Planting a Coconut Plant in a Pot or Bonsai Bag

Coconut care (Some hints on establishing your palms)

These nuts have been struck in filtered sunlight so will handle full sun but need at least 50% sun for as much of the day as possible.
The nuts are the most advanced that packaging or State requirements allow. They will gain nutritional benefit from attachment to the nut for about 18months and even longer in sub optimal conditions. Coconuts have a fibrous root system. Each root will develop with equal importance both feeding the plant and anchoring it. No tap root develops. The sprouted nuts have roots but in most cases most of the roots are removed to improve health and quarantine issues.

In tropical locations the sprouted nut could be planted in its site or potted. In cooler locations it is recommended to plant the nut in a large container 10 to100 litre container. Before sending, the nut has been watered, root pruned and cleaned. New roots are already growing through the nuts husk.

It will help if you soak the nut in diluted liquid fertilizer mix for a few hours or overnight before potting. In any case newly transplanted nuts will suffer some set back which will be evident in the next two fronds being less vigorous than current fronds. It is important to nurse these new plants to reduce this set back as much as possible.

Coconut palms like;

• Warm soil – above 20 degrees celcius
• Warm air – between 20 and 30 degrees celcius
• High humidity – above 70
• High light levels especially when temperatures are warm
• Free draining soil – no water ponding on surface and good pot drainage
• Regular watering with potable or near potable quality water
• Surface mulching with wood chip or stone
• No weed competition especially grassy weeds
• Freedom of pests like ants (ants farm mealy bug and scale insects) and leaf eating insects
• Adequate levels of fertilizer, particularly nitrogen and trace elements

By meeting these requirements your plants should thrive.

Youtube Transcript

So bare root coconuts this is how we get our coconuts and

they send them down from

Far North Queensland just loose within a bit of coconut fiber just a bit of

this around the roots and this is how we

receive them so they travel really well

like this so this is how we also send

them out but they like a very humid

tropical environment so this is our fog

machine which creates a very fine moist

humid environment and this is where we

keep our coconuts while they're here at

Daley's so it's a perfect environment for

strengthening up plants that have come

out of tissue cultured flasks that are

very tender and fragile so this is a

really fabulous and exciting new

addition to Daley's nursery what do you

do with your plant on arrival so the

first thing is just check the roots and

if you feel they're I can feel that that

root there is actually broken so it's

not going to hurt my plant if I cut that

root off

so this coconut has got all its energy

stored in this nut to make all its roots

and to make all its shoots so it uses

the energy from the nut for about the

first two years so it's really important

that under no circumstances do you take

the nut off but don't be concerned about

cutting the roots off so any roots that

are old and damaged cut them off

anything like this this is great and you

need to cut these ones off so don't be

concerned if it doesn't have any roots

at all it's quite normal for your

coconut to come without any roots so

that's perfect

I'm just going to leave those two fresh

shoots that's all we want and that is

absolutely perfect for planting what you

want to do is rehydrate your plant so

you can actually soak the nut in a

bucket of seaweed solution and what

that's going to do is it's just going to

strengthen up the nuts so seaweed is

really good for preventing pests and

diseases and it actually makes your plant

Hardy so it's also a great thing to have

in your garden shed and soak it for at

least an hour you can soak it for up

to a day don't leave it in the bucket

don't forget it and go to work for a

week but just

rehydrate it and get it ready to plant

So where do coconuts grow coconuts are

tropical they're what we call a strictly

tropical plant they're tropical and they

grow on the beach so you don't see them

in the mountains you don't see them in Melbourne they are really

perfectly suited to growing in a

tropical coastal climate now if you are

outside of that area and you want to

grow a coconut what you need to

know is that they ideally like

temperatures that are 20 to 30 degrees

centigrade they don't like it when it

drops below that although they can

handle a little bit of cold in the

winter they will not tolerate any frost

they also like a very humid environment

so they ideally like 70% humidity

throughout the year so if your tropical

you'll find coconuts grow easily if

you're not tropical you're going to find

them difficult so don't be surprised if

you try one and you don't succeed but it

really it's because tropical plants love

really hot humid conditions if you can

offer them that you you're going to have

success if you can't you might be better

growing something suited to your climate

so planting out your coconut in all

areas outside of the tropics it's a

really good idea to start your coconut

in a big pot or a bag so we're going to

start ours in a bonsai bag and what you

need is a pot that's big enough to fit

the nut and the palm so that's nice and

comfortable that's a really good sized

pot and because all the roots are going

to come from this part of the nut you

want to bury that plant down to there so

I've just put some in there because we

haven't got any roots to worry about

spreading out so you can just part fill

your bag and then fill it around it so

this is just coconut fiber this is our

Coir which is fabulous stuff it has

really good drainage it's not going to

water log my coconuts it's not going to

give you any problems with drainage and

I can add slowly less nutrients to this

mix

which is all my coconuts gonna need for

the first couple of years so what you

want to do is get it growing really well

in its bag get it established so you

want it about like that

so your coconuts part buried your palms

coming up from just above the ground

level so you don't want to bury that too

deep and this nut is going to provide

all the roots you need to keep this

really well watered so they like

constant moisture and perfect drainage

put it in the shade until it's

established so don't put it out in the

full Sun where it's going to get cooked

until it starts to show nice new growth

and don't be concerned if it looks a

little bit stressed for a little while

so the first couple of leaves might be

weak growing leaves once it starts to

make vigorous new growth its well

established and it's ready to thinking

about putting in its final home so once

your palm is a couple of metres tall

it's ready to plant in the ground so

what you need is a well-prepared site

and your coconuts going to love very

good drainage so build a mound a bit

like an avocado lots of compost and

organic matter and you can add Coco

fiber and husks all that sort of stuff

to

your well composted mound you can

start doing it when you put you put your

coconut in the bag so it's got two years

to mature you can keep adding to that

composted mound once you're ready to

plant it put it in the ground if your

nut comes off after two years it's

nothing to worry about

but don't plant it any deeper than

you've had it in your bag that's a

general rule with plants so make sure

you keep it at the same line on your

palm when you plant it into the ground

and keep the moisture up to it so it's

going to love that tropical climate and

if you can provide it with that you're

going to be picking coconuts in five

years maybe 6 years

ten years it is going to vary you need to

be patient

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