I have a golden malayan and a tall and I'd definitely chose a tall! They are faster growing, do better in pots, have greener fronds, and slightly better cold tolerance! The only downside is that they outgrow their pots much faster than the dwarf ones and don't start making divided fronds until they are at least 5-6 feet tall in my experience. Both varieties have done well for me, but I worry less my tall variety has shown a lot more hardiness (I got it in mid August 2010 as an unrooted sprout giving it only 2 warm months to grow roots before going indoors and it made roots and grew 2 fronds!)
-Alex

Thanks tropicalzone7! I may buy another coco sometime soon. If I do was thinking which one I should try.

I have most experience with Golden Malayan.

- US_Marine

Hey Marine,

If you could get a pure Mexican Tall (as opposed to a hybrid since coconut palms readily hybridize), that would probably be your best bet. I think the Mexican Tall variety is probably hardy down to 26 or 27F when it is established in the ground and has some size to it, which would make it the most cold hardy variety in the Western Hemisphere. You can tell a pure Mexican Tall if the palm or the coconut it was grown from is from Mexico and it has the robust green color of the leaves and petioles, is fast growing from a large coconut (larger nut than the Malayan Dwarfs), and if it has a somewhat curved pattern to the trunk (though talls do occasionally grow straight). Mature ones will have the swollen base of the trunk that is typical of the tall varieties.

A Green Malayan would probably be slightly more cold tolerant than a Golden Malayan (maybe by a degree) and usually has a little more robust growth than a Golden Malayan. Also, I think you can naturally push cold tolerance of coconut palms by a degree or two by going all organic with your fertilization and pest control program. This will encourage a healthy vigorous root system and healthy soil with lots of good bacteria and earthworms, etc. From what I have read, a healthy organic soil is even a little bit warmer in the winter too, which is very important for us coconut growers growing them in marginal climates. I guess I will find out come next winter if my wife an I are able to buy this place soon and I can start planting a lot of my tropicals in the spring.

US_Marine,
I don't live in an area where coconut palms will grow, but I do know of one coconut palm that has been growing in southern california for quite some time now without any help from people. I believe it is located in Newport Beach, very close to the water. Here is my advice.

1. Buy one of the "tall" varieties. They tend to have more absolute cold-hardiness, which could spill over into cool-hardiness, which is really what you need since winters in So-Cal are just a tad bit too cool for Cocos.
2. Plant it so that it gets full sun all winter long. Full sun all day long all winter long.
3. Add large rocks and stones that will absorb heat all around the base of the palm.
4. See if you can plant the Coco near a wall that also absorbs heat during the day and releases it at night but doesn't interfere with the palm receiving sun all day long.
5. Water and fertilize enough during the growing months to ensure there is enough mass and sugars to help it get through the cool winters.

I think if you can provide all of that, your coconut might have a fighting chance assuming you don't dip in the 20's.

I have an uncle who lives in a 9b zone near Bradenton, Florida, which straddles the border of 10a and 9b. He can grow Foxtail palms and Royal palms although they will take some damage in the high 20's, but coconuts will not grow for him. 10 miles to the west, just to the inside of I-75, coconuts will grow, and right along the coast which is definitely a zone 10a they will fruit. For him, the limiting factor isn't consistent cool temperatures like So-Cal, it is absolute low temperatures. Even though the highs are right around 70*F during the coldest time of the year (which btw is the magic daily high number for coconuts) he can drop as low as 26*F during the winter. That is low enough to kill a coconut in his part of Florida. So, he meets the requirements for day-time highs throughout the year, and his average lows are sufficient too, but on those odd days each year when it gets cold, that does it for the coconuts.

Thanks guys!

Yeah any of the talls sound great. But they are rather hard to find over here. Most sold are Golden Malayan.

@ coconut palm - Do you know if the Mexican Tall is the same as a Pacific Tall? And thats an interesting idea about the organic soil. Makes a lot of sense.

@ cliff98- Yup. The Newport Beach is the largest and longest living one in SoCal. There are a few others but none as big or as old. And thats good advice.

Its actually what I tried a few years ago but I think I killed it by accident when I tried to cover it with plastic from a rain which lasted almost a week. I forgot to take the plastic off :/ Got busy. And it still ended up with wet fronds but I did manage to keep the soil dry.It didnt help that we had very cool temps do to heavy fog the following days. Temps didnt break 50f but never dropped below mid/low 40f's. If it had lived a few weeks longer we hit the 70f's.

