Ajwa Dates

[Xerarch]

A coworker friend of mine recently returned from Saudi Arabia. I noticed him eating dates at his desk and it was a variety unfamiliar to me (and I’m somewhat of a date connoisseur at least by local standards). 

He told me they were Ajwa dates that he had acquired in Medina Saudi Arabia, and that these dates happened to be a favorite of the Prophet Mohammed. 

I was thrilled to have such a thing in my grasp and he graciously let me have a few, already knowing that I know something about, and enjoy exotic fruit. 

I saved the pits and you better believe that I’m going to germinate them, in fact I’ve already got them inside the plastic baggie. I will gift him one of the small trees after they sprout. I will keep the rest (there were only 4 and no telling how many will sprout) and save them until such a time as I can plant them in the ground somewhere warm where I can move. The historical significance will make them extra special for me. 

[Fusca]

Interesting find!  Just a couple of weeks ago I acquired some Ajwa seedlings from a fellow PalmTalker (thanks Rich!).  He had a pretty high germination rate so hopefully you will as well.  I had not heard of this variety and it doesn't appear to be common here in the US - I've only seen articles online regarding health benefits from consuming the fruit/pit/leaves.  I doubt that the plant will differ much if at all from the more common medjool variety, but we'll see...

Jon

[Kris]

Hi friends,

My humble suggestion will be that you import male and female Ajwa Date pups or seedlings derived from tissue grown method.Since to grow date palms from seeds never gives out the true parent.And most likely chances are the one would be growing a male date palm,by the time you realize it,It would be a massive palm giving no yield and consuming valuable Space of ones garden.

So i would request you to ask your friend who gave you the dates to contact saudi date farms and you can import those pups through florida or texas state.I believe that california has strict agriculture import rules.Btw.Saudi Arabia is a U.S.A friendly country so importing the pups through Air Cargo during early spring will be the most apt solution to grow true exact Ajwa date palm.

And germinating date seeds from date fruits have never given the same yield in terms of variety.

When i was in college i did germinate few california dates....whole dates,pitted dates.And one of the saplings looked very healthy and grew quite vigorously,So i planted it in our garden but after many years when it flowered it turned out to be a male.Twice it flowered and now its putting out lush leaves but no fruit or even male flowers.

I will post few links for you,where you can see how much work goes into date farming.

Love,

Kris.

 

[Kris]

This is a video link on Ajwa dates..

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ajwa+dates

Articles on tissue culture in date cultivation..

Tissue Culture_1

Pups removal_1

More videos are there on this topic,when i find i will post it here.

[Kris]

Tissue culture_02

Date Farm_1

Date Farm_2

.

[Xerarch]

9 hours ago, Fusca said:

I doubt that the plant will differ much if at all from the more common medjool variety, but we'll see...

Jon

That’s something I’m curious about, actually I think the different varieties of date trees can be quite distinct from one another. Medjool are more silvery gray than many of the others that may be more green with varying frond length and shape. 

[Xerarch]

6 hours ago, Kris said:

Hi friends,

My humble suggestion will be that you import male and female Ajwa Date pups or seedlings derived from tissue grown method.Since to grow date palms from seeds never gives out the true parent.And most likely chances are the one would be growing a male date palm,by the time you realize it,It would be a massive palm giving no yield and consuming valuable Space of ones garden.

So i would request you to ask your friend who gave you the dates to contact saudi date farms and you can import those pups through florida or texas state.I believe that california has strict agriculture import rules.Btw.Saudi Arabia is a U.S.A friendly country so importing the pups through Air Cargo during early spring will be the most apt solution to grow true exact Ajwa date palm.

And germinating date seeds from date fruits have never given the same yield in terms of variety.

When i was in college i did germinate few california dates....whole dates,pitted dates.And one of the saplings looked very healthy and grew quite vigorously,So i planted it in our garden but after many years when it flowered it turned out to be a male.Twice it flowered and now its putting out lush leaves but no fruit or even male flowers.

I will post few links for you,where you can see how much work goes into date farming.

Love,

Kris.

 

Thanks Kris, my interest in these is more ornamental than anything. I realize that for a true clone you need a pup, but it’s fun to grow a tree from seed and dates are beautiful regardless of the fruit. 

Don’t get me wrong I’d love to have fruiting dates but high quality date growing real estate (for fruiting purposes) in this country is limited to southern and western Arizona and southeastern California. So I can’t plan on getting great fruit anyway. 

And the origin of the seed is fun for me, came from Medina, brought by a friend. 

[Kris]

Here is our male date palm growing in our house garden..

And Mejdool dates is our fav brand as its very sweet 

.

 

 

[Darold Petty]

I have only eaten dates here in California, Medjool is much better than Deglet Noor, but the best one was called, I think, Barhi.  It is quite rare since it is fragile and does not ship well. 

[Kris]

32 minutes ago, Darold Petty said:

I have only eaten dates here in California, Medjool is much better than Deglet Noor, but the best one was called, I think, Barhi.  It is quite rare since it is fragile and does not ship well. 

Thanks Darold for this info,In our city vegetable market we get this yellow dates..once i did buy a bunch which was unripe and raw i did not like the taste but after seeing few youtube videos i understand its best when ripe ! When available i will try and give my feedback on it.

Here are some youtube video on Barhi Dates : 

Barhi Dates_1

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=barhi+dates

.

 

[Nakheel1412]

@Xerarch : Is this what you have been offered?

