Coconut palms on RP beaches?

lagrimas85

AKA Carnac
They, really grow fast, if you cut off a small branch and stick it in the dirt and keep it moist, you will have another tree shortly.

courtesy of carnac
 

Roberto

Well Known Member
There are some trees I see around and in the park across from the municipal. Small leaves, very very dense foliage, grow quite tall, bear a small seed or fruit. I keep thinking some sort of Olive relative but don't know why I think that ??
 

Roberto

Well Known Member
Found this via Google. http://www.thompson-morgan.com/plants-for-coastal-gardens
Plants for coastal gardens
The upside to coastal gardening is the reduced risk of frost, allowing you to grow borderline-hardy plants which other gardeners only dream of! Plants adapted to growing in coastal conditions often have tough, leathery or hairy leaves which protect the plant from salt damage and reduce moisture loss.
A plant’s Latin name can also give clues to its coastal origins, for example if the name contains ‘maritima’ or ‘littoralis’ (meaning ‘of the shore’). Have a look at your neighbour’s gardens too and see what grows well for them! We’ve listed some of the best coastal garden plants below.

Plants for coastal gardens Salt tolerant Plant type Extra features
Acacia dealbata
Tree
Cordyline
Tree
Cytisus (Broom)
Tree
Eucalyptus gunnii
Tree
Sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa)
Tree
 

Southbeacher

Well Known Member
Found this via Google. http://www.thompson-morgan.com/plants-for-coastal-gardens
Plants for coastal gardens
Have a look at your neighbour’s gardens too and see what grows well for them! We’ve listed some of the best coastal garden plants below.
Thanks for the listing of coastal plants that do well in the area, which has been a recent project of mine. (The problem with taking my neighbors' lead is that some of those plots are beginning to look more like the Carolinas than the beautiful Sonoran desert / sea.)
 

Estero

Well Known Member
What about Plumeria's? I think I have seen some around town. They will give you some height, I saw some that were easily 30-40 feet tall in Mulege on the Baja.
 

Southbeacher

Well Known Member
What about Plumeria's? I think I have seen some around town. They will give you some height, I saw some that were easily 30-40 feet tall in Mulege on the Baja.
I think that is the plant that has caught my attention lately, as well. Beautiful. But I read that they can be finicky -- early on, at least -- when it comes to the right balance of watering.
 

MIRAMAR

Well Known Member
A website says they require over 1 inch per week! ! I'll stick with the yellow flowering tree they call Gloria or Tecoma Stans.
 

Brian R Bruning

New Member
On the Gulf of Mexico coast there are coconuts from about Corpus Christi south They are doing well in the Rio Grand Valley around Brownsville.
On the Pacific Coast they are as far as Bahia de Kino and Santa Rosalia on the Sea of Cortez/Gulf of California. There may be some in Puerto Peñasco/Stoney Point as well. There are two 20'+ trees in Palm Desert near Palm Springs CA.
 

Wood Spinner

Well Known Member
I have been a landscape contractor in Phoenix to Casa Grande for the last thirty years and I learned not to tell any one that something will not grow in their location.
I you decide to try it I would dig a large hole and re fill it with a mix of dirt sand and horse manure prior to planting. Plant as large as you are willing to lose as bigger is better.
I would plant in early spring and provide a light shade for the first year at least.
WATER *****
This is the most important thing. In my thinking automatic watering is a must. Trust no one !
You can use a drip system but I would use bubblers and a large watering basin. I would water about every three days for as long as it takes to keep the basin full for 20 min or so.
Use your eyes to tell if the leafs look fine to judge. Also until they get started and you feel confident in your settings, dig down about 18 in. from the trunk and 24 in deep to check moisture.
When we plant Date palms they are planted in a base of sand with drop tubes to allow the water to deep water .
I hope this helps and if you do it keep me informed .
Bill 520 251 0656
 

tndr_cpl

Active Member
My wife works for a commercial palm tree nursery (Pacific Palms) in Phoenix. According to the owners the very easiest palm to grow is a Med Fan (Mediterranean Fan Palm). They will withstand heat, cold, and almost any kind of soil that has drainage. As someone mentioned above, never say never, but coconut palms typically only grow where there is moisture in the air, as in near a beach. They don't typically survive in areas like Phoenix. If you want a plant (a vine actually) try a Lady Banks Rose. They do need a trellis or wall to grow on, but they will grow almost anywhere. The largest one in the world in is Tucson.
 

brokenwave

Well Known Member
In Cholla Bay my water front neighbor has planted a few different types of palm trees and other trees.
His Mexican fan palms when small do fine, a soon as they grow up over his block wall they really struggle.

During the summer time they really struggle from the heat and constant wind from the SE direction.

He has them on a timed drip system because too many times he payed someone to water them and they didn't (you know the story).

He tried coconut palms and they lasted less than 2 years but he had somebody watering them for him who was terrible about doing it.

Funny, it seems the further away from the ocean the better any foliage will do (100 feet makes a big difference).
 

dirtsurfer

Well Known Member
Forum Supporter
What about Plumeria's? I think I have seen some around town. They will give you some height, I saw some that were easily 30-40 feet tall in Mulege on the Baja.
I have two plumerias growing in Phoenix that were my daughters 5th grade science experiment 15 years ago. In my experience Plemerias need protection from the frost and a lot of water.
 

Jungle Jim

Well Known Member
Back to the Coco Palm issue........

