School Science Lessons
Coconut Project
Updated: 2009-10-11
Please send comments to: J.Elfick@uq.edu.au
See: Interesting websites, coconuts
Preface
Before teaching this project, discuss the content of the lessons with a field officer of the Ministry of Agriculture and get advice on planting material, spacing between palms, the site for planting, approved mulch, composting, and control of pests and diseases. Use only the procedures, agricultural chemicals and insecticides recommended by the local field officer of the Ministry of Agriculture. If you cannot control insects by hand picking, ask the Ministry of Agriculture to recommend a chemical spray. All insect sprays are dangerous. Show the students how to use them safely. Wear protection so that you do not get the spray onto your hands and you do not breathe in the spray. Wash your hands well after using a spray. Keep the spray container in a safe place where students cannot get it. Spray on a day of no wind but if you must spray on a windy day, spray downwind. Make sure the spray does not blow on other people.
References
Coconuts
" The coconut odyssey: the bounteous possibilities of the tree of life", Foale, Mike A., Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra, Australia, 2003, ISBN 1 86320 370 2
"Palms in Australia", Jones, D. L., Reed Books, Melbourne, 1996, 3rd. ed. ISBN 0 7301 04907
Definitions
See diagram 53.9.0: Germination
In this document, the coconut you see growing on a coconut palm is called a "fruit". The fruit is a fibrous drupe, not a nut. Also, a seednut planted in a coconut nursery is a fruit. The fruit wall consists of: 1. outer skin, exocarp, 2. layer of husk fibres, mesocarp, 3. hard brown shell, endocarp. The round coconut sold in shops, the "nut", the dehusked coconut, is the seed + shell (endocarp). The husk is the outer skin (exocarp) + layer of husk fibres (mesocarp).
List of Topics
1.0 Introduction to the coconut project
1.1 Names of coconuts
1.2 Origin and distribution of coconuts
2.0 Cultivars, coconut varieties
3.0 Leaves, phyllotaxis, life of a leaf
4.0 Stem, trunk
5.0 Roots
6.0 Flowers, inflorescence
7.0 Pollination and fertilization
8.0 Fruit growth and development
9.0 Germination
9.1 Tissue culture
10.0 Collecting seednuts (fruits) for planting
11.0 Propagation, pre-nursery and nursery
12.0 Transplanting
12.1 Field planting of seedlings
12.2 Transplanting seedlings in polybags
13.0 After-care of the seedling, diseases and pests
14.0 Harvesting
15.0 Making copra
15.1 Fatty acids in coconut oil and other oils
16.0 Uses of the coconut palm
19.2.1.11 Coconut oil
17.0 New ways to make coconut oil
18.0 Coconut palm structure
19.0 Intercropping
20.0 Understanding the records
21.0 Future of coconut growing
13.0 After-care of the seedling, diseases and pests
13.1 Good and bad breeds of coconuts
13.2 Climate
13.3 Fertile soil, soil deficiencies, fertilizers
13.4 Weeds and weed control
13.5 Diseases and pests
16.0 Uses of the coconut palm
16.1 Selecting a coconut
16.2 Dehusking and opening coconuts
16.3 Opening drinking coconuts for the coconut water (coconut juice, liquid endosperm)
16.4 Opening mature coconuts for the coconut meat (kernel, endosperm)
16.5 Grating coconut meat (kernel, endosperm)
16.6 Make coconut cream and coconut milk
16.7 Make coconut oil
16.8 Coconut toddy (arrack) kava
16.9 Coconut leaves (fronds)
16.10 Coconut shell-based products and wood-based products
16.11 Coconut husks, coir
16.12 Coconut trunk
16.13 Heart of palm
16.14 Sprouting coconuts
16.15 Coconut cake stock feed
16.16 Coconut oil as a biofuel
16.17 Coconut cooking
16.18 Desiccated coconut
16.19 Copra and its products
18.0 Coconut palm structure
Cocos nucifera, Coconut palm, (kelapa Malaysia), Old world tropical plant, Family Arecaceae (Palmae)
Cocos nucifera, cv. Dwarf, Dwarf coconut palm, horticultural plant, Family Arecaceae (Palmae)
The coconut palm, has no tap root, no root hairs, no cambium, no bark and only one growing point (apical meristem).
18.1 Roots (adventitious roots)
18.2 Stems (trunks)
18.3 Leaves (fronds)
18.4 Inflorescence (flowers)
18.5 Seed and fruit (drupe)
1.0 Introduction to the coconut project
1. The aim of the coconut project is to teach students how to grow the coconut well and produce a high yield of coconuts and copra per hectare, and per unit of labour.
2. Copra and virgin coconut oil are very important export crop commodities. Two kinds of growers make copra and coconut oil, the big foreign owned plantations and the small plantations owned by villagers. Plantations run by villagers may not produce as much as they could. The aim of this teaching unit is to show students how they can increase production in village plantations. They can only learn these things if they do them. You cannot teach this unit properly unless you provide many things for the students to see and do.
3. To teach this project you need the following:
1. A coconut plantation near the school. Ask the owners for permission to gather seednuts from about one hectare of coconut palms.
2. A small sunny area in the school grounds where you can make a pre-nursery and a nursery. Palms must not shade this area. Build a small fence around the area to keep out horses, cattle or goats if they are near the school.
3. Build a copra drier that you can also adapt to drying for virgin oil production. The best drier for your project is a small hot air drier. For a start you can use a sun drier but this document does not recommend it.
4. If you wish to raise some seedlings in polybags, get 40 bags from the Department of Agriculture.
4. Prepare to take students outside to see coconut palms that have many fruits, only a few fruits, and no fruits.
5. The coconut palm gives us food, drink, and building materials. Coconut palms may have many fruits or few fruits if they are overcrowded and over-shaded. Very old palms produce few fruits. In this project you will learn how to grow coconuts palms that produce many large fruits.
1.1 Names of coconuts
The coconut palm has the scientific name Cocos nucifera L. (The "L" after the name just means that the name was given it by the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus, 1707-78). It is a monocotyledon in the palm family, Family Palmae. The word "cocos" is Macau Portuguese language for monkey because the 3 germination pores (the "eyes") look like a monkey's face. The word "nucifera" means "bearing coconuts". In the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit the words for coconut palm mean "tree of life" or "tree that supplies everything needed for life". The cells are diploid, 2n = 32. Coconuts are divided into "Tall palms", var. typica, that are cross pollinated and heterozygous, and "Dwarf palms", var. nana, that are self-pollinated and homozygous. The French word for dwarf, nain, is used for Dwarf palm coconuts, e.g. "nain rouge", "nain jaune" and "nain verte" for red, yellow and green Dwarf palms. In the western Solomon Islands, the word for coconut is "ngohara". Throughout Polynesia the word for coconut is "niu". The best known varieties are "niu vai", a large fruit supplying lots of water, and "niu kafa" "('afa)", a large elongated fruit rich in long fibres used for making ropes. Also, "niu papua" is a small-fruited red Dwarf palm found in French Polynesia. It was probably brought there from Papua New Guinea by missionaries. One Hindi name for coconut begins with "kalpa" so it may be linked with "kelapa", the word used in the Indonesian language. Long ago, people from India came to what is now Indonesia and perhaps brought their name for coconut that changed with time.
1.2 Origin and distribution of coconuts
Coconuts probably grew originally in South Asia, Malaysia and Polynesia. The Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama took coconuts to the Atlantic Ocean in the 15th Century. Spanish navigators took coconuts to the Caribbean region in the 16th Century. Some islands in the South Pacific region already had coconuts growing on them when the Polynesian peoples brought their own special varieties when they populated the islands, travelling by canoe.
2.0 Coconut cultivars (coconut varieties)
See diagram 53.2: Coconut varieties |  See 2.0: Characteristics of Tall coconuts and Dwarf coconuts
1. Cultivars
A cultivar is a cultivated variety, i.e. a natural variety selected for agriculture. The natural home of the coconut is the coarse textured sandy soil near the beach, reached by king tides and tidal surges. Coconut palms need a daily mean temperature above 21oC and 120 hours of sunshine per month to grow to maturity and produce full rounded fruits. The main varieties of coconuts are Tall palms, "Talls", and Dwarf palms, "Dwarfs".
2. Tall palms
Tall varieties, the most common in commercial production, are slow to mature, grow to 20 -30 metres, have thicker trunks, larger crowns and bigger fruit. They have 3-sided egg-shaped coconuts. They flower 6-10 years after planting and produce coconuts for 60 -70 years or longer. Tall palms have a big bole at the base of the trunk. They include the Solomon Islands Tall palm with about 25 to 30 leaves and green or brown coconuts. The Rennell Islands Tall palm has the bottom of the trunk without a rounded bole but swells out at the bottom. It has a few very large coconuts on each bunch. The "hundred coconuts" variety has many small coconuts on each bunch. Other Tall palm varieties include the Rotuman Tall palm, Fiji Tall palm, Kiribati Tall palm, and Samoan Tall palm. The Tall palms are divided into two groups:
2.1 The "wild" Tall palms are still found on some remote islands and have angular fruits, up to 15 cm diameter, with a thick husk and shell.
