DoctorSteve

I read about a coconut palm that can grow in colder climates. I thought some on here might be interested. One is close by so I am going to see if I can find it and talk to the grower.

Golden Gate Palms&Exotics

sunfish

Lots of nurseries selling these in San Diego

DoctorSteve

That is awesome! I haven't seen them up here. I have to start growing them now. Maybe I should see if they taste just as good first.

Do you know if they have water inside like the big ones? I would guess no.

sunfish

I don't know but Jubaea does

Christian Rieger

Here is the trick: it may grow, but will it yield? Unless there is some amazing GM involved, which is unlikely since it is not a big commercial crop to the industrialists, there is a latitude above which it does not yield.

DoctorSteve

Yes they yield fruit. At least in my area they do. I even ran across a blog where some guys in my area picked them up off the ground in a park and ate them. I can not say if they will yield fruit other places, but I keep reading that they do well in the San Francisco area, the area I live in. Still we may never know about other places if people don't try. It will take some time but if they don't mind I don't either.

Link to the blog
An Edible Palm Tasting Fire Flower

sunfish

This one will grow in your area also.

Jubaea chilensis

Christian Rieger

That's the biggest hammer I've ever seen. Is it the hammer of Thor?

sunfish

Yes

Christian Rieger

The coconut of this link, An Edible Palm Tasting Fire Flower, refers to is Parajubaea torallyi, information of which is found here: PACSOA - Parajubaea torallyi, and several other places.

It is not Cocos nucifera, which is the coconut of the tropics that grows along its shores and you find de-husked in grocery stores. The coconut spreads by floating on currents around the world. Its natural home is sandy shores. It is carnied to higher elevations by humans. Interestingly, studies demonstrate that it has a better chance of sprouting when soaked in salt water than when not. In Florida it does not yield north of Sarasota. It will grow, but not yield. This would indicate that yield corresponds to hours of light rather than temperature, much as the same cause of the change of colors of leaves in New England in the fall.

The name of a plant alone does not necessarily indicate what it is and where it can grow and yield. For instance, in Barbados, and other Caribbean islands, the people refer to a cherry. These are a tropical plant and cannot survive outdoors in the north where an entirely different variety of cherry grows that cannot yield in tropical lowlands.

Christian Rieger

Nice answer. I got a good chuckle.

DoctorSteve

Thank you Christian, I did know that but others may not have.

sunfish

Mission Bay San Diego

Christian Rieger

What kind of palm is this?

sunfish

Christian Rieger

So then, this is not a coconut palm and does not demonstrate how a coconut palm can grow outside of tropical latitudes but merely illustrates how certain palms can grow there.

Unless I missed something, this thread has to do with growing coconut palms outside the tropics and not some plant that has the words coconut or palm in the name.

I do not mean this to be facetious, but if someone has a passion for growing tropical plants and having a mini rain forest in their back yard, then move to the tropics. That is what I did.

sunfish

Christian Rieger

This is the same reference as the original post, but the site does not state they are selling what most people would call a coconut tree.

There is a tree that grows in the tropics that is called a tulip tree because the flowers look like tulips, same with an orchid tree with flowers that look like orchids, naming and looking does not make it the same as either tulips or orchids.

People should not be deceived into believing they can get coconuts from a tree growing in San Francisco. In certain areas where there is fog at the right time of day and right time of year you will can raise mind-boggling artichokes, but you will not get a coconut in natural circumstances. There is an exception to this: When there is a planetary shift.

sunfish

I still do not understand where anybody was saying this is a true coconut tree.

Christian Rieger

This started by Dr. Steve stating: I read about a coconut palm that can grow in colder climates. He did not say, "I read about a Bolivian mountain coconut that can grow in colder climates that is very different from what most people think of as a coconut but that is similar in name only." He did not qualify.