Behold; the doomed coconut. (Sigh...) I shook my head as I walked past them in the orange big box this afternoon. Fated to be tortured and coveted at the same time, never to reach its full potential, and die a slow, painful death. We should write fateful love poems about cocos nucifera and the besotted fools who try to grow them. ; )

Disregard all of the above if you own a heated greenhouse.

Yes, I am the lucky one with a heated greenhouse.

As the saying goes, catkim, everyone loves a fool.

Welcome to the club OrchidDude!
Glad to have ya & best of luck.

It was so cheap, I couldn't pass it up, and what if it grows up to be pretty in a big pot. Well.....will see. I don't make any promised. I have killed 6 cocos in the past. LOL

Orchiddude,
How much did you pay for that little guy? I just went to this nursery and they sell one that is 6 or 7 feet for 59 bucks. I thought that is cheap since I read someone post that said 11 feet for 300 bucks.

I saw 3 gallon plants for 24.95. I have seen 5 gallon for 50.00. My plant is 2 gallon. I think it depends on the type/ size/ weight/ etc... Plus what the person is willing to pay.

I would pay 59 for a 7 foot plant. Cuts out the wait time for me.

We can get those at Walmart every season for $5. I bought one once, knowing it would die eventually...and I was right, I forgot to take it in one cold winter night when it was about 25 and it died.

I have often trifled with the idea of putting a coconut in the greenhouse, but always ultimately rejected the idea as they just get too tall eventually and I know I would then have to remove a large tree and disrupt everything.

NOTE TO SELF:

I will not succumb!
I will not succumb!
I will not succumb!
I will not succumb!
I will not succumb!
I will not succumb!

{{gwi:1161210}}

Why not just succumb and be done with it. LOL

Here are two pics of mine that I bought last October. It has really grown during the last few months. When I bought it it only had three leaves(one was starting to split).
There is a one gallon milk container in the pic for scale.
{{gwi:1161211}}
A close-up of the foliage. There is a new spear pushing up beside the newest leaf.
{{gwi:1161213}}

dwayne...thanks for posting the pictures. Yours look great. From the looks of the background, you have a few other bigger palms. Nice.

Orchiddude-
Congratulations on your new purchase, it looks great. Have you re-potted it yet? I'm guessing (and it's only a guess) is that it's a maypan. I think this because I'm guessing it is from Florida and the growth pattern has "tall" charecteristics. I will post a picture tomorrow that clearly shows the growth diffirences between a tall and a dwarf. Be carefull if you leave it in a greenhouse over winter. If you keep your greenhouse in the low 60s or 50s it will be in trouble. Feel free to post questions anytime no matter how trivial they may seem to be. I know I've asked some seemingly simple questions over the last 16 months.
CatKim-
Oh that pessimistic attitude, I read dozens of posts two winters ago that were similar. They were part of what convinced me to try a coconut palm in the first place. It's human nature to want to try what you "can't" do I will post a picture tomorrow that will show you that an indoor/outdoor potted coconut is not a death sentence. I bought a 9.5 inch seedling back in April 2005 from Hawaii. It is not only living but doing quite well and I'm in MICHIGAN. From the time I got it it spent mid-April 05-Early June 05 inside. Early June 05-Late September 05 outside. Late September 05-Late May 06 inside and has been out since. I would also take it out for the day in cooler months when warm enough and out in the rain in the middle of winter whenever it hit 60. It has steadily grown the ENTIRE time. It's about to fully push out its 3rd feathered frond with a new spear on their heels. I'll take a picture this evening and post it.
Dwayne-
That palm is BEAUTIFUL. I'm jealous as to all the heat and humidity you guys get being in the southeast (Allthough I will say that if there ever was an Eden if must have felt like out weather of the past few weeks. 80 with low humidity is about as good as it gets even if it does slow down the growth rate of my palms). keep up the good work on that one and post pictures from time to time so we can see its progress.

Hey Andy,

I wondered when you would speak. LOL.... This coco is a green Malayan. This time I am going to do some things different. I will watch my watering and temps. I will probably bring this one inside, since it will be easy to move. I might put it on rails so I can push it in and out. I have a bright room I can place it, so the light should be ok. I am going to keep it warm this winter. After seeing the pictures up above, this baby is going to grow up this time.

I have this damn dial up at home so I usually check out the forum at work during lunch. I played hookie from work yesterday (please don't tell). I'm inbetween innings (Tigers and White Sox). I also have a Green Malayan but mine looks diffirent. I took some pictures tonight but the resolution was too high and there wasn't a ton of light. I went to the bar after work with a buddy and didn't get home until after 7:00. This weekend I will take a picture of my Green Malayan next to a pacific tall I have. They are about the same age and of course have had the same growing condiotions. There is a definate diffirence. Best of luck with it. I saw in the paper yesterday we're losing 2 minutes of sun every day. I still have high hopes to get 1 more full frond on my older one. I did get a pretty good picture of my older one that I will post tomorrow. I want to show Catkim that it can be done and to convince Blondboy to come over to the dark side (lol). Come on Blondboy you know you want one (or two)

LOL , I know Andy, Blondboy will come over to the dark side. He knows he wants too. After seeing a few pictures, I am excited about the plants. I will be looking for your pics. The spindle palm I have is sticking out another spear. I know it wont have time to complete it this year but it will grow in the greenhouse, probably open sometime in the later winter/spring. I get about 3 or 4 leaves a year from that plant. I have got to find some pots for the coco. Something easy to move around for a while.

OD,

I keep my plants mobile by using "planter caddies". They're like a water saucer with wheels...next best thing to rails! LOL

Thats a good idea scaldude...I havent thought about that. I guess I need to be thinking about pimping-up my coco ride. LOL

Blondboy-
You will succumb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, however I would wait until next spring. Orchiddude is probably still hitting high 80s with regularity. We hit 85 yesterday and that's the warmest it's been in almost over two weeks. By the way Orchiddude what city do you live in? Southern, Central or northern Alabama?

On the south side of the North/West corner in Franklin county. LOL, now if I could find something on the east, I would have used all directions.

Yes, 80's and low 90's now until end of Sept. We will see 80's and 70's in Oct and I pray we see some 70's in Nov. The more heat we get the less I have to use the heater in the greenhouse.

I did not realize you got several. Good for you, 80s in October that must be nice. We're lucky if it hits 60 on Halloween. I'm looking forward to those pictures. You've easily got 3 months more of a real groing season then me. I'm sure you;ll be able to drag them out by April. I have to wait until about memorial day. I'm going to use a lot more artificial light this winter and heat the pot so the soil temp is constantly in the 70s. I pushed 1 ful all winter frond last winter. This year I want two as they are now almost fully feathered. I want mine looking like Dwayne's by next summer.

I want one looking like Dwaynes too.