2.2 The "domesticated" Tall palms that have a larger rounded fruit, up to 25 cm diameter and thinner husks caused by human selection. Coconuts from both groups can float. Coconut "seed" is classified as "drift seed" and the coconut palm is classified as a "strand plant", because it grows in colonies around the fringes of tropical beaches.
3. Dwarf palms
Dwarf varieties, the result of domestication, have no bole at the base and the trunk is thinner so they are more easily damaged by strong winds. They grow to 8 -10 metres. They flower three years after planting and produce coconuts for 30 to 40 years. Although more difficult to grow, they bear earlier than Tall varieties and are resistant to lethal yellowing disease. The leaf scars are close together on the trunk. They are self-pollinated, so if you find a Dwarf palm bearing many fruit, these will be good for seednuts because they have the same father and mother. Pure Dwarf palms are not used in plantations because the coconuts are too small and the meat (kernel, endosperm) is soft and difficult to separate from the shell.
The Dwarf palms are divided into three groups:
3.1 The stumpy or Niu Leka Dwarf palm of the Pacific islands has small medium sized coconuts used for drinking.
3.2 The Village Dwarf palm of the Pacific islands has small elongated yellowish fruit.
3.3 The Nias Dwarf palm from Indonesia and Malaysia has medium size fruit with distinct green, brown and orange colours.
4. Cross-breeding has developed many hybrids between Tall palms and Dwarf palms. Hybrids are grown in plantations for their high production. Hybrid palms come from crossing of two different varieties, e.g. a Tall palm father and a Dwarf palm mother. The hybrid palms are shorter than the Tall palms so there are fewer risks from coconut fall and they can be harvested at maturity with a knife on a long stick or by easy climbing, instead waiting for the coconuts to fall to the ground.
5. Visit coconut plantations or wild stands of coconuts near your school. Look for Tall palms and Dwarf palms, different kinds of Tall palms, wild and domesticated Talls palms and hybrids. With permission, collect coconuts from the different kinds of coconuts then draw and measure them.
3.0 Leaves, phyllotaxis, life of a leaf
See diagram 53.3: Leaf life
1. The first leaves produced by the seeding have a single vertical leaf blade (spear leaf) consisting of leaflets joined at the edges. The lamina of the first leaves are without any toothing or division (entire lamina). A seedling has about 10 entire leaves. Later the lamina of the entire leaves separate into leaflets caused by splitting between the leaf veins to form a compound leaf (frond or pinnate frond). The palm bears the fronds at the top of the palm in a terminal radiating crown. Note when the first frond forms because this happens sooner in Dwarf palms, and is a way to identify Tall palm and Dwarf palm varieties. The parts of the frond are the leaf base, leaf stalk (petiole) midrib (rachis) and leaflets (pinnae). Each side of a frond has about 100 leaflets. The bottom of the frond stalk has a broad leaf base with a cushion on the underside connected to the trunk and a keel or thick body to strengthen it. The leaf stalk is grooved on the upper surface. Bits of fibre stick to each side of the leaf base to form a fibrous sheath. To conserve water, leaves have a waxy leaf surface and cuticle.
2. The arrangement of fronds on the trunk reduces the shading of lower fronds by fronds above, so that each frond shares the sunlight and no frond is completely shaded. Each frond is arranged on the trunk at an angle of 140o from the next in age above and below it. The sequence around the circle of the trunk is as follows: 1. (0o) 2. (140o) 3. (280o) 4. (420o, i.e. 360o + 60o) 5. (560o, i.e. 360o + 200o) 6. (700o, i.e. 720o- 20o). Starting from one frond and looking upwards, the next five will make two turns around the trunk and the fifth leaf will be 20o from being directly above the frond where you started looking. This arrangement is easier to see by looking at the leaf scars on the trunk. Count the total number of fronds because you can relate this to the general health of the coconut palm and the number of fruit it can produce. This arrangement of fronds (phyllotaxy, phyllotaxis) is described as 2/5.
3. The frond starts as a tiny lump in the bud of the palm. It comes out a vertical "spear" (a fibrous leaf sheath) at the top of the palm after about 20 months. The flower bunch (inflorescence) appears after about another 5 months in the axils of the leaves. After about another year, a little longer in a cool season, the fruits are ripe and fall off. The total life time of the frond is about 2 years. As the frond grows older, especially on palms that bear many fruits, it bends down through an angle of about 160o before it drops off. A mature palm drops about two coconuts per week. Palms make a new frond every 22 to 30 days. Healthy coconut palms may make 14 to 17 fronds in a year. A typical mature coconut palm has about 30 leaves at any one time. As the young palm develops the fronds become longer and quicker to emerge so that after 5 years the length is 7 metres in Tall palms and 3 metres to 5 metres in Dwarf palms. The leaves are attached to the top of the stem in a terminal crown of 25-30 leaves surrounding the terminal bud.
4. Stand to one side of a palm to do this. Stand under a Tall palm. Look up at the arrangements of the leaves. To count the number of leaves on a coconut palm, stand next to the oldest leaf near the ground and look up to see the number of fronds almost directly above it, in a right hand or left hand spiral. So you have counted every 6th frond. Note that on older palms the lower fronds hug the trunks and do not touch the upper fronds that often hang farther out and curve down.
5. Count the leaflets on each side of the frond, about 120 leaflets (pinnae). Count the number of fronds and number of fruits on different palms. Note whether palms with more fronds have more fruit. Measure the length of the frond, 4-6 metres, and the maximum length of the leaflets, 50-120 cm. Note the arrangement of the leaflets with reference to the position of the sun. Motor cells in the midrib can change their angle to the sun.
6. The number of leaves in the crown of a mature palm remains almost constant over the years. About 10 mature leaves with mature fruit bunches, 10 mature leaves with developing fruit bunches and 10 developing leaves. A mature leaf remains on the palm for about 3 years then is replaced by a developing less mature leaf. In addition to these leaves is the single terminal apical bud (coconut "cabbage").
4.0 Stem, trunk
See diagram 53.4: Trunk
1. In Tall palm varieties, e.g. Solomon Islands Tall palms, the bottom of the trunk swells out to form the bole. A bole is where the roots come out so a big bole gives a broad grip on the soil. The bole should not be on top of the soil so bury it by putting the seedling in a hole deep enough for the soil to cover the nut. The Dwarf palm does not form a bole so the diameter is much the same along its trunk. Their narrow diameter at soil level means that their grip of the soil is less secure than with a Tall palm. Mature Dwarf palms have about half the trunk height of Tall palms of the same age. Dwarf palms have shorter fronds and so a smaller crown. The trunk is usually curved, probably a result of response to light.
2. Leaf scars occur where the leaf base and attached fibrous sheath clasp the trunk, so the scars come from detached leaf sheaths. The leaf base partially encircles the trunk. The attached fibrous sheath encircles the trunk. The thick leaf base of the leaf stalk (petiole) makes the thicker part of the leaf scar. The fibrous sheath, once joined to the sides of the leaf stalk at the leaf base, forms a circle around the trunk and makes the thinner part of the leaf scar. You can examine the scars on the trunk to learn much about the life of the coconut palm. Leaf scars are far apart if the palm grew fast, especially in the early period before fruit production. Leaf scars are close together in Dwarf palm varieties, e.g. the Malayan Dwarf palm, or if the Tall palm is growing in bad soil or has experienced droughts. The scars get closer together as the palm grows older.
4. You may find steps cut into the trunk and marks made by fire or a bush knife because there is no cambium to repair damage to the trunk and the trunk of a mature palm cannot get any thicker. The trunk of a mature Tall palm is flexible enough during strong winds to bend without breaking but the trunk of a Dwarf palm may snap. The trunk may have a bend in it from being blown over by a strong wind and then growing straight again.
5. The fronds make 14 to 17 new scars every year so to find the age of a coconut palm, count all the scars on the trunk and divide by 14 to 17.
6. The coconut palm has only one apical meristem, growing point. The trunk is not obvious for the first few years until the apical meristem grows to its final diameter. The trunk eventually grows to about 20 metres high in 50 years and may reach above 30 metres in 80 years. In older coconuts producing many coconuts, the internodes (gaps between the scars) become shorter to give more plant nutrients and energy to the coconuts. So the bases of the upper fronds push outwards on the leaves those older fronds below forcing them to "rotate" downwards progressively with age resulting in a spherical shaped crown. At the end of the life of the palm the trunk narrows to a "pencil point". Tall palm trunks standing bare with no crown may be caused by lightning strike or the result of health decline due to age. The trunks of Tall palms grown closest to the ocean lean out towards the ocean because the light reflecting off the surface of the ocean attracts the plant. The lean is strongest when the coastline is close to a north south direction.
7. The leaf scars circling the trunks show where the petioles of fallen leaves joined the trunk. About 15 leaves fall each year so you can count the scars to estimate the age of the palm. On the upper middle of each scar is another scar left by the peduncles (stalks of the fallen inflorescences). Examine a scar where a fruit bunch was joined to the top of the leaf scar. Count the frond leaf scars left by of one year's growth.
