Coconut Palm

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Understanding The Coconut Tree

1.1)           The coconut tree belongs to palm groups. It has the following parts:

1)     The Roots

a)     Anchoring Roots.

b)     Feeding Roots

2)     Trunk

a) Swollen base surrounded by a mass of roots.

c)     Tall stout and flexible top on the base. When fully mature it attains height above 20 to 30 meters. It is unbranched.

3) The Crown 

a) Large fully spread pinnate leaves.

b) Inflorescence.

d)     Growing bunches of fruits.

e)     Nuts in the fruits.

3)     The Bud or Cabbage Of The Tree.

a) This part is inside the crown.

b) There are developing leaves folded and piled one over the other, and

pressed together and about 48 in numbers. Below each leaf is also the  

growing part of its internode.

c) Every month the top leaf in this developing folded pile emerges out and then spreads its pinnacle leaves on the central stalk in about 28 to 30 days, as per the climate and season of its emergence.

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The Roots Of Coconut Tree.

1.      Coconut has no tap (main) root. It has a thick growth of string like root system.

2.      New roots emanate from the blunt bottom of the trunk under favorable conditions. We can observe this growth after the on set of monsoon. New roots on the trunk also grow in the near vicinity of the roots of the previous growth.

3.      Immediately behind each growing point of the root called the root cap, which is about 5cm. in length, there are soft walled portions called the feeder (absorptive) roots.

4.      The normal length of the roots of mature tree is about 5 meter in farm and 7 meter in land. The number of such roots is from 2000 to 10,000 also depending on the soil conditions

The main function of these roots is to anchor the tall tree firmly to support its weight as well to overcome strong wind calamities.

These roots mostly grow near the surface 

5.      There are also respiratory roots on the surface of main roots and roots lets.

6.      To get more and more feeder roots the main root must give rise to several lateral branches and re-branching and sub- branching of these branches.

7.      If a coconut tree is uprooted due to strong windstorms the crown part of it then turns up and becomes vertical and new roots come at the base of this crown if proper provision of good nursery soil is made near this part. Then we can cut the other old trunk part of the uprooted tree and can make the tree grow for another hundred years.

8.      Some successful experiments to produce roots high up on the stem of old tree of good quality and then to cut it below and replant it are made in some of our universities where the main studies are of coconut trees.

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The Trunk

1.      When the new seedlings of coconut have first 12 to 18 leaves and when per month, one new leaf begins to emerge, the trunk begins to form.

2.      This trunk, increases in thickness, rapidly for few years and then the girth of the trunk remains unchanged.

3.      The trunk of the older palm bears on its woody surface, the scars of the leaf bases, showing the position of the leaves, which are already shed.  

4.      On an average, the palm produces, about 12 leaves annually and on the basis, the age of the palm can be computed by counting, the number of leaf scars, on the trunk.

5.      The thickness of any such part of the trunk, can give us, the soil nutrient, moisture and other climate conditions, of the time, when that part was growing, maturing and was bearing the crop. Under neglected conditions, the girth of the trunk will be different at different heights.

6.      The trunk has no cambium layer, like any other perennial fruiting trees, and has only one terminal bud in the cabbage and if it is killed the plant dies.

7.      The inner tissues of the trunk are of tough fibrous material.

8.      If the maintenance of the plant, is not good, cracks develop on the trunk, and then, pathogen causing stem bleeding enter in.

9.      The dwarf variety has girth about 51cms while tall varieties have girth about 68cms.           

10. On coconut tree, we can visualize, each internode on the trunk, with one leaf attached to it, at the scar point and the inflorance and fruits in the axis of the leaf, make separate individual units of growth per leaf.

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Important Study

The Leaf

1.      A new leaf first appears as a solid, compact spear like structure the primordial of which was produced, at the growing tip of the bud, in the cabbage, more than 30 to 40 months in advance, before emerging.

2.      This leaf slowly unfolds and opens out by action of special swelling tissues.

3.      This leaf, then has, a life span, of about 36 months and it produces in its axis, spadix or inflorescence, which flowers, after about 24 months after the leaf appearance.

This inflorescence, begins to form, about 8 months advance in the axis, before the appearance of the leaf when it is in its cabbage growth stage.

4.      Thus, the annual production of inflorescence coincides, with the number of leaves, produced by the coconut tree.

In normal condition, this number is about 12 to14 in a year. But due to unfavorable circumstances, few inflorescence fail to develop. There is on average, one inflorescence, in about 28 to 30 days.

5.      Thus the inflorescence that flowers in any month is produced on the coconut tree, in the cabbage, 32 months, before it flowers.

Therefore, to improve the coconut crop, one must have the patience of at least of 32 months, before it flowers.

6.      A well-grown coconut tree has about 36 to 40 leaves on the crown.

7.      If the number of leaves on the grown up coconut tree is less than this, then the reason is that because of less availability of proper nutrients to the emerging new leaf, the lowest leaves are killed, in adverse conditions and this continues and the coconut tree has even 18 or less leaves maintained even after its six or many years of growth.

8.      To improve such coconut trees, special care for at least two years, is needed, to produce in the crown the necessary number of about 36 leaves, as the rate of appearance of each new leaf, is one leaf in about one month. So, the missing number of leaves of coconut will be re-established after such a long time. 

