I had no idea that Zone 10a reached as far north as the Key Allegro/Rockport area. I thought that North Padre and maybe Port A by the skin of its teeth might barely be 10A, but not the Rockport area. Anyway, normal winter temps are a good guide to what you can plant where, that is why all the gardening books include the climate zone map. Even though South Florida is soundly in Zones 10A, 10B, and 11A, they too have horribly bad winters about once every thirty to forty years. Take the winter of 2000/2001 when I lived in Coral Springs. That winter for about two and a half weeks the NWS was issuing frost and freeze warnings all over South Florida, and on Jan. 1, 2001, the morning low dropped to 28F in Homestead, just 20 miles north of Key Largo, which has never recorded a freeze! So, therefore I say to all my fellow coconut lovers who live from Port A southward, go for it! Enjoy them while they last, and when they do die from a bad winter, just plant some more of these beauties the following spring!

John

[gsn]

John--

P.P.S.-- However, in general, don't all coconuts stop growing at around 60F?

Jim,

I beleive that coconuts don't stop growing at an air temp at or below 60 F ,but I do beleive they stop activity at a SOIL temp at or below 60 F!

I also agree that average temps are pretty much useless in deteriming what will grow or survive in an area like central Florida, or south Texas. As ONE cold front night, can render the averages meaningless.

[bubba]

Maipan is a sterile hybrid cross between the Mayan and the Panama Tall.It is a beautiful tall Coconut in South Florida.

[Cristóbal]

hi mr. coconut all this is good advices ! plant all you can of all varieties you can find. to experiment in marginal areas is very important for science of palms ! this i try in my area with cocos nucifera for many years good luck !

Edited May 7, 2008 by Cristóbal

[palmazon]

Sr Colon (Cristóbal) -

Make a visit to Guaymas (Sonora) and grab a few Cocos; that's the northernmost point where you can find them growing on the west coast

[Kai]

I love coconuts so much I'm growing anything that remotely resembles one. (Beccariophoenix, Parajubaea torallyi and sunka, Phoenix rupicola, Dypsis leptocheilos, Howea forsteriana...) But not a coconut. As palmotrafficante once so eloquently put it, "THEY WILL FREEZE!!"

Yeah me too! Also love the Lytocarium species! Butia's and Jubaea's in the garden, very nice! I even have 2 coconuts growing indoors (can't keep them outside in Holland...).

Regardless of what people might say, these plants are very tough and can handle a lot of different circumstances. In my opinion the only thing they don't like is cold. Treat a coconut well and you'll be rewarded with lot's of growth, they are my fastest growing palms!

Here's 2 pics, can anybody tell from the picture which variety the small one is? I picked the nut up from under a tree in South America last year and the leaf veins are quite yellow.

cheers,

Kai

[ruskinPalms]

Here is my one last living coconut taken this evening. It has proven to be pretty tough. The tallest frond tip is about 8 feet from the ground. I expect it to really take off this summer. I don't really trim the dead and damaged fronds from it until the fat lady sings.