California Coconut!🥥🌴

[mnorell]

It is definitely a Cocos nucifera...remember that this is coming out of winter, and all those fronds made it through a couple of months with very chilly temps this year, not as bad as last year but still it has an effect since lows are often in the 30s out here. The palm is a lot more photogenic later in the season after it has started cranking leaves. The old, unsightly leaves have obviously been trimmed, and the leafbases left in place. This gives it a very odd appearance. One of the issues with coconuts in the desert is that the leafbases will tend to cling on far longer than is typical in a humid area. In a humid, tropical area the leafbases start getting very "moist" and quickly detach at a certain point. Also, the La Quinta coconut is in full, blazing sun and doesn't get the benefit of a little afternoon shade that would probably benefit its appearance. The Palm Desert coconut was very, very nice looking and was in a bit more protected spot. That the new owners of that house chopped it down is beyond my comprehension. It was really a nice specimen. 

[Arecaceus]

I've found the Compton one again! I'm not sure but it actually looks very much like a true Coconut. Sadly you can't get closer on StreetView. Might it be that there was a protective tree that got cut down next to it?

[cocoloco]

QUICK update on my Tustin, CA zone10b coconut palms! I got this really rare double sprouted coconut palm with two sprouts in one coconut but I have soooo many coconuts that need to be planted somewhere but for now they’re just growing in the pots. they’re doing very well and I have several varieties including maypan. I also have a bunch of teddy bear palms, travelers palms, macarthur palm and heliconia rostrata.

[cocoloco]

It is the beginning of October and we’re currently seeing highs in the 80s but I am currently raising 20 different kinds of coconut sprouts from different states and one is in the ground so we’re gonna see which ones make it thru this upcoming winter season. I also have two established travelers palms and a heliconia rostrata so hopefully they make it.

[cocoloco]

2025 CALIFORNIA COCONUT UPDATE: As of today, January 26 2025, I have only had 3 losses out of the 20+ coconuts I started with this winter. yes some of them look a bit tattered but that is to be expected when the low temps in orange county around this time are around 45° f making it very cold and pushing the coconuts comfort zones. My heliconia, orchids, soursop, macarthur, teddy bear & travelers palms are all doing fine, just slow since they are my most tropical plants. This day is significant for an update because it is the first rainfall that Southern California has seen in about 9 months, putting the drought to rest for a moment.

 

 

 

[Subtropical LIS]

10 hours ago, cocoloco said:

2025 CALIFORNIA COCONUT UPDATE: As of today, January 26 2025, I have only had 3 losses out of the 20+ coconuts I started with this winter. yes some of them look a bit tattered but that is to be expected when the low temps in orange county around this time are around 45° f making it very cold and pushing the coconuts comfort zones. My heliconia, orchids, soursop, macarthur, teddy bear & travelers palms are all doing fine, just slow since they are my most tropical plants. This day is significant for an update because it is the first rainfall that Southern California has seen in about 9 months, putting the drought to rest for a moment.

IMG_7968.MOV 22.75 MB · 0 downloads  

 

IMG_7970.MOV 14.43 MB · 0 downloads  

 

Those cocos look great, and unfazed by the temps. I don’t know what it is…but there’s just something about the coconut palm that drives us palm nuts crazy.  The look and color of the fronds seems to just make one think of walking along the beach on some Caribbean or south Pacific island. Lol.

On a more serious note, I would not worry at all about a few hrs in the mid 40’s F. I go up to central Florida frequently, and the coconut palms in places like Melbourne see lows in the lower 40’s F several times (granted only for a few hrs), and are fine.  Get them in the sun in the morning and keep that winter heat and bright sun on them as much as possible.   

Over the last few years for fun, I’ve brought back several baby coconut palms (they are very cheap down here in southern Florida) back to Connecticut. I put them on the patio around late April (nights upper 40’s F) until late October (nights back down into the mid 40’s F).  As the heat and humidity of the East Coast summer builds, they grow at an incredible rate. Normally, if I take back 3 or 4, I try to save one, but they never make until the following spring. I’ve tried to store them in the basement (stays above 60 F,) but WAY too cool and dark, and not nearly enough humidity.

Here's mine I had outside last summer, keeping it upstairs in the bathroom this winter (lol), hoping the warmth and moisture gets it through winter, until I can get it out on the patio at the end of April if the weather cooperates. I only have one window in the bathroom, so I have to keep moving it all over the house, my wife thinks I’m nuts.

