Update of my coconut in Cyprus

[Stelios]

It's been a very rainy December this year. Here in Paphos till now we had 278% more than the average rainfall for the month and there is more coming. My palm took a lot of rain the last 3 weeks because is only protected with a plastic naylon from the northern wind. Despite of this the temps were mild and I didn't get less than 10c in my garden. We had days around 19-20 and a couple 22c. The nights were mostly 10-12c with some 13-14c. One thing I noticed is the palm had no issues so far and even the newest spear seems that it keeps growing. I guess we'll have soon more cool nights but the palm will not get any extra covering and see what happens. 

 

[sandgroper]

Your coconut is looking really good, the cooler weather doesn't seem to have caused any grief as yet. Hopefully you'll have a warm winter to help it along.

[Stelios]

45 minutes ago, sandgroper said:

Your coconut is looking really good, the cooler weather doesn't seem to have caused any grief as yet. Hopefully you'll have a warm winter to help it along.

Many thanks. I'm hoping for that too but from next thursday the weather forecast gets cooler to 15-16c for some days with a couple of nights to 7c and after back to 10c.

Edited December 22, 2018 by Stelios

[sandgroper]

15c to 16c is quite cold, if those days are sunny you could put some silver roof insulation around the coconut to help reflect any sunlight and warmth onto the palm, I do it in winter here and it definitely makes a difference. It's a great looking palm, I hope it does well, good luck mate.

[Phoenikakias]

2 hours ago, Stelios said:

It's been a very rainy December this year. Here in Paphos till now we had 278% more than the average rainfall for the month and there is more coming. My palm took a lot of rain the last 3 weeks because is only protected with a plastic naylon from the northern wind. Despite of this the temps were mild and I didn't get less than 10c in my garden. We had days around 19-20 and a couple 22c. The nights were mostly 10-12c with some 13-14c. One thing I noticed is the palm had no issues so far and even the newest spear seems that it keeps growing. I guess we'll have soon more cool nights but the palm will not get any extra covering and see what happens. 

 

I am really proud of you. Have you also tried a Latania so far?

Edited December 22, 2018 by Phoenikakias

[Stelios]

2 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

I am really proud of you. Have you also tried a Latania so far?

Many thanks! Not yet but if I will ever find a red latania I would like to try it in a protected spot in the garden.

[Stelios]

3 hours ago, sandgroper said:

15c to 16c is quite cold, if those days are sunny you could put some silver roof insulation around the coconut to help reflect any sunlight and warmth onto the palm, I do it in winter here and it definitely makes a difference. It's a great looking palm, I hope it does well, good luck mate.

Last year I half covered the top of the palm too, but this year I wanted to leave it completely open except of the side of the north. In the future as the palm grows taller and more difficult to protect, all this north covering will be replaced by a new dwarf schefflera and some other trees that I planted to stop the north winds. We have many sunny days in the winter and many around 18-20c (sometimes more). Most of the nights are around 9-10c and very rarely below 8c. I have to push its limits and see what happens.

Your palm looks great too.

[Cikas]

Looks great! 

[gilles06]

European coconut! Bravo!

[Stelios]

It has been a very rainy winter so far. In December we had 3 times the average rainfall in Paphos and in January we had the biggest rainfall on the island ever on record. On the 15th on January the only piece of naylon that I put to block the winds from northeast (as you see in the photos above) was blown down by strong winds from the south. I decided that is time to let the palm be. The house is protecting the wind from the west and the schefflera is big enough to block most of the north (I'm growing another schefflera to block the northeast). I marked the new spears to see if it grow at all. The next day we had the biggest rainfall in 1 day plus a bit hail in small pieces. The daily temp from 14c droped suddenly to 8c for most of the day. Generally the daily temps were lower than other winters but the palm didn't see temps less than 7c in the night in this protected spot.

[Stelios]

This is still just an experiment for me and so far I see that this year the new spears grew about 1 cm the last two weeks. Maybe this palm gets a bit more hardy when is bigger. It might also get more rain. My palm is planted in sand and the native soil is sandy so the water is draining fast. I believe the roots are deep enough to have a steady temp. Now the last few days the weather is better and the full sun is helping. I don't know if seawater helped but I will continue to add and this summer. I will see if any damage will show later. If my coco experiment will not work there are other beautiful palms that I will grow here.

