California Cocos 1-2-3 ...

[AS in SA]

Thought I'd share one more shot of my coconuts before the cold weather kicks in.  Took this shot yesterday... If you look back in the posts you'll see two previous pics as well.  Fingers crossed that it'll get through the winter...

[AS in SA]

... and since I'm posting pics of palms that won't look so good a month or 2 from now - thought I'd share this bottle palm as well.  Had this for about 2 years - it was completely defoliated last year in the BIG freeze, but came back.  Hopefully nothing as traumatic this year...

[Gaston in Argentina]

(AS in SA @ Aug. 09 2007,11:43)

QUOTE

Below is a photo of two coconuts that I purchased in January/February.  I potted these up and put them outside in early March.  Second photo shows them now.  They're both potted in pure sand with river rock on top.  The larger of the two (which I believe is a tall variety) has been growing quite well.

If is not for the yelow tone on petiole, i would say they are Parajubaeas, very simmilar.-

Seems interesting they are Cocos that come from "cold" areas of Mexico.-

Genetic make miracles and i think soon or later will be a tolerating freezes Cocos palms.-

Cheers. Gaston, Ar

[Nigel]

Are you sure it is not the keeping them dry that is working rather than the sand ?

Butia yatays from Argentina come to Europe in the natural sand they grow in, but this is lethal in cold damp weather. If the sand is not removed and replaced with normal well draining soil the palm will lose all its roots in winter and perish.

[Cristóbal]

(Cristóbal @ Jul. 16 2007,21:23)

QUOTE

these are the two cocos for the more cool climate  developped by mexican scientists i buy yesterday. these come from mountains in veracruz state growned in full sun there. 200 pesos - 17 us dollars. the palm seller palmeras vargas is to recieve 100-150 more in 2-3 weeks and is to see for my american friends about the certificate fitosanitarey to export. one is 1.40 meters / 4 feet 6 inchs tall and the other is 1.30 meters / 4 feet 4 inchs tall. the cat el wiwi is in the fotos for seeing the size.

i do with these what i do before with my cocos - plant in sand in large pots and leave in the outside no protection to be come acostom to the climate.

in the next year, i put them in the ground.

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in july i buy the 2 cocos for the more cool climate. i show the fotos new ones i take today 23 december 2007. all the month of december is very cool for tijuana, and with much high wind and some big storms. i am in 4 floor of building 200 meters from ocean. the cocos are doing very good i think the wind is more worse for them the very cool temperatures dont stop to both them for growing more fronds.  i water today for first time in the month. i have thermometer in soil. average of  temperature in soil in morning  is about 10C / 50F, in afternoon 17C /64F.

[Cristóbal]

[Cristóbal]

[Tyrone]

Keep us posted on their progress Cristobal.

regards

Tyrone

[Cristóbal]

hi friends of the palmtalk,

we now go ahead 9 months in the time to see hows the cocos i plant in 26 may 2007 is today. see first part of post for the details. this, after the most cold winter in 30 years in the area of southern california and baja california and probaly all the east pacific.

this is how it look in 26 may 2007 when i plant it:

when i plant it i think to put some plastic on the top to keep off the cool rain in winter, for this theres the plastic poles. i decide in the fall to take out the poles and let the cocos go all winter with no protection from rain and wind. if its going to survive it will do this, if it dies - it dies. end of experiment of 3 years.

heres how it looks today, foto # 1:

some yellow but not to bad. its yellow maypan i think some yellow color is natural part of the color of the palm.

foto # 2:

this new frond start in december and never stop growing all winter, but very slow.  now it is growing more faster starting in end of february.

foto # 3:

in this foto you can see the cocos is building the start of the trunk. i also see this process is going on all winter, but very slow.

this is winter # 3 for this cocos. i explain in the post before about how i plant this in almost all sand. this i believe is the secret for some reason to grow the cocos in this region.

[Cristóbal]

also in the fall 2007 i get another cocos for control. i put this in large pot, in regular soil, by the cocos in the sand. i dont have a foto of when i get it, but this is how it look today:

you can see theres more damage from the cold of this winter. when i compare this cocos, in regular soil, with how the cocos in the sand looked after 2 winters outside planted in sand in winters before in the same pot, i can only say the cocos do much better in sand - in pot or in the ground.

friends of the palmtalk in southern california, when you want to plant a cocos and see it grow - and live after our winters - try this way. it works every time.

i hope more people in our area can appley what i learn in my 10 years of cultivating with success cocos nucifera and start to grow cocos nucifera as part of the garden.

i will share all my experience with any body who has questions and want to try this.

[Tyrone]

Well, they didn't die, so that's always a good thing.  

