Coconuts indoors? man these things are really tough just to keep alive. coconuts indoors is really a reach.

Since coconuts need constant temps in the 80's, depends on where you live. You more than likely just wasted your $$ unless you live south of Miami. And indoors or in a greenhouse, you will never see coconuts. The enviroment is not condusive.

If you want coconuts you should just go to the store and buy them and hang them from your tree. They will look really cool. I may be wrong but I too think it would be almost impossible to get an indoor coconut to set nuts.(unless in an arboretum or something similar). That does not mean you should not try, just be realistic in your expectations.

florida wannabe,Actually Stuart florida is the northern range for coconuts.Its about 125 miles north of Miami

Yea but if I said "unless you live from Stuart, Florida south", would he know where that was? :-) LOLOLOL
I used Miami cause it's the biggest city that is nearest the border. Kinda like how if people ask where you live and you say Kansas City, but ACTUALLY to be specific, you live in Overland Park (that one was for you oppalm). Or Pittsburgh with McKeesport.
Point being, unless this guy lives and is going to plant it in the ground in South Florida, it will never bring coconuts and if a person bought one off ebay knowing he couldn't plant it in the ground, but he wanted it grow coconuts, then he should have done more research.

floridawannabe, I agree. I must have tried coconuts four or five times. all failures. you need lots of dedication and ideal conditions to keep them alive. andyandy and some others have had good luck with them, though

1) I agree there is no chance of getting a potted coconut to fruit as an indoor/outdoor palm (unless you have 20 foot ceilings and keep your house set at 80 the whole time it's indoors)

2)"coconuts need constant 80s" If you mean to fruit yes, if you mean to live no. I have three coconuts (2 talls and 1 dwarf) that say otherwise. Direct sun and high 60s-low 70s will keep them going (and growing although at a much slower rate than when it's warm in the summer). The middle of winter is not the time to order a coconut or just about any other palm). 1st it could freeze and die while being delivered. Having said that if it makes it make sure you put it in the warmest sunniest spot in the house. A south facing window would be best. Water it very little (unless you can give it a constant 80 degree envirnment). Mist it often as dry sunny locations will promote mites. Also keep it away from any furnace vents as the hot dry air will dry it out and kill it.
No one pushes growing coconuts indoors/outdoors more than me. It will be two years in April that I got my first one (doing well stands about 6 and a half feet (including pot). I also have two younger ones that are doing well. I would recomend though trying to get one started in late spring. Winter will be problematic unless you can keep it in direct sun and constant 70s. an artificail grow light would also help.

Best of Luck

Shhhhhhhhh, keep it down, my coconut that's outside with mid-60's during the day and mid-30's at night might hear you.

south of miami? i've seen a few coconut palms at clearwater..some looked fried though.

They will survive about forty miles north of Palm Beach on the coast. Even disney doesn't atempt these further north and we know disney is "magical"

I'm pretty sure they will survive considerably further north than 40 miles north of Palm Beach. Frmmi, you're right about coconuts in Clearwater. I live there and there are bunches, especially further south in St. Pete. Unfortunately some do fry!

I haven't been to Disney lately but I know that Busch Gardens in Tampa has some. Also, Busch Gardens is in one of the coldest, most inland parts of Tampa.

Shaun

Busch Gardens-(Sorry for the crappy quality, its from my phone)

i thought all palms were dioecious meaning you'd need two plants,one male one female?

There is no demarcation line for Coconuts, as to where they will grow and where they will not. Coconuts will survive as far north as Pinellas County on the west coast, and southern Brevard on the east, but microclimates play a huge role. In South Florida it does not matter how far south you are, but how close to water and warming influences. Look at any temperature grading map when the cold comes to Florida and you will see that the cold shoots all the way into the Everglades, which have frost many years.

As far as fruiting, it takes a lot of energy to produce a coconut. It is quite a large seed, and needs full sun even in tropical climates to produce good coconuts. If you see coconut plantations in Hawai'i, Jamaica, or Asia, you will see they are not planted side by side, but given enough room to get full sun. Coconuts grow just fine in shade but fruiting is a burden.

I heard south beach's island was a failed coconut plantation in the 1800s...was it climate related?

palmshaun, on the East coast, where is the farthest northern location where they are reliably hardy? If you go north of Stuart you will see very few.

See Christian's comment(s).

Also check these photos out. Pretty cool stuff! Enjoy.

Coconut Palms in Central Florida

They are from member eric_9b

Who said they have coconut palms at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon.

From this thread...

Here is a link that might be useful: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/palms/msg061626432130.html

I have said it before and will say it again...
we don't get the name zone jumpers for nothing !
so go ahead and try it you won't know till you do !

I just checked the 2006 hardiness zone map, and could not believe the huge chunk of Florida that is now considered zone 10. No wonder ther are coconuts growing everywhere!

I'd disregard anything Nash123 posts. This person has been a problem on some of the other forums. Believe it or not his spelling and grammar in this post was considerably better than usual.

I see a whole bunch of Coconut palms in central florida.Especially along the atlantic coast from cape canaveral all the way south.I have spotted a small minority around the Orlando area.

This is the first time I've seen this post since I posted it thats amazing that some peolple responded. Thank you for all the ummmm help I gess.

I can't stress this enough - zones only mark general areas for plants to grow. It does not take into effect any microclimates except the given coastal ones. Sanibel Island reliably records temps higher than most SE Florida locations. I think it was the warmest mainland temp when we had the Valentine's Day cold snap in 2006. Miami recorded 42F and Sanibel was 46F. If you want to check records, try Albert Whitted Airport in downtown St. Pete. You will see milder temps for this area by far than any other in Central Florida. Cold air flows all the way down the West Central part of Florida's peninsula to the northern parts of the Everglades. Many stations recording in these rural counties or parts thereof will get frost almost every year, even into Miami-Dade and Collier. The radiational cooling nights are brutal for these inland areas, as there is no warming water influence without a lake or river, and the wind tends to be very calm. It is like heat escaping from an open fire into the sky.

Anyways, related to Coconuts, these milder areas in Central Florida grow coconuts well barring a 1989 style freeze:

Cocoa Beach - barrier island and south.
Pinellas County coastal and south of Oldsmar.
Orlando is pushing the envelope hard, but the town has grown so fast that the urban island effect is much greater than even 10 years ago. Go 90 minutes north and you drop a full zone with no change in elevation.

Mind you, I am friends with nursery owners who recorded temps as low as 17F way out in the Redland area north of Homestead in 1989! Meanwhile you head 15 miles south and Key Largo was 35F....its all about location!