Coconut Range In Florida - Does Anyone Have a Map?

[PalmTreeDude]

Does anyone have a Map that shows the areas where coconuts can be grown with success in Florida? Also, do coconuts do well in 10a? I see them everywhere in 10b + but not as much in 10a. Buy the ones in 10a seem fine.

Edited July 30, 2016 by PalmTreeDude

[Cocoa Beach Jason]

Palm Tree Dude on the east coast Cape Canaveral is the max for long term (but not forever) survival and reliable fruiting with big specimens. People say Clearwater on the west coast. Not as far north in the middle of the state. And I would say yes 10a zones have plenty of "at risk" but big, fruiting coconuts, at least in my neck of the woods. 

Edited July 31, 2016 by Cocoa Beach Jason

[palmsOrl]

Here is a map I came up with that I posted 6 years ago (wow) in the Palmtalk thread "How far N in Florida can coconut palms reliably grow?".  Right off hand, I think it is fairly sound, though I might extend the range all the way around Lake Okeechobee right near the lakefront.  I also might extend the range north to New Smyrna Beach on the east coast and a hair further north on the west coast.  The light blue line was my guess as to roughly where one would begin to see mid to larger sized Cocos here and there inland.  For example, trunking Cocos are rare in the Orlando area, virtually non-existent in Lakeland, but a little south in areas like Lake Placid and Sebring, they can be seen here and there in better microclimates especially.

Just to highlight the contrast, not far south of Lake Placid is Archbold Biological station.  This location must be the coldest microclimate in Central FL (relative to latitude) and a queen palm would not have a chance here long-term, let alone a Cocos.  Archbold has been down to 13F multiple times and probably has an annual average low of 19-21F.

 

 

 

[RedRabbit]

Cape Canaveral on the east coast and probably Clearwater on the west coast. The line at Cape Canaveral is firm since there isn't any real development for 40 miles north and by the time you get to the NSB area the climate is much different... For the west coast I could maybe see Tarpon Springs or NPR on the immediate coast, but they'd be more marginal. 

[palmsOrl]

I agree RedRabbit!  There are a few in New Smyrna Beach, but they are not long term (pre-2010) survivors, at least the ones I am aware of.  The climate does change significantly between Cape Canaveral and NSB.  The northern limit of native tropical flora (widespread and not a few freeze stunted specimens) is in the vicinity of, or just north of Cape Canaveral/Merritt Island, so this makes sense as far as Cocos go.

As for the west coast, I concur with Tarpon Springs right on the beach as roughly the theoretical northern long term (10-20 years) limit of Cocos.  I am not familiar with the beaches nearest the Tarpon Springs area, so this is just a guess.  Might need to move my blue line just a smidgen north.  I'm sure Anclote Key Preserve State Park could support Cocos long term.  For this island in particular, I think a prolonged winter chill event rather than a substantial freeze would be the limiting factor in the long term.  2010 would have almost certainly killed any Cocos if they had been planted on Anclote Key, surrounded by all the chilly Gulf of Mexico water.  Conversely, the two Kopsick Cocos in St. Pete survived 2010, but looked pretty rough for a while afterward.

As for where Cocos is bulletproof (most not being killed during the worst freeze expected in a 100 + year period), I would say right on the immediate Coast from Fort Myers Beach southward and on the immediate coast from Palm Beach southward.  Nowhere on the South FL mainland that isn't immediately coastal, except maybe spots on the SE shore of Lake Okeechobee (or the middle of a slough like the Fakahatchee, where they have no business being anyways).  But that's no fun. 

[Phil Stager]

• Remember that you can grow most anything in Central Florida except for 8 hours or so every winter.  Clearwater Beach was full of coconuts until the bad freezes of the late 1950's and early 60's as evidenced by lots of old picture post cards.  The two cold wet winters a few years back killed most coconuts in my neighborhood in south St. Pete, but as noted, the two Jamaica talls at Kopsick survived.  I can still recall the 1989 and 1996 freezes - yikes!   Coconut palms are a crap shoot around here; how lucky do you feel and how much can you afford to lose?  If I were to plant one, I'd locate it so it was protected but in an easy location to cut down when the inevitable happens.
• For the 'coconut look' hard to beat a Becce. fenestralis.

