To Pot-up or to Plant in ground

[Danilopez89]

I've been wondering weather it would be better to plant my coconuts in the ground already or to pot them up in bigger black containers.

After going outside earlier and putting my hand to the black container and seeing how hott! it gets I decided to pot them up! I also put my hand to the green containers and and they weren't even hot, just a bit warm.

I figured since the ground would never be able to keep the roots as warm as these containers do during the cold months it would just slow the palms growth and development.

Maybe next year they'll get a chance at the yard. But I don't know.... I think I can get them to grow pretty big in a large black container with no worries of mr winter next December. 

[enigma99]

Nice cocos man. I killed one in a pot this past winter sigh. Should have went with a black pot  and a better climate!

Edited January 25, 2016 by enigma99

[Steve Mac]

One way that I use to stop the roots from overheating in the black plastic pots,

is to just put the lot in another one the same size, Double-skin plastic pots,

and that is usually enough to keep them cool.

.

[Pando]

2 hours ago, Danilopez89 said:

I've been wondering weather it would be better to plant my coconuts in the ground already or to pot them up in bigger black containers.

After going outside earlier and putting my hand to the black container and seeing how hott! it gets I decided to pot them up! I also put my hand to the green containers and and they weren't even hot, just a bit warm.

I figured since the ground would never be able to keep the roots as warm as these containers do during the cold months it would just slow the palms growth and development.

Maybe next year they'll get a chance at the yard. But I don't know.... I think I can get them to grow pretty big in a large black container with no worries of mr winter next December. 

 

Daniel, potting-up usually means taking the plant out of one container FIRST before you put it into another...

[Danilopez89]

9 hours ago, Pando said:

Daniel, potting-up usually means taking the plant out of one container FIRST before you put it into another...

Then It's a good thing that we have this new "palms in pots" forum... 

Maybe we can all become professional pot growers soon...

[Danilopez89]

10 hours ago, gtsteve said:

One way that I use to stop the roots from overheating in the black plastic pots,

is to just put the lot in another one the same size, Double-skin plastic pots,

and that is usually enough to keep them cool.

.

Good idea. I'll probably give that a try this summer. I'm sure I'll need to protect the roots from getting too hot in there.

Does anyone know how much heat the roots can take inside the black containers? At what temps does it usually kill the palm?

[Danilopez89]

11 hours ago, enigma99 said:

Nice cocos man. I killed one in a pot this past winter sigh. Should have went with a black pot  and a better climate!

Thanks.

I did bring them indoors for a few weeks when they where calling for 35° weather. But I tried to leave them outside in the sunniest location as much as I could. 

I didn't hold back on watering and fertilizing them too much and they actually never stopped growing. They're almost done pushing out a full new frond during this winter.

[Pando]

47 minutes ago, Danilopez89 said:

Then It's a good thing that we have this new "palms in pots" forum... 

Maybe we can all become professional pot growers soon...

Heh, I was joking... of course

[Danilopez89]

38 minutes ago, Pando said:

Heh, I was joking... of course

I knew that...

What I did is I cut the bottom of the green pot so that I could just sit it inside the black container. Otherwise the green pot's upper lip wouldn't have fit inside that black container. Then I would have had to go with a way bigger pot than I really needed. And so on and so on...

I guess it worked well. I checked the bottom holes yesterday and saw a bunch of tiny roots in there.

[Pando]

Interesting technique, kind of like telescoping potting up, just adding depth.

[Coco Bonsai]

Nice....  make it never bigger to be a coco bonsai like these.......      

 

[Pando]

^^ those things are NUTS! 

[Coco Bonsai]

5 minutes ago, Pando said:

^^ those things are NUTS! 

              

[Danilopez89]

4 hours ago, Pando said:

^^ those things are NUTS! 

[Danilopez89]

4 hours ago, Coco Bonsai said:

Nice....  make it never bigger to be a coco bonsai like these.......      

 

These are waaaaaayyyyyyy cool man!!!

I wonder how hard it would be to do grow bonsai cocos?

I want one so bad 

[Alicehunter2000]

That IS cool ....are those your nuts ? Lol

[Coco Bonsai]

 Ayyaayyaa .........   

[foxtail]

37 minutes ago, Coco Bonsai said:

 Ayyaayyaa .........   

Lol!!!

[Coco Bonsai]

On 1/26/2016, 5:07:18, Danilopez89 said:

These are waaaaaayyyyyyy cool man!!!

I wonder how hard it would be to do grow bonsai cocos?

I want one so bad 

we call "Coco Bonsai" because we love coconut and bonsai.,,,

This is ornamental plant for indoor or outdoor, in a pot on the table or on the floor....  as a bonsai, it grows using bonsai technique and maintain like other bonsai tree with art...

not too hard if you know how to take care of bonsai tree.... 

When you see those pictures of the coco bonsai with skull of coco fruit/shell above , it's only to make a stunning and attractive form in a pot .....  you know the shell will cut off and broken after 3 or 4 years....  