I'm actually in NorCal so even cooler... which means even more of a challenge if it can be done at all. The only thing my area has that most SoCal areas dont is plenty of summer heat. lol. We reach the 100f's ever year and average in the 90f's in summer. But we do get frost every year. So at some point I would ahve to protect it on frost nights. Or only on cold winters in a micro-climate.

And yup 70f+ days in winter is key but so is 50f or warmer for lows. I believe the mean winter temp needs to be at or near 60f for a coco to survive. As well as plenty of near 80f temps or above. Thats why I think they survive Brownsville and other places in Southern Texas that are a little cooler in winter than Southern Florida. They get over all warm-ish nights and do get warm often enough in winter.

Hey Marine,

The Mexican Tall seems to be a distinctly different variety from the Pacific Tall, which is very similar to the Hawaiian Tall. The true Mexican Tall is probably more closely related to the Atlantic or Jamaican Tall, but comes from the Yucatan and Gulf Coast of Mexico to the area just north of La Pesca. Since mainland temperatures on the Gulf Coast of Mexico can get colder than the island temperatures of the Caribbean, this is why over the last few centuries, I think the Mexican Tall has developed a slightly higher degree of cold hardiness than the Atlantic of Jamaican Tall.

Last week, here in Corpus Christ, we had one day with highs only in the mid to upper 40's and one day in the low to mid 50's, with lows both nights in the low 40's. We also had weather like that for about 3-4 straight days a few weeks ago. Two local coconut palms that I know of made it through these chilly days okay. I think the critical thing is that they are healthy palms to begin with, and that they aren't watered much in the winter. Also, when we get a few chilly days, we warm back up to the upper 60's to 70's pretty quick. Tomorrow, we are supposed to be in the upper 70's and low 80's on Thursday. Our normal high now is 67F and our normal low is 47F (Corpus Christi airport). Where I live in Flour Bluff it is 64F and 50F for the normal high and low.

I prefer Atlantic Tall, but I haven't been able to keep one alive. Most of the sources I can get them from ship them bare root. I have had 0% success with bare root coconuts. Currently, my garden includes a Green Malayan that has performed pretty well overall. I keep it tight up against an east facing wall.

Hey Kinzyjr,

I don't remember what part of Florida Lakeland is in. Isn't is south of Lake City, where you get on I 75 from I 10? North Florida certainly is too cold for coconut palms, but there are some places in Central Florida, especially along the coast where they seem to do pretty well. Do you have any photos you could post on here, and how old is your Green Malayan?

If you want a good Atlantic or Jamaican Tall, look for a ripe coconut that has fallen on the ground underneath a healthy tall variety palm in Central Florida, or better yet, look for a sprouted nut underneath a healthy palm. Be sure to get one from Central Florida though, since these coconut palms should be slightly more cold hardy than the ones growing in South Florida and the Keys. I have seen producing Jamaican Tall coconut palms as far north as Clearwater Beach on the Gulf side of Florida (that was 12 years ago, when I lived in South Florida and was visiting that area), and I have heard of some as far north as New Smyrna Beach and Daytona Beach on the Atlantic side.

@ coconut palm- It would be interesting to see the results from places in Southern Florida and Texas. From there I bet they can tell us what coco variety is the hardiest. I did hear that there is a variety in India that is supposed to be hardier as well.

Those coco's will go through that no problem really. They can even take a week or more in nothing but that cool of temps. Any longer then you will see some damage but you need longer periods of cool temps to really kill a coco. You guys are lucky to have near 70f for average highs. And being so far South it warms up warmer than that often enough. Lol I wish we had warmer winters like you guys! :)

@ kinzyjr- I hear ya there! lol Everytime I got a coconut palm that was shipped bare roots it died. But being in Florida I'm surprised they would ship you one bare rooted? And I'm surprised you couldn't find one in a container already with pretty good size?

- US_Marine

@ coconut palm - Lakeland is about a half hour inland from Tampa on I-4. The temperatures here are pretty similar to Tampa, but a little milder during the day and a little cooler at night. The only photo I currently have is about a year old, but I'll get a new one and put it up.

@ us_marine - I've only ever gotten two of them, but I'm thinking I'll just have to hunt a live Atlantic Tall down, and see if I can nab one of the coconuts. We've had a problem with lethal yellowing/Phoenix palm decline in the area lately, so I've been holding off on that.