Anyway I'd be pumping them full of fish and seaweed every day for the entire growing season, with liberal amounts of NPK as the weather warms up for you. That's what I've done to my Dwarf Malay and it's just rocketed along. Just yesterday I put 220kg of river pebbles around it and the area it's in, so now it's a rockery palm. I'll post pictures soon. I'm not looking forward to winter though.

regards

Tyrone

[AS in SA]

I love your passion Cristobal - it's contagious.  I posted a picture of my two cocos (top of the page) back in November.  The smaller of the two on the right hand side didn't make it, but the larger one on the right is doing quite well - it's holding 5 fronds and pushing a healthy looking spear.  It also passed its first anniversary being outdoors last month - unprotected.  I'm thinking that I'd like to get it in the ground this spring (it's been in the barrel for just over a year - all sand).  If you look behind the coconut in the picture you'll see a bed full of cannas - this (southern facing) bed has been expanded several feet into the lawn and the cannas have been removed.  I've planted a royal, triangle, teddy-bear in the bed so far.

My dilemma - I have clay soil  that I'm afraid will do my coconut more harm than good.  Also, transplanting it is not going to be easy.  It's sitting in pure sand - must be several hundred pounds.  Anyone have any tips on getting this thing in the ground?  I was thinking I'd...

1.  dig the hole out large enough to accommodate the entire barrel and then some.

2.  Drill out holes in the upper part of the barrel to put rope through and knot (handles)

3.  Cut through the barrel rings and remove slats.

All advice/suggestions welcome and appreciated.

[Tyrone]

(AS in SA @ Apr. 03 2008,09:52)

QUOTE

I love your passion Cristobal - it's contagious.  I posted a picture of my two cocos (top of the page) back in November.  The smaller of the two on the right hand side didn't make it, but the larger one on the right is doing quite well - it's holding 5 fronds and pushing a healthy looking spear.  It also passed its first anniversary being outdoors last month - unprotected.  I'm thinking that I'd like to get it in the ground this spring (it's been in the barrel for just over a year - all sand).  If you look behind the coconut in the picture you'll see a bed full of cannas - this (southern facing) bed has been expanded several feet into the lawn and the cannas have been removed.  I've planted a royal, triangle, teddy-bear in the bed so far.

My dilemma - I have clay soil  that I'm afraid will do my coconut more harm than good.  Also, transplanting it is not going to be easy.  It's sitting in pure sand - must be several hundred pounds.  Anyone have any tips on getting this thing in the ground?  I was thinking I'd...

1.  dig the hole out large enough to accommodate the entire barrel and then some.

2.  Drill out holes in the upper part of the barrel to put rope through and knot (handles)

3.  Cut through the barrel rings and remove slats.

All advice/suggestions welcome and appreciated.

It sounds like you've got the planting idea sorted out quite well. I'd do it that way. If you dig a huge hole, you can fill it in with more sand. Hopefully the coconut will stay with what it knows best. Maybe plant it considerably higher than the surrounding soil too, with lots of rocks and heat absorbing stuff around it.

Best of luck.

regards

Tyrone

[Cristóbal]

hi as,

the sand is yes very heavy ! i know when i go to the beach for the sand only 1 large bucket is dificult to move. but let the sand dry for long time and is much easier to move it has less weigth.

dig a whole more larger then the barrell and put the barrell in the hole for the palm putting many very large holes in the side for the roots. the barrells going to rot and the roots grow out the side. only mix some sand with the clay soils so theres no barrer between the two soils, putting holes in the side of the soil of the wall of the hole. you want good easy interface between the two soils.

if you can, bring in more sand and make the hole very large.

yes tyrone take some fotos soon of your cocos, the last you put i think in the spring for you and it look to me very good. you are also 32 degrees from the equator its for me interesting to see how your cocos is doing.

[The Palm Nut]

This little baby has taken about 15 months to germinate insitu. No protection for this little guy but the leafs of the Latania lontaroides. The soil is on the sandy side but well mulched. The surrounding mature palms probably suck up alot of the moisture so for this little baby it will need to work hard for any moisture.

Mike

[Cristóbal]

hi mike i see port macquarie is 31 degrees south are there any cocos nucifera in the ground in your area ?

[The Palm Nut]

In Port Macquarie area I know of three, one which was planted next to a pool at one of the hotels on the second floor, it was planted with atleast 4feet of trunk.  Has survived for two winters so far, looking reasonalbly healthly.

One which is within a mile of the beach, growing in the ground and has been growing for 4 years and is doing pretty good. It was a local landscaper who planted it with lots of encouragement from me.

The other one is one which I planted at a resort which I used to work at, I germinated it from a seed and now after about 7 years it has a trunk of about 4feet.

And of course my two plus the germinating seed.

Cheers

Mike

[Tyrone]

Here's my Golden Dwarf Malay today.

And when I planted it mid Nov 2007

regards

Tyrone

[Hammer]

Bump...

How are the experiments fairing? Pictures?

[Cristóbal]

This foto I taked 30 january of this year is of my cocos by the factory of my work in Tijuana. In this time of the year is the most bad it looks, but in the foto you can see one new frond opening it grows in the winter only obvious more slow. I put comments of this palm and fotos before in this message when i plant it may 2007.

The damage of the fronds is from the Santa Ana winds they are very bad in this area. I cannot do any thing to protect it from these winds they hurt the palm more than cool temperatures. I cut fronds only when dead 100% or let them fall natural. This cocos is yellow maypan, it is more yellow january - march from cool temperatures in these months. In april - may it is green again. In some winters i see some damage from cool temperatures, but in other winters very little or nothing. It is never very much damage.