PP is way too hot, way too cold and way too dry for Coco Palms as they are tropical plants. The biggest issue when attempting to grow anything close to the beach in PP is SALT. Most desert plants just can't take it, a few just love it and some can put up with it....to a point. A short list of salt tolerant types are: California Fan Palms, Date Palms, Honey Mesquite, Athel Tamarisk and the Senita Cactus. Those were the traditional plants around seaside settlements up and down the Gulf of California since the mission days.

I saw Coco Palms in five gallon pots for sale here at the Yuma Home Depot last week. They are actually quite easy to grow when conditions are right. It's just a simple matter of finding sprouting Coconuts on the beach and barely covering them with dirt. One of those three dents at the top of the Coconut will sprout out a big root and the first leaf then it's ready to rock. Someone in SoCal musta figgered it out and is cultivating them in a greenhouse. Just like Avocado trees also sold at Lowe's and the Depot it's a hopeless quest here in el desierto.

Of course there are isolated cases where the tropical stuff is making it. Across the street from my home here in Yuma I can see a twenty foot Plumeria, and a few blocks away someone has managed to grow a thirty foot Mango tree that actually produces fruit. I have a spectacular specimen of the Senita Cactus in my yard. I brought it home from the Bahia Kino area about thirty years ago as a ten inch tall rooted joint. It barely grew two feet in ten years until I started dumping my salt water aquarium water on it when I changed the water. It is now eighteen feet tall with about fifty branches, makes a thousand flowers every summer that are pollinated by nectar feeding bats then makes several hundred juicy red fruits that are in turn eaten by fruit eating bats, Mocking Birds, Gila Woodpeckers and Whitewing Doves.

JJ
 

jerry

Well Known Member
image.jpeg
Back to the Coco Palm issue........

PP is way too hot, way too cold and way too dry for Coco Palms as they are tropical plants. The biggest issue when attempting to grow anything close to the beach in PP is SALT. Most desert plants just can't take it, a few just love it and some can put up with it....to a point. A short list of salt tolerant types are: California Fan Palms, Date Palms, Honey Mesquite, Athel Tamarisk and the Senita Cactus. Those were the traditional plants around seaside settlements up and down the Gulf of California since the mission days.

I saw Coco Palms in five gallon pots for sale here at the Yuma Home Depot last week. They are actually quite easy to grow when conditions are right. It's just a simple matter of finding sprouting Coconuts on the beach and barely covering them with dirt. One of those three dents at the top of the Coconut will sprout out a big root and the first leaf then it's ready to rock. Someone in SoCal musta figgered it out and is cultivating them in a greenhouse. Just like Avocado trees also sold at Lowe's and the Depot it's a hopeless quest here in el desierto.

Of course there are isolated cases where the tropical stuff is making it. Across the street from my home here in Yuma I can see a twenty foot Plumeria, and a few blocks away someone has managed to grow a thirty foot Mango tree that actually produces fruit. I have a spectacular specimen of the Senita Cactus in my yard. I brought it home from the Bahia Kino area about thirty years ago as a ten inch tall rooted joint. It barely grew two feet in ten years until I started dumping my salt water aquarium water on it when I changed the water. It is now eighteen feet tall with about fifty branches, makes a thousand flowers every summer that are pollinated by nectar feeding bats then makes several hundred juicy red fruits that are in turn eaten by fruit eating bats, Mocking Birds, Gila Woodpeckers and Whitewing Doves.

JJ
like that! I plan on taking my paddleboard back here and snoop around for plant life unusual this spring...about a mile south of the spit...
 

Jungle Jim

Well Known Member
Yo Jerry..........

Nice photo of La Lagunita! Ever catch any clams there? Ten years ago there was a shrimp boat run aground there on the other side kinda midway in yer photo, not a trace of it anymore. Back then you could drive a Jeep through the mouth of the lagoon at low tide, no mas. Last time there the channel at low tide was four or five feet deep and running like a river. On the top left of yer photo just to the left of that white post you can barely see a small stand of trees on the beach where a steep sandy road comes down now giving access to the final run up to the point.

The bright green stuff along the shore in yer pix is Pickle Weed, just beyond on the bare mud is the habitat for Fiddler Crabs and farther out in the pool is where you can find the burrows of the white Ghost Shrimp that make some of the best bait for shore fishing. Beware when paddling around out there, when we were contemplating crossing the channel we saw dozens of Round Sting Rays scootin out to deeper water.

JJ
 

Ken&Liz

Junior Member
I have been a landscape contractor in Phoenix to Casa Grande for the last thirty years and I learned not to tell any one that something will not grow in their location.
I you decide to try it I would dig a large hole and re fill it with a mix of dirt sand and horse manure prior to planting. Plant as large as you are willing to lose as bigger is better.
I would plant in early spring and provide a light shade for the first year at least.
WATER *****
This is the most important thing. In my thinking automatic watering is a must. Trust no one !
You can use a drip system but I would use bubblers and a large watering basin. I would water about every three days for as long as it takes to keep the basin full for 20 min or so.
Use your eyes to tell if the leafs look fine to judge. Also until they get started and you feel confident in your settings, dig down about 18 in. from the trunk and 24 in deep to check moisture.
When we plant Date palms they are planted in a base of sand with drop tubes to allow the water to deep water .
I hope this helps and if you do it keep me informed .
Bill 520 251 0656
Bill, I want to find a date palm 3M tall. any idea where, or if one that big can be transplanted?
 
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