Post #183523 by TikiJosh on Wed, Aug 31, 2005 7:47 PM

On 2005-02-17 19:18, Jungle Trader wrote:
As far as I know there is only one coconut palm in Calif. that has grown outside to full maturity. It's in Newport Beach at the Crab Cooker. I had no success even growing one inside, so I gave up. Next try, move to Hawaii.

Funny thing about coconut palms. I live in a relatively shady apartment complex, and bring in my plumerias for the winter (the warm weather keeps them from dropping leaves and going dormant). Anyway, I got two coconut palms about a year or year and a half ago, one I kept, the other went to my Mum. My Mum's died in about two months when the Santa Ana winds picked up. Just thrashed it. They've got a house, and it was out in the backyard, fairly exposed.
Mine's alive and well, and has spit out two new fronds this year! I'm hoping to have the only other mature coconut palm in So Cal. I just have to wait, what, 16 more years?
I keep it outside, it gets some direct sunlight, but only for about an hour or two each day. The rest of the time it gets a lot of indirect light filtered through from the trees around my balcony.
I water it about twice a week, maybe a little more frequently during the hot summer months, but I also mist the fronds a lot, and use miracle gro.
I'm curious to know what kind of conditions your tree was kept under. I know you said inside, but I'd like to know things like what temperature it is inside your place. How often did you water? Did you ever fertilize? There doesn't seem to be loads of information on how to grow coconut palms, and on top of it, I have to do all my gardening in containers, so it's a bit trickier; therefore I'm trying to collect as much information as I can, even from unsuccessful attempts. Hopefully I'll have a house by the time it outgrows the pot! :)