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Posted

My date palm seems to be coming along nicely but the fruit which I expected to turn into ripe dates seemed to go from the green stage straight into the withered and tiny stage. Any ideas what would be causing this? The plant looks healthy otherwise. This is the first year I've owned it so I don't know if it bore fruit in previous years.

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Posted

Did you buy this as a named variety?  Growing a date palm from a date pit doesn’t result in a tree that produces fruit you’d eat. 

Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, Chester B said:

Did you buy this as a named variety?  Growing a date palm from a date pit doesn’t result in a tree that produces fruit you’d eat. 

Not sure that is always the case.. Our locally, highly coveted Black Sphinx is a supposed seed grown date variety.  " The Mysterious Date Palms of Phoenix" is a great read on its history.  Hoping the efforts to keep this variety from disippaaring succeed. 

 

Edited by Silas_Sancona
Edit.
  • Upvote 1
Posted

It maybe because it wasn't pollinated. Is there a male near your palm?

 

  • Like 3

07690.gif

elevation 328 feet

distance from mediteranean sea 1,1 mile

lowest t° 2009/2010 : 27F

lowest t° 2008/2009 : 33F

lowest t° 2007/2008 : 32F

lowest t° 2006/2007 : 35F

lowest t° 2005/2006 : 27F

lowest t° 2004/2005 : 25F

Historical lowest t° 1985 : 18F

Posted
5 hours ago, gilles06 said:

It maybe because it wasn't pollinated. Is there a male near your palm?

 

Definitely correct!

Posted
5 hours ago, gilles06 said:

It maybe because it wasn't pollinated. Is there a male near your palm?

 

Definitely correct! Date palms in other than hot desert climates have a difficulty in getting pollinated. Culprits are imo not the male flowers, because I have used pollen from my male specimens for crossing with great results, but the female ones. You need to pour pollen directly on the female flowers when they are receptive, that is mainly when they are still tiny, white balls. I have eaten really tasty dates from my small dacty.

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  • Like 2
Posted

Ahh. This makes sense. There are some other date palms in the neighborhood but not close by. I had assumed that the fruit that is there would never have reached the size in the photo without pollination so I again assumed they must have been. Looks like they didn’t get pollinated then?

Posted
1 hour ago, mxcolin said:

Ahh. This makes sense. There are some other date palms in the neighborhood but not close by. I had assumed that the fruit that is there would never have reached the size in the photo without pollination so I again assumed they must have been. Looks like they didn’t get pollinated then?

Actually those few fruits I see in the posted picture do look pollinated! Situation with unpollinated Phoenix flowers of is following. Usually on an entirely unpollinated inflorescence most of flowers are aborted and the minority of dud-fruits are essentially smaller than pollinated ones, which mature only very slowly or never reach maturity withering on stalks or just falling off still unripe. There are however some dacty varieties, which do form well shaped duds, but latter still never reach maturity in the manner I have described. If however some flowers have been  pollinated then I have observed in several instances that most of the rest unpollinated flowers are being shed before turning to duds and most of the (few) formed duds are also quickly aborted.

Posted

Anyone have a good source for pollen? I tried to source some last year but failed. There aren’t enough male date palms near me for them to pollinate naturally. 

Posted

You can always buy dacty pollen in the web.  They are sold in vacuum sealed bags.

Posted

Any idea where? I checked last year and couldn’t find any. 

Posted
On 11/2/2019 at 1:49 AM, Chester B said:

Did you buy this as a named variety?  Growing a date palm from a date pit doesn’t result in a tree that produces fruit you’d eat. 

All of them would have edible fruits. But every seed will produce new variety. They will not be 100% same as mother plant.

Posted (edited)

@Si perhaps this man knows more on pollen availability.

Edited by Phoenikakias
Posted

@mxcolin  You might also try and contact Arizona State University. Pretty sure they hand pollinate several of the Dates in their research collection. Might be able to send pollen, or at least have additional people you might be able to contact. 

  • Upvote 1
Posted
On 11/1/2019 at 10:45 PM, Silas_Sancona said:

Not sure that is always the case.. Our locally, highly coveted Black Sphinx is a supposed seed grown date variety.  " The Mysterious Date Palms of Phoenix" is a great read on its history.  Hoping the efforts to keep this variety from disippaaring succeed. 

 

Good to know.  Thanks for the info.

On 11/3/2019 at 1:29 PM, Cikas said:

All of them would have edible fruits. But every seed will produce new variety. They will not be 100% same as mother plant.

Good to know.

I've been told here a few times don't bother with date palms unless you buy a named variety.  Thanks for the clarification everyone.:greenthumb:

Posted
3 hours ago, Chester B said:

Good to know.  Thanks for the info.

Good to know.

