Gsracer, I love your coconut trees against the pretty wood fence. The landscaping you've made along the fence looks neat and nice too. I'm a little colder here for coconuts, but still I'm not giving it up yet. I bought one from Home Depot, but it's about 5ft or so .. no trunk yet. I'd like to get a bigger one with trunk to start planting this growing season. If you don't mind, could you provide the name of the seller in Homestead so I can look them up. I'd greatly appreciate it. You certainly can look forward to having lots of coconuts soon. In the mean time, I hope you'll feed them with whatever nutrients they need to help them grow quick and fast in order to reach maturity and fruit production stage. Have fun with your cocos!

Actually it was very dry this past weekend. We hit 89 Friday and 90 Saturday but the humidity was about 35%. There was also a great breeze so it never felt uncomfortable. The humidity rolled in yesterday with some rain. It was mid 80s and will be the same today. 78 sunny and pleasant tomorrow. I think the humidity thing is blown up a bit when it comes to coconuts. As long as it's hot and they get plenty of water they will excel. I think what the humidity does is keep the dew point anf nightime temps up. For example we hit 89 Friday but it fell to 66 that night. In Miami it may have gotten to 87 but only fell into the high 70s at night so their average temperature was higher. Higher average temperature the faster a coconut will grow. It is amazing though how just 80 and sun will get them going. I can see new growth daily when I get home from work. Especially now that we're having some of the longest days of the year. I hope it keeps up we're supposed to have a couple more high 80s days this week but low 80s next week.

Hey Ptmclanahan, As far as growth rates, that sounds phenomenal even for a tall variety, and you said that you planted a dwarf. That is the fastest growing coconut palm I have ever heard of. They are fast growers, but man yours is growing faster than a weed! The fastest one I have ever had is a Hawaiian Tall, which grows about 4.5-5ft. per year. Dwarfs, usually only grow about 3.5-4ft. per year. The Malayan Dwarfs start producing their first coconuts at about 3-4 years after sprouting, therefore, you can literally have one with a trucnkof only about 4ft. that will have coconuts on it. The talls, however take 7-8 years to produce their first coconuts and their trunks are usually about 15-20ft. tall at that point. I am sorry, but I feel compelled to jump in on the Zone argument. I live in Coconut territory here in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and it sounds like we have more of them here than what you are describing in the Orlanda/Kissimmee area, yet our winters are slightly cooler here than yours are. There is a pretty good looking Golden Malayan Dwarf about 15ft. tall in San Benito (just south of Harlingen). And I have seen some good looking 30ft. tall Mexican Talls in Brownsville, so I wouldn't be worried about yours making it through the winter, especially if you have a lot of lakes (that have water in them; how bad has the drought been there?). Remember to fertilize your dwarfs with a good palm fertilizer with a 12-4-8 ratio and micronutrients. Fertilize around the base of the palm (a few inches away from the base out to the outer range of the leaves, work the fertilizer into the top couple of inches of soil, then water them good). Do this in the Spring, Summer, and Fall. Then mulch with Cypress Mulch (a good native mulch) to a depth of about 2 inches in about a 3ft. radius pattern around your palm, but not right up againt the trunk- allow about 2-3 inches of space from the trunk to the mulch). If you do these things, your Malayans should be fine, even in Kissimmee, and you should have coconuts in about 3 years! They will probably grow to be about 25-30ft. tall to the top of the crown in your area! Enjoy! John

I have a 1.5 year coconut that's been growing strong and I am in San Francisco. I have been blessed with a place that gets a lot of direct afternoon sunlight, so that is a HUGE advantage. It has about 5 healthy shoots, one of them completely pinnate and now it is pushing a brand new one. I do leave it by the window everyday all day long so that in the mornings it gets indirect light and during afternoon it gets all the direct sunlight. The room gets warm and toasty so the coconut loves it. I have a steamer and I steam the leaves (from a safe distance) so to keep the leaves moist and give it a bit of extra warmth. It is doing fantastic, plus it kills and gets rid of all the spidermites. For this winter, when the sun angle is way low anad we have plenty of overcast days, I think I Might get a grow light. I do NOT want this guy to die on me. Hopefully I will move to Orange County in 2008 where the weather, although not tropical, it's way warmer than San Fran. Good luck to u all!