 

[Jeff Searle]

On ‎1‎/‎25‎/‎2016‎ ‎9‎:‎37‎:‎09‎, Danilopez89 said:

Good idea. I'll probably give that a try this summer. I'm sure I'll need to protect the roots from getting too hot in there.

Does anyone know how much heat the roots can take inside the black containers? At what temps does it usually kill the palm?

I'm not real certain if you'll have root lost contributed to intense sun hitting the pots during the summer. What I have noticed in my years is, many times the side of the pot facing west where the heat during the day is greater, if you pull the plant out of the pot there are less roots growing due to the heated soil.

[Jeff Searle]

As far as the coconuts mentioned above, they are way overgrown and should be planted in the ground. BUT....if growing coconuts is challenge due to your climate, then plant them in a bigger pot.

[Danilopez89]

1 hour ago, Jeff Searle said:

I'm not real certain if you'll have root lost contributed to intense sun hitting the pots during the summer. What I have noticed in my years is, many times the side of the pot facing west where the heat during the day is greater, if you pull the plant out of the pot there are less roots growing due to the heated soil.

Interesting

Thanks for your input. 

And I do plan on potting them up soon. I've planted a few in the ground already and that didn't go so well. I'm now trying to get them to a nice beefy size before planting. 

[DoomsDave]

Danny, your question would be a great basis for an experiment.

The only drawback is you'd need a lot of coconuts to test under different conditions.

For instance, 5 - 10, in black pots, same number in green, and same number in the ground. There's all kinds of ways you can measure.

The reason you want a larger sample size, if you can do it, is to be better able to get data that are statistically significant. Smaller samples don't work as well because of that.

You have the heat in the desert, for sure.

Pots, too.

All you'd need are the nuts. Maybe someone in your 'hood goes to Mexico or Central America and can pick up a bunch?

[Pando]

I'm not convinced that it would be better to grow a coconut in a hot black pot. I think at some point there is a real danger of cooking the roots.

It just needs the temps to be kept above certain minimum (something like ~55F) at all times, and if there is a dip in nighttime temperature below that, it will need to climb back very quickly above that minimum when the sun comes up. The soil also needs to be very well draining and almost completely dry when it's cool, or the plant will just start rotting.

This is why it's just near impossible to grow it near the coast, where temps can hover in mid 40s all day long for a week and it's soaking wet.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Pando

[Danilopez89]

27 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

Danny, your question would be a great basis for an experiment.

The only drawback is you'd need a lot of coconuts to test under different conditions.

For instance, 5 - 10, in black pots, same number in green, and same number in the ground. There's all kinds of ways you can measure.

The reason you want a larger sample size, if you can do it, is to be better able to get data that are statistically significant. Smaller samples don't work as well because of that.

You have the heat in the desert, for sure.

Pots, too.

All you'd need are the nuts. Maybe someone in your 'hood goes to Mexico or Central America and can pick up a bunch?

Sounds like I'll need a bunch of nuts for this experiment. I'm planning on going on a week vacation somewhere in Mexico but I doubt I'll be able to bring any back in the airplane. 

One thing I now know foe sure is that the black containers will heat up way faster than a green one. But I wonder if the material which the pot is made from makes a big difference. Because I also have these big blue thick plastic containers that heat up very well... I pick them up from work for free so I will be giving those a try also.

[Danilopez89]

20 minutes ago, Pando said:

I'm not convinced that it would be better to grow a coconut in a hot black pot. I think at some point there is a real danger of cooking the roots.

It just needs the temps to be kept above certain minimum (something like ~55F) at all times, and if there is a dip in nighttime temperature below that, it will need to climb back very quickly above that minimum when the sun comes up. The soil also needs to be very well draining and almost completely dry when it's cool, or the plant will just start rotting.

This is why it's just near impossible to grow it near the coast, where temps can hover in mid 40s all day long for a week and it's soaking wet.

That's what I'm worried about during the summer... that the roots will cook. But during the winter I think it should be a great advantage. 

A cold wet week will almost definitely kill a coco...

I think one of the reasons why we have a better chance of growing cocos in the so cal desert is because we don't get as much rain as the rest of California. Those cold wet days during the end December had me a bit worried... I stole my wife's heat fan to dry up one of my planted coconuts

[Coconutman]

Wow! Love this new Forum! Actually, I just lost two of my beloved coconuts from Fl, oh well... I suspect that my container was too hot and that probably fried the roots.

Maybe I'll try partial shade again this summer. 

[Danilopez89]

9 hours ago, Coconutman said:

Wow! Love this new Forum! Actually, I just lost two of my beloved coconuts from Fl, oh well... I suspect that my container was too hot and that probably fried the roots.

Maybe I'll try partial shade again this summer. 

...

 

Yikes! How hot do you get?

[Coconutman]

11 hours ago, Danilopez89 said:

...

 

Yikes! How hot do you get?

Well, this summer I've seen weeks in the high 90's plus several 100's. I suspect that the concrete could have accelerated the temperatures too.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Coconutman