I would really like to grow a coconut plant. Does anyone know what to do?
How to start to grow a coconut plant?
I'm not sure how do-able coconuts would be in your area--reading the comments in Plant Files it sounds like they need a lot of heat to bear fruit. Not to mention they can get rather large so it may be a pain trying to bring it indoors for the winter. But if you're just doing it for fun to see if you can get it to germinate then I thought I saw a few comments about getting them started as I skimmed through the Plant Files comments. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/55280/
My DIL's landlord has two coconuts growing/flourishing in a couple of whiskey barrels - we are in zone 8b/9a - the landlord said they won't bear coconuts, but they are a novelty that's fun to grow. He has to put them in his garage when the weather gets cold.
Home Depot and Lowes often have them as indoor plants. You can tell they are coconuts as the seed is only planted half in the dirt, and the top is visible on top. The seed leaves come up from the pointed end.
I once saw newly sprouted coconuts on Isla de la Piedra, Sinaloa, Mexico. They were planted in pure beach sand, on their sides, and watered daily. They can take lots of water, even brackish (salty) water. Even here in Southern California, the winters are too chilly for them. They wither once nights get below 60F. My aunt in Barrie, ON tells me that it is rather hot and humid up there in the summer - they will LOVE this if you can get them outside for the summer!
This sounds like a fun project. They will get heavy and HUGE, but in a container they will stay smaller and manageable for years. Know that you will primarily have fronds, and almost no trunk for a decade or more if kept in containers.
Hope this helps!
Jeff
Place the Coconut, Cocos nucifera (husk intact), in a large pot of soil with some added calcium carbonate or dolomite. The Coconut (bottom) can be a few inches below the below the soil surface. Keep it moist and warm, and after a few months you should see the thing beginning to sprout.
They are easy to take care of and will make a nice houseplant / palm if you give it plenty of light. You will not get it to make fruit in your area, but they are a fun to grow beautiful plant!
You might want to try some of the 'dwarf' coconut palms that would be easier to overwinter. There are several varieties, just do a little research on the web. Cocos nucifera is only the MAJOR food-producing coconut palm for the world, there are actually (so I have read) many many coconut palms. I have a dwarf one, the name escapes me at the moment.
Thanks everyone. I think I will try to grow one. It dosen't sound too hard and should be fun. It would be an indoor plant and outside daytime in summer.
Jeff I am about 6 or 7 hours south of Barrie and it is very hot and humid here. I am going to check the stores just to see whats out there although I am sure they would be expensive.
Check WALMART. They have sprouted coconuts here every spring and summer for about $5
Look for Dwarf Golden Malayan Coconut. They can bear when the trunk is just a few feet high.
It gets to 32 deg every year here. Mature trees most often are growing by the beach or bay where the water moderates the temps. Most years.
I saw a Dwarf Golden Coconut for sale at the last FSU sale, it was one gorgeous little palm!
If you try to start your own from seed, you might need to know the variety or history. There's a tetraploid or polyploid coconut growing at Selby Gardens; the seeds won't germinate.
I bought a coconut from the grocery store. Its a small one about 5 inches around and wrapped in plastic with the company name on it Chiovitti. Should I plant anyway ? Or should I just eat it? lol
Hi Midshadow, if the Coconut does not have the husk on it, it probably won't grow.
Your young Coconut should look like the plant below.
I was wondering about that. Metro - why might you find a coconut with it's husk in a farmers / Asian market? Does the coconut keep better in the husk? It seems the flesh is softer and sweeter when I have had it in the tropics, or is it that it has been shipped so far away?
No idea why your markets sell coconuts with or without husks. The coconut does last longer in the husk. If conditions are right (warm & moist) it will start to grow.
The coconut is sweetest when it is allowed to mature on the tree till it falls off. I find that different varieties have different flavors; some are sweeter, some have more oil. The environment that it is grown in also has a lot to do with the flavor.
Hi Metro. My coconut is not smooth like the picture. It is brown and kind of a stringy hairy covering very dried out looking strands. Is that the husk? Thanks
Hi Midshadow, sounds like the husk has been removed from your coconut.
Well... I guess I will just have to eat it. Thanks everyone. I will keep checking the bigger stores for the plant.