5.0 Roots
See diagram 53.5: Root
1. The young coconut first has a group of roots, about 10 mm in diameter, growing from a base below the growing bud. Later an inverted cone shape of roots forms. At this stage the coconut palm can be blown over but at 6 years 12 mm diameter roots radiate out from the periphery of the trunk base. These roots may branch to form smaller secondary and tertiary roots. Coconut palm roots do not have root hairs.
2. Most of the roots are in the top 90 to 120 cm of soil but they have great strength and provide a firm anchor to the soil. Sometimes the wind or the tide removes sand away from around the base of the palm and then you can see some roots.
3. The main roots are up to 12 mm thick and are strong and woody except close to the growing end that is white or cream in colour. As a root continues to grow at the tip for several years, you can see a sequence of age and appearance along its length starting from the pale tip through reddish colour, then brown, then dark brown. The palm continuously makes main roots. As old roots die, new roots grow out from the bole, but they live a long time and some may be 50 years old. Each main root has a pointed root cap about 1 cm long. Behind the root cap is about 100 mm of root that can absorb water, but farther back the outside becomes hard and it does not absorb water. The roots are adventitious roots and may grow to a length of 6 metres. There is no tap root. The roots cannot penetrate compacted subsoil or penetrate below the water table and rot easily if waterlogged for a long time
4. Just beneath the soil surface both large and small roots develop small whitish lumps, especially if the soil is really wet. These soft lumps are special "breathing organs" (pneumathodes). They are modified rootlets to help air enter the roots.
5. Many thinner lateral roots branch out from the main roots. Short rootlets grow out from the lateral roots.
6. Use a spade to uncover some main roots or dig up a seedling. Note the colour of the main roots. Look for small white lumps. Find the end of a main root to see the root cap. Find some lateral roots and rootlets.
6.0 Flowers (inflorescence)
See diagram 53.6.1: Sheath and spadix | See diagram 53.6.2: Male flower and female flower
1. Tall palms usually cross-breed but Dwarf palms usually in-breed so Tall palms have greater genetic diversity than Dwarf palms. A coconut palm is monoecious (bears male and female flowers). Cross-breeding depends on whether male and female flowers on the same branch are active simultaneously. Pollen may be shaken from the male flower to the female flower or may be carried by the wind or insects.
2. In ideal conditions, Dwarf palms, e.g. Malayan Dwarf palm, may start to make flowers when they are only three years old, or five years in a long dry season. However, Tall palms may take three years longer and may not make flowers until five to ten years after transplanting.
3. Each year about twelve bunches (inflorescences) form in each leaf axil at the base of each frond, with many male flowers on the upper section of the branch and few female flowers on the lower section of the branch. All the flower bunches on one palm will always hang out of the same side of the leaf stalk, either right or left. A spear-like green tube or sheath formed from a bract (spathe or spadix) encloses the flower bunch. It takes a long time to make a flower bunch. When it is 2 years old and developing but not visible, the spathe emerges in the frond axil and splits, releasing the flower bunch. Each flower bunch has a central stalk (rachis) with many lateral branches. On each lateral branch are about 20 female flowers at the base and more than 200 male flowers on the upper part.
4. The newest flower bunch is associated with the frond that has reached the 8th to 10th position down from the youngest emerging leaf.
5. The male flowers, single or in twos or threes, has a pale yellow perianth (sepals and petals) in two whorls of three. Inside each male flower are two whorls of three stamens, i.e. six stamens that make the pollen. A honey gland (nectary) attracts insects. The male flowers at the tips of the flower bunch branches open first and shed their pollen followed by male flowers on the lower sections over the next 3 weeks.
6. The female flowers are much larger than the male flowers. You see them as 2-3 cm diameter knobs close to the near end of the lower branches of the flower bunch. Most of this size comes from the three thick woody sepals wrapped around the fleshy flower within. If you cut these knobs away, you can see the small nut-shaped ovary inside. At first you see only the sepals. The inner flower expands to expose its tip shaped like a cone on which three stigmas separate and exude a sugary sap from three nectaries that stimulates pollen to germinate and extend the pollen tube down into the ovary.
7. Each inflorescence bears only a few female flowers because most fall off in the first two months. So each inflorescence bears 3 to 6 fruits to maturity. You find them with a pair of male flowers at the base of the branches. Most of the male flowers are borne singly or in pairs towards the branch tips. As the flowers contain nectaries and are sweet scented, they may attract insects for pollination, e.g. flies and honey bees. Coconut honey is found in some places. However, the pollen is light and dry, so wind pollination may also occur. The male flowers mature and wither before the female flowers become receptive, a sequence called protandry. So the male flowers in the same inflorescence cannot pollinate the female flowers. This arrangement ensures cross pollination between different palms.
8.  Some people want to remove all  inflorescences and immature and mature coconuts from a single coconut tree, but worry whether a new inflorescence will later form and how long it will take. The coconut palm produces an inflorescence with every frond, but the inflorescence emerges about one year after the frond itself emerges. If 14 fronds are produced each year, that is also the number of inflorescences that would emerge. Regardless of what you do to the emerged inflorescences, and the bunches that develop, new inflorescences will keep emerging every 26 days or so. The interval from inflorescence emergence to mature fruit would be 12 months, so a complete removal of all inflorescence now would require 12 months to elapse before the first new mature fruit would be available. Removing inflorescences results in the palm growing taller faster, because the energy that would have gone into the flowers and fruit is diverted into extension of the trunk. This elongation of the newly forming trunk results in the crown of the palm being less compact allowing many more fronds to sustain a fairly upright position instead of sagging down after a while to help form a spherical crown on the palm.
9. Use coconut flowers and a sharp knife to examine a young flower bunch (inflorescence).
10. Open some male flowers to find the 6 stamens. Count the stamens in one flower.
11. Examine a young female flower and an older flower from another flower bunch to see the opened stigmas.
12. Cut away the wooden sepals and petals from a female flower to see the nut-shaped ovary inside. Be careful! You will need to use a sharp knife.
13. Cut across the ovary to see the 3 ovules inside. Only one ovule is fertilized and becomes a young plant (embryo) seen in a socket in the meat (kernel, endosperm).
7.0 Pollination and fertilization
See diagram 53.7: Fruit growth ("nut growth")
1. In Tall palm varieties the male flowers open and shed their pollen before the female flowers open. So Tall palms usually need pollen from another palm. They must be cross-pollinated. If fruit does not set on a solitary palm, e.g. in a home backyard or school, monitor the female flowers on the active flower bunch (inflorescence) until you see that the flowers are receptive to pollen. Then take from another palm a branch of an inflorescence that is shedding pollen and shake it close to the female flowers on your palm to achieve pollination. The Dwarf palm self-pollinates because it still sheds pollen when the female flowers are ready. However, some pollen may be carried to a female flower by the wind or insects, e.g. flies, wasps and honey bees.
2. Insects that carry the pollen do not fly very far. If you pick up a nut under a mother palm, the pollen that fertilized that mother palm probably came from a nearby palm. So do not gather seednuts from under one good mother palm if poor bearing palms are nearby. Gather seednuts from where a group of high bearing palms are growing. Also, do not select mother palms only from areas of better soil.
3. After the male flowers have shed all the pollen, the female flowers become "pollen ready". The pollen is carried to the female flowers by falling from the male flowers if a Dwarf palm or carried by insects or wind if a Tall palm. The female flowers of isolated Tall palms may not receive any pollen because the time for pollen shedding and the time for being pollen ready are different. However, most Dwarf palms self-pollinate because the timing of the male and female active phases overlap.
4. When the pollen is carried to a female flower and it lands on the stigma, it germinates in the sugary liquid there and extends its pollen tube down to enter the egg inside the ovary of the female flower. There it transfers DNA to the egg that merges with the DNA of the egg (fertilization). When pollen fertilizes a female flower, it can then grow into a fruit that has an embryo with the DNA from both parents. It takes about a year for the fruit to grow.
5. Some young fruits fall off the flower bunch while they are still small. This "button shedding" may occur because an insect, the "nut fall bug", puts marks on the small button by sucking out some sap.
6. A coconut inflorescence has knob-like female flowers. Tall palm pollination can occur only when all the male flowers have been shed and the female flowers have increased in size and have begun secreting "honey dew".
7. There is no commercial source of coconut pollen but scientists can freeze-dry pollen and store it for months. You can test the viability of pollen by observing how much germinates in a dilute sucrose and gelatine solution at field temperature.
8.0 Fruit (coconut) growth of the fruit
See diagram 53.7: Fruit ("nuts")
1. The fibrous husk may be more than 50 mm thick and is firmly attached to the shell. The husk provides buoyancy, water resistance, and cushions the fall of the fruit on rocks. The thick low density husk absorbs water very slowly so it allows the coconut fruit to float for up to 4 months in saltwater and still germinate on dry land. The coconut fruit develops for 12 months and becomes a mature seed when the husk dries.