[Heat]

On July 30, 2016 at 9:51:18 PM, palmsOrl said:

Here is a map I came up with that I posted 6 years ago (wow) in the Palmtalk thread "How far N in Florida can coconut palms reliably grow?".  Right off hand, I think it is fairly sound, though I might extend the range all the way around Lake Okeechobee right near the lakefront.  I also might extend the range north to New Smyrna Beach on the east coast and a hair further north on the west coast.  The light blue line was my guess as to roughly where one would begin to see mid to larger sized Cocos here and there inland.  For example, trunking Cocos are rare in the Orlando area, virtually non-existent in Lakeland, but a little south in areas like Lake Placid and Sebring, they can be seen here and there in better microclimates especially.

Just to highlight the contrast, not far south of Lake Placid is Archbold Biological station.  This location must be the coldest microclimate in Central FL (relative to latitude) and a queen palm would not have a chance here long-term, let alone a Cocos.  Archbold has been down to 13F multiple times and probably has an annual average low of 19-21F.

 

 

 

There are quite a few in Tarpon Springs right along Anclote River as it heads out into the Gulf of Mexico.  And, if you can believe it, there is one here in Land O Lakes in one of the trailer parks.  It doesn't look that great, but, it seems to survive the winters.

[annafl]

I think the above map is pretty accurate, at least on the west coast.  I'm in 10a/9b near the bay in Sarasota, Florida.  About 45 minutes south of St. Petersburg, which is pictured on the map.  We have 3 coconuts which we planted in 2005.  They are now approximately 35-40 feet to the top of the fronds and fruit every year.  They got hit badly during the winter of 2010 and took about a year to recover, but all three survived and continued to grow just fine.  I'm sure they'll continue to get hit every decade or so, but at this point they are so tall, they are inconvenient to trim, so it would probably be welcome!

[Coconutman]

8 hours ago, Heat said:

There are quite a few in Tarpon Springs right along Anclote River as it heads out into the Gulf of Mexico.  And, if you can believe it, there is one here in Land O Lakes in one of the trailer parks.  It doesn't look that great, but, it seems to survive the winters.

I seen a fairly large one in Land O' Lakes right off SR54. 

Edited August 2, 2016 by Coconutman

[RedRabbit]

8 hours ago, Heat said:

There are quite a few in Tarpon Springs right along Anclote River as it heads out into the Gulf of Mexico.  And, if you can believe it, there is one here in Land O Lakes in one of the trailer parks.  It doesn't look that great, but, it seems to survive the winters.

 

14 minutes ago, Coconutman said:

I agree, that's a fairly large one in Land O' Lakes right off SR54. 

There's been some talk of a coconut in LOL, but I thought it was determined to really be a queen. Here's a map of the Tampa Bay area, the red line is the approximate limit for pre-2010 coconut and the blue line is the limit for royals:

I'm not aware or any pre-2010 royals in LOL, let alone a coconut.

Further, Frank Tintera has a real nice tropical garden around Waters and Hanley, but he's had no success with coconuts. His area is low end 10a and I think LOL is mid 9b. North of SR52 and we're talking 9a so coconuts really can't be expected to make it there for more than a couple years.   

 

[PalmTreeDude]

On July 30, 2016 at 9:51:18 PM, palmsOrl said:

Here is a map I came up with that I posted 6 years ago (wow) in the Palmtalk thread "How far N in Florida can coconut palms reliably grow?".  Right off hand, I think it is fairly sound, though I might extend the range all the way around Lake Okeechobee right near the lakefront.  I also might extend the range north to New Smyrna Beach on the east coast and a hair further north on the west coast.  The light blue line was my guess as to roughly where one would begin to see mid to larger sized Cocos here and there inland.  For example, trunking Cocos are rare in the Orlando area, virtually non-existent in Lakeland, but a little south in areas like Lake Placid and Sebring, they can be seen here and there in better microclimates especially.

Just to highlight the contrast, not far south of Lake Placid is Archbold Biological station.  This location must be the coldest microclimate in Central FL (relative to latitude) and a queen palm would not have a chance here long-term, let alone a Cocos.  Archbold has been down to 13F multiple times and probably has an annual average low of 19-21F.

 

 

 

Hey, I have seen survivors in South East Manatee county Florida, and that is kind of inland. But great map! 

Edited August 2, 2016 by PalmTreeDude

[Dave-Vero]

Here in Vero Beach, a lot of coconuts died in the cold, sometimes wet, weather of 2010-2011.  Now, the survivors are flourishing.  Huge bumper crop of coconuts this spring.

I'm pursuing Kentiopsis oliviformis as a better alternative.  Mostly good results with Archontophoenix, which admittedly don't look anything like coconuts.  And we have lots of very reliable smaller palms.  Dypsis carlsmithii is a wonderful specimen, even without a trunk.  The Kopsick Arboretum in Tampa, Leu in Orlando, and the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne are good places for ideas about what to grow fairly far north.  The small palm collection at Heathcote in Ft. Pierce has a few nice specimens, including a pair of foxtails that seem to be from well before they entered the mass market.  

