Vegetable Garden Spring Summer

Grow your own coconut palm

Garden Life

A coconut tree is an exceptional plant that is at home in tropical countries. With its’ pinnate leaves the coconut palm is beautiful to look at, and for many of us the symbol of tropical holidays, sunshine, white beaches and blue sea. To get some of this holiday atmosphere into your living space, why not grow your own coconut tree?

There are several ways of doing so, each with varying chances of success. The first option as described below, which is to purchase an already pregerminated nut, is probably the most promising. It is also possible to cultivate or germinate a coconut on one’s own, as described below in option two.

Option One:
Purchasing a pre-germinated coconut from a garden centre will provide you with the best chance of success. The coconut seedling should be planted in pot with kokohum soil and placed in a sunny location. Kokohum soil is a specialised soil that can be found in most garden centres and is ideal for growing coconuts. With regular watering and careful maintenance a pre-germinated coconut can grow into a beautiful plant.

Option Two:
The second option is to germinate a coconut yourself by purchasing a coconut and removing all the outside fibres. Place the bare coconut in a bowl and pour over hot water until half the coconut is covered. Place the bowl and coconut in a location that will remain constantly warm. After two months the coconut should germinate. Plant the germinated coconut in pot with kokohum soil, ensuring that only half the coconut is covered by soil. Place the coconut in a sunny location. With careful maintenance and regular watering your home grown seedling can flourish into a beautiful plant.

Care:
The coconut palm needs to be placed in a partly shady warm location throughout the year. Even in winter the temperature as well as the humidity needs to be rather high. Spraying water on both sides of the leaves with a common spray bottle or pump sprayer can increase the humidity in the room. Ensure the coconut does not endure the blazing midday sun. From November to March the palm should be abundantly watered, without drowning the plant. From April, the amount of water can be slightly reduced. The coconut palm should be fertilized with liquid fertilizer in early spring. If you want to keep your palm for several years, it needs to be re-potted every two years. When re-potting ensure that half of the nut always sticks out of the soil to provide enough space for the roots in the pot. Kept indoors, coconut palms obtain a height of about 1.50 meters.