Cocos Nucifera. Still a heart beat somehow.

[James B]

I have a Cocos Nucifera I purchased last spring. Sold my house in October and moved to my new home. I dug up my Cocos and put it in a pot and brought it over knowing digging it up was going to cause major stress and that it surviving winter was nigh impossible. Fast forward to this winter which is the worst I’ve seen in terms of non stop cold duration(it’s still forecasted for winter weather on the first day of spring) it’s easily 15-20 plus degrees below average every day for the past 4 months and while it’s just glimmer, this palm is somehow still alive. I was giving it supplemental heat until about 3 weeks ago before the massive storm where I had about 4” f snow drop. Believing it was a waste of time I stopped and gave up on it. But it’s now March 8th and there is still some green on the emerging new leaf. 
 

Seeing that at some point with longer daylight hours we will eventually leave winter. Could this crazy tough Palm survive and start growing again once it heats up over 80f?

[mnorell]

James, do you know what form of Cocos you have there? I lost a green Malayan (sold as that, out of Florida) this winter but I planted it in what I had not realized was a river of cold air coming through a break in our perimeter fencing, and it is a goner. I just received two sprouted Jamaican Tall nuts and putting them in a better position around our pool, with a Puerto Rican 'King coconut' on order as well for trial this year. These are just a tough grow, even out here in the desert where there have been some success stories. Right cultivar, right location. Unfortunately none of us know definitively what those are. Same for the late, great Corona coconut. At this point I'm more or less shooting darts and hoping for success. Glad to see yours is alive. To me, it looks like it will survive. Probably your addition of some heat helped it get through the worst of it. And you are right, this weather regime has to end sometime soon!

This winter is something I can hardly wrap my mind around...I was born and raised in SoCal and even in the VERY rainy drought-buster period ca. 1980-1982 (I think about 35" of rain in L.A. 1981-1982), I don't remember it being so cold for so long. (I do remember a very long, cold winter in L.A. 1989-1990, I can't quote details but I just remember thinking, "will this ever end?") I agree, temps here have been at least 10-15 below average out here in the low desert with only one or two breaks, this whole thing started in October, actually...and yet I keep seeing graphics on the various weather media saying it has been something like 2-4F below average. Maybe at LAX or Santa Monica...but here NOT! This has been a real stress-test for so many plants. A huge number of nights in the 30s this year and highs just refusing to budge out of the low 60s out here in the desert when it should have been 70s. Unfortunately I am trying to establish a new landscape and have little canopy to help, I'm sure you're in the same situation in your new digs. I say, plant your coconut in a warm position upslope and use whatever techniques have been put forth by Alex and others who are having success in California, including planting in coarse sand, maybe a raised mound, whatever can increase the warmth on the root-zone. That central leaf looks good and strong so I think you're in business. I would suggest leaving it in the black can, in full sun, for a couple of months before putting it in the much cooler ground, so you can let those severed roots repair and grow anew. At least Cocos can branch any cut roots, which is a big plus in survival after digging compared to many other palms.

[James B]

If anything I now think if I buy another and plant it in the same spot where it is now on the northside south facing at the top of a slight slope it has a good chance of surviving. 
 

[mnorell]

Are you getting your plants via mail order or locally somewhere? I remember I bought one a few years ago, from Lowe's in La Quinta, I believe it was a Green Malay and they were tagged as having been grown in I think either Pomona or Claremont. I always expect these are just trucked in from Florida, so I was surprised to see something like Cocos nucifera obviously being produced in large lots in some greenhouse in interior SoCal. But there seems to be a consensus that the best bet at present is finding a "Hawaiian Tall" from one of the Hawaiian vendors, or a Pacific/Panama Tall from Florida (but these are often misidentified so it's a bit of a crap-shoot).

[James B]

Not local. Via delivery from east coast. 

[James B]

It would great to see at a local big box. HD is always selling Bottle Palms which I think are just as cold sensitive as Coconut Palms so why not?

Fastgrowingtrees.com is where I got mine. It’s a Green Malayan. 

[mnorell]

Funny that you wouldn't see those from that grower in your neck of the woods at Lowe's, though I also have not seen them since I bought that one a few years ago. There seems to be some randomness about what gets sent to what stores, I have only ever seen one bottle palm out here in the desert, it was I think at HD, a large one for $99 and I bought it, planted it, as it turns out in too much sun. It seemed to be handling it then one day just collapsed, and now I can't find a replacement. I always keep my eye out browsing those big box stores. They sell big foxtails out here fairly regularly but that's as exotic as it gets outside of Ravenea, cat palms and the other usual suspects. Coconuts are very rare though I have seen many folks here talk about seeing them (also bottles) regularly in the more coastal SoCal stores.