South Florida coconut palms

[PompanoBeach]

Hi, everyone. 

I am very interested in learning more about the range and the varieties of coconut palms (among other palms) that grow successfully in S. Florida. 

I'm a newbie to this part of the country, and definitely a neophyte when it comes to the myriad of palm species, etc.

Today I snapped this photo of a fruiting tree in Davie, FL, at a place where they sell a number of coconut varieties' fruit.

Can anyone help me out with the variety shown in this pic? 

Thanks.

 

Terry aka PompanoBeach

[WonderKeeper]

You should ask the grower for more information too. Here in Viet Nam , the similar size of nuts and colour, we called it Dua Xiem Lua or Dua Eo. This variety is good for eating flesh , juice is ok but not that sweet like the green variety of this kind. Most of them have a short or super short trunk. We grown them mainly for drinking and eating fresh.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

2 hours ago, PompanoBeach said:

Hi, everyone. 

I am very interested in learning more about the range and the varieties of coconut palms (among other palms) that grow successfully in S. Florida. 

I'm a newbie to this part of the country, and definitely a neophyte when it comes to the myriad of palm species, etc.

Today I snapped this photo of a fruiting tree in Davie, FL, at a place where they sell a number of coconut varieties' fruit.

Can anyone help me out with the variety shown in this pic? 

Thanks.

 

Terry aka PompanoBeach

Hi Terry,

I think it is a Golden Malayan Dwarf, which is pretty common in South Florida.  Certified Golden Malayan seed nuts (ripe brown nuts full of coconut water ready to sprout) were brought in from the Jamaican Coconut Board in the 70's, 80's, and 90's and probably still are as a source of Lethal Yellowing resistant varieties, since many of the original Jamaican Talls that had been growing in South Florida had succumbed to the disease, which is fatal to palms susceptible to it.  I like the golden color of the nuts and petioles (stems of the leaves), but many people who didn't know any better thought the palms looked sickly due to their golden orangish/yellowish color, so then the nursery industry started importing certified Green Malayan seed nuts from Jamaica and thus starting growing and selling more of the Green Malayan variety due to its "healthier" looking green nuts and petioles.  I actually really like the color of the Golden Malayan Dwarfs.   I think they have an interesting character to them and offer a spicing up of the coconut world due to their vibrant golden color.  There is also the Yellow Malayan Dwarf variety that actually produces a very bright yellow nut and petiole.  I really especially like this variety, but it is relatively hard to find in the nursery industry in South Florida and virtually impossible to find over here in South Texas.  I have been blessed though with one of my sprouts from one of the beach coconuts a friend and I collected at Padre Island last may turning out to be this exact variety.  The only drawback is that it is probably the least cold hardy variety of the Malayan Dwarfs.  Here is a photo of mine just after I planted it in my front yard a couple of weeks ago.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

The Malayan Dwarfs, in addition to being more resistant to Lethal Yellowing than the Jamaican Talls, start producing their first nuts at only about 4 years of age, whereas the tall varieties take about 7 years to start producing.  Malayan Dwarf can have their first nuts on them when the trunks are only about 1.5ft. to 2ft. tall, whereas the talls usually have trunks about 7ft. tall or taller when they start producing.  Also, the Malayan Dwarfs are better for smaller yards, since they don't develop as large a crown as the talls do, but they have the drawback of only being hardy to about 28F or 29F, whereas the Jamaican Tall is likely hardy to 27F.  The Jamaican Tall, like the Mexican Tall, also can take more prolonged chilly and somewhat damp weather better than the Malayan Dwarfs can.