Those are my favourite dates, delicious, and they leave a warm feeling behind, like honey ; Pilgrims often bring with them some of these and offer them to their relatives (2 years ago, one of my maternal aunts gave us a box of these) ; They usually germinate well (I have a few seedlings) ;
If I get more seeds in the future, I can send you (and anyone interested in) a bunch, and I can even give seedlings if you make it to my city

@Kris : Do date palms yield fruits in your city? I was told they don't in humid tropical climates, and that because of this, one guy in Thailand sells the dates of a hybrid that yields fruits without the seeds

Edited January 12, 2018 by Nakheel1412

[Kris]

17 minutes ago, Nakheel1412 said:

@Kris : Do date palms yield fruits in your city? I was told they don't in humid tropical climates, and that because of this, one guy in Thailand sells the dates of a hybrid that yields fruits without the seeds

Yes it puts out edible fruits only in those farms where they have a male date palm pollinating few females date palms.And solitary/single date palms just put out flowers but no fruit.

But in your climate you can,but buy pups of male and female or saplings derived from tissue farming.you will see the yield in just 4 years when planted in ground.

Israel,Jordan and Saudi Arabia farms sell/export such date saplings to any country.

 

 

[Xerarch]

24 minutes ago, Nakheel1412 said:

@Xerarch : Is this what you have been offered?

Those are my favourite dates, delicious, and they leave a warm feeling behind, like honey ; Pilgrims often bring with them some of these and offer them to their relatives (2 years ago, one of my maternal aunts gave us a box of these) ; They usually germinate well (I have a few seedlings) ;
If I get more seeds in the future, I can send you (and anyone interested in) a bunch, and I can even give seedlings if you make it to my city

Omar, those are the ones, although not packaged the same. I have 4 seeds, and of those, one is kind of scrawny compared to the others. So if I get 3 to germinate and I give one away, that will leave me with two. And under the circumstances in which I live here in cold Ohio that will be plenty. My wife is already slightly uneasy shall we say at the number of potted plants that I am maintaining until such time as we can move somewhere warm enough to plant in the ground. Thanks anyway for the offer to send more, maybe I can take you up on it at some time in the future. 

[The Germinator]

On 1/11/2018, 10:47:57, Kris said:

Hi friends,

My humble suggestion will be that you import male and female Ajwa Date pups or seedlings derived from tissue grown method.Since to grow date palms from seeds never gives out the true parent.And most likely chances are the one would be growing a male date palm,by the time you realize it,It would be a massive palm giving no yield and consuming valuable Space of ones garden.

So i would request you to ask your friend who gave you the dates to contact saudi date farms and you can import those pups through florida or texas state.I believe that california has strict agriculture import rules.Btw.Saudi Arabia is a U.S.A friendly country so importing the pups through Air Cargo during early spring will be the most apt solution to grow true exact Ajwa date palm.

And germinating date seeds from date fruits have never given the same yield in terms of variety.

When i was in college i did germinate few california dates....whole dates,pitted dates.And one of the saplings looked very healthy and grew quite vigorously,So i planted it in our garden but after many years when it flowered it turned out to be a male.Twice it flowered and now its putting out lush leaves but no fruit or even male flowers.

I will post few links for you,where you can see how much work goes into date farming.

Love,

Kris.

 

Hi Kris you are so right, I have an acualis that I grew from seed and the so called Trunkless date palm now has about 5 feet of trunk.... You will always wonder who's your daddy with these open pollinated palms. Pups are the only way to get clones of the mother plant.

[Kris]

Health benefits of eating ripe dates..Here's a video :

Dates Fruits

.

 

[bubba]

Kris,

This is off topic but can I inquire how you were able to get your horse on your second floor balcony!

[Kris]

4 hours ago, bubba said:

Kris,

How you were able to get your horse on your second floor balcony !

Dear Keith,

The terracotta horse and terracotta designer pot was door delivered and carried inside the house and sent to first floor balcony using the stairway inside the house.And it was carried by 3 men also sent by the shop owner from where it was purchased.Once they reached that first floor bed room,they reached the balcony,there two men lowered these items while one guy was receiving these so that it does not bump against the wall surroundings.That item is around 16 or 18 years old. All we do is every 3 years we get those terracotta items painted with brick red distemper paint.

Btw. Those terracotta items are hollow within,and not as heavy as they appear to our eyes. 

Love,

Kris.

 

 

[GoatLockerGuns]

On 1/11/2018, 9:45:08, Fusca said:

Interesting find!  Just a couple of weeks ago I acquired some Ajwa seedlings from a fellow PalmTalker (thanks Rich!).  He had a pretty high germination rate so hopefully you will as well.  I had not heard of this variety and it doesn't appear to be common here in the US - I've only seen articles online regarding health benefits from consuming the fruit/pit/leaves.  I doubt that the plant will differ much if at all from the more common medjool variety, but we'll see...

Jon

The seedlings that Jon and I are growing came from pits retrieved out of pre-packaged Sahara Date Company dates.  Label stated product of Saudi Arabia.  The dates were nothing like Medjool or Deglet; spherical and midnight black vice elongated and dark brown. The taste was sweet, yet subdued; unlike the "in-your-face" super sweet Medjool. Also, the seeds looked like extra large CIDP seeds.  I am fairly certain they are a variety of Phoenix d. and not there own species; however, the dates and seeds are much different than the commercial dates most Americans are familiar with.

[bubba]

Kris,

Thank you! I am willing to wager it prompts more than a few stares! Great stuff! All the best

[Kris]

Recently when i visited the grocery store nearby i saw this Ajwa Dates.And was told by the store manager its mostly purchased by Heart patients and those suffering from Diabetes.Here are the visuals..

 

Its priced around 17.50 U.S dollars.

.