Cocos nucifera at Gran Canaria

[wimmie]

Dear Palmfriends; my wife and I spent a weeks holiday at Gran Canaria, Playa del Ingles. To my supprise I noticed that one of my favorite palms, Cocos nucifera, is relatively widely grown outthere, and they don't even look too unhappy. It will probably never look like The Maladives or Hawaii, but in my opinion this will do!

Regards,

Wim.

Edited June 27, 2013 by wimmie

[Walter John]

Where the blazes is Gran Canaria, Playa del Ingles ?

[Rafael]

Where the blazes is Gran Canaria, Playa del Ingles ?

Wal, It belongs to Carlo's Canary Islands archipelago.

[Xerarch]

Those look great! My understanding is that it is warm enough for them to grow there but not warm enough to fruit properly, the same goes for Bermuda, which is nearly the same latitude.

[Xerarch]

Just checked on the latitude, looks like the Canary Islands are a bit lower than Bermuda, 28* for Canary's, 32* for Bermuda. Another small island north of the Canaries, Madeira Portugal, is closer to Bermuda in latitude. At any rate, the same can be said for any of them, coconuts will grow but not fruit properly. Fruit or not, it's great to see such nice specimens!

[redant]

Just goggle earthed it, does it ever rain there? Looks like a parched rock.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

I spent a vacation on the Canary islands, more specifically, the biggest island Tenerife. There are a ton of different microclimates all over the island, from dry and hot on the southwestern side to moist and more subtropical on the Northern side. When i was there during the month of December, dry hot winds from the Sahara were blowing, and overnight lows didn't drop below 60F, with daytime highs in the upper 80's. The sea has no thermocline there but is still too cold to support coral.

I saw very few coconuts, but the ones that I did see looked way better than the Newport coconut. There are large banana plantations all over the islands and I saw many large and healthy African tulip trees. They also had a ton of cuban royals all over the place. For Europeans, this is the place to settle to grow palms. It's the closest Europeans have to the Hawaiian islands. No trade winds to support the kind of moisture driven growth found in Hawaii but still an amazingly mild climate.

[avanza]

thanks Axel for this very useful info about Canary islands climate.

next trip i need to prepare.

[stygiana]

Those look great! My understanding is that it is warm enough for them to grow there but not warm enough to fruit properly, the same goes for Bermuda, which is nearly the same latitude.

Cocos fruit fairly properly on the leeward side of the islands. They do so every year here in Tazacore, Puerto Naos, La bombilla, etc.

They can have big and ripe fruits up to 200 m of altitude (aprox. 650 feet) on the South and East sides.

However, on the windward side, it's another story. They grow, but I don't think they bear ripe fruits.

Here is a video of Canarian coconuts, on the much drier Gran Canaria island, shot in winter:

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/31446-un-dia-de-cocos/#entry510590

There are many threads about the Canarian Cocos nucifera in the Spanish-speaking forum, here's one of them:

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/30183-el-cocotero-ms-bonito-de-toda-europa/?hl=mogan#entry510562

I have Cocos nucifera growing in my garden at 400 m, which is nearly 1300 feet.

They are too youg to bear fruits and I guess they'll never have mature fruits anyway.

[stygiana]

Just goggle earthed it, does it ever rain there? Looks like a parched rock.

I spent a vacation on the Canary islands, more specifically, the biggest island Tenerife. There are a ton of different microclimates all over the island, from dry and hot on the southwestern side to moist and more subtropical on the Northern side. When i was there during the month of December, dry hot winds from the Sahara were blowing, and overnight lows didn't drop below 60F, with daytime highs in the upper 80's. The sea has no thermocline there but is still too cold to support coral.

I saw very few coconuts, but the ones that I did see looked way better than the Newport coconut. There are large banana plantations all over the islands and I saw many large and healthy African tulip trees. They also had a ton of cuban royals all over the place. For Europeans, this is the place to settle to grow palms. It's the closest Europeans have to the Hawaiian islands. No trade winds to support the kind of moisture driven growth found in Hawaii but still an amazingly mild climate.

Hi Redant and Axel,

Here are a few photos of La Palma, the westernmost island in the archipelago.

Not really a dry island...

All Europeans believe they have been there at least once on holidays, but they haven't. It's not a touristical island, but it is probably the most scenic and quite. The confusion comes from the fact that one of the major holiday destinations in Europe is Palma, which is in the Balearic islands (Mediterranean, at 40° Lat North), not in the Canaries!!! Another source of misunderstanding is that the capital city of the Canaries is... Las Palmas! But it's on (touristically busy) Gran Canaria island....

The ocean's temperature around La Palma is 2 to 3 Celsius degrees (twice more in °F) warmer than the Eastern islands, because we are far away from the African coast and do not suffer from the upwelling phenomenon. This has a major consequence: moisture is much higher and rainfall is much much higher too.

