What is the Coconut Tree name for common Thailand coconuts

[Rick]

Hello,

I'm planting a variety of tropical fruit in my backyard so I joined
this forum with one specific question in mind. I would appreciate
help in determining a certain type of coconut tree. While in Bangkok
I enjoyed fantastic coconuts purchased from the street vendors. These
coconuts had a very sweet tasty liquid and thin "meat" which is soft,
and also great tasting. The embryo shell seemed thin, with a smooth
outside and a light hazelnut color. These coconuts are also available
at Whole Foods Market.

I've tried contacting many nurseries in South Florida and even called
the importer who supplies Whole Foods. None of them know anything
about it. I'd appreciate any help if someone thinks they know the
name and where I might by the trees, preferably in SW Florida.

What I want to avoid are the truly AWFUL coconuts you typically find
in a grocery store. The ones which have a dark brown fibery embryo
shell with inch thick "meat" which needs to be removed with a
jackhammer and horrendous tasting liquid. A friend told me that it
might have more to do with when they are harvested than the species.

Thanks! Rick

[Severino Magat]

Hi  Rick,

 

Greetings from the Philippines ----  the world's top exporter of coconut oil and dessicated   coconut  and grower of  coconut palm trees (around 3.2 million ha, 350 M trees, producing 12 - 14 billion nuts annually, dominantly grown by small-scale farms), second to Indonesia (about 3.5 M ha) but exports less as Indonesians consumes most of its production.

 

Just very briefly,  on the basis of your short story on your experience in Thailand about the coconut fruit/nut,  the one you're referring to is the tender (young) coconut fruit which is 7 - 8 month old from pollinated female flower.  A bunch of  coconut (5 -15 nuts per bunch) reaches maturity in 12 months or a year. A normal fruit-bearing coconut usually produces one mature bunch a month or one tender coconut bunch per month.  What you are avoiding or does not appeal to you are the de-husked nuts (shell and the remaining thin husk brown in color) compared to the tender young coconut fruit (called 'buko' in the Philippines) with cream-like husk color.

 

So, coconut palm (Ccos nucifera Linn.) with two distinct varieties -- the tall and dwarf varieties and hybrids, with  dwarf x tall, tall x tall,, dwarf x dwarf types) have almost same biology and botany, as well as cultural practices and crop nutrition requirement.

 

As to your concern to buy the right kind of coconut seedlings, and your interested to source it in SW Florida,  if you want an fast grrowing and early fruiting one, probably the dwarf variety is better than the tall variety.  But remember, the tall variety though will start fruiting 2 years later, normally has bigger and thicker meat and of course more volume of tender coconut water (TCW), it matters to you dearly. Many believe that TCW is the most natural, refreshing, energy drink, nutritious and cleanest water we have in this earth ! 

 

Suggestion:  try the internet to identify the supplier of coconut seedlings close to your place.  If you're only located in the tropical coconut belt of the world, it certainly is easy to source your coconut planting materials and also grow these fast and normal.

 

All the best on your effort to grow coconut !

 

Sev Magat

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[Rick]

Hello Sev,

Thanks for taking the time to write a an informative explanation. Are
you saying that it's actually not the individual tree species but
rather when the coconuts are harvested that will be the determining
factor in taste? I have the opportunity to buy some large Malayan
Green Trees, would these yield coconuts which would be the same as the
common ones sold by the street vendors in Thailand?

[Severino Magat]

Rick,e

 

Thanks for responding quickly to my reply to your earlier inquiry. 

 

Yes, the stage or age of nut bunch (fruit development) is the main determinant of the quality and "taste" of nuts of coconut palm trees.  As I mentioned if you need the nut as a fruit (for tenderness of soft meat/kernel and its nutritious natural coconut water), the right stage to harvest the nuts is 7 - 8 month old) usually supported by leaf # 19 (almost directly below the fist-size nuts, supported by leaf # 14).  In the leaf arrangement or phyllotaxy of the frut-bearing coconut palm trees, leaf # 1 is the youngest fully expanded leaf and leaf #23 is one supporting the youngest mature nut bunch (12 month old from pollination of female coconut flowers by the male pollen (male egg cells).  Sorry, if this biology of the fruit or nut development of coconuts sounds technical to you.

 

The "Malayan green trees" coconut planting materials you mentioned, If I  get you right could be the Malayan dwarf variety of coconut--------- which has three variants (malayan green dwarf, malayan yellow dwarf and malayan red dwarf). Basically, called such on the basis of the color of the skin or exocarp of the immature nuts. This short or dwarf coconut variety, common in Southeast Asian countries (Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand) is now distributed worldwide, even in Florida, Jamaica and south american countries for diverse horticultural and commercial uses of coconut.