2. The mature fruit of the coconut palm is a 3-sided fibrous dry drupe. It contains the largest seed although larger fruits exist, e.g. the compound fruit of the breadfruit, Artocarpus altilis, of the Pacific islands. The round "coconut" sold in shops is a dehusked fruit. It consists of the coconut milk, and "meat" (kernel, endosperm) and hard stony shell (endocarp) that encloses the seed. The reddish brown fibre (mesocarp or husk) and outer smooth skin (rind, exocarp) have been removed. When a seed germinates "in the wild" on the upper beach sand, the meat (kernel, endosperm) sustains growth until the roots can grow downs to find freshwater below the sand. The new shoot can grow up through the husk and develop leaves that capture energy through exposure to the light. The whole fruit has two ends, the stalk end and the outer end. The stalk end has a stalk scar (hilum) where it was attached to the bunch. Some coconuts are round, but most coconuts of Tall palms have 3 sides defined by three ridges along the length of the fruit. You call the side flatter and broader than the other sides the broad side. The stalk scar is usually closer to the broad side than to the other sides.
3. Fruit development goes through several stages. After 6 months it has reached its full diameter but contains no meat (kernel, endosperm) just a cloudy solution. A nut with internal diameter 100 mm contains 25 mL of "nut water" when the meat (kernel, endosperm) has not yet developed. The "drinking coconuts" taste best between 6 and 9 months old. At 8 months the meat (kernel, endosperm) appears first as a soft jelly on the inside of the shell. The meat (kernel, endosperm) progressively hardens through a rubber texture at 10 months to become solid and crisp at 12 months. It ranges in thickness from 9 to 15 mm depending on variety and soil fertility. You can snap a piece of it with our fingers. During maturity the fruit loses water by evaporation through the shell leaving an airspace that you can detect by shaking the coconut and listening for a "sloshing" sound. As the fruits mature, the coconut water (liquid endosperm) tastes sweeter with a slight almond flavour because it becomes more concentrated. The fruit takes 12 -13 months to mature and weighs 1.2 to 2.0 kg. So at any time a palm may have at all stages of development, from opening flower to ripe coconut. The mature fruit contains by weight 36% husk, 12% shell, 28% "meat" (kernel, endosperm) and 25% water. A typical coconut shell is about 130 mm in diameter and nearly spherical, with a pointed spike at the bottom and three “eyes” at the top. The coconut palm  reaches full production after 10-15 years,  then may bear up to 100 fruits per year for more than fifty years, then fewer fruit until it dies after about 90 years..
The coconut palm needs plenty of water, sunshine and a temperature of at least 72° F. most of the year. Provided these conditions, it sends its gracefully curved, branch less trunk forty to a hundred feet into the air. Its top is crowned with feather like leaves, flowers and developing nuts. The leaves may reach a length of twenty feet. They have a strong midrib from which long leaflets grow, giving the feather like appearance.
4. Small ridges divide the inner nut into 3 parts. One part is wider than the others. The "active eye" where the seedling grows out is the eye in the widest part of the nut.
5. You will need 6 ripe fruit and a bush knife. Husk one fruit. See the 3 "eyes" (germination pores) of the nut. Find the embryo beneath the one "soft" eye. The two "false eyes" have hard shell behind them. The location of the nut inside the husk place the active eye lies closest to the broad side of the husk. Remove the husk from the stalk end of a nut only so that you can confirm the position of the active eye to be closest to the broad side of the husk. This is important because if you plant a seednut in the pre-nursery broad side up, the seedling shoot has the shortest distance to push through the husk when it germinates. Cut another nut lengthwise. Note whether the inner nut is closest to the stalk end or the outer end of the husk. The stalk scar is closest to the broad side of the nut.  Draw an end view of an inner nut to show the 3 eyes and the 3 ridges. Draw an end view of a fruit partly husked to show that the active eye is closest to the broad side of the husk.
9.0 Germination
See diagram 53.9.0: Germination | See diagram 53.9.1: Germinating fruit with mesocarp removed, germination of dehusked coconut
1. Germination occurs when the shoot comes out of the active eye. Roots form on its lower side. A tough narrow "beak" forces it way upwards through the husk and emerges to reach the outside world 4 to 8 weeks later depending on the temperature of the environment and the thickness of the husk. During this period you cannot see the growing shoot inside the husk. A dehusked nut can germinate in a sealed plastic bag containing water that provides a humid atmosphere. The shell can be regarded as part of the seed part of the fruit because any blemish in the shell is fatal before or after germination.
2. The tubular single cotyledon remains inside the fruit. The outer end of the cotyledon elongates and so that the growing embryo is pushed through the largest eye ("soft eye", "active eye"). The plumule then the radicle grows out of the cotyledon sheath into the mesocarp (husk fibres). The plumule forms scale leaves and pushes out through the mesocarp and breaks through the exocarp (outer skin) as a shoot and the first leaves form. Only a small portion of the cotyledon emerges from the seed as a swollen body abutting near the seed surface, called the button. The radicle and plumule emerge from the bottom and top of the button. The first seedling root, the radicle, is usually narrow and very short lived and is quickly replaced by roots formed at the seedling stem base, the adventitious roots. The first stages of germination occur cannot be observed without de husking the nut because they occur in the fibrous fruit wall that adheres to the seed
3. The end of the cotyledon closest to the meat (kernel, endosperm) grows inside to make an organ of spongy tissue (haustorium, "apple", "egg"). The haustorium remains inside the seed absorbing food from the endosperm. It takes about 4 months for the haustorium to expand to almost fill the cavity of the seed, except in very large coconuts. The haustorium absorbs the coconut water within two months of germination. Nutrients supplied via the haustorium are the sole source of biomass for the shoot and roots until the first green leaf unfolds, and the haustorium will continue to supply biomass for 12 months or more until the solid endosperm is exhausted. The haustorium contacts the entire inner surface of the meat (kernel, endosperm) in all but the biggest coconuts, and releases enzymes to digest the nutrients in the kernel. The haustorium conducts nutrients from the meat (kernel, endosperm) to the seedling during the 3 months between germination and the emergence of the first green leaf. In a mature fruit the cavity is never full of water, generally about 75% full in freshly mature and diminishing after that. By the time that the haustorium is well formed and roots are functioning, the water has all been absorbed. The secretion of enzymes to lyse, the solid endosperm continues with the aid of water from the roots.
4. Several primary roots eventually emerge from the husk into the soil. The hygroscopic husk supplies adequate water to these roots before their emergence. The fibres and spongy pith of the husk can hold enough water to give the plant some water until the roots can find water in the soil. The radicle does not usually die, and adventitious roots grow as branches from the primary roots. The radicle may die but adventitious roots from the nodes of the shoot grow down through the husk and into the soil. So the first roots appear outside the seednut after the shoot has appeared. Side branching roots begin to grow out from the main roots and extend into the bulk of the husk.
5. Visit the pre-nursery one week after planting and every week after this first visit. As shoots begin to emerge, transfer these coconuts to the main nursery in weekly batches.
6. To increase speed of germination, slice the outer skin from the lower side of each seednut (fruit) and remove a small patch above the active eye.
7. You will need some seednuts that have just germinated. Use a knife or an axe to cut these open carefully. Try to cut through the place where the shoot is coming through the eye. The embryo is beneath the soft eye at the top of the nut. There is no embryo under the two blind eyes.
8. Remove the covering of leaves. Examine the coconuts for signs of germination, i.e. lift the coconuts to see if any roots are coming out. Then water the coconuts again.
9. Examine the seednuts every day. Organize a competition for who can find the first germinated seednut! Keep a record of dates of early germination.
10. When any seednuts have germinated, lift them and plant them in the nursery. Put the earliest to germinate at one end of the nursery so you will have a sequence in the nursery of earliest to germinate to latest to germinate. Cut down any coconuts from Dwarf palms that have germinated while still attached to the palm.
9.1 Tissue culture
Tissue culture  of coconuts is used to produce new varieties with better genotypes by growing particular embryos or cloning new varieties with better genotypes. The two tissue culture techniques are embryo culture and clonal propagation. Embryo culture involves collecting embryos, culturing them on a medium and incubating them under sterile conditions. Clonal propagation involves collecting and culturing somatic tissues, e.g. immature inflorescences. Nowadays, embryo culture is more used, mainly for growing rare mutant coconut varieties with tasty or aromatic jelly-like endosperm. The efficiency of clonal propagation is still unsatisfactory despite more than 40 years of research into using it to propagate coconuts on a commercial scale. A big problem is the lack of “transportability” of germ-plasm between widely-separated environments.
10.0 Collecting seednuts (fruit) for planting
1. Tall palm seednuts are cross pollinated. The mother of a coconut is the palm it falls from, but the father is another palm close to it. So the place to gather good seednuts is a place where you find many good palms growing close together. Do not gather seednuts from a high bearing coconut palm if this palm has many poor bearing palms near it.
2. Find a place to collect seednuts where many good palms grow close together. Remember that high production because of favourable soil will not be passed on to the progeny of those palms.
3. Pick up every nut you can find. You do not know the age of these coconuts lying under the palms, so use them just to make copra but do not use them for your coconut project.
4. Two weeks later, go back to the same place and pick up the coconuts which fell since you were there last. Now you know the age of these coconuts for none are more than 2 weeks old. Take these coconuts to your coconut project.
