cool, cant wait to see them. Im attempting to sprout some right now. Ive read mixed opinions on sprouting them de-husked so I guess Ill find out one of these days.

Mike

@ mksmth- It is possible to sprout a de-husked coconut, but its very difficult. You can sometimes find some sprouting if you look at the eyes. Often times once they do sprout they die because they dont have the husk for protection. Make sure yours is in a sterile place. Good luck! :)

Pics:

All 3

Oldest coco

Tall coco

Both new coco's

Zoom up of dwarf

Notice how the nuts are different sizes

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I believe they are both golden malayan dwarfs. Interesting how the fronds on the new one are a darker green, and my oldest one has much lighter fronds and a larger nut.

zoom up of my oldest

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Wow, great finds! All your coconut palms look extremely happy and healthy. You dont see cocos like that too often in Cali! And your pics remind me that my dwarf definitely needs to get repotted tomorrow. My coconuts are probably going outside for the year tomorrow since the forecast looks like 70s and up from here on out during the day and 50s and up at night.
Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to seeing these grow!
-Alex

Thanks Alex!

Yeah they all need to be repotted. I had to replant the tall sooner than I wanted because the soil was eroded and it was starting to fall over. Sucks I didnt have the time to buy new soil so I made do with what I had. The soil I have is wrong soil... it holds too much moisture. It looks like it holds mositure over a few days, and it drains out fairly soon but its still soaking out. Dont want root rot.

Its like 1/3 ratio of some left over potting mix, garden soil and sand. I need to replant with better soil as soon as I have the time.

- US_Marine

Your coconut palms actually might still be pretty good in their pots! The one to the right in the 3rd to last pic might need a little repotting but the others look good! They are in bigger pots then my oldest coconut palm is!
I just use regular potting soil with mine and they do well. I mixed my first one with perlite and the second one is just plain miracle gro soil (which I know many people hate, but it works reasonably well for my plants). Quick drainage is definitely important for coconut palms and although a lot of people think sand is fast draining, if the sand is a very fine sand, it actually drains very slowly.
-Alex

What size containers are yours in?

I used a mix of mostly sand, I think like 75% sand and 25% palm/cactus mix for my oldest coconut palm. Problem is the sand is heavy and the container is breaking. The sand is actually beach sand from california's own coast, lol. Drains well, holds on to moisture a little but dries fast. Perfect for winter. Only problem there is watering becomes very important in summer and leaching of nutrients is the other problem. I dont know if my palm is getting enough nutrients and I fertilize often.

The dwarf will be potted up soon too, I just need to buy another container and get more soil. I might have enough sand and potting mix to repot up my tall again. I did find a small bag of potting mix. It says for house plants on back, but its mostly for flowers and vegetables. I should hit up the store soon and find some real palm mix to stay on safe side.

- US_Marine

great pictures!! Now i need to get one for sure.

mike

Yea I need one as well.

I live near a creek that has large swaths of sand. I used it for my Yucca/Cacit area and they have done well. Would it work with a coconut palm?

@- mksmth & jacklord: You guys should get one! :) They are said to be hard to grow as indoor palms. But so far I havnt really had too much trouble. My first one I ever got lived about 4yrs. Pretty much winter is the hardest part, and that is fighting the temptation of watering.Most people water too much in doors, and they dont like wet soil for too long especially if temps are cool. Other than that after you acclimatize them to sunlight and being outside, they are pretty easy.

@ jacklord- Honestly, I dont see why sand wouldnt work. They wash up on beaches all the time in the tropics. In the end it really depends on the size of sand etc. If you are going to use sand, I would mix it with soil that holds more nutrients.

-US_Marine

My oldest coconut palm is in a 3 gallon pot, but my youngest and tallest palm is in a 5 gallon. The lantanas in the pot with the oldest coconut are getting pretty big now and I think the roots are competing with the coconut palm now.
-Alex

That one you just bought looks like it sprouted off to the side of the coconut instead of from the front or top. Where did you buy them at (what store and what city/state)? What was the price?

@ tropicalzone7- I believe mine are in 10 or 15 gallon containers. You might have to get rid of the lantanas, at least until the coconut palm has deeper, stronger roots.

@ coconut palm- Yeah that one caught my eye too. It sure is interesting. I got them from Home Depot in California. They had a few more dwarfs but they only had one tall that I seen.

-US_Marine

Hey Marine,

If you get a chance, ask them at Home Depot who the grower is and where they are located. I am really curious if it is a grower in California, since the growing conditions for coconut palms there are difficult to say the least.

Thanks,
John

P.S. By the way, I am hoping to move to an area of Texas soon where coconut palms are marginal. I currently live in Bryan, Texas (8b/borderline 9a), but I am hoping to move to the east side of Corpus Christi near the Gulf on a small peninsula called Flour Bluff, where it is a 9b/bordeline 10a climate. The highs and lows for that area in January are approximately 67F and 48F, which gives you a ground temp of 57.5 in January, and coconut palms need an average soil temp of 60F or above most of the year.

I usually dont go to that Home Depot but next time I am there I'll ask. My guess is the palm is not California grown. It came from either Hawaii or Southern Florida.

And yeah coconut palms are pretty tricky over here. Even zones 10 and 11 here have problems.Its because our winters are wet and cool for too long.

Even so there are coconut palms in Southern California, very very few though. They probably will never fruit. The most famous is the NewPort Beach coco. Its the largest and longest living coconut palm known here. Other than that there are 3 others that I have seen pics of. One is in Oceanside, and the other 2 are in San Diego. One of those is actually at the San Diego Zoo.

So far the longest I kept one alive outside was the 2nd or 3rd week of Jan. Just before it started to warm up. Longest I kept one as an indoor/out door palm was a little over 4yrs.

Good luck with your move and keep us updated on your coco's :)

- US_Marine

Hey Marine,

Thanks for the info. I really am curious where they were grown. I, like you think they are probably from either Hawaii or South Florida, but less likely from South Florida though, since there is the ban on sprouted coconut palms leaving the state due to lethal yellowing. I have heard that there is a way to pay a couple of hundred dollars and get a certificate to get them shipped out of South Florida from nurseries certified to do this. It might be a good idea for me to do this sometime in the near future, since coconut palms are fairly popular but hard to get in the Rio Grande Valley and since many of the South Florida growers are selling their palms at a HUGE discount due to the really bad economy there.

By the way, I read a post on Palm Talk.org (the palm forum of the International Palm Society) last night that there are producing coconut palms in Guaymas, Mexico, and some even as far north as Bahia Kino and Puerto Penasco, which is only about 50 miles south of the Arizona border on the Gulf of California. If there truly are producing coconut palms that far north, then I would like to find a way to get some good ripe viable coconuts from there. I think they would be slightly more cold hardy and cool winter tolerant than those from other parts of Mexico, Hawaii, and South Florida.

John

Yup I also read a post about the one in Puerto Pensasco :)

Its interesting how close it is to Cali and Arizona. It just goes to show more people need to try them in sheltered spots in the desert regions. If coconut palms are going to be long turn and possible fruit in the west, it will be there.

- US_Marine

I have a Florida and a Puerto Rican Coconuts 3 years old. Greenhouse in winter, partial shade the rest of the time. They both look sick. Any ideas?
See the photos in the Garde Galleries

Can you upload more pics? I can only see the one the other is too far away to see.

- US_Marine