How far N in Florida can coconut palms reliably grow?

November 7, 2017

10 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

To be honest, I was kind of shocked that those 2 had any damage at all. The maypan had some leaf burn as well, but the very well established Malay Dwarf was unscathed. Usually I don't even start worrying unless the temperature is going to be below 40F, but I may have to make an exception the first year or two for the new guys. There is no doubt your low temperatures were higher than mine, being that you are further south and toward the coast.

I think it was the fact that we went from 90˚ to 40˚ within a few hours rather than the absolute low.

April 3, 2018

I know this is an old thread but I have a question I’m asking out of curiosity. Do any of you think it would be possible to grow a coco tree in Carrabelle, Florida, it’s about as far south as you can get in the panhandle and some maps I have seen list it as a zone 10 microclimate, temperature history I’ve reasearched seems to favor this “experiment” but I figured I would ask some people with experience. As a side note I have seen many queen palms successfully growing down here which I believe are supposed to be zone 10 plants. Regardless any info is appreciated, thanks

April 3, 2018

@WillW421 Pretty much anywhere north of St. Petersburg or Cocoa Beach is asking for major issues. Looking at your record lows, unless you want to put a lot of effort into protecting them, don't do it:

April 3, 2018

3 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

@WillW421 Pretty much anywhere north of St. Petersburg or Cocoa Beach is asking for major issues. Looking at your record lows, unless you want to put a lot of effort into protecting them, don't do it:

I appreciate the feedback although the average temperature on that map is probably more accurate, I remember looking that up and the majority of the record lows were all pre 1990 I believe and it has certainly warmed up on average since then, I’ll take this post into consideration though, again thank you for the fast response!

April 3, 2018

IMO, the short answer is NO! No way will a coconut palm survive in Carrabelle without major winter time protection. I've been growing a green Malayan dwarf coconut for 15 years. It's been fruiting for the past five years. In 2010 I had six nights below 30 degrees, and three of those nights were below 25 degrees, the coldest being 20.8 degrees. Had I not protected my coconut palm it would have been killed.

I haven't protected my coconut palm for the past five winters. This winter it got frost damaged fronds.

When my palm was small, I actually bundled the fronds, wrapped them with flannel sheets, then wrapped a blue PVC tarp over the sheets. That prevented any frost damage and worked fairly well. But when I experience temperatures into the 20s (like I did in both January and December of 2010), I use EZ Heat thermostatically controlled heating cables to spirally wrap around the trunk, up and past the meristem. I then wrap over the cables with flannel sheets, mover's quilts, etc., to hold in the small amount of heat the cables produce.

If you employed the above method, you could probably grow a coconut palm in Carrabelle, but the fronds would probably get toasted each winter, and the palm would never hold a full crown.

April 3, 2018

^^^ THIS ^^^

April 4, 2018

3 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

@WillW421 Pretty much anywhere north of St. Petersburg or Cocoa Beach is asking for major issues. Looking at your record lows, unless you want to put a lot of effort into protecting them, don't do it:

Another angle here that has not been mentioned, regardless of record lows or USDA zone, look at those January averages, 63/42 is not survivable for coconut long term. The rule of thumb is you need your average temp in coldest month to be 60 degrees at minimum, not the high, but the average between high and low.

Here Walt has a huge advantage, he has got some pretty low lows but he is also far enough south that his average temps are pretty high, he can just protect against cold snaps, if your average Jan high is only 63, protection from cold snaps will be insufficient, you’ll need to actually add heat during cool but not cold days.

Some on this forum will zone push that 60 degree rule of thumb down to 57-58 with moderate success with some extra protection, but pushing down to that 52.5 average in Carrabelle would really be a stretch in my opinion.

April 4, 2018

No. What most people don't realize is that coconuts and other tropical palms are not just cold sensitive, they are cool sensitive. Long periods of highs below 70F and lows below 50F are lethal for them. Locally, coconuts are common along the coast but disappear from the landscape east of I75 - inland winters are too harsh. Also, rain and cold temps are deadly. Your winters are more continental than in Central and South FL and you receive much more rain - cold rain. Down here winters are very dry. The little rain I receive comes ahead of an impending cold front triggering brief showers while temps are relatively balmy. By the time that arctic blast hits hours later the rain is long gone. In the 25 years I've lived here it has rained when temps fell below 50 just once: 1/10/10.

Unless you have a large, heated greenhouse or conservatory the long term prognosis for coconuts is grim. They are cheap and easy to find if you want to treat one as an annual but that option would frustrate and depress me.

April 4, 2018

10 hours ago, Xerarch said:

Another angle here that has not been mentioned, regardless of record lows or USDA zone, look at those January averages, 63/42 is not survivable for coconut long term. The rule of thumb is you need your average temp in coldest month to be 60 degrees at minimum, not the high, but the average between high and low.

Here Walt has a huge advantage, he has got some pretty low lows but he is also far enough south that his average temps are pretty high, he can just protect against cold snaps, if your average Jan high is only 63, protection from cold snaps will be insufficient, you’ll need to actually add heat during cool but not cold days.

Some on this forum will zone push that 60 degree rule of thumb down to 57-58 with moderate success with some extra protection, but pushing down to that 52.5 average in Carrabelle would really be a stretch in my opinion.

That's correct. My January average high is 73 degrees. There's enough minimal over all heat for my coconut to survive -- if I can protect it on just one night (maybe two) every 5 years or so. But that's at my place. There are coconuts up in town(2 miles away) that I've been tracking since 2002, and they don't get protection, and have survived, even the 2010 cold, due to it being warmer at night due to higher elevation; same for coconuts immediately lake side. But they were hurt, not so much from absolute cold, but from 11 days of abnormally cool to cold temperatures. These palms exhibited boron and manganese and K deficiency the following spring, but then quickly grew out of it. The palms were really looking good for years until they were battered by Hurricane Irma, and they've still not fully recovered.

February 17, 2020