Medjool Dates Fruit Propagation

Date Palm Propagation

Palms are among the most neglected of plants. Palms are economically important, but are among the most neglected plant group in terms of understanding the development and propagation probably because of the longevity. Most palms such as coconut palms can only be propagated by seeds and the time period required to yield fruit is often enormous.

Date Palm Seed Propagation

Seed propagation, is also called sexual propagation. It is not a good propagation method for date palms, because of several reasons. The date palm is a dioecious species and consequently half will be males and half will be females and there is no good way to ascertain at an early stage the sex of the progeny. The date fruit quality or pollen quality prior to flowering likewise cannot be ascertained for several years sometimes as long as 14 years. The female date plants do not produce fruit for until a much later time than palms from shoots. The quality of fruit is unknown and can vary in quality and is usually an inferior fruit. The rate of success for date palms producing adequate fruit from seed is under 10% and the wait time is many times longer. The date palms are called are heterozygous meaning there is too much variation within the progeny, and the desirable characteristics of the parent date palm may be lost. Two seedlings from seed are never alike and rarely the same as the parent. The production potential, date fruit quality and date harvesting time, of seedlings is inferior making them very difficult to market as one harvest. The end result is a lot of wasted resources, time, investment space, and money. Seed propagation is the easiest and quickest method of propagation, but is not a useful approach for commercial production of dates.

Date Fruit Offshoot Propagation

Offshoot propagation, is also called asexual or vegetative propagation, and has been the preferred method of propagation for many years, probably thousands of years. The shoots are true to the parent palm. The shoots develop from axillary buds, so the quality of the date fruit is identical to the mother date plant. The fruit produced will be of the same quality and will insure uniformity in production which allows for commercial production of dates fruit. Unlike the seedlings the offshoot date palms will bear fruits much earlier than seedlings. The life span of the date palm is divided into two distinct developmental phases: vegetative the date palm produces off shoots, and generative, in which it ceases to produce shoots. A date palm shoot may take four to six years before it is ready to transplanted. A date palm produces about 20 to 30 date palm shoots during a lifetime. The shoots are produced during the first 10 to 15 years of the date palms' life. About three to four shoots are suitable for planting per palm per year. The higher producers of shoots are Zahidi, Berim and Hayani date palm varieties and the Mektoum and Barhee varieties are among the lower producing varieties. Offshoots and seedlings have distinct characteristics, the seedlings have a straight form and the shoots are curved. The seedlings have a roots system all the base and the offshoot does not have any roots on the side where it was connected to the mother date palm plant. The offshoot always has a mark on one side which is where it was detached from its parent palm. After the shoots are removed they need to be planted in a container for about one or two years until ready to transplant to increase the survival rate.

Increasing Survival Rate For Date Fruit Offshoots

The success rate of the date palm offshoot is increased by insuring that the off shoot is old enough about three to six years old and should weigh no more than about 20 pounds. Sometimes the shoots are not removed and it creates a very large cluster of date palms which makes it difficult if not impossible to cultivate as commercial date fruit palms. The survival rate for smaller offshoots is much lower, so bigger ones are removed to increase the success rate. The shoot is planted in a planter and kept in the planter one or two years to increase the success rate. The shoot should be healthy one and generally speaking shoots are healthy in the desert. Often the date palms are treated with fungicide to avoid fungi problems. The best time for removal of the shoots is when the soil begins to warm up in the spring or early summer. Usually March or April and the best time to plant from the planters is February to March in the spring or in the fall September to October. In choosing offshoots, typically the lower shoots are believed to be the better ones and believed to be the shoots that will lead to faster growing date palms and more productive date palms. The higher ones tend to produce fewer roots and tend to have a lower survival rate. Apparently the high off shoots develop when there is no fruit on the palm.

The shoots are typically removed early on for several reasons. One is that is much easier to access the palm at a later time to harvest the date fruit and to maintain the date palm. This is particularly important when the date fruit is Medjool dates. Medjool dates require a lot of maintenance to produce quality fruit. Removal of the date palm shoots also improves the fruit production of the parent date palm tree. Last the number of date palm shoots produced will be optimized if shoots are removed early on. To increase the quality and quantity of the roots for the shoot, the shoot's roots should have moist soil for at least one year before it is removed. No green fronds from the shoots should be removed until the date palm shoot it is removed from the mother. A better approach to deal with the green fronds is to simply tie them to get them out of the way. The date palm shoots should never be allowed to become too numerous, typically a maximum of 6 shoots should remain on the mother date palm. Allowing too many date palm shoots on the mother date palm degrades the quality and quantity of fruit as well as the date palm shoots themselves.

Removal of Date Palm Fruit Offshoots

Shoots are typically removed after irrigating for several days before cutting the offshoot. The soil is dug away and the shoot is cut with a sharp tool. Typically a large chisel is used to cut through the root attaching the date palm shoot to the mother date palm. A couple of inches is left attached to the roots of the shoot. The roots should not be cut too close to prevent injury to new incoming roots close to the base. The fronds of the date palm shoot are typically tied to easy handling. To minimize damage to the date palm shoot and get a smooth cut, the cutting must be only from one. After tying the fronds the tips are also cut. To avoid infection from parasites or Diplodia the ends of root tying the date palm shoot and the mother date palm are typically covered with a copper sulphate product. The survival rate varies depending on the type of date palm, and that is why the shoots are planted on planters to minize gaps when planted on the field. The survival rate is higher for the Deglet Noor, but much lower for the Medjool date palm. To increase the survival rate the shoots should not be planted in the ground after separation, but it is a commong practice in the Coachella Valley.

Dates Fruit

The more common dates are the: Aabel, Ajwah, Al-Barakah, Amir Hajj or 'Amer Hajj', 'Abid Rahim , Barakawi ,. Barhee or (barhi), Bireir , Datça Date, Deglet Noor , Derrie or 'Dayri' , Empress , Ftimi or 'Alligue' , Holwah (Halawi) , Haleema , Hayany , Iteema , Khajur , Kenta , Khadrawy, Khalasah , 'Khlas', Khastawi (Khusatawi, Kustawy), Maktoom ( , Manakbir , Medjool , Migraf, Mgmaget Ayuob , Mishriq, Mozafati , Nabtat-seyf , Rotab, Sag‘ai, Saidy (Saidi), Sayer (Sayir) Sekkeri , Sellaj , Tagyat , Tamej, Thoory (Thuri), Umeljwary, Umelkhashab , Zahidi , Zaghloul

Our site is about dates fruit. The Hernandez Medjool Date farm is the place to buy dates, California dates in bulk, and a variety of palms, including Washingtonian Robusta and Mexican Fan Palms. This is the place to order medjool dates in bulk and to buy wholesale palms. The place to buy Medjool dates, medjool date palms, date palms. The place to get all your facts about medjool dates. Nutritional information, buying information, and history of the date. A place to buy medjool dates and trees (palms).

The Hernandez Medjool Date Farm

CALIFORNIA DATES, CALIFORNIA GROWN MEDJOOL DATES, DATES FRUIT