 

[ahosey01]

On 5/2/2024 at 2:15 PM, cocoloco said:

Yes! it is in fact a real and alive coconut palm i saw it last week when i was in the area with my family. however I have incredible news. I’m spending a three day trip (tues-thurs) here in Palm Desert/ Palm Springs, CA, and today is currently thursday may 2, 2024 and i drove with my family to the area of the La Quinta Coconut palm and we eventually found it driving down the roads. I took so many pictures of the beautiful rare palm tree and to my surprise the owner came out and started talking to me about the palm. He got the La Quinta Coconut in Honolulu, HI in 2001 as a sprouted coconut. What really threw me over the edge in excitement was the fact that he handed me one of the little coconuts it produced a few weeks ago and said i could look under the tree and find some. This homeowner is the most kindest person ever to let me take home a true palm fanatic souvenir, REAL california COCONUT FRUITS!! (they’re obviously immature due to california weather). I had also mentioned to him how i live very close to the Santa Ana coconut palm and how his La Quinta Coconut is almost three times as tall as the one in Santa Ana, Orange county. He said his coconut palm grows 1 foot a year.

I am not that bright so this could be incorrect but these don't look like small coconuts to me.

[cocoloco]

37 minutes ago, ahosey01 said:

I am not that bright so this could be incorrect but these don't look like small coconuts to me.

they may not look it but they are. I had this further confirmed when my mom came back from El Salvador yesterday and brought me back a premature coconut she found on the floor and it looks just like the palm springs ones, only a bit more developed. it is 100% cocos nucifera and they are 100% premature. the two small ones are from California and the bigger one is from El Salvador. Not to mention they look extremely similar when u look up premature coconuts.

 

[cocoloco]

2 hours ago, Subtropical LIS said:

Those cocos look great, and unfazed by the temps. I don’t know what it is…but there’s just something about the coconut palm that drives us palm nuts crazy.  The look and color of the fronds seems to just make one think of walking along the beach on some Caribbean or south Pacific island. Lol.

On a more serious note, I would not worry at all about a few hrs in the mid 40’s F. I go up to central Florida frequently, and the coconut palms in places like Melbourne see lows in the lower 40’s F several times (granted only for a few hrs), and are fine.  Get them in the sun in the morning and keep that winter heat and bright sun on them as much as possible.   

Over the last few years for fun, I’ve brought back several baby coconut palms (they are very cheap down here in southern Florida) back to Connecticut. I put them on the patio around late April (nights upper 40’s F) until late October (nights back down into the mid 40’s F).  As the heat and humidity of the East Coast summer builds, they grow at an incredible rate. Normally, if I take back 3 or 4, I try to save one, but they never make until the following spring. I’ve tried to store them in the basement (stays above 60 F,) but WAY too cool and dark, and not nearly enough humidity.

Here's mine I had outside last summer, keeping it upstairs in the bathroom this winter (lol), hoping the warmth and moisture gets it through winter, until I can get it out on the patio at the end of April if the weather cooperates. I only have one window in the bathroom, so I have to keep moving it all over the house, my wife thinks I’m nuts.

 

i loveeee that pot you have it is so cute and reminds me of winnie the pooh. I wish you the best of luck growing it over there in Connecticut i can only imagine how freezing cold it gets there. I’m over here shivering and chattering at anything below 60° 😂 

i’m just scared for my cocos not by the mid 40° weather but by how extended these cool times are. we see around 45-50° every single night from december to february maybe even march or november too. I’m hoping they get used to these extended cool time frames during the winter.

[Subtropical LIS]

8 hours ago, cocoloco said:

i loveeee that pot you have it is so cute and reminds me of winnie the pooh. I wish you the best of luck growing it over there in Connecticut i can only imagine how freezing cold it gets there. I’m over here shivering and chattering at anything below 60° 😂 

i’m just scared for my cocos not by the mid 40° weather but by how extended these cool times are. we see around 45-50° every single night from december to february maybe even march or november too. I’m hoping they get used to these extended cool time frames during the winter.

I not a big fan of the cold either, I normally go back and forth between Florida and Connecticut in winter frequently.  Spend a few winters in Florida and anything below 75 F starts to seems cold. LOL. 

I'm not an expert on growing them, but I think the key to geting them to survive in non-tropical winters is sunshine and sustined warm conditions. It does not seem like they need 80 F every day -  but what weakens them is several weeks of temps below 60 or so. If you think your going to have more than week below 60 F, you might want to bring them inside.  But as soon as it warms up - right back outside they should go. 

Keep us posted..

Here's a shot of "big boy" outside the condo in Jupiter, FL (about 70 feet tall): I've actually taken fallen coconut's from this tree and tried to sprout them - but failed. Easier to buy already sprouted coconut trees.

 

 

 

[Arecaceus]

Has anyone already seen this Wikipedia entry? 😂

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_palms_in_California