[sandgroper]

Good luck mate, so far your coconut palm seems to be holding up pretty well, it looks great in the photos. I  think they get hardier as they get bigger, or at least more tolerant of the elements so hopefully you've been through the worst of it all and fingers crossed it is easier here on in. Good luck, you seem to be having a win thus far!

[Stelios]

2 hours ago, sandgroper said:

Good luck mate, so far your coconut palm seems to be holding up pretty well, it looks great in the photos. I  think they get hardier as they get bigger, or at least more tolerant of the elements so hopefully you've been through the worst of it all and fingers crossed it is easier here on in. Good luck, you seem to be having a win thus far!

Many thanks. I'm just trying to do some simple things to give it better fighting chance. People in similar climate with mine like south Greece, south Spain, Malta and Sindey (there are others), could give it a try and if is protected for the first years there might be a chance. Places like Tel Aviv, Perth and many parts of southern California that they have warmer winters than me, the palms could have ever better chances than here. With my experience this winter, I believe that the Newport coconut could survive if it was watered more and even extra water in the winter.

Keep us updated with your palm too!

[Attalea Funifera]

On 12/22/2018 at 9:29 AM, Stelios said:

It's been a very rainy December this year. Here in Paphos till now we had 278% more than the average rainfall for the month and there is more coming. My palm took a lot of rain the last 3 weeks because is only protected with a plastic naylon from the northern wind. Despite of this the temps were mild and I didn't get less than 10c in my garden. We had days around 19-20 and a couple 22c. The nights were mostly 10-12c with some 13-14c. One thing I noticed is the palm had no issues so far and even the newest spear seems that it keeps growing. I guess we'll have soon more cool nights but the palm will not get any extra covering and see what happens. 

 

rekorgelisim.com/yorum-videolari
I think I know a way to save her. And this method will be the only elixir of coconut trees associated with Mediterranean conditions. ^ REKOR GELiŞİM ^ It is a miracle. It is a magnificent soil conditioner that gives life to dried trees, protects the risk of frost and preserves the quality of the fruit.
youtube.com/watch?v=2RAq_uoCNjA

Edited February 2, 2019 by Attalea Funifera

[Phoenikakias]

On 2/2/2019 at 9:20 AM, Stelios said:

This is still just an experiment for me and so far I see that this year the new spears grew about 1 cm the last two weeks. Maybe this palm gets a bit more hardy when is bigger. It might also get more rain. My palm is planted in sand and the native soil is sandy so the water is draining fast. I believe the roots are deep enough to have a steady temp. Now the last few days the weather is better and the full sun is helping. I don't know if seawater helped but I will continue to add and this summer. I will see if any damage will show later. If my coco experiment will not work there are other beautiful palms that I will grow here.

The sandy soil is a great asset for your project. Sand warms up faster and of course drains and dries up faster, a very beneficial property, when temperature remains low. I dare say that you would much lower chances of success, were the soil  clay.

[Cluster]

Hello Stelios, the coconut is doing great!

Giving it sand was the best choice you could have made, I hope you show us the first inflorescence soon enough!

Regards,

Pedro! 

[Stelios]

10 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

The sandy soil is a great asset for your project. Sand warms up faster and of course drains and dries up faster, a very beneficial property, when temperature remains low. I dare say that you would much lower chances of success, were the soil  clay.

I totally agree. Clay in my climate is not good for coconuts.

[Stelios]

6 hours ago, Cluster said:

Hello Stelios, the coconut is doing great!

Giving it sand was the best choice you could have made, I hope you show us the first inflorescence soon enough!

Regards,

Pedro! 

Thanks Pedro. I also hope that it will survive long enough to show us the first inflorescence.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

It's looking good, Stelios.  Good job.

John

[Stelios]

On 2/2/2019 at 10:24 PM, Attalea Funifera said:

rekorgelisim.com/yorum-videolari
I think I know a way to save her. And this method will be the only elixir of coconut trees associated with Mediterranean conditions. ^ REKOR GELiŞİM ^ It is a miracle. It is a magnificent soil conditioner that gives life to dried trees, protects the risk of frost and preserves the quality of the fruit.
youtube.com/watch?v=2RAq_uoCNjA

It would interesting if it was tried on coconuts already with some good results. The technology is progressing so who knows what the future will bring.

[Stelios]

1 hour ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

It's looking good, Stelios.  Good job.