5. Examine the collected coconuts. Shake every nut and listen for a sloshing sound. If you cannot hear a sloshing sound, discard this nut because lack of nut water means that it will not germinate. However, lack of a sloshing sound could also be due to germination having already taken place but the shoot not yet emerged and the water being absorbed. If it is clear what side of the fruit was sitting in contact with the soil then it could be placed safely in the pre-nursery to await emergence of the sprout.
6. Discard any coconuts that are really small or misshapen because of damage by insects. Reject about 3 or 4 coconuts of each 30 coconuts collected, i.e. 10%.
7. Also, ask about getting improved selected seednuts from the Department of Agriculture. Large coconuts are easier to process for meat (kernel, endosperm) extraction but are not an indication of high yields.
11.0 Propagation, pre-nursery and nursery
See diagram 53.11.1: Pre-nursery | See diagram 53.11.2: Nursery
1. You use the pre-nursery to identify the early germinating seednuts. They are the best coconuts because they grow into palms that begin to bear many coconuts quickly.
2. The reason for having a nursery is to tell which are the strongest seedlings. The seedlings stay in the nursery until you plant them out. You will need at least 50% more coconuts than you intend to plant in the field to allow for selection of the best seedlings.
3. Choose a place for a pre-nursery and nursery that is sunny, has no shade from big trees nearby, has deep loose sandy or loam soil, and is about 6 metres long and 2 metres wide. Do not use rocky or clay soil. Put pegs at the corners of the pre-nursery. Make planting lines about 90 cm apart then make shallow grooves in the soil following the planting lines to hold the coconuts in place. Fence the nursery to prevent damage by horses, cattle, pigs, goats or coconut crabs, Birgus latro. Dig the fencing 10 cm into the soil.
4. After collecting the coconuts, put them in the pre-nursery without delay. Trim the seednuts by cutting away some hard skin (exocarp) over the germ pore (soft eye). Lay the coconuts (seednuts) broad side up on their sides and close together. Cover with palm fronds to keep the coconuts moist. Do not roll over the nut during the stage of hidden germination when the roots and shoots are growing through the husk because they will take longer to emerge. For polybag planting, stand the coconuts upright, close together and keep them in the pre-nursery until the 2-leaf stage when they are ready for planting in the polybags. Check the coconuts each week and lift the sprouted coconuts to the nursery and plant them there. If any seednuts have not germinated after 3 months use them for making copra.
5. If you have a ground-based nursery make a small hole in the ground soil to hold each germinated nut. Plant them about 60 cm apart. Seedlings in polybags can be put side by side. Gather leaves and grass and make a thick cover of mulch on the soil all around planted coconuts. Take seedlings in polybags to the nursery as soon as they germinate. Cut off the roots growing outside the polybag to increase root development within the polybag.
6. Put the earliest germinating coconuts together at one end of the nursery. Put slow germinating coconuts in another place. Cover the coconuts with layers of dead coconut leaves or other plant material, and keep them watered when the weather is dry.
7. If you use polybags, put one bag inside another in pairs. Fill each double bag with soil up to 10 cm from the top to half submerge the nut in the potting soil. Cut the tops off some coconuts and plant them vertically in the bags. Cover the top of the bags with leaves or grass mulch. Make holes in the bags on the sides near the bottom.
8. Water the coconuts and keep them watered regularly.
12.0 Transplanting
See diagram 53.12.1: Planting coconuts | See diagram 53.12.2: Polybag planting | See diagram 53.12.3: Polybags | See diagram 53.12.4: Marking out
1. Transplanting means digging up a seedling and planting it in another place. Usually some roots are broken. When the roots are broken, the seedlings suffer shock and grow more slowly. Coconuts are best transplanted in early summer just before the wet season.
2. You can avoid transplanting shock by growing seedlings in black plastic bags (polybags) usually available from the Department of Agriculture. seednuts may not fit easily into these polybags if you lay them on their sides, but you can trim off part of the husk to make them fit. You could plant seednuts vertically in the polybags with the stalk end up. However, in this position the nut water is no longer in direct contact with the embryo when the embryo extends within the nut at germination. A nut has its own irrigation system with the nut water keeping the embryo wet. To speed up germination by letting rain easily enter the husk and wet the active eye, cut a slice of husk off the top or stalk end of the nut. Also, cut away the thin tough outer layer to help the roots to emerge from the underside of the husk. Space the seedlings 60 cm apart so you can dig up most of the roots of a seedling without damage to the next seedling. Use a fork to lift out most of the roots without breaking them.
3. Before transplanting, clear the area of all bush and cut down old coconut palms. Do this even if you can only clear a small area for a few seedlings. Do not plant seedlings under old palms because they will take longer to bear fruit than if planted in the open. Clearing must be done to grow strong early bearing palms but you will need to work hard to keep the weeds down until the young palms provide good shade. It may take a long time to do the clearing properly.
4. Choose a place that has well drained good soil in a sunny place. Do not plant in swampy soil.
5. The depth to dig the holes depends on the kind of soil and the level of the groundwater. In deep loose soil the hole can be one metre deep and fill back to 50 cm with surface soil and organic matter. However, if you find water within 50 cm of the surface, the hole can only be about 60 cm deep.
6. Do not try to plant too many seedlings. Planting only 4 to 6 seedlings in the first lesson is better because you can make sure that no damage to the roots of the seedling occurs. The seedling is ready for transplantation after 10 to 12 months since germination when it has about 8 leaves and the meat (kernel, endosperm) is nearly exhausted. Trim the roots back to allow new roots to appear during the wet season. The diagram shows transplanting of seedlings with only 4 -5 leaves so they are about 5 months old so they are too early to transplant in most places.
7. Seedlings must show signs of strong, vigorous growth. You already know which coconuts were the first to germinate. Now you must decide which of the earliest to germinate are suitable for planting in the field. Select the strongest seedlings that will grow quickly and bear coconuts sooner. The strongest seedlings will have thick straight stems and many broad leaves that soon split into leaflets.
12.1 Field planting of seedlings
See 6.9.14 Composting
1. Make a clear space for the seedlings.
2. Mark out places for the planting holes. Use string or strong fishing line about 7650 cm long. Tie a knot every 8 metres. Stretch out the line in a North South direction along one side of the planting area. Put a peg in the soil next to each knot. Mark out the second row of pegs. Go to the first two pegs in the first row. Hold the first and third knots over the top of the two pegs. Pull out the line sideways and put a peg under the second knot. Do this again until you have marked out the second row of pegs. Then all the palms will be 8 metres apart within each row, and between the rows on a triangular pattern.
3. Dig the planting holes deep enough to allow one or two layers of husks and some topsoil at the bottom. The top of the seedling nut must be about 10 cm below the surface of the soil.
4. Put layers of husks at the bottom of the hole, with cups broken and facing up. Put good soil on top of these layers. Add potash or mixed fertilizer or ashes from the fireplace at your home. Add washed coral sand if the soil is heavy and sticky.
5. Drive a stake into the hole so you can tie the seedling to it.
6. Discard seedlings that have thin twisted stems and few narrow leaves.
7. Count the leaves on seedlings. Note which seedlings are the first to have 5 leaves. Note which seedlings are the best shape and look the strongest. Plant only the best seedlings. Plant the seedling so that the top of the nut is about 10 cm below the soil surface. Put soil around the nut but do not cover the collar of the stem. Soil is added to the hole later as the stem grows in thickness.
8. If the coconuts need trace elements, cut a small square hole in the top of the husk of the nut. Put in half a teaspoon full of the mixture that should contain manganese and iron. Then put the piece of husk back into the small hole.
9. Put good soil around the seedling, but not above the top of the nut.
10. Cover the planting hole with dead leaves or other mulch.
12.2 Transplanting seedlings in polybags
1. Dig a hole just big enough for the polybag to fit in it. Do not make it too wide. Make it deep enough so that the bottom of the seedling stems will be 12 cm below the soil surface.
2. At the bottom of the hole put some husks with cups facing up, as for bare root seedlings above.
3. Cut off the bottom of the polybags. Carefully lower the bag and seedling in its double bag into the hole. Cut down the side of the polybags and pull them out. You may be able just to pull the bags up over the leaves without cutting.
4. Cut a small hole in the husk of the nut and put in trace element mixture if they need that.
5. Pack soil into the space between the seedling and the hole made for it, and then water the seedling.
13.0 After-care of the seedling, diseases and pests
13.1 Good and bad breeds of coconuts
Some coconuts are from a good breed so they always produce many coconuts but other palms may be from a poor breed and not carry many coconuts. You use good breeds of seednuts so that the palms will bear well. So in the first few years of a new planting replace damaged or lost plants as soon as possible with good breeds. The coconut palm can live for 100 years although its peak production is between 15 to 30 years after which production declines. So you must replace older palms with new palms of varieties that suited the local area. Plantations using Dwarf palm X Tall palm hybrids must replace them earlier than when using only Tall palms. Be prepared to see strong and weak seedlings.