Here is also a map of sea surface temperatures in winter (in °C).

[stygiana]

One more photo of La Palma...

Not necessarily the best shots I have, but it's what I found while I did a fast search in my pics files.

[DeletedAccount14e83d09a24f]

Those look great! My understanding is that it is warm enough for them to grow there but not warm enough to fruit properly, the same goes for Bermuda, which is nearly the same latitude.

They give fruit

This photo is from Fuerteventura Garden Center.

The biggest ones are holding huge mature yellow fruits. This photo is on the south of Gran Canaria.

Here you can see a Canarian guy who loves his garden Coconuts giving the fruit to his kids: (El Burrero, Gran Canaria)

There was also pictures from Cocos Nucifera holding fruits on Tenerife island, but I don't want to take so long time to search them. Also, those ones grow in a 200% pure desert climate (BSh) and they have little fruits:

The only islands which i've never seen fructifying coconuts are El Hierro and La Gomera (primarly for very low data available because are the less populous islands). They also grow a bit at interior and this one is at ~350m (~1150ft)!!

Anyways I've seen pictures of enormous coconuts in Bermuda as i've seen enormous on Gran Canaria and Tenerife and also fructifying ones on Bermuda. Canary Islands coastal areas are 12a and 12b. Regards buddy!

[Cluster]

Proeza that first picture, they look like pure Jamaican Talls, look at their elongated form! I would love to get some of the ripe ones from that tree:)

[DeletedAccount14e83d09a24f]

Proeza that first picture, they look like pure Jamaican Talls, look at their elongated form! I would love to get some of the ripe ones from that tree:)

Yep, those ones at Tazacorte look like Jamaican Talls too:

This one is one from the palms of the lower part of the image:

At the first photo all the palms from the seafront and from the low part of the photo are coconuts. Look at those ones from the bar, they are Jamaican Talls while those public ones from the seafront appear to be different.

Anyways, (for me) this is the best climate in the entire Canary Islands so I can't speak for all the islands only by Tazacorte. Tazacorte mean annual temperature is about 22-22.5ºC (71.6ºF-72.5ºF) in the coldest month they have about 22/17 and in the hottest about 29/22 (also is at 12b hardiness zone, amazing for this latitude!) but the wind and the insects damage are shown at the photos. Also, there exists the lack of natural water, but those ones from the bar are properly drained only look at those ones public planted at the seafront... those ones don't get all the water they need.

PS: In the last post i've mentioned the climate BSh but that's semi-arid haha! Tazacorte is BSh but the predominant climate on the Canary Islands is BWh (although the west ones are wet and have almost jungles in the center, but they are the smallest) And returning to the thread, this is why Canary Islands are amazing. Who don't like to be at the beach on January with 22-23ºC (the water at 21-22ºC) in the shadow of a coconut while you see the snow at 2.500-3.000m mountains ¿?

specially this one is pure epic

And I've found the photo of the fruited coconuts on Tenerife !

And also those ones at Gran Canaria:

Cluster did you buy the coconuts for 10,25€ ¿? I've been searching in ALL places and there is no trace of coconuts. And puff... if you can get a nut from any Canarian Cocos Nucifera it would be great to see how it grows in the south of Madeira!

Edited July 18, 2015 by pRoeZa*

[Cluster]

I have a friend that bought me two on Madeira Island apparently , I still do not have the details I will see them soon unless he sens me some photos:). In any case it is nice to know they have them on sale there. I also talked with a person from our meteo forums living in Funchal that apparently has some coconuts he bought from IKEA (not sure which one, waiting for his answer ), apparently they have been doing fine for 3 years outside already. If that is true then it means they were probably not used to greenhouses or at least very warm ones. If he does send me the pictures I will post.

Many of those coconuts look very nice, but in the air picture it is not as easy to distinguish which variety of coconuts they could be !

Well I am doing my final project now which means I will get my grade soon and then I will have time to visit the Canaries

Edited July 18, 2015 by Cluster

[Danilopez89]

I have a friend that bought me two on Madeira Island apparently , I still do not have the details I will see them soon unless he sens me some photos:). In any case it is nice to know they have them on sale there. I also talked with a person from our meteo forums living in Funchal that apparently has some coconuts he bought from IKEA (not sure which one, waiting for his answer ), apparently they have been doing fine for 3 years outside already. If that is true then it means they were probably not used to greenhouses or at least very warm ones. If he does send me the pictures I will post.

Many of those coconuts look very nice, but in the air picture it is not as easy to distinguish which variety of coconuts they could be !

Well I am doing my final project now which means I will get my grade soon and then I will have time to visit the Canaries

Exciting!