[Coconutman]

At the 4:05 minute mark of the Land O Lakes trailer park video, you can see the coconut. In streetview, it's shown but it's rather obstructed.

[RedRabbit]

6 hours ago, Coconutman said:

At the 4:05 minute mark of the Land O Lakes trailer park video, you can see the coconut. In streetview, it's shown but it's rather obstructed.

Good find! I saw it in streetview, but doesn't seem to appear in the images prior to 2014. It hasn't really been cold since Jan 2011 so that palm hasn't been tested yet...

It seems plausible there could be pre-2010 royals in LOL, does anyone know of any? I know of some in Chevel and Odessa, but nothing as far north and east as LOL. For that matter I'm not aware of any around USF, New Tampa, or Busch Gardens. 

Edited August 3, 2016 by RedRabbit

[kinzyjr]

On 8/1/2016, 10:08:04, RedRabbit said:

 

There's been some talk of a coconut in LOL, but I thought it was determined to really be a queen. Here's a map of the Tampa Bay area, the red line is the approximate limit for pre-2010 coconut and the blue line is the limit for royals:

I'm not aware or any pre-2010 royals in LOL, let alone a coconut.

Further, Frank Tintera has a real nice tropical garden around Waters and Hanley, but he's had no success with coconuts. His area is low end 10a and I think LOL is mid 9b. North of SR52 and we're talking 9a so coconuts really can't be expected to make it there for more than a couple years.   

 

@RedRabbit

I disagree with this map and can provide a counter example.

We do have pre-2010 Royals at Harrison School of the Arts in Lakeland, FL and at least one car dealership.  They did get some leaf burn (50-80%), but they almost all survived.

This link will verify that the construction containing the Royal palms was completed in 2009 as long as have a small picture showing them there on the right:

http://schooldesigns.com/Project-Details.aspx?Project_ID=3944

For further proof, the image is the same building in June of 2016

 

[RedRabbit]

7 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

@RedRabbit

I disagree with this map and can provide a counter example.

We do have pre-2010 Royals at Harrison School of the Arts in Lakeland, FL and at least one car dealership.  They did get some leaf burn (50-80%), but they almost all survived.

This link will verify that the construction containing the Royal palms was completed in 2009 as long as have a small picture showing them there on the right:

http://schooldesigns.com/Project-Details.aspx?Project_ID=3944

For further proof, the image is the same building in June of 2016

 

Sorry about that, I wasn't really considering Lakeland when I drew that. I know there are some warm spots in Lakeland, but I think it is more of a heat island rather than being contiguous with the Tampa Bay area.

Since drawing this map a learned of a few palms outside the boundaries I drew here like some royals in Seffner and coconuts in Ybor, but as a whole I think that is pretty accurate for Hillsborough & Pinellas counties.

[kinzyjr]

@RedRabbit

Certainly, you're right about warm spots.  There are other areas where Queen palms get wiped out in the same general location.  No apologies needed.   All in the name of learning from one another.

[RR soFLA]

10a coconuts all, most appear to have a few years on them. There are plenty of healthy large cocos in coastal southwest FL. These shots are from Pine Island. 

[Dave-Vero]

Coconuts are not permanent in Vero Beach.  There's a handful of tall old trees (one at Riverside Cafe, visible from the bridge, is the most conspicuous), they do well on the beach, but less than a mile inland, they fall victim in bad winters.  We've had an amazing coconut resurgence since 2010; one across the street from my house that survived is now husky and happy (it also survived the brief spiraling whitefly outbreak).  

My little Kentiopsis oliviformis in the back yard still doesn't have a trunk, but it added leaves, each bigger, this summer and ought to have a really good time next year.  Beautiful leaves.  

Vero lost lots of royals in 1989.  One that predates the great freeze is visible from my house; a second like it died, seemingly for no particular reason, a few years ago. 

[kinzyjr]

8 hours ago, Dave-Vero said:

Coconuts are not permanent in Vero Beach.  There's a handful of tall old trees (one at Riverside Cafe, visible from the bridge, is the most conspicuous), they do well on the beach, but less than a mile inland, they fall victim in bad winters.  We've had an amazing coconut resurgence since 2010; one across the street from my house that survived is now husky and happy (it also survived the brief spiraling whitefly outbreak).  

My little Kentiopsis oliviformis in the back yard still doesn't have a trunk, but it added leaves, each bigger, this summer and ought to have a really good time next year.  Beautiful leaves.  