I've been told here a few times don't bother with date palms unless you buy a named variety.  Thanks for the clarification everyone.:greenthumb:

Don't sweat it,..  Despite that there were several dates loaded w/ fruit by the mall down the road from the house, wouldn't harvest / eat any of them.  Would imagine finding some worth eating would be like raising Avocadoes from pits.. might  be a couple that turn out good among many others that might be edible, but not anything special. 

On a side note,  for anyone interested,  Black Sphinx Dates are currently available from Sphinx Date Company in Scottsdale.. and yes, you can mail order.  Majools are also available atm.  Not sure if they remove the seeds or leave intact. If left in the fruits, might be a good opportunity to germinate a piece of history, ..and maybe end up with a new cultivar.  "Daughter of Sphinx", perhaps?.  Regardless, thought I'd pass along the information. 

Posted
7 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Don't sweat it,..  Despite that there were several dates loaded w/ fruit by the mall down the road from the house, wouldn't harvest / eat any of them.  Would imagine finding some worth eating would be like raising Avocadoes from pits.. might  be a couple that turn out good among many others that might be edible, but not anything special. 

On a side note,  for anyone interested,  Black Sphinx Dates are currently available from Sphinx Date Company in Scottsdale.. and yes, you can mail order.  Majools are also available atm.  Not sure if they remove the seeds or leave intact. If left in the fruits, might be a good opportunity to germinate a piece of history, ..and maybe end up with a new cultivar.  "Daughter of Sphinx", perhaps?.  Regardless, thought I'd pass along the information. 

Every Dates variety (hundreds of them), all came from seeds. Named varieties are important only if you like fruits of specific variety (and you want fruits that will be 100% the same as that variety). But all seeds grown dates are edible and majority of them will have tasty fruits similar to mother plant. Difference can be in color, size ect.. Some will be even much better than mother plant (some much worst). 

But only small number of them will taste horrible. In Africa and Asia there is a lot of seeds grown dates that common people use as fruits in their gardens. And some later become named varieties. 

  • Like 2
Posted
12 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Majools are also available atm.  Not sure if they remove the seeds or leave intact. If left in the fruits, might be a good opportunity to germinate a piece of history, ..and maybe end up with a new cultivar. 

My thoughts exactly when I saw them in the grocery store a couple weeks ago, so I bought some.  Good tasting fruit and seeds are currently in community pots outside, will see if they'll germinate during our fall/winter.

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  • Like 1
Posted

I find you get >95% germination on Medjool dates.  I used the baggie method to germinate and then put them outside in pots and let nature weed out the weak.  I had about 30 that were left neglected and unprotected through summer and winter here.  Now I have 3 left.  I have some Barhi dates that I may try as well.

  • Like 1
Posted
17 hours ago, Chester B said:

Good to know.  Thanks for the info.

Good to know.

I've been told here a few times don't bother with date palms unless you buy a named variety.  Thanks for the clarification everyone.:greenthumb:

Now a clarification, which may be of importance to you, since you consider to produce home dates in such a northern latitude.  There are dates which mature slowly and/or harvested dry. These are out of question in your climate, and mine too, because warm weather does not last long enough for their needs. There are however also dates which mature early and contain a higher grade of moisture but nevertheless they remain decently sweet. This latter kind of propagation material you have to search for. I was lucky enough to find a group of such date palms in Athens, and more lucky that collected seedlings beneath those trees finally inherited this trait from parents. Even offspring from first generation offspring seems quite hardy in cool moist conditions, since seeds germinated and seedlings keep growing during autumn.

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  • Like 2
Posted
59 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

Now a clarification, which may be of importance to you, since you consider to produce home dates in such a northern latitude.  There are dates which mature slowly and/or harvested dry. These are out of question in your climate, and mine too, because warm weather does not last long enough for their needs. There are however also dates which mature early and contain a higher grade of moisture but nevertheless they remain decently sweet. This latter kind of propagation material you have to search for. I was lucky enough to find a group of such date palms in Athens, and more lucky that collected seedlings beneath those trees finally inherited this trait from parents. Even offspring from first generation offspring seems quite hardy in cool moist conditions, since seeds germinated and seedlings keep growing during autumn.

You are 100% correct.  It's not too cold for dates here but too damp in the winter.  Getting date palms like the one's you have been lucky enough to find will prove difficult.  Not sure if anyone knows of any types of varieties that match your description.  I do have access to Zahidi palms in the one gallon size.

Posted
1 hour ago, Chester B said:

You are 100% correct.  It's not too cold for dates here but too damp in the winter.  Getting date palms like the one's you have been lucky enough to find will prove difficult.  Not sure if anyone knows of any types of varieties that match your description.  I do have access to Zahidi palms in the one gallon size.

I have heard of Barhee and Mozafati.

  • 1 year later...
Posted

I have used a lot of dates and because there are no conditions for growing palm trees in the place where I live, I use Iranian dates which are undoubtedly the best in the world.

  • 5 months later...

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