Man those islands seem perfect...

[Josh-O]

[DeletedAccount14e83d09a24f]

I have a friend that bought me two on Madeira Island apparently , I still do not have the details I will see them soon unless he sens me some photos:). In any case it is nice to know they have them on sale there. I also talked with a person from our meteo forums living in Funchal that apparently has some coconuts he bought from IKEA (not sure which one, waiting for his answer ), apparently they have been doing fine for 3 years outside already. If that is true then it means they were probably not used to greenhouses or at least very warm ones. If he does send me the pictures I will post.

Many of those coconuts look very nice, but in the air picture it is not as easy to distinguish which variety of coconuts they could be !

Well I am doing my final project now which means I will get my grade soon and then I will have time to visit the Canaries

Exciting!

Man those islands seem perfect...

Yep... definetly they are. Las Palmas Of Gran Canaria city climate was selected as the city with the best climate in the 20th century from an important US university, I don't know exactly what right now but it was maded in 1997 or 1998. It's known as the "Eternal Spring". If I will have the chance one day to move and work there, I will definetly do it. Winters are like April-May in the Mediterranean and summers are summers. Or late springs in the Mediterranean Area (at least in my zone, here the average maximum in June is 28-29ºC) which is the average maximum for the warmest month in LPGC, August. Also the minimum temperatures are delicious and I hate rain, while LPGC is desertic but not extreme desertic.

I envy the canarians also they don't pay taxes so you actually can buy anything from any Spanish store and if you are a Canarian resident you pay 4% or 7% of taxes instead of 21%. The gas prices are under 1€ !!

Anyways you can travel with a fast local ferry from Island to Island and you can get from here:

to here:

to here:

to here:

IN A COUPLE OF HOURS! It's just amazing.

Edited July 20, 2015 by pRoeZa*

[Patrick Palms]

On ‎18‎/‎07‎/‎2015‎ ‎00‎:‎32‎:‎55, Alicante said:

 

They give fruit

 

 

This photo is from Fuerteventura Garden Center.

 

 

The biggest ones are holding huge mature yellow fruits. This photo is on the south of Gran Canaria.

 

 

Here you can see a Canarian guy who loves his garden Coconuts giving the fruit to his kids: (El Burrero, Gran Canaria)

 

 

There was also pictures from Cocos Nucifera holding fruits on Tenerife island, but I don't want to take so long time to search them. Also, those ones grow in a 200% pure desert climate (BSh) and they have little fruits:

 

 

The only islands which i've never seen fructifying coconuts are El Hierro and La Gomera (primarly for very low data available because are the less populous islands). They also grow a bit at interior and this one is at ~350m (~1150ft)!!

 

 

Anyways I've seen pictures of enormous coconuts in Bermuda as i've seen enormous on Gran Canaria and Tenerife and also fructifying ones on Bermuda. Canary Islands coastal areas are 12a and 12b. Regards buddy!

Which Fuerteventura garden centre was this ? Oasis or Rosario or happy plants ?

[Patrick Palms]

How are the Coconut palms, protected from winter winter conditions, in the Canary Islands? My first 2 young ones in Fuerteventura, bought from nursery, both suffered. First one died and 2nd after one week, leafs went all brown in august.  Maybe because from nursery green house, they went into shock? and they do grow here, as do Adonidia Palms

[DeletedAccount14e83d09a24f]

1 hour ago, Patrick Palms said:

How are the Coconut palms, protected from winter winter conditions, in the Canary Islands? My first 2 young ones in Fuerteventura, bought from nursery, both suffered. First one died and 2nd after one week, leafs went all brown in august.  Maybe because from nursery green house, they went into shock? and they do grow here, as do Adonidia Palms

Coconuts don't need any kind of protection in the Canaries! They grow unprotected and give fruits in every island. As well as Adonidias, just as you say. 

About that garden... I don't know exactly, I took that photo from Google. The website hosting it is named "Fuerteventura Garden Center" so not sure at all about which one can be.

The real climate danger there is the dry and hot summer wind, sandstorms or the Calima. This last one can happen year round. 

In the most affected zones by this phenomenon, coconuts look better in winter than they do during summer for this reason. Fuerteventura is the most exposed to Saharan sandstorms and these small flies who like to damage palm leafs, especially Phoenixes and Coconuts. 

Parts which are not affected by the Calima have lushy coconuts all year round. Others which are very exposed, get leaf damage (as most species of palms) especially during the warmer months but in this case it could be also be a transplant problem or something. Who knows!

Edited January 8, 2019 by Alicante

[Patrick Palms]

I find it strange, that in south of Fuerteventura, Moro Jandia, Coconut palms are near the beach, in North, Corralejo, none at all ?

[Patrick Palms]

I will try again with these 2 small ones