13.2 Climate
1. Sunlight is the greatest need of a coconut palm. A shaded coconut palm always loses some production. Some palms in an overcrowded forest may never bear any coconuts. Cut down older unproductive palms that may be keeping the sunlight from the young palms.
2. A mean temperature 25oC to 28oC is best because cool seasonal weather reduces growth.
3. A good water supply is essential because coconuts need more than 2000 mm rainfall per year, evenly distributed throughout the year without a big dry season. They grow well if their roots can contact ground water, especially in coastal areas where the soils may be deep and sandy and become dry between periods of rain.
Drought reduces growth of the palm. A mature coconut palm can take up 20 litres of water each day. Coconuts need high humidity for the fruit to mature.
13.3 Fertile soil, soil deficiencies, fertilizers
See diagram: 53.9.0 Seedlings | See diagram 53.12.4: Drip circle
Coconuts grow well in aerated porous soils on coasts with is plenty of groundwater. They can live in slightly salty soils but some water must flow through the root zone. They can grow well in soils with pH 5 to 8. Coconuts do not grow well if the soil water becomes permanently salty. Give the seedlings some potash fertilizer or farmyard manure and perhaps trace elements if the pH is greater than 8.0. Add fertilizer to the soil in the drip circle. Soil deficiency of sulfur, potassium (potash) and even nitrogen may lower yield without being noticed, so ask the Department of Agriculture to do a chemical analysis of samples of leaves and coconut water. Coconuts may also need very small amounts of trace elements, e.g. iron, manganese, zinc boron and copper. This is why some people bury bits of old rusty iron near the palms to supply iron. For example, one Department of Agriculture recommends applying 15 g muriate of potash (potassium chloride) and 7 g of sulfate of ammonia (ammonium sulfate) to the seedling 3 months after planting in the polybag. Then repeat this treatment every 3 months in the nursery but use much larger amounts in the field if potassium is deficient. In locations far from the coast palms may respond to an application of salt because they need much chlorine. The coconut produces new adventitious roots throughout its life, these eventually emanating from an inverted cone of tissue which is the extension of the trunk beneath the soil surface. Both secondary and tertiary roots branching from these roots anywhere along their length, but particularly from those adventitious roots that are near the surface and therefore in the soil layer richest in nutrients. Roots can extend up to 10m horizontally. So add fertilizer right across the space between the rows of the plantation and not only within a couple of metres of the trunk of each palm.
13.4 Weeds and weed control
Keep a clear area 2 metres wide around each seedling by ring weeding and brushing the interlines every 3 months. Cut out any climbing weeds growing close to the palms. Put this material as mulch around the young seedlings. Never use fire in clearing around coconuts. Sow cover crops, e.g. Calopogonium, Centrosema, Pueraria, or sow as a mixture. Do not plough nearer than 2 metres to the palms to avoid damage to the roots. Ploughing between the palms is not recommended unless intercrops are being grown because it increases the loss of soil organic matter and may damage the roots. Weeds and under storey vegetation compete for water and nutrients so clear them by hand or use grazing cattle to control them. Large trees nearby compete for sunlight. However, cattle grazing under coconuts may not get enough to eat for commercial success. Some people successfully grow cocoa under coconuts. Other people grow annual crops (catch crops) between the coconut palms (intercrops) e.g. sweet potato.
13.5 Diseases and pests
If travelling by air or sea between countries where coconuts are grown, do not take any coconuts or coconut products with you without permission from government authorities because you may spread coconut pests and diseases.
Ask the Department of Agriculture for advice about control of local diseases and pests.
5.1 Coconut bud rot, caused by fungus Phytophthora palmivora in certain locations around the world, and various yellowing diseases, cause eventual death of the central bud. Also the cinnamon fungus, Phytophthora cinnamomii, attacks the roots. Strict crop hygiene is the best way to control these diseases, so remove and burn all infected palms. These diseases are sometimes confused with the effects of lightning strike that can usually be identified because a group of palms dies surrounded by healthy palms.
5.2 Lethal yellows disease caused by a mycoplasma occurs mainly in the Caribbean and Central America. A mycoplasma is a molecular entity larger than a virus but lacking a cell wall. Symptoms include fruit drop, blackened inflorescence, and yellowing then death of older leaves. Leaf hopper bugs probably carry the disease. A similar disease occurs in west and east Africa and Indonesia after damage due to bad weather. The similar disease called cadang-cadang ("dying-dying") in the Philippines is also lethal like Lethal Yellowing. A viroid produces yellow spots on the leaves and slowly kills the palm. A viroid is very small foreign molecule.
5.3 Rhinoceros beetle, Oryctes rhinoceros, is a large brown black beetle, up to 5 cm long, with a horn on its head. The adult beetle burrows into the terminal bud and may kill young palms because the palm has only one vegetative bud. The beetle lays eggs in rotting coconut logs. A similar pest is the black palm weevil, Rhyncophorus bilineatus. A related beetle, Scapanes australis, is found in rainforest fringes in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. It lays eggs in any decaying plant material, so do not use compost without the agreement of the Department of Agriculture because it may not allow the use of mulch in gardens because these beetles may breed in it. Control these beetles by keeping the ground clear of dead and dying trees and piles of decomposing plant material. Ask the Department of Agriculture for advice on control of this beetle.
5.4 Palm Weevils, e.g. Rhynchophorus bilineatus, and R. ferrugineus, lay eggs in damaged parts of the upper trunk palm damaged where the Rhinoceros beetle has already burrowed or wind damage is present. The larvae, about 3.5 cm long, burrow into the crown of young palms to complete their life cycle there. They stay there and multiply until they kill the palm. Try to prevent or protect wounds that act as entry sites for this weevil.
5.5 Plant bugs, e.g. Amblypelta cocophaga, feed on the flowers and decrease the number of fruits. Some sucking nut-fall bugs can cause nut fall of young fruits, but you can control them with green ants (green tree ants, sugar ants, red weaver ants, red ants, "kurakum ants", keregga, Oecophylla smaragdina). Similarly, the coconut scale, Aspidiotus destructor, attaches to the under surface of the leaflets and kills patches of tissue by sucking out the cell contents. You can control it with spotted ladybird beetles.
5.6 Leaf-eating beetles, e.g. coconut leaf beetle, Brontispa longissima, occur in the Solomon Islands and northern Australia. Brontispa can be very severe and even fatal in countries where it has recently arrived and the local coconut palms have no resistance to it. The adult beetle is about 1 cm long, narrow, flat and orange to black. The larva is cream with spines down the sides and a pair of curved hooks at the rear. Also, caterpillars, grasshoppers and stick insects can suddenly attack the leaves but not kill the palm, e.g. palm dart butterflies,
5.7 Red ring nematode, Rhadinaphelenchus cocophilus, an eelworm found in South America and some Caribbean countries, gets into the trunk through a wound and multiplies in the zone where water travels to the crown causing a blockage of water flow and eventually kills the palm. Weevils carry it into the trunk.
5.8 Other pests include the defoliating grasshopper, Sexava, leaf-eating caterpillars, root caterpillars, and sucking bugs on the inflorescence.
5.9 Rats may cause much damage to young trees, coconuts and stored copra. You can control them by fitting tree guards or by using the chemical warfarin, under supervision of the Department of Agriculture.
14.0 Harvesting
You can harvest young palms with a pole and hook knife but only experienced climbers can harvest Tall palms. In the Pacific islands mature coconuts are not usually harvested by hand. People just wait for the mature coconuts to fall, and then collect them to make copra. Falling coconuts can cause severe brain damage to young children. Rats can attack immature fruits and cause them to fall without warning. Immature coconuts may be damage by fall but mature coconuts are usually well cushioned to prevent the nut splitting on impact. In the Philippines coconuts are harvested every 45 days or eight times a year.
Harvesting Timetable
Months 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Male flowers shed pollen X . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Female flowers pollen ready . X . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fruits set . . X X . . . . . . . . . . .
Meat (kernel, endosperm) forms . . . . X X X X X X X X X . .
Shell dark colour . . . . . . . . . . X X X X X
Sloshing sound . . . . .
 . . . . . . . X X X
Husk dry .
 . . . . . . . . . . . . X X
Coconuts ripen . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X
Harvest . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X
Coconuts fall -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
 --
 X X
15.0 Making copra
See diagram 53.15: Sun drier
While you are waiting for the seedlings to grow think about preparing for making copra. Prepare to use or visit a copra drier.
1. Copra is the dried meat (kernel, endosperm) of the nut. The approximate composition of copra is as follows: Oil 64%, Sugars 16%, Water 6%, Protein 7%, Fibre 5%, and Minerals 2%. Copra contains edible oil that gives the body energy and protein. People, pigs or chickens cannot digest the coconut fibre that is also valuable in the diet.
2. The meat (kernel, endosperm) inside an unbroken coconut does not go bad because bacteria or fungi cannot get into it. However, when you cut break open a coconut, bacteria and fungi get onto the meat and spoil it.
If you dry the meat and convert it into copra, bacteria and fungi cannot grow in it and spoil it.
3. The best copra is a light creamy colour and not dark. The pieces can be broken with a snap when bent pressed hard into a C-shape with the brown skin on the outside. Examine examples of good and bad copra.