9.      While selecting a seedling of coconut, for new plantation, the following characteristics of leaf are most important guides, to choose the seedling.

a)     The seedling should have, broad and dark green leaves

b)     Each successive leaf must be, more than double the size, in area, of the previous leaf.

c)     These successive leaves must appear, faster and faster, in fewer periods, so that, a seedling having nine leaves at the age of one year is superior, to the seedling, having six leaves after one year.

d)     The first leaves that appear while germination of the nut are with unsplit blade. So, earlier the splitting of the leaves, the better is, the seedling for selection. Thus, if the splitting of one seedling, is after the fourth first leaves, and has other is 6^th or 8^th leaf etc. Then the first seedling is the best.

e)     The sooner the seedling gives, twelve or above number of leaves, per year, the better seedling it is.

f)       After splitting of leaf, the number of narrow tapering leaflets, must go on doubling, as well, the length of these leaflets, must also go on increasing, so as to have per leaf over 200, narrow and tapering leaflets each of about one to one half meter long.

g)     A good seedling must have a short and broad leaf stalk, straight and short stem and good girth at the collar and tendency to produce large roots.

h)     Thus the vigour and qualities of the seedling judged from the growth of the fourth leaf stage onwards as follows:

                    I.      From the girth at the base

                  II.      Size

                III.      Spread

               IV.      Splitting of leaf into leaflets and number of successive leaflets

                 V.      Period required for each successive growth of the new leaf and its rapidity of growth.

               VI.      The colour of leaves.

             VII.      The sturdiness of leaf stalk and its characteristics.

           VIII.      The variety chosen and the characteristics of the variety present.

10.  The interval between the opering of two successive leaves, is influenced by genetic make up but mostly by soil fertility and seasonal conditions (In India September to November the leaves are produced at shorter intervals)

So, a clear recording of the leaves, that are successively appearing, is a good guide to improve our coconut plantation in 24 months period because the leaf, that is appearing today, will be producing its inflorescence after 24 months and it should be helped in these twenty four months, to give us maximum nuts after flowering.

11.  A well-grown leaf of mature coconut tree consists of central stalk upto 6 meter long with a row of over 2000 narrow and tapering leaflets. These leaflets are of 1 to 1.5 meter range in length and therefore the width (breadth) of the leaf is 2 to 3 meters.

These characteristics for Drarf green variety, Drarf Orange variety, are different, varying from four meter length, to 6-meter length, (Green 4 meter, Orange 4.5 meter, Tall 5 meters average) and width (Green 1.5 meter, 2 meter, 2.5 meter average)

12.  Of the total length of the leaf, the central stalk is divided in to two parts:

a)     Petiole Part.

b)     Leaf Part (The ratio is one part of petiole to three parts of the leaf. Thus out of total length of tall variety leaf which is 5 meter, the length of petiole is 1.25 meter and of the leaf 3.75 etc.)

13.  The petiole part of the leaf stalk is strong and at the base it clasps the trunk round, nearly half the circumference and is surrounded by a fibrous network, of light brown stipules.

14.   Each successive petiole is slightly above the previous one and the two consecutive leaves are at an angular deflection of 137^o and in the above plane.

Thus in 360^o there are about 2.7 leaves, so the eighth leaf comes nearly above the first leaf. So, the phylotaxy of coconut tree is a spiral of eight leaves and so, in all, in about 36 to 40 leaves there are five distinct spirals in the crown. They are either left handed or right-handed spirals.

15.  The average area of good mature leaf (leaf is also called frond) of a coconut tree is about 100 sq.feet one can calculate it, by measuring the area of about 200 leaflets in a leaf by spreading one in it and measuring its average length and breadth in centimeters and calculating the area and taking about 1000sq.cms as one sq.feet.

16.  Any leaf of a coconut tree, has generally a life span of about three years. But the leaf cannot carry on photosynthesis, in its early age after appearance as also, in the last few months. So, its actual period of photosynthesis is about nine hundred days.

17. It is now known that each five sq.feet of area of a frond, can daily build as a food reserve (called dry matter of the tree) of two grams so the total leaf area of about 100 sq.feet daily builds up a stock of 40 grams of dry matter. So, in nine hundred days, it will build, a stock of 36 kilogram of dry matter.

18. Half of this about 18 kilogram dry matter is used in the growing parts of the coconut tree (fronds, inflorescence and crown and cabbage parts) and other half of the dry matter used in the husk, the cover of the nut and the “Copra” (and seventy percent of oil in Copra) of the nut.

19. When calculated on dry matter basis, the husk is about 116 grams when fully dry and the dry copra is about 187 grams of which 70% about 136 grams is oil, which is equivalent to 2 x 136 = 272 grams of dry matter. So the total dry matter of one good dried coconut is about 438 grams (about 500 grams)

20. With this study it becomes clear that if the remaining half of dry matter (18 kilogram) is well used by fruits the plant can yield per leaf a bunch of coconuts numbering 36 coconuts. Many good coconut plantations have taken such yields per leaf. That is about 400 nuts per plant per year.