Aloha- Thank you for the information. Would you please answer a couple more questions for me. My coconut is still growing fairly quickly. The last full frond to emerge is about 42 inches long (measured from the base of the original nut to the tip) It is not split into the "adult" looking fronds. The new one which is about 33 inches and growing has not split yet. The growing season here is much shorter (June-September). Any ideas when the new fronds will take on the splitting "adult looking" shape. The whole plant has put out 5 fronds in it's life the new one will make 6. thanx, Andy

Not sure about "much" slower, but having grown both, I wold agree that T. wagnerianus is a bit slower growing than T. fortunei. But I think the slow growth is also partly an illusion; since the leaves are smaller, its growth is simply less obvious. It puts out fewer leaves in a single growing season than T. fortunei, but since T. fortunei produces much larger leaves, it looks like it's growing more. BTW my waggies took a pretty bad hit this past winter, for reasons I still haven't figured out. Likewise my "Bulgarian" T. fortunei--all the above had spear pull (first time ever for my waggies, after 7 years in the ground!) and major foliar burn, but my T. "takil" a.k.a. "Nainital" had virtually no damage at all, and its spear is already unfolding. Here are some photos, taken back in February; the palms actually look worse now because most of the damaged leaves have turned brown, but I'm hoping they will recover. T. fortunei "Bulgarian": Waggie: Closeup of leaf and spear showing damage (this spear pulled a few days later): T. "takil" (compare to waggie on the left!):

This winter (2010/2011) I have two new Washingtonias overwintering without protection (they are all brown and "broken" now in this z8b weather) in Zone 8A yet so far we did not have anything below 17F (couple of nights only) and the rest was 20F or above (nights only), which I consider mostly zone 9A weather with two nights into z8b, so basically where I live is about 20 miles south of the z7b "border" yet we are having mainly z8b weather most of the time, while temps below 15F are rare. Wonder if the USDA zone maps are outdated by now. P.S. I suspect that my Washingtonias are Washingtonia Filibusta (hybrid of Washingtonia Filifera and Robusta), because they have some (not many) threads like Filifera does. Yet they don't like even the Zone 8B weather. Mine are about 8-10 ft. tall, but I saw small ones just 2 foot tall ones in town nearby and some of them even got little to no damage this winter. Go figure....

Dave- It has produced one full frond this summer plus the emerging spear. The last full frond came out nice and green but has subseqently turned this ugly color. I have fertalized a couple of times but what I've used does not carry the elements I mentioned in the same percentage as say "Carl Pool Palm Food". I need to order some online.