4. Description of good copra:
1. Clean, no soil or fibres, and not burnt
2. Pieces break sharply, not leathery
3. Pieces same size, usually cup-shaped halves produced by drying the meat (kernel, endosperm) while still in the shell
4. Moisture less than 7%, 6% is ideal
5. Mature coconuts only used to make copra
5. Break open a nut and leave it without drying for a few days. Note what happens to the meat (kernel, endosperm).
6. You can make the best copra when the coconut meat (kernel, endosperm) is dried quickly and does not get wet by rain. Put the split coconuts in the sun for two days with meat uppermost. Remove the meat once it shrinks enough to become loose. Spread the pieces on mats or trays and put them in the sun for another 2 to 4 days. Cover the copra if it starts to rain. You make the best copra in a hot air dryer because the drying is quicker and has more heat to dry the pieces evenly. If you dry it too quickly, a hard outer shell skin may form which slows further drying.
7. Some people try to make copra by using a smoke drier, but this copra is of very bad quality with a dark colour and the smell of smoke.
8. Make or visit a small hot air drier and make some good copra.
16.0 Uses of the coconut palm
16.1 Selecting a coconut
The coconut should feel comparatively heavy and you should hear a splashing sound when you shake it. The soft eye is usually larger than the two blind eyes and should be covered with a brown disc and has no embryo protruding through it, unless the embryo still looks fresh. The two blind eyes have shell raised around them, a bit like eyebrows. Avoid damaged coconuts or coconuts with cracks in the shell.
16.2 Dehusking and opening a coconut
The easiest way to open a coconut is to use the new coconut opening inventions:
Coconut opening 2 "Cocotap"
Opening a coconut from a coconut palm (fruit)
2.1 Impale the coconut on a spike or pipe fixed firmly in the ground. Use a thick bladed coconut knife or a machete to cut into the husk to make a lengthways split. Then make a second parallel split and use your hands to pull off the husk between the two splits, assisted by a levering action using the spike or a knife. Repeat this process to completely dehusk the coconut.
2.2 Use a machete to cut off the top of a drinking coconut husk with four cuts along the length until the dome of the nut is revealed. Cutting across the fibres is not easy. Pierce any of the eyes with a screwdriver or corkscrew. Drain the coconut water. Tap right around the equator of the nut with a hammer until it cracks into two halves. Cut through the meat (kernel, endosperm) to the shell with a blunt knife to make wedges that can be levered. If you leave the half coconut to dry in the sun or a slow oven the meat separates from the shell.
Opening a round coconut from a shop (seed + endocarp)
2.3 Put the coconut in 2 plastic bags and hit it along the "equator" of the nut to produce two halves. Use a thin blade knife to separate the meat (kernel, endosperm) from the shell or use a coconut scraper to scrape out the meat (kernel, endosperm) from the half nut.
2.4 Hold the coconut steady and tap around its circumference with a hammer or the back of a cleaver. Turn and hit the coconut until it splits.
2.5 Roast the coconut at 190oC for 15 minutes, wrap it in a tea towel, then hit it.
16.3 Opening drinking coconuts for the coconut water (liquid endosperm)
A drinking coconut nut has a softer husk than a mature coconut. The husk is easier to remove, but the shell is thinner, so it can be broken by inexpert cutting. The coconut water from a drinking coconut (juice nut) just cut from a palm, contains about 2% sugars and some minerals, vitamins and oil. If undamaged, the coconut water is sterile and has even been transfused into humans instead of plasma when treating battle casualties. A drinking coconut should have a glossy undamaged skin and white husk fibres. Drain the liquid by making holes in the three “eyes” at one end, using a screwdriver or skewer. Collect the nut water by removing a plug of meat (kernel, endosperm) from behind the soft eye or recover the water after breaking open the coconut. The coconut is full of coconut water and the soft meat (kernel, endosperm) can be scraped off with a spoon. Prise the flesh from the shell with a blunt knife and peel the brown skin with a vegetable peeler. The vitamin C content of coconut water is actually very low, being around .002% .
16.4 Opening mature coconuts for the coconut meat (kernel, endosperm)
Select a large fruit that feels heavy for its size and without cracks, dampness or mould in the outer husk.  The meat meat (kernel, endosperm) is thicker and tougher than in the drinking coconuts and it has the coconut taste. It is not full of coconut water so you can hear a sloshing sound when you shake the coconut. The meat has a crunchy pleasant taste. Fresh unopened fruits can be stored for months.
16.5 Grating coconut meat (kernel, endosperm)
See diagram 16.3.0: Coconut grating stool
A medium size coconut gives 3-4 cups of grated coconut meat. Use the grated meat within two days or keep it in a refrigerator.
3.1 Shred pieces of the coconut meat with a kitchen hand grater.
3.2 Cut the coconut meat into small pieces and grate them 1/2 cup at a time, in a food processor or blender.
3.3 Use a coconut grating stool consisting of a toothed iron bar attached horizontally to a flat topped stool. Sit on the stool, hold half a coconut shell held in both hands, and scrape the inside of the half coconut shell against the teeth of the bar.
You can squeeze shredded fresh meat (kernel, endosperm) after adding a little hot water to extract coconut cream or coconut milk containing coconut oil for cooking. Cut and dry shredded meat (kernel, endosperm) to make desiccated coconut for cakes. Also, use the residue after squeezing out the cream for poultry feed or in a cake recipe.
16.6 Make coconut cream and coconut milk
Coconut milk and cream are not prepared by boiling the mashed up kernel but rather by pressing the material (at the kitchen level) in a cloth. Hot water is often added after the first press (which produces the creamier output) allowing a second pressing that delivers "milk". Commercially there is mechanical pressing to generate thick cream and then various degrees of dilution are used to give diminishing fat content from 33% in cream down to maybe 8% in "lite".
Coconut cream and coconut milk are both infusions of shredded coconut in water. Coconut cream is thicker and more paste-like than coconut milk. Some people use milk to make it thicker. Coconut milk is a liquid. Coconut cream is rich in medium chain fatty acids and is used in the alcoholic drink Pina Colada. The creamed coconut sold in food stores is very concentrated coconut extract. It is a solid block at a low room temperature and can be made into coconut cream or coconut milk by mixing it with water. Coconut milk contains aromatic compounds plus oils. It contains about 20% fat, while the more concentrated coconut cream contains up to 33% fat. Coconut milk may be used directly as a side dish with curries or a dressing for raw fish, as a refreshing drink, and in curry recipes. Coconut milk can be bought in tins and in packaged drinks in liquid and powdered form. Frozen coconut cream is sold in packets especially by Asian food suppliers. Dissolve the frozen block in hot water or chop it into pieces up and stir them directly into the curry towards the end of the cooking time.
1. Coconut cream is what would eventually float to the top of the milk, and can be a semisolid at room temperature. Use 1 cup of water with 2 cups of scraped coconut. Leave to stand in a refrigerator. The cream will rise to the top and harden. Skim off the cream.
2. Add a ½ cup of coconut water or hot water to grated coconut meat. Leave to stand, and then squeeze with your hands. Put it into cheesecloth or a strainer. Squeeze out the coconut cream.
3. To 2.5 cups boiling water add one grated coconut or 4 cups desiccated coconut. Leave to stand for 30 minutes. Squeeze the coconut and strain. Use within 24 hours.
3. Simmer gently for 2 minutes over low heat a 4:1 mixture of shredded fresh or desiccated coconut meat (kernel, endosperm) and water. Stir continuously until foamy. Strain the liquid and squeeze the coconut with cheese cloth. Refrigerate the mixture to help the cream separate and set.
4. Simmer equal volumes of shredded coconut and water or milk until froth forms. Strain the mixture through a cheesecloth. Squeeze out most of the liquid, i.e. the coconut milk. The thick coconut cream forms a separate layer above the coconut milk.
5. Commercially prepared coconut cream in cans or other hygienic packaging may have an emulsifier added to thicken it. It may be found at the top of canned coconut milk. Canned coconut milk and cocnut cream are available as full-fat and low-fat products in Asian and Indian food stores. One whole coconut fruit is about equivalent to a 140 mL can of coconut milk.
16.7 Make coconut oil
Refined coconut oil is used for cooking. Coconut oil is the fat content of the coconut milk or coconut cream, with water removed. In the home it can be skimmed off the top of heated cream. If you heat coconut cream or coconut milk, the coconut oil remains as the water evaporates leaving curds of protein in the bottom of the saucepan. If coconut milk is left to stand for a few days the coconut oil separates and rises to the surface. It can be skimmed off then heated to remove any water. Coconut oil is solid below about 24oC and becomes rancid slowly. Freshly made coconut oil is an excellent frying agent and an ingredient of some Asian foods.