Vero lost lots of royals in 1989.  One that predates the great freeze is visible from my house; a second like it died, seemingly for no particular reason, a few years ago. 

The coconut palm that I admire the most in Vero (and inspired me to plant mine) is the one that is surrounded by sea grapes off of the beach access walkway at South Beach Park.  This is what it looked like in 2010 after the "2 week freeze".

[RedRabbit]

17 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

The coconut palm that I admire the most in Vero (and inspired me to plant mine) is the one that is surrounded by sea grapes off of the beach access walkway at South Beach Park.  This is what it looked like in 2010 after the "2 week freeze".

Not too bad really! That palm looks better than any coconut in Tampa in early 2011.

[Dave-Vero]

The shoreline warmth did wonders.  

I don't seem to have taken a photo recently.  The tree is thriving and producing plenty of fruit.  A neighbor to the north has a whole flock of tall coconuts.  The park could use a palm or two to replace a Washingtonia that crashed in Matthew.  

[kinzyjr]

15 hours ago, Dave-Vero said:

The shoreline warmth did wonders.  

I don't seem to have taken a photo recently.  The tree is thriving and producing plenty of fruit.  A neighbor to the north has a whole flock of tall coconuts.  The park could use a palm or two to replace a Washingtonia that crashed in Matthew.  

Good to hear that tree is still rocking.  Wonder what the park would want for a few coconuts...?

Hope mine looks like that in the next few years.

[Dave-Vero]

Here's snapshots of the South Beach coconut palm in Vero Beach, today.  Didn't spot any fruits on the ground.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On ‎12‎/‎13‎/‎2016‎ ‎12‎:‎06‎:‎16‎, RR soFLA said:

10a coconuts all, most appear to have a few years on them. There are plenty of healthy large cocos in coastal southwest FL. These shots are from Pine Island. 

Roland,

Those coconuts look great.  I wish our Corpus Christi and Rio Grande Valley ones could look that good.  We do have some in the Valley that about almost as good as the ones in the first photo.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On ‎8‎/‎2‎/‎2016‎ ‎11‎:‎39‎:‎12‎, Coconutman said:

At the 4:05 minute mark of the Land O Lakes trailer park video, you can see the coconut. In streetview, it's shown but it's rather obstructed.

Zachary,

That looks pretty good for a coconut palm that far north and that far inland.  It is probably a Jamaican Tall, since they are more cold hardy than Malayan Dwarfs.

John

[PalmTreeDude]

Sorry for bumping, but has anyone seen good coconuts growing north of Clearwater on the West coast of Florida?

Edited December 28, 2016 by PalmTreeDude

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

4 hours ago, PalmTreeDude said:

Sorry for bumping, but has anyone seen good coconuts growing north of Clearwater on the West coast of Florida?

I read somewhere several years ago about a coconut palm with a little bit of woody trunk on it growing in Tarpon Springs close to the water.  I think it was a Jamaican Tall, but I don't know if it survived the bad 2010 winter.

[Steve the palmreader]

On ‎12‎/‎28‎/‎2016‎ ‎1‎:‎21‎:‎51‎, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

I read somewhere several years ago about a coconut palm with a little bit of woody trunk on it growing in Tarpon Springs close to the water.  I think it was a Jamaican Tall, but I don't know if it survived the bad 2010 winter.

My mother in law planted 6 large ones in ruskin  on the water and all died in 2010

[RedRabbit]

33 minutes ago, Steve the palmreader said:

My mother in law planted 6 large ones in ruskin  on the water and all died in 2010

Really? There are pre-2010 coconuts in Apollo Beach, I'm suprised to hear they died in Ruskin.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On 1/25/2017, 6:06:39, Steve the palmreader said:

My mother in law planted 6 large ones in ruskin  on the water and all died in 2010

 

On 1/25/2017, 6:06:39, Steve the palmreader said:

My mother in law planted 6 large ones in ruskin  on the water and all died in 2010

Wow!  That's bad, and Ruskin is a lot further south than Tarpon Springs.

[Steve the palmreader]

6 hours ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

 

Wow!  That's bad, and Ruskin is a lot further south than Tarpon Springs.

They had a low of 27 ,But many other cold nights that year, I see a few new ones in the area now.I read a article about Tarpon Springs,There were large CoConuts there that were killed by a bad freeze in 1957

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

13 hours ago, Steve the palmreader said:

They had a low of 27 ,But many other cold nights that year, I see a few new ones in the area now.I read a article about Tarpon Springs,There were large CoConuts there that were killed by a bad freeze in 1957

Steve, that's interesting that the were large ones in Tarpon Springs back in 1957.  They must have been Jamaican Talls, since that is all they planted in Florida back then and to be large that far north.  I wonder if they had nuts on them, especially viable nut?

