Engadye, Sorry to see your coconut tree struggling. For the past few years, I've been stringing Christmas lights around mine. I also used a vinyl table cloth with flannel back to wrap around it whenever the temperature dropped further down. Your idea of wrapping it around with a comforter might have worked for you in the past. Don't give up on it too quickly yet. Mine is also looking not too good now ... Hope the weather will warm up for us soon and our coconut trees will all survive.

I've had several coconuts over the years. I treat them like a short-lived novelty of a good trip to the tropics. After several futile attempts at sprouting my own cocunuts that I collected in Hawaii or South Florida, I realized there was a better way to get a coconut from my travels. While digging through a pile of coconuts that had dropped from a canopy of mature palms, I noticed several that were growing small trees. I finally discovered one that would be perfect to take home with me--a small coconut that was not on the sand, rather it was perched on a pile of shells. It had a small (1") nub of its first sprout and a tiny root sprout on the bottom. At home I put it in a pot with potting soil and there it thrived for years. I was lucky to have a VERY sunny south facing plate glass window/sliding doors that flooded my DC-area apartment with all-day sunlight in the winter. In the spring, summer and fall the palm went out on the balcony where I turned it regularly so the all the fronds would get direct sunlight over time. Spider mites were a problem. I would have to take a wet paper towel and wipe the fronds every week or so. Fortunately there were never more than 4 or 5, so it wasn't too labor intensive. They key to my success was the big, warm, sunny window and an easy move out to the balcony in the summer. After a year or two, their new swords would open to reveal more and more splits so they'd look like a real palm, much like the photos "US MARINE" posted above. Eventually the palm would get too big or would just fail to thrive. I was lucky enough in my travels that I could pick up a new sprouted nut off of some tropical beach and start all over again. My last one didn't survive my move down to the Delaware Beaches. The house isn't as warm and sunny as my condo was and I moved during the winter months. I had to cut back some of the biggest fronds and it never took to the cooler, dimmer location. When growing a coconut indoors. Just treat it like a treasured, temporary visitor.

Cocos nucifera has a very shallow root system. You could easily grow some of the smaller cultivars in 50cm of appropriate soil, as long as the soil extends sufficiently out from the tree. A problem with the concrete base may be drainage. The tree requires good sharp drainage, and will need a good foothold to withstand coastal tropical storms. If coconut production is not a requirement, there are many other palms which could work as well. Consider making the raised beds a bit deeper, by going further up with elevated planting areas.

absolutely NOT! At least not in the ground, in my experience. I've tried at least 3 times, and in some of the most protected areas of 2 different yards.... in Palm Springs and Los Angeles However, in a pot, or a series of incresingly larger pots, brought inside in the winter, you might have a chance to see how long it will live and grow.... sorry for the downer news......MD