16.8 Coconut toddy (arrack) kava
Find an unopened flower spathe. Tap it all around with a small hard stick to bruise it slightly, and then tie it around with fibre to stop it opening. After 10 days, cut 5 cm from the end of the spathe and bend down the end so sap can drip into a container. Every morning and evening for 2 to 4 weeks cut a slice of tissue from the end of a spathe and collect up to 1 litre of sap per day. The fresh sap (toddy) contains several vitamins and about 16% sucrose (palm sugar). The fresh drink is good for children, but it soon ferments to form a high alcohol drink, palm wine or sour toddy. Never give sour toddy to children. After lengthy storage the alcohol in sour toddy is converted to vinegar. In Sri Lanka, evaporation of fresh toddy by boiling produces palm sugar (jaggery). In Fiji, an intoxicating drink is made with fermented coconut milk and the root of Piper methystichum (kava).
16.9 Coconut leaves (fronds)
Use the leaflets and midribs to make plaited baskets, hats, mats, fans, toys, tongs, fences and decorations. You can use the leaf stalks for fuel.
16.10 Coconut shell-based products and wood-based products
Use the shells for cups, scoops, lamp bowls and small ukuleles. You can polish and carve shell to make ornaments, e.g. earrings. Bury burning shells to make charcoal fuel. Burn shells to dry the coconut meat (kernel, endosperm) fish and other foods.
16.11 Coconut husks, coir
Extract fibres from husks by leaving them under salty water for a year or by passing them through a special motor-driven hammer mill. The wet process is called retting. Pull off the outer skins to get the fibres (coir) used to make door mats, brooms, boat fenders, ropes and fibre board. Use husks for mulch and fuel. Long fibres in the petioles can be made into strings. Coir pith fibres and coir dust are used in plant nursery potting mixes as an alternative to peat moss. The main coir producers are India and Sri Lanka where the cost of labour is low. Recovering the fibre from the husk, and spinning and weaving the fibre is difficult and labour-intensive.
16.12 Coconut trunk
Use palms over 25 years old for supporting poles and building posts because they have dense wood in the lower two thirds of the trunk. You can get the denser outer wood sawn in a sawmill to produce timber for making attractive furniture, wooden boxes, structural framing for housing, firewood and charcoal or activated carbon. Senile coconut palms can be logged as timber. In the Pacific islands, an estimated 40% of coconut palms are senile, many being planted in plantations before 1940 in coconut plantations. However, the largest resources of senile palms are in Indonesia, the Philippines and India.
largest potential resource.
16.13 Heart of palm
Heart of palm is the inner parts of the growing apex of the palm, where the next generation of fronds and flowers are developing. It consists of pith that can be eaten raw in salads or cooked in stir fry cooking. Extracting the heart kills the palm, so it appears wasteful but surplus young palms may be available especially in abandoned plantations.
16.14 Sprouting coconuts
Although they can drift for months in sea water, in the natural course of events a mature coconut will usually sprout through the active eye within two months of falling. Nourished by the stored water and energy of the meat (kernel, endosperm) the nut sprouts very vigorously and soon afterwards roots protrude down through the husk too. Over about four months during germination the nut is progressively filled with a sort of spongy yellow/white mass that slowly absorbs the meat. This "apple" has a slightly sweet taste and is eaten raw or boiled, or the husked "grow nut", with one eye pierced, can be baked whole. Macapuno is an abnormal coconut found in the Philippines. The fruit is full of a soft, delicious curd that can be eaten fresh or preserved.
16.15 Coconut cake stock feed
After extraction of oil from the copra the waste can be used for stock feed. Similarly, the coconut left after making coconut milk or cream can be eaten by humans as a snack.
16.16 Coconut oil as a biofuel
Coconut oil has been used as a diesel engine fuel for power generation and boats. Coconut oil has a high gelling temperature, 22oC-25oC, high viscosity, so it is usually blended with diesel oil to make biodiesel, e.g. 50% diesel and 50% D.M.E. coconut oil. The coconut oil must be pure to avoid carbonization and clogging in the engine. Engines modified to use pure coconut oil may have an auxiliary tank of diesel oil for starting the engine. Coconut oil has been successfully used as an engine lubricant.
16.17 Coconut cooking
Coconut oil is mainly used for frying in refined oil.
1. To make coconut ice, boil 2 cups of sugar in 1/2 cup of milk for 5 minutes after it comes to the boil. Add 3/4 cup of shredded coconut or desiccated coconut and boil for 3 minutes or longer while stirring. Beat the mixture until it thickens and pour it into a damp dish.
2. To make a coconut banana smoothie, put 2 ripe bananas, 1 cup of coconut milk, 1 cup of cow's milk, 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream and 2 tablespoons of honey  in a blender and blend until smooth.
3. To make a coconut lemon cake, put 125 g unsalted butter and 1 cup of castor sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Add 1 tablespoon of finely grated lemon rind or lime rind. Add 22 lightly beaten eggs and beat the mixture until all ingredients are combined. Fold 1 cup of sifted self-raising flour, 1 cup of desiccated coconut and 1 cup of cow's milk into the mixture. Put the mixture into a lightly greased and lined pan then place in a 180oC preheated oven for  50 minutes. Serve the cake warm.
4. Make coconut jam (kaya). Whisk together eggs and sugar over low heat. Add thick coconut milk and keep stirring over low heat. It becomes brown -green with the consistency of custard. In Malaysia drops of Padan essence are added for extra flavour and it turns green. Some people do not like it if it is too sweet.
16.18 Desiccated coconut
Desiccated coconut is very popular for cooking, confectionery, bakery products including the covering of chocolate-coated cakes for children, e.g. the Australian "lamington" cake. It is made by drying shredded pieces of pared meat (kernel, endosperm) of fully matured fresh coconut after the removal of the brown testa. It can be eaten by humans without further processing and it has a natural white colour, sweet pleasant taste and smell. Desiccated coconut powder is made by spray-drying methods. The main producers are the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia. Strict standards of food safety are needed to ensure no contamination by Salmonella. Processed coconut flesh is available as flaked, desiccated and powdered form. Store desiccated coconut in a sealed container.
16.19 Copra and its products
1. Copra is the dried coconut meat (kernel, endosperm) removed from the shell, usually as hemispheric halves, and then dried by smoke drying, sun drying, or kiln drying (hot air drying). The crude coconut oil extracted from copra is not suitable for consumption and must be refined, bleached, and deodorized, to make RBD coconut oil. The grades of copra are determined by moisture content. In a village where moisture meters are not available in the villages, moisture content determination is done visually or by cracking or splitting the copra by hand and feeling by experienced copra buyers. In India, the milling grade of copra, manufactured by sun-drying or hot air dryers, is used to extract the coconut oil, coconut butter. It is classified in different grades. First grade copra must be dried by hot air and be clean with no discoloration, smoke stains, excess mould, insect infestation and charred pieces of copra, not contain germinated coconuts, have moisture content < 6% and have fatty acid content < 3%. The edible grade of copra is consumed as a dry fruit and used for traditional oil lamps and lamps for religious purposes. This copra is made in balls and cups, ball copra and cup copra.
2. Hydrogenated coconut oil has an increase in melting point and increased saturated fat. It may contain trans fats. It is used in non-dairy creamers, shortenings, e.g. Copha in Australia, children's foods, chocolate crackles by coating Rice Bubbles in Copha, and snack foods.
3. Fractionated coconut oil, medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) from coconut oil has most of the long-chain triglycerides removed leaving mostly saturated fats, the medium-chain triglycerides caprylic acid and capric acid remain. It is more heat stable and has a longer shelf life than other forms of coconut oil. It is used to make essences, massage oils and cosmetics. Medium chain triglycerides can be used in medicines and baby foods.
4. Many populations regard coconut meat as a healthy food and it represents a high proportion of fats in their diet. Research is continuing on whether higher levels of serum cholesterol in these populations are associated with cardiovascular disease caused by the high proportion of saturated fats in coconut oil. The usual recommendation is that some coconut oil in the diet should be replaced by oils with a higher proportion of polyunsaturated fats. Some people in these populations believe that doctors in Western countries are wrongly prejudiced against “tropical oils".
5. Below 24oC the coconut oil from copra is a white yellow solid fat so is suitable for making soap. Hydrogenated coconut oil is used to make margarine and shortenings, e.g. Copha in Australia. Coconut oil is also used for making cosmetics, industrial lubricants, massage lubricants, lamp fuel, skin moisturizers, hair styling solutions and sexual lubricants, but not for lubricating condoms.
6. Until 1962 when overtaken by soya beans copra was the major source of vegetable oil in the world. Since that time most of the large copra plantations in the Pacific islands have been abandoned but coconuts are still grown on small islands to produce copra that is then transported in hessian bags (copra sacks) to centres for export.
7. Industrial uses of coconut products include methyl esters, rubber, soap, detergents, lubricants, jet engine oils, PVC and polyurethane base materials in paint, explosives and propellants.
History
These teaching materials were originally written and illustrated by Mr J. A. Sutherland, Faculty of Education, University of New England, Armidale, Australia and later edited by Dr J. Elfick, School of Education, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. The 2004 edition of this document was edited by Mr Mike A. Foale, author of "The coconut odyssey: the bounteous possibilities of the tree of life", by Foale, Mike A., Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra, Australia, 2003. Mr Andrew Bray suggested some interesting ideas from his experience as a cruising yachtsman.