After 5 winters i think it is ok to say this palm is to be permanent, it is is good for a palm "you cannot grow here".

I give this palm no water december - march, and it is planted in almost all sand.

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

Cristobal,

I am impressed. Looks like it gets a little beat up by the wind, but its fair to say you have an established young coco tree there.!

Jeff

[elHoagie]

I agree, it looks to be well on its way. My Cocos croaked after its third year in the ground. We had a rather cool summer, so it was not at full strength when winter came that year.

Mine was planted in clay, with no protection. It might have survived with a little more help...

[Hammer]

Congratulations Cristobal! Very cool to see it making it. It give us all hope!

[The Palm Nut]

This little baby has taken about 15 months to germinate insitu. No protection for this little guy but the leafs of the Latania lontaroides. The soil is on the sandy side but well mulched. The surrounding mature palms probably suck up alot of the moisture so for this little baby it will need to work hard for any moisture.

Mike

Here is the coconut now.

Cheers

Mike

[wrigjef]

How are everyones Cocos doing? I'd be curious to see if Tyrone's are still alive and how does Cristobal's look after the summer. I've had some experience growing cocos outside of their normal limits also. This is a great topic.

Jeff

[Cristóbal]

New fotos of my cocos nucifera in Tijuana I planted in 2007, I taked these yesterday 10 november.

[Don Little]

Wow Cristobal, definitely getting some trunk. Congratulations on getting it this far. Hopefully the fall and winter will be mild so that when next spring arrives it will be ready to put on some more growth

[Hammer]

Thanks so much for posting pictures. I, for one, enjoy this thread immensely. Probably my very favorite on PT.

What are the daily low temps like during the winter at this location?

[MattyB]

[wrigjef]

Cristobal,

Did your coco make it through the winter? I hope it did but will be surprised if so. We had a brutal cold winter in Phoenix. Temps were in the 20's for a week straight in January. I bet TJ was pretty cold also although I doubt that low.

[Mark Heath]

I am also curious to see the results of his magnificent Cocos. You have done well cristolball!

[DoomsDave]

Whoa!

Keep up the good work!

Watching closely . . .

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

I am impressed by the dedication shown to grow one of these in such a marginal climate. It's also interesting to hear what the real limiting factor is, i.e. cold wet soil in the Winter. I am happy to say that reading this thread has completely cured me of the desire of ever wanting to attempt to grow this anywhere in California. My wife would make me pull anything that looked like that in the garden. I've removed marginal plants that actually looked better than that.

However, if I were so inclined to absolutely want a coconut in my garden, then in addition to growing it in pure sand, I'd use heating cables in the soil while the palm is young to at least get the coconut to send roots far down enough where the soil temperature is stable. That is, if I had a sandy south facing hillside with a south facing wall somewhere in Sunset zone 24. But it would probably be cheaper to cart a trunking specimen in from Florida.

A far better use of one's valuable time is to actually learn to do micro-propagation so once can learn to do gene injection and modify enough of the coconut's genetic makeup to gain the dry tolerance and the cold wet root tolerance required to get these things to actually grow in a Mediterranean climate.

[Cristóbal]

New fotos of my cocos nucifera in Tijuana. About 32.25 north latitude.

I took these 1 fotos when I planted it in May 2007:

These are the new fotos I took yesterday, 6 February 2015.

It now has almost 8 years in the ground.

The tallest frond is about 4.5 meters - 15 feet tall.

It is yellow maypan. It is coming to the end of winter, this is about as yellow as it becomes.

I also have 2 pacific tall cocos nucifera in pots right now. They are about 1 meter tall each. I bought them when they arrived here from Colima, and now almost all the fronds were born here. I am not sure when I will plant them, or where, because I may move from the house where I am now.

Edited February 8, 2015 by Cristóbal

[trioderob]

este arbol es increible

[Stevetoad]

Awesome!!!

[Coconutman]

Looks great!!! I see it developing a trunk pretty soon!

[sarasota alex]

New fotos of my cocos nucifera in Tijuana. About 32.25 north latitude.

I took these 1 fotos when I planted it in May 2007:

These are the new fotos I took yesterday, 6 February 2015.

It now has almost 8 years in the ground.

The tallest frond is about 4.5 meters - 15 feet tall.

It is yellow maypan. It is coming to the end of winter, this is about as yellow as it becomes.

I also have 2 pacific tall cocos nucifera in pots right now. They are about 1 meter tall each. I bought them when they arrived here from Colima, and now almost all the fronds were born here. I am not sure when I will plant them, or where, because I may move from the house where I am now.

Very nice!

[Gtlevine]

If you can paint the whole wall of that building black, the temperatures would go way up for that Coconut which would probably make it thrive.

[Phoenikakias]

It kinda reminds the way I try to raise a Medemia outdoors. Only I do not dare paint those cement blocks black, cause I fear root overheating during summer. Plus I use only pumice and shingle as substrate.