It Took 5 Years: Date Palms

Discussion in 'Crops & Gardens' started by Frank Sanoica, Sep 27, 2019.

  1. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    I grew 2 Date Palms from seed, planted pits from commercial dates we had bought. Planted maybe 10, 2 germinated. Did this indoors, out of the incessant winds. Transplanted them in back yard when the were about a foot high. Then I learned Date Palms are male & female; only females produce fruit, article said it's 50-50. A year or two later, both produced some fuzzy-looking tiny seed-like things, obviously not fruits! Disappointed. Just kept watering them, they grew prodigiously, got my share of bleeding stabs while trimming them. Tips of the fronds have needle-like points capable of distracting hungry animals, and inflicting serious skin damage. They will pierce leather gloves! Here they are after about 2 years:

    [​IMG]


    Back from shopping today, I took a look out back, saw something new on one of the Palms, hurried inside to fetch my wife. Distinctly bigger than the seeds seen previously:
    [​IMG]


    Closer-up:
    [​IMG]

    They have to be dates! Late in the season, guy up the road has a big, established tree which has several hundred pounds of them dangling down, already turning brown. We've envied his tree since we first saw it. My wife noted one was already damaged by pecking. They "bag" them on the trees commercially. So she did:
    [​IMG]

    Both of us hoping they will mature. Literature says they bear fruit only after 5 to 7 years; We are rewarded for our efforts, and fortunate to be able to live where the climate permits growing what I always think of as "exotic" plants. No coconuts, though; they are only hardy to 45`F; last winter one morning it was 37`.
    Frank
     
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  2. Shirley Martin

    Shirley Martin Supreme Member
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    Wonderful! Y'all's ingenuity and patience have been rewarded.
     
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  3. Bess Barber

    Bess Barber Veteran Member
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    What an absolutely cool tree!! I didn't realize they take as long as banana trees. Apparently, even mature versions have to use the bag method....

    images - 2019-09-27T181232.351.jpeg
     
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  4. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Bess Barber
    Just how the guy's up the road looks, although he does not do a thing to them, and the fruit goes to waste each year, falling to the ground; he may have more wildlife around than we do! I imagine the chipmunks are crazy about dates! Frank
     
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  5. Bess Barber

    Bess Barber Veteran Member
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    Didn't know you had chipmunks in the desert. :D I would've thought birds and bugs would be the culprits. What do you plan to do with them when you harvest?
     
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  6. Kate Ellery

    Kate Ellery Supreme Member
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    Frank our former neighbour who sadly passed away suddenly many years ago ,told us when she immigrated to Australia in her 20’s ( she would be late 70’s now if she was still alive)

    When she seen young date palms ( like yours) growing down the middle of a highway in Adelaide she honestly thought they were pineapple trees :):D

    Mature date palms are very popular in Adelaide now days for placing in the entrance of new housing estates
    I believe developers pay about $5.000 for the very old date palms believed to be up to 100 years old
    So yours are only babies at this stage but doing well , well done to grow a palm from a seed at least you know they are hardy and will always been green and mean ...with their spiky fronds
     
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  7. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Bess Barber

    Eat 'em!
    Frank
     
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  8. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    I guess it's time for the "ask Frank for a date" jokes. Where's Shirley??? :D
     
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  9. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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