Keeping a palm potted definitely won't help much. Your idea is great in cooler climates where people take their palms indoors for the winter, but in a warm climate where they will stay in the same spot year after year, the roots will find their way to the new soil eventually and grow like they normally would. You should look for smaller growing palms if you want the look without the mess. There are some Syagrus palms that mature at much shorter heights (Queen palms are in the Syagrus family of palms). You might also want to give less messy palms a try. King palms (Archontophoenix alexandrae) are much less messy than Queen palms when they fruit and the old fronds usually fall off on their own so they do not need to be pruned to look nice. Bottle palms (Hyophorbe lagenicaulis) are much smaller growing palms and have a really cool bottle shape to them). You will be able to keep them looking nice and clean without even using a ladder for many years. Eventually you might need a ladder to keep it pruned, but their max height is only around 15 feet (about 4.5 meters) and that's after many years. Good luck! -Alex

I didn't plant anything directly into the ground this year, as most of my stuff is still small and need to get good roots going. So I overwinter inside with grow lights and humidifier. I pot planted everything I wanted this summer. I water every other day and feed 1 time a week (Peter's 20-20-20). Because of the heat and watering, I must say that everything I have pot planted is absolutly THRIVING. In the front, I have a Pachypodium Gaeyi that's about 2' tall. An Cycas Edule No. Mexico thats about 2' trunked, a 3' banyan tree and a 5' Faxonia that gets people coming to my door and asking about it. The Faxonia is growing at an unbelievable rate with this heat. It grows at least an inch every two days and puts out new shoots almost every day. In the back I have one Robusta about 2' trunk with one leave opening and one leaf poking out. Another Robusta 4' trunk with new leaf opening. Yellow Groove Bamboo with 1/2 inch culms, PDP with 6" trunk, Valencia Orange tree, 2 Rostrata with both putting new leaves every day, 4 King Sago's with one being a juvenile w/ no new flushes, another one that had not flushed in 2 years but it flushed this year with a set of 6, another one that produced a 10 flush and the biggest flushed THIRTEEN this week. I have a 6" Hystrix (currently putting on new leaf), 6" Sabal Minor, 2 Takils both with 1' trunk and both putting on new leaf, Phoenix Theo w/ 6" trunk and a Pineapple that is doing GREAT! THats what I have pot planted outside. But inside I many trees of Royal Palms, Cycas Edule, Taraw Palm, Zamia Floridana, Zamia sp., Butterfly Palm, Livistona Chinensis, Canary Island Date Palm, Robusta, Filifera, Filibusta, Fortunei, Butia Yatay, and a few others. dbrya1, Get your butt in here more. Us Kansas guys need to stick together. It's so cool to talk to somebody close that shares your hobby.

I live in southern cali, about 35-45 min. away from newport beach. I have been growing a few coconuts for about 7 months here, but it is starting to get a little cool now, and I am very concerned. I dont think you'll be able to grow one for very long in england. If you want to give it a try i would suggest a few things: Portable greenhouse soil warming cables greenhouse heater grow lights It probably wouldnt work for long, but you might be able to get a few extra months out of it. I never let mine see outside temps lower than 75f and the same for the soil temp. At night when the temp is lower than about 72f I bring them inside were i get the soil temps up to about 80f. Also, I have mine planted in a sand and soil mix. I think that might make a difference. I only water it with warm water, I dont' know if that helps, but I'm sure it cant hurt. And there is a hormone that i give to one of them, and that seems to be the one that grows the best. Its called superthrive, and you can order it onlie. as a matter of fact, the one that i give the superthrive to is starting to get the pinnate leafs and the fronds are bigger on that one also. When winter actually gets here, i will put mine in a portable greenhouse with a heater just to be on the safe side. Oh yeah, I only water it when its very warm, and usually no more than once a week.

Hello, I have just signed up with this interesting website,I had searched Google for cocos palms as they are now meant to be a weed. I have 4 of them next to my home and have developed a lovely rainforest in a small area.My mini foxy has been eating those yellow seedpods for 6 years and loves them,the vet told me dogs eat them because they are sweet but the danger to the dog is when it swallows the seed and it gets stuck somewhere in the stomach and if not seen by a vet quickly its fatal.People say the palm is a nuisance and then there is cockroaches and falling leaves and bats. Well I was thing of some positive things about this lovely palm tree. It attracts bees,and beautiful king parrots,The long fronds protect my orchids and ferns, so no need to build a shade house also these palms give a lovely tropical look. As I live in a sub tropical area