Coconut palm from seed?

i seen some at my local food store selling inside the husk and all so i couldnt resist in buying it and to plant it. So i got a big pot of a high sand content laying down on the side half way in the soil half way out as it would naturally. At times they apear to just sprout laying right on top the soil. SO i waited for a while and nothing happened so that was it. I even had the pot under a heat mat the whole time but it did nothing then i took it outside for the summer and it still had done nothing by fall and then it was shriveling up.

Those hairy brown coconuts you see at the grocery store have had their husk removed. I suppose you could try sprouting one since it seems the husk is mostly to protect the seed during the fall from the tree and perhaps to keep it moist while sprouting.

If I were to try sprouting a grocery store coconut, I'd pick a heavy one, get some potting soil, push the coconut halfway into it with the eye either level with the surface or just barely under the surface. Then put a couple inches of mulch on top of that and keep it well drained but moist. Warm is also good, I wouldn't let it get below fifty if possible. Coconuts take a long time to germinate, though. Give it several months if not six months before giving up.

We've got a couple coconut trees in the back yard about sixty feet tall or so. They keep dropping the nuts into the bamboo (or on top of the chicken coop - CLANG!) and then the nuts try and sprout. I fly a lot of them into the gulch and encourage the dogs to pull the husk off a few which get cracked and eaten. It is a lot of work to pull the husk off a coconut but the dogs seem to enjoy it. Dogs and chickens like to eat coconut, too.

As far as growing them in containers, I don't think it is possible to "bonsai" a coconut and a mature coconut leaf is about ten to fourteen feet long. However, it does take quite a few years before they get all that big. You could probably keep it for up to seven to ten years in a container but you will have a VERY large plant by that time. After about that long you will probably need a higher ceiling than most houses have.

There is a type of coconut tree called a Samoan coconut which stays shorter than the tall coconuts but even that one will be way over ten feet tall when mature.

Hotzcatz.Your saying if we bought a store Coconut that was heavy an planted it with the eyes up we could grow a tree!
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Feb 08 11:46 am
This posting is a bit of an update I got a Coconut that I plan to plant within the next day or two of coarse this is for fun, Hortzcatz your posting was great.

I have seen the coconut with the tree coming out of it. It was planted in dirt with coconut on the dirt.

Okay this is my update. The coconut I planted a numbers of months ago failed. It looked like the bottom blew out, and smelled like a pair old socks . A pretty bad pair of old socks.
Anyway I plan to give it another try, being bullheaded like I am. I found this posting that may be intense for some views willing to grow store bought coconuts without the husks. Well it's all in fun so here is the link.

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Another test for store bought coconuts, this one I'm using this link same as above. The first attempt was planting with the eyes looking up. It flawed do to giving it to much bottom heat it fermented and broke open.

This next test is to following the instructions posted at this site. [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...] One of the problems in using coconuts from the store is that the may have been placed in refrigeration and may not germinate. But for a few bucks and time I'll see. Following the instuctions posted in this link, I placed 2 containers on the top shelf of the greenhouse using no bottom heat. Hey maybe I'll get lucky. Dale