Grocery store coconuts...

15 years ago

I've read here and elsewhere that for whatever reason, grocery store coconuts haven't done well sprouting, the last 10 years. Some antifungal treatment, or refrigeration... who knows.

But while going to my local indian grocery for other seeds/roots (fenugreek, ginger, cardamom) I noticed they had plenty of coconuts too. None still in the husk, unfortunately, but they didn't look as processed as the ones at Krogers. No plastic mesh covering around them, no groove around the circumference for easy opening.

Has anyone ever tried such, and do they do better at sprouting than the regular ones? I'm gonna try one or two of those myself, but I imagine it will be awhile before I can get back to everyone here with results.

So far, the two I've gotten from Krogers have done nothing, though it may be too early to tell. One was halfway dehusked and wrapped in saran wrap... the other dehusked entirely.

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Comments (4)

topher2006
15 years ago
I picked 1 up from brookshires and it was already germinated. But it still died and smelled like ruined milk so i threw it out . it hasnt worked for me but it might for you. :) Good luck !!
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coconut_palm
15 years ago
Grocery store coconuts are not sprouting well now for some reason, and I wish I knew why. Something is obviously being done to them. If you know of anyone who works for the Dept. of Agriculture, try to get to the bottom of this issue and let me know why. I have about 15 grocery store green coconuts in the husk that I am waiting to brown up and then plant. A couple of them are really big, but we only have two grocery stores in the area that carry them in the husk, and only one of these stores has them regularly. I have sprouted one like this last year, and it is about 3ft. tall now. You can reach me at: mr.coconutpalm@yahoo.com

John
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Hey nomorenicksleft, I have sprouted grocery store coconuts before, and had a beautiful one that was 5ft. tall in the ground until a hard freeze finished it off. This was when I lived in Galveston, but it probably would not have made it through the winter anyway, even without the hard freeze, because Galveston, even though it is borderline Zone 10A, the days are just too cool in December and January there. Anyway, I have probably sprouted about a dozen grocery store coconuts over the years. I can tell you this, someone is doing something to the unhusked ones that are shipped to the grocery stores. These were easy to sprout back in the 1980's and now maybe 1 in 10-15 will sprout now, and even then they don't do very well. The best grocery store one I have sprouted in the last couple of years is one that is in the husk. The nuts in the husk sprout better than the unhusked nuts. I bought it at a local HEB grocery store that occasionally sells them in the husk. When they have them, they are green or golden in color, and I buy the biggest ones they have, then set them out in warm sunshine to brown them up, which can take 2-5 weeks depending on the maturity of the nut. (They will only sprout when brown.) This particular one sprouted last June and is now about 3.5ft tall at a friend's nursery in Brownsville. I have several like it that I am now browning up in preparation for planting them in 5gal. pots. As for your coconut, I am assuming it is unhusked. If so and you haven't planted it yet, soak it in a clean bucket of water (a bucket that hasn't had any chemicals in it) for about 3-5 days. Soaking them seems to help them sprout, since in nature, they float for a month or more at a time before washing up on a tropical beach and sprouting there. Pay attention to which side floats up, and plant it ON ITS SIDE WITH THAT SIDE UP. Cover it about 2/3 with a good sandy organic potting soil, making sure that all three eyes are covered. Leave the top third of the coconut exposed. You can plant it in either a 3gal. or 5gal. size black plastic used pot from a local nursery. Use one of these black plastic pots rather than a different color nicer looking pot, because the black plastic absorbs heat and will help keep the roots warmer in the winter when you have to take it inside. After planting it, just set it out in full sun in 80F+ weather and water it every day. If it's going to sprout, it should do so within 3-4 months. Once it sprouts, taper off watering to 2-3 times per week when it is warm, and only once a week in the winter. Take it in anytime the nightime temps are predicted to drop below 38F or when the days are going to be cool below 60F for more than a couple of days. When it is inside, give it a sunny south or west facing window. Good luck. John mr.coconutpalm@yahoo.com
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I bought a coconut from a supermarket in Montreal Canada 3 weeks ago and didn't know whether I should eat it or try growing it. After almost a week I removed it from its plastic wrapping and gave it a shake listening to all its milk swishing around inside. I thought to myself.."how can I get this thing to grow without a husk???" First thing I did was soak it in very hot water everyday for 2 weeks. I would then remove it from sitting in water for up to 3 hours a day and place it inside a sealed plastic bag (to trick it into thinking the plastic bag was its husk) with lots of air inside. I then sat it with its 3 eyes pointed up inside the bag and mounted onto a coffee cup into a corner of the room. Everyday I would continue the hot water procedure and then put it back into its bag sitting on the coffee cup. After about a week of doing this 1 of the 3 flat eyes suddenly swelled up and popped out like a nipple. After a couple days of putting it into the hot water bath..suddenly (today) the nipple wood gave way and behind it was a white sprout like a potato's eye sprout. This is where the story ends because I'm going to plant it and watch what happens..but so far my "grocery store" coconut is showing promise. The idea is to trick it into believing that it has its husk by placing it into a sealed tight plastic bag and letting the humidity increase around it and kick it into action. I will keep you all posted! :-)
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cattman
15 years ago
I would buy the in-husk coconuts that you see in the Asian/International markets. Some come in showing color and while I realize that can have as much to do with the tree (say, a coconut coming off a Panama Red as opposed to a Green Maypan), I take any show of color as indicating a little bit closer to ripening.

It's possible that no one is doing anything worse to these coconuts these days than just keeping them in over-aggressive air-conditioning, I think. I picked up a coconut at my local Asia market this evening, but the store was so cold with the A/C that I felt sure the germplasm would have likely died already.

The nuts need high heat for a few months. I germinated a coconut that way, one I picked up at a regular grocer (nut was in-husk), by leaving it in a black plastic bag and a bit of soil in half-day sun for 5 months. By Christmas I had a baby coconut palm. That was on the North Gulf Coast, though, not in Atlanta.
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crazycoconut
14 years ago
I bought a coconut from a supermarket in Montreal Canada 3 weeks ago and didn't know whether I should eat it or try growing it. After almost a week I removed it from its plastic wrapping and gave it a shake listening to all its milk swishing around inside. I thought to myself.."how can I get this thing to grow without a husk???" First thing I did was soak it in very hot water everyday for 2 weeks. I would then remove it from sitting in water for up to 3 hours a day and place it inside a sealed plastic bag (to trick it into thinking the plastic bag was its husk) with lots of air inside. I then sat it with its 3 eyes pointed up inside the bag and mounted onto a coffee cup into a corner of the room. Everyday I would continue the hot water procedure and then put it back into its bag sitting on the coffee cup. After about a week of doing this 1 of the 3 flat eyes suddenly swelled up and popped out like a nipple. After a couple days of putting it into the hot water bath..suddenly (today) the nipple wood gave way and behind it was a white sprout like a potato's eye sprout. This is where the story ends because I'm going to plant it and watch what happens..but so far my "grocery store" coconut is showing promise. The idea is to trick it into believing that it has its husk by placing it into a sealed tight plastic bag and letting the humidity increase around it and kick it into action. I will keep you all posted! :-)
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Grocery store coconuts...

Comments (4)

topher2006

coconut_palm

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cattman

crazycoconut

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