“The two basic items necessary to sustain life are sunshine and coconut milk.” – Dustin Hoffman in “Midnight Cowboy”, 1969.

Coconut palms are a symbol of the tropics, and knowing how to grow them can be a lot of fun! They bring a breezy, beachy feeling to the scenery, and of course, the delicious coconuts they produce are well worth the effort of growing them.

When grown from seed, you can expect your coconut palm to start producing fruit in 6–10 years.

If you’ve got a fresh coconut, you can germinate it! This is definitely the most inexpensive method for how to grow a coconut palm.

1. Soak the coconut in water for three days. Put some water in polythene cover. Place the coconut inside and tie it.

2. After 7-9 days, the seed will germinate.

3. Put the germinated coconut in a large pot or plastic cover and fill it with soil (use well-draining potting soil that has some extra vermiculite or sand mixed in).

4. Place it with the shoot up, just like in the picture below.

5. Place the container in a spot that’s warm and well-lit—at least 70°F.
Water frequently, but don’t let the soil get soggy and waterlogged.

Coconut palms, with their thick, green leaves and long, straight stems, need nitrogen, potassium, and potash, as well as micronutrients like magnesium and boron.

Despite their prevalence on sandy beaches around the world, coconut trees do not require salt to survive. The palm’s germination process, which occurs when imported coconuts wash ashore and grow naturally on the sand, is responsible for the sandy beach backdrop.

However, if your palm has a magnesium shortage, Epsom salt, in addition to normal fertilizer applications, might be a helpful complement. If this is the case, Epsom salt should be used. Water after sprinkling 2 to 3 pounds of Epsom salt under the tree’s canopy.