John

[Steve the palmreader]

10 hours ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Steve, that's interesting that the were large ones in Tarpon Springs back in 1957.  They must have been Jamaican Talls, since that is all they planted in Florida back then and to be large that far north.  I wonder if they had nuts on them, especially viable nut?

John

I saw pictures of them and they were loaded with nuts,

 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

Steve,

Wow!  That's amazing.  People in that whole area, especially in St. Pete and Tampa should be planting them everywhere!

John

[Palmə häl′ik]

On 1/25/2017, 7:06:39, Steve the palmreader said:

My mother in law planted 6 large ones in ruskin  on the water and all died in 2010

Steve, does your mom live on the little manatee?  Is her front yard us41?  Are the cocos or were they bustin into the seawall?  If so, I know of this home.   If not, I know of huge, mature Coco's there...   I haven't been back there I awhile, (....getting ready to order my new skiff) but I will go check it out.

I know of a few biguns around Tampa and gibtown thatve pushed through the 2010 deal...   They're around.

[Palmə häl′ik]

.....now that I think about it, the ones I know of ARE still there...   I was back there a couple years ago, post-2010 freeeze

[Steve the palmreader]

17 hours ago, Palmə häl′ik said:

.....now that I think about it, the ones I know of ARE still there...   I was back there a couple years ago, post-2010 freeeze

I saw these when we were boating a few years ago.  The ones that died were on ruskin inlet. They were field grown and made it through the first winter .

 

[SubTropicRay]

On ‎7‎/‎30‎/‎2016‎ ‎9‎:‎51‎:‎18‎, palmsOrl said:

Here is a map I came up with that I posted 6 years ago (wow) in the Palmtalk thread "How far N in Florida can coconut palms reliably grow?".  Right off hand, I think it is fairly sound, though I might extend the range all the way around Lake Okeechobee right near the lakefront.  I also might extend the range north to New Smyrna Beach on the east coast and a hair further north on the west coast.  The light blue line was my guess as to roughly where one would begin to see mid to larger sized Cocos here and there inland.  For example, trunking Cocos are rare in the Orlando area, virtually non-existent in Lakeland, but a little south in areas like Lake Placid and Sebring, they can be seen here and there in better microclimates especially.

Just to highlight the contrast, not far south of Lake Placid is Archbold Biological station.  This location must be the coldest microclimate in Central FL (relative to latitude) and a queen palm would not have a chance here long-term, let alone a Cocos.  Archbold has been down to 13F multiple times and probably has an annual average low of 19-21F.

 

 

 

Nice map but it's a little misleading.  The Coconut will grow at the northern limit of the blue shaded area on Florida's west coast but as a perennial.  I live on Tampa's Interbay peninsula where many coconuts existed pre-2010.  Some are still around but in extremely nice microclimates.  Some that were wiped out had been there for 20+ years.  Even in the best spot, the next hard freeze could take them out.  I wouldn't waste my time planting coconut palms anywhere in the Tampa Bay area as they have a limited lifespan regardless of the size the tree attains or the cultivar.  If you don't mind watching it grow for decades only to have one night give you a big chainsaw project, go for it.  For me, there are too many nice, a little less marginal species to grow than this one.  This is one I enjoy in other gardens. 

[kinzyjr]

1 hour ago, SubTropicRay said:

Nice map but it's a little misleading.  The Coconut will grow at the northern limit of the blue shaded area on Florida's west coast but as a perennial.  I live on Tampa's Interbay peninsula where many coconuts existed pre-2010.  Some are still around but in extremely nice microclimates.  Some that were wiped out had been there for 20+ years.  Even in the best spot, the next hard freeze could take them out.  I wouldn't waste my time planting coconut palms anywhere in the Tampa Bay area as they have a limited lifespan regardless of the size the tree attains or the cultivar.  If you don't mind watching it grow for decades only to have one night give you a big chainsaw project, go for it.  For me, there are too many nice, a little less marginal species to grow than this one.  This is one I enjoy in other gardens. 

If the owner doesn't plan on protecting it, I certainly agree.  I have one, but I'm not foolish enough to think it will live here permanently without my assistance during cold snaps.  It's one of those things I just had to have, and the maintenance for it isn't too bad.  I only cover it a few times a year, and I get to enjoy watching it grow, and hopefully soon, fruit.