John

Many thanks John. I'm just trying to use different things that I learned here on PT about coconuts from more experienced members. Your posts have also been very helpful.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

18 hours ago, Stelios said:

Many thanks John. I'm just trying to use different things that I learned here on PT about coconuts from more experienced members. Your posts have also been very helpful.

You are very welcome.

[Stelios]

This is an update of my coconut here in Cyprus. It was a very unusual winter this year. We had a record rainfall of the last 50 years and the second biggest rainfall of the last 118 years. The night temps were more mild, mostly around 8-11C exept maybe 1 night it was around 4c here in my yard. But because of the non stop rain the daily temps were lower than usual and less sunny days. Many days around 15-16C. The palm was without any extra covering since the partial protection collapsed on the 15th of January. Despite the new spear looked that it was growing for a bit, after it stoped and I suspected that it had rot issues. The palm took more winter rain than it can handle even in this sandy soil. So on the 25th of May I had to make a "surgery" on the palm to find the problem. After the rot was clean I decided to let the nature take is course without using fungicide. The weather was already warmer and the palm started to recover. So far so good. The rest of the frond that had rot grew, and a new spear is on the way. From this experiment I noticed that the older fronds have more cold hardiness than the new ones (at least here in my place).

Edited July 5, 2019 by Stelios

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

The palm surgeon,  great job and the palm is looking good 

[Stelios]

2 hours ago, OC2Texaspalmlvr said:

The palm surgeon,  great job and the palm is looking good 

Ha ha! Many thanks, but I think the palm survived out of pure luck. All this could have the opposite result.

[GottmitAlex]

Well done! Nice recovery!!

[palmsOrl]

Excellent work keeping your Cocos alive!  That just goes to reinforce how sensitive these are to cool daytime temperatures and concurrent rainfall.

[Stelios]

7 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

Well done! Nice recovery!!

Many thanks.

[GottmitAlex]

3 minutes ago, Stelios said:

Many thanks.

vielen Dank!

Edited July 6, 2019 by GottmitAlex

[Stelios]

7 hours ago, palmsOrl said:

Excellent work keeping your Cocos alive!  That just goes to reinforce how sensitive these are to cool daytime temperatures and concurrent rainfall.

Thanks! I did the best I could. It should look better until the end of the summer.

[gilles06]

Bravo

[Aleitalyyy]

On 6/7/2019 at 05:19, Stelios said:

Grazie! Ho fatto del mio meglio. Dovrebbe avere un aspetto migliore fino alla fine dell'estate.

hello stelios  how's the coconut? Do you have any new coconuts in the smaller garden?

[DoomsDave]

Stelios, tell us how is your coconut? Hope you're okay, too! And the Island of Cyprus! And all of the wonderful people on it!

[Stelios]

Everything here is OK guys. Alessandro I wanted to find a green tall variety of coconut but so far no luck. I might end up trying the ones from holland again. Thanks for the kind words Dave. Here in Cyprus we had the hottest summer ever. Still the weather is unusually warm. Yesterday here in Paphos we had 32C. Today in Nicosia they expect 36C. This October seems to be one of the hottest ever. They also expect dry winter this year. After 2 very rainy winters that will be good for my palm. As you see in the photos it doesn't look its best. The last 2 winters it has no protection and will remain like this as is difficult to cover.

[GottmitAlex]

Wow!!

[Aleitalyyy]

@Stelios hello stelios I am following your exsperiment with great curiosity and maybe i will try again in the future...

I now have one in the pot from may 2020 and grown well out in the sun, now and at home...

This is a dutch palm of those lidl , i don't know the variety but it looks good to me...

[Aleitalyyy]

Ouch can't upload the photo of my palm 

[Stelios]

13 hours ago, Aleitalyyy said:

@Stelios hello stelios I am following your exsperiment with great curiosity and maybe i will try again in the future...

I now have one in the pot from may 2020 and grown well out in the sun, now and at home...

This is a dutch palm of those lidl , i don't know the variety but it looks good to me...

Keep us posted with the progress Alessandro. I might also try one of these palms from Holland since I can't find other green tall variety here and to order online out of the EU might be confiscated by the authorities without certificate.

[Aleitalyyy]

https://ibb.co/hZ3TvmK

https://ibb.co/C914z2b

<a href="https://ibb.co/C914z2b"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/kDHzx14/16043070232942109059224093924699.jpg" alt="16043070232942109059224093924699" border="0"></a>

[Aleitalyyy]

@Stelios  my coconut ...

 

https://ibb.co/GkG7Y6T