Last edited on 3 Feb 2024. View history
Coconut
Coconut
How to sow coconut: Direct seed fresh coconut or young tree
Sun requirement for coconut: Plant in Full Sun
Coconuts are a member of the Arecaceae (Palm) family and are classified into two types: tall and dwarf. Tall varieties can grow to heights of 30 meters. Coconut trees grow slowly: they will produce their first fruit in 6-10 years, and take 15-20 years to reach peak production. Their fruit has a wide range of culinary and cosmetic uses. They have a shallow, fibrous root system characteristic of grass species - they lack a tap root and only a few roots grow deep enough to provide stability. Coconut trees can be killed by light frosts, and they will only bear fruit at steady temperatures above 29°C.
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Coconut facts
Lifespan
Height
3000cmCrop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For coconut, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 14°C and a shortest growing cycle of 270 days at its best temperature, about 3780 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your coconut will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Photos
PhotosCoconut crops
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Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Cocos nucifera Linnaeus
| Family / Taxonomy | Liliopsida Arecidae Arecales Palmae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: -1 °C |
| Life form | tree |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | deep (>>150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about coconuts
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