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Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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Posted by us_marine z9b-NorCal (My Page) on Fri, Jul 3, 09 at 0:57
| I live in z9b.I plan on keeping the palm in a green house set at 70-75 during winter. When temps warm up, it will be outside without the heater. I have 7 months with temps above 74f, and does get in the high 90's very often. The factors that may not let it fruit is the lows. Averages can look like this, 74/50, 83/54, 89/58, 94/61... |
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Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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| I also forgot to mention, I have root heating cables that turn on whenever temps drop below 73f. |
RE: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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- Posted by catkim San Diego 10/24 (My Page) on
Fri, Jul 3, 09 at 10:10
| I have seen one fruit in an enclosed pool house, grown by an obsessive palm person who devotes all his time to caring for his palms (retired). However, the fruit remained very small and fell off before it matured. Those numbers in the 50s over an extended time will be a challenge for the palm. I don't want to discourage you from trying, just want you to recognize the reality of the challenge. It's not only temperatures, it's also humidity, soil, and hours of daylight. Realistically, edible fruit is not attainable outside the tropics. |
RE: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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Well,that was a first time fruiting-it could next year get farther along. Pretty common for anything to abort at its first try.I think I saw that particular palm on the net,its in relative shade compared to any outdoor coco. That might be his biggest obstacle.They have fruited in the palm house at KEW.
I could be wrong but in ground outdoors you might be best in 10"+ raised bed with artificial heat and soil mix. Hard to imagine heating clay in winter..the heat might not distribute well.
I've grown them in greenhouses-once they get fronds that go over your head their speed of growth increases fast. As long as they are kept warm.
It is kind of a wonder that with so many palmophiles having greenhouse's not many have planted coconuts with some trunk in soucal.Palm Springs would be a great place to try.
Even in norcal -we get plenty of sunny winter days. An atrium here could get you a large palm. A thin sheet of glass here and there....
Not impossible. Nothings impossible for a Marine. |
RE: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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Im not sure if it could fruit. They basically 4 need things. Humidity, mild temperatures, sun, and frequent rain on hot days.
In the true tropics, temperatures rarely exceed the upper 80s, but the humidity is very high. Also in the true tropics temperatures will rarely go below 60 degrees (if ever). Coconuts love the heat, but need lots of humidity. They also cannot take any drought. They are pretty picky. I have seen some in Orlando, Florida in protected spots ,which is one of many examples of them out of their range, but I only saw one in fruit and it was a huge coconut tree with only one of two coconuts on it. Even in the northen islands of the bahamas where they arent cared for much, they do look very sad, but do actually have alot of fruit.
Coconuts could probably take the low 50s briefly without any permenant damage, but they start to look pretty bad after the upper 40s. A bad frost without protection and they are reduced to a curved telephone pole.
I definately think that growing a coconut in california is very possible and if cared for alot, it could look really nice, but unless it gets tons of humidity every day it probably wont fruit so to get it to fruit you would have to find a way to greatly increase humidity like a pool or pond, or spraying water on it every day. No matter what a coco in california is really rewarding. Good luck |
RE: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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| I live in the desert in Southern California, and I used to live in Orange County, CA. I love the beauty of the Coconut Palm, and happily coconuts are easy to purchase at the grocery store, but we just don't have the humidity that they love. Queen Palms here in the desert will grow, but the weed palms are the Mexican Fan and Dates. They LOVE dry heat. I understand your goal! Sheesh! Zone Jealousy!! I have it too! Not for palm trees. For wine grapes. I'm trying my best to grow cabernet, tempranillo, mourvedre, zinfandel, and malbeck here in the desert. Where there is a will, there is a way!! Good luck to you!! |
RE: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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| I'm going to do a little experiment on this. The one I have now will be grown like I said above. The other one will be grown with very little protection. It will be out during winter and spring, growing in CA's climate. And the new one will be in a green house all the time. Thanks for replying, and good luck to you too. |
RE: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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- Posted by scaldude Sunset Z23 SouthOC (My Page) on
Thu, Jul 16, 09 at 13:14
In the Tropics, it rains during the warm summers and promotes growth...in California, it rains during the cool winter and promotes rot.
I almost lost my coconut palm when an emerging spear started to rot from winter rain.
I treated it with Copper Soap Fungicide and the cocos was saved. I now pretreat it during rainy season. The heat cable works perfect, but I think the electricity attracts ants????? go figure. LOL |
Re: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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- Posted by scaldude Sunset Z23 SouthOC (My Page) on
Thu, Jul 16, 09 at 13:28
| p.s. a shout-out to David, in Florida, who suggested I use copper. GREAT ADVICE. Thanks again. |
RE: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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| I am going to buy some of that copper soap. I am surprized they haven't made a kind of soap you can add to the water that prevents or kills the root rot bacteria. Thanks for letting me know scaldude, and thank you too david. |
RE: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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| The warmth attracts ants. They are little buggers in winter with my house plants,raising larvae |
RE: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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Marine, good luck with your coco. Here's my suggestion though. Do whatever you can to keep the coco alive, but have a plan b. On the IPS form I learned of a remarkable palm, the Beccariophoenix alfredii. This palm was discovered in I think 2005, and is a close relative of Beccariophoenix madagascariensis. The no windows form of Beccariophoenix madagascariensis is super cold hardy, but slow growing and the windows form isn't cold hardy, but grows fast. The alfredii is as cold hardy as the no windows, and grows as fast as the windows, the perfect coconut-like palm. Pictures just don't give this palm justice, I saw one at a local palm arboretum and I thought it was just a coconut until I read the tag, that convinced me to buy one. Once it is a few years old, only experts will be able to tell the difference. I've got an alfredii in a 5 gallon pot until it outgrows it, and after that it'll go into the ground. It was $8 and worth every penny. I urge you to get one of these palms, you'll be really, really glad you did in a few years. Get a 1 gallon (larger are hard to come by because it's so new) and plant it into a 5 gallon pot, and once it outgrows this pot plant it where it's final destination will be. With only the care of any other palm you'll have a palm that only an expert will know it's not a coconut.
Keith |
RE: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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| I think I have heard of that palm, but I have never seen them in stores. I also heard of a palm nick named " The california coconut palm" or " the frozen coconut". Are they the same palm? My coco palm loves the 100f+ weather, its growing fast, and I might get a mature frond soon. Thanks zeeth, I'll have to find one. |
RE: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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| I doubt you'll find the alfredii in stores, it's too new. Yes, those 2 describe the same palm. I've seen it on e-bay, craigslist and palmtalk.org If you don't want to join palmtalk, you could get one off ebay, coconutclimber usually has them and I've heard good stories from him. Here's a link: http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-Beccariophoenix-alfredii-Live-Palm-Tree-Seedling_W0QQitemZ220405942923QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item335137ca8b&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116#ht_1496wt_1165 |
RE: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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| They fruit well at the glasshouses in Kew and the Eden Project at 50 degrees latitude, so I'm sure you could get one to fruit in the right conditions. |
RE: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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| That would be cool, hope they fruit. Do you have a link of their website? |
RE: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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| http://www.kew.org/plants/palms/coconut.html http://www.edenproject.com http://www.jamespskelton.co.uk/picture/Coconuts - Tropical - Eden Project.JPG?pictureId=177702&asGalleryImage=true |
RE: Could a coconut palm fruit under these conditions?
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| Thanks, I'll check them out. |
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