That's a good sized one.

Mine is in the best south window light.
Last winter I kept it under one of those blue/red LED light thingies on 24 hours a day and it did great.

This winter no extra light, just warm and misted daily.

Here's mine after birds used it for target practice.
<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/5765625499/" title="DSC04719 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="375" height="500" alt="DSC04719"></a>

Right now it's severely sunburnt from summer.
Barb

Barb,

How long have you had yours?

How warm do you keep the room that it's in for the winter? and does it go through any kind of shock when you bring it in from being outside for the summer?

Mine is 3.5ft tall, and bought on Ebay. They are pretty cheap to buy, but from what I've read can be touchy to grow when inside.

I have mine sitting a little back from a large East facing window with other palms I have. Going to see how it does there. I only have one small south facing window but could easily move it there if needed. We let our house run on programmable thermostat so when on in the winter it will drop to 62deg at night, and 68 during the day, so hoping Coconut Palm will at least survive through that till warmer weather comes. Otherwise may have to put in room with heater.

Any advice you can shoot my way would be appreciated!

Scott/Omaha

Here are my thoughts in regard to keeping them alive during winter... (mind you ive never had one!)

THey come from tropical places, which means 12 hours light 12 hours dark. Im sure they can adapt to longer days, but Im wondering how well they will adapt to almost no sunlight in the winter. Im pretty sure they should have 12 hours of sunlight at least. Barbs palm looks so sexy because, as she stated, she had it under light all winter (near your woodstove if i remember properly. Not to mention the dry air from a forced air furnace. You might want to place the pot on a tray of pabbels, and pour water in the tray. Do NOT let the roots sit in the water, but let the water stay about half way up the pebbles. Id suggest you get a spray bottle too, and mist it once or twice a day.

I mist all my palms/plants twice a day. Were on a heat pump as well, so it does a lot better on keeping humidity more consistent...but I'm still going to get a small sonic humidifier to keep near all the palms.

We have 5 dogs in the house so can't leave standing water anywhere otherwise they would think it's theirs to drink! Have thought about putting water in one of my 5 gallon (clean) paint buckets that I have a lid for and drill holes in the lid so moisture can just evaporate out, and lid will keep dogs out.

Even when winter sun gets high, the room the palms are in stays bright as the windows are floor to celing, BUT I will keep close eye on them in case I need to change things up a bit.

THANKS for your input though!

love the coconut. its really very simple to keep a cocnut happy indoors. lots of light, lots of heat and lots of humidity. what could be easier? best of luck. they are fun to grow.

Had it only about a year Scott.

While I agree with Jesse ("canadianplant") that a Cocos needs probably 12 hrs sunlite a day, the reason I'm not using the red/blue light thingy this year is because that artificial light seemed to make it MORE sensitive to sunburn when I finally did put it on the patio, at least that's my feeling.

I think I created the (prone to sunburn) problem by having the light box on 24/7 in the basement near the wood stove.
Temps near the stove were easily 85 - 90F dropping to about 70 - 75F o/nite (big house, we never turn our electric heating on...no natural gas in our area).
Humidity near the Cocos was good as I always keep about 5 or 6 big buckets of water "warming" (and dissipating chlorine) for watering my indoor plants.

To keep dogs from thinking the water bucket is theirs, place a sized metal screen on the bucket.

Actually, Scotty in Ontario (by the way, anybody heard from him????) had a great idea for light (for his Foxtail or Queen, I think).
He inserted a 7-foot pole into the plant pot, tied it to the palm (as though to keep the palm upright), and ran a cord up the pole/tied a grow lite to the top of the pole, shining down. Easy to adjust and put on a timer.
Bamboo poles come in varying lengths and should work nicely, cord can be taped to the pole.

Scott, I don't think an East facing window (despite its huge size) will be bright enough so I'd recommend the pole.
The clincher will be your 68 to 62 temps, guessing they're too low.
Think Hawaii...80 to 85 F daytime, nights 65 min mostly 70 or so.

With Cocos, light and temp are equally important, humidity only slightly less important.

Mine's still holding its severely sunburnt leaves (crunchy), waiting for some growth.

With Cocos, artificial light creates such a Catch22.
If the palm gets lots of artificial light in winter (so that it's healthy), then it takes so very long early summer for it to be able to handle full sun.
I'm convinced my 24/7 light box last winter created a palm that can't go into full sun at all...ever.
😕

Barb

Good advice Barb,

I may get one of those electric oil filled heaters to put near the palms/tropicals inside that need more heat. They are pretty cheap, and can keep the area around the palm a bit warmer.

It's all about trial and error! as long as we all share on these forums, we can all learn.

Grouping palms together (with similar light/heat requirements) helps to increase humidity too.

Here's my ugly sunburnt Cocos.

<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/6302403865/" title="DSC05058 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="500" height="375" alt="DSC05058"></a>

all about trial and error

Sure is.
And with tropicals, 50/50 is actually good at N lats 😐

Keep us updated on how yours is doing.
Barb

Noticed that to Barb

Plants under artificial light -worst at readjusting and
plants that got more sun inside were the best,kinda makes
sense when you think about it 😉

Just my two cents. The key is lots of natural light during the day and supplemental lighting for 3 to 4 hours or more in the evening. Use a portable humidifier in the room, keep above 70 f. Full sun through a window does not count as full sun outside. There are UV filters in the glass. Most tropical palm will accept full sun if you spend the time to put them in bright shade for a least two to three weeks gradually moving them for next two weeks into part sun in the spring, including most seedlings. Now that I`ve given that advice my Coco palm died from root rot 15 months after I bought it. 😡

http://okanaganpalms.multiply.com/photos/album/10/Palms_Bananas_Yuccas_Summer_2009#photo=23

John

John....loved your pics, is that really all the palms and tropicals you have at your house in the pics?

Scott/Omaha

Scott the other palms you see are mine. These pics were taken two years ago. I`ll have new updated ones soon.

John

I showed my wife those pics. Now she is really worried!

Looking forward to the new pics.

LOL 😆 My fiancee doesn`t complain anymore she gave up. I suppose there could be worse things to spend my spare time doing. I sell palms and bananas through the spring and summer to pay for a trip south in the winter for us. She likes that part. 😀

John