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Thu, Apr 22, 10 at 8:49
| Wife, son, and I have been down here in SW Florida since last Sat. night visiting my mother-in-law. Only damage I see is to shrubs and some citrus. Her usually lush kumquat out front is all but gone, and she got very few oranges on a tree to the side of her house. Anyway, we were last down here at Christmas time of '07. As a gift for the m-i-l, I went down to a HD and bought her a coconut. I believe it was a dwarf malayan, but am not sure. Planted it where she used to have a nice, sweet grapefruit tree, lost in hurricane Charlie. I want to say it was a 5 gallon size. Well, it has not grown as much as I, or she, expected. And this past Winter gave it a real beating. I will post a pic when I get home. Emerging spear seems fine, but my question is...should this have attained more size after 2 and a half yrs. in the ground? Especially here (Cape Coral). In recalling the plant back then and comparing it to now, Id say it's grown maybe 1 to 2 feet. Gets a lot of sun too. And, she feeds it. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by brooklyngreg 7a NYC coastal (gchristiangreg@aol.com) on Thu, Apr 22, 10 at 11:58
| My folks have a house in Cape Coral and I visited in March 2009 and 2010. They had some record cold but no deep freezes. It is the true tropical line there. Where they live the ground is mostly coral, hense the name. Try some fertilizers for now.
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| Hi I don't grow coconut due to a small lot but have noted that the growth rate between various palms is amazing. Some just never seem to take off. Often planted side by side. Queens are another species you can see this happen. I guess about all you can do is be patient. Heck they grow coconuts right above the high tide line lol Only palms killed in my neighborhood this winter were immature coconuts though one neighbor lost 5 25 foot coconuts while another neighbor lost none.. Go figure?? gary
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| Use half of what you were using. Better yet get a soil test and see if you need all that phosphorus. |
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- Posted by tropicalzone7 7 (My Page) on Fri, Apr 23, 10 at 16:50
| Its probably still alive but will need a while to recover. Not sure why its slow growing, but a pic would help. Good luck! |
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| Oh, it's alive, just very slow growing. I'll post a pic when we get home. Mature coco down the street looks like it took a hit, but is green where it counts. In the meantime, I've been taking cuttings from around her yard: Plumeria with white blooms (I already have two Aztec Gold going for a number of yrs. from another tree next to it), a hibiscus, from the kumquat out front, and a papaya. Also grabbed some seeds from her oranges. Scoped around the neighborhood for various palm seeds on the ground, but unsuccessful. |
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- Posted by tropicalzone7 7 (My Page) on Sat, Apr 24, 10 at 12:50
| Sounds like you found some nice cuttings. Hope they root. Good luck! |
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