 

Meawhile, I feel I have to stop here. Hoping, this posting have started to enrich your knowledge and truth about the coconut palm,  "tree-of-life".

 

Cheers,

 

Sev Magat

 

Rick <Best...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Hugh]

Rick

The green form of the Malayan Dwarf is considered - by some - to be
sweeter than the red or yellow forms. But in Thailand they prefer the
aromatic green dwarf and maybe that is what you have tasted.

Hugh

On Mar 26, 3:38 am, Severino Magat <sev_ma...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Rick,e
>
> Thanks for responding quickly to my reply to your earlier inquiry.
>
> Yes, the stage or age of nut bunch (fruit development) is the main determinant of the quality and "taste" of nuts of coconut palm trees. As I mentioned if you need the nut as a fruit (for tenderness of soft meat/kernel and its nutritious natural coconut water), the right stage to harvest the nuts is 7 - 8 month old) usually supported by leaf # 19 (almost directly below the fist-size nuts, supported by leaf # 14). In the leaf arrangement or phyllotaxy of the frut-bearing coconut palm trees, leaf # 1 is the youngest fully expanded leaf and leaf #23 is one supporting the youngest mature nut bunch (12 month old from pollination of female coconut flowers by the male pollen (male egg cells). Sorry, if this biology of the fruit or nut development of coconuts sounds technical to you.
>
> The "Malayan green trees" coconut planting materials you mentioned, If I get you right could be the Malayan dwarf variety of coconut--------- which has three variants (malayan green dwarf, malayan yellow dwarf and malayan red dwarf). Basically, called such on the basis of the color of the skin or exocarp of the immature nuts. This short or dwarf coconut variety, common in Southeast Asian countries (Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand) is now distributed worldwide, even in Florida, Jamaica and south american countries for diverse horticultural and commercial uses of coconut.
>
> Meawhile, I feel I have to stop here. Hoping, this posting have started to enrich your knowledge and truth about the coconut palm, "tree-of-life".
>
> Cheers,
>
> Sev Magat
>

> Rick <Bestf...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello Sev,
>
> Thanks for taking the time to write a an informative explanation. Are
> you saying that it's actually not the individual tree species but
> rather when the coconuts are harvested that will be the determining
> factor in taste? I have the opportunity to buy some large Malayan
> Green Trees, would these yield coconuts which would be the same as the
> common ones sold by the street vendors in Thailand?
>

> ---------------------------------

[Unnikrishnan Nampoothiri]

Dear All

 

I am extremely happy to inform you that I will be assuming charge as Director of the Biju Patnaik Medicinal Plant Garden and Research Centre (M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation), Jeypore, Orissa   from 1^st of April 2008.

 

My address will be:

 

Dr. K.U.K. Nampoothiri

Director

M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation

Biju Patnaik Medicinal Plant Garden and Research Centre

Makaput(Telliguda)

Jeypore P.O, Koraput Dt.

Orissa  764 002

Ph: 91 6854231773           email:   unampo...@yahoo.com

Mob: 094470 54144

I request your  continued wholehearted support in discharging the new responsibility entrusted to me.

 

With best  regards,

Yours sincerely,

 

K.U.K . Nampoothiri

---

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[Velaydhan Nair]

Respected sir,

I am glad to hear the news regarding your new assignment.

I  worked in the field of medicinal and Areomatic plants  (CSIR) Lucknow for four years as a breeder of Rauolfia, Mentha, Opium poppy, essental oil bearing rose, citronella, lemongrass, palmarosa etc.  Very little work has been done on medicinal plants with focus on Orissa. I am sure that you will be making a lot of initiatives in the field of medicinal plants.

With high regards

RV Nair

Unnikrishnan Nampoothiri <unampo...@yahoo.com> wrote:

make a difference

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[Rick]

OK, if my understanding is correct there are two likely species of
coconut that I would have had in Bangkok:
Aromatic Green Dwarf and Thai Aromitic Dwarf?
I've planted a Malayan Green Dwarf, is this similar?

I've tried running searches and can't locate a nursery where I can buy
either of these things in SW Florida. Does anyone know where they can
be purchased? (the larger the better)

[Hugh]

Rick

Aromatic Green Dwarf and Thai Aromatic Dwarf are two versions of the
same name for one cultivated variety (cultivar) of coconut (which is a
single species - Cocos nucifera). You may also have had a non-
aromatic green dwarf in Bangkok, similar but not identical to the
Malayan Green Dwarf.

The Thai coconut varieties are not (yet) available as plants or
seednuts in the USA. Why not go into business with a Thai nursery to
import and propagate embryos?

Seedlings and mature Malayan Green Dwarf palms are available in
Florida - a quick Google search found a Boynton Beach nursery offering
12-14 ft specimens at $15 / ft.

Hugh
====