Naturalizing Phoenix dactylifera

[ahosey01]

I have a large wash behind my house next to a highway, which is on ADOT property.  It is completely overgrown with invasive plants - Tamarisk, Mullein, and Trees of Heaven - and Desertbroom.

My thought is, if I'm going to have this ugly area of overgrown invasives, why not introduce something a little better looking and less noxious to the native flora than these plants?  My family has been saving the pits from the dates we buy weekly.  We probably have 200 at this point.  I want to scatter them throughout the wash so hopefully they germinate and grow into palms.  What time of year should I do this to ensure best results?  How likely am I to be successful?  The Hassayampa river flows subsurface under the highway and the wash, so the area is very fertile.

[Dimovi]

I would do it late winter or early spring to avoid animals eating them. If there is nothing that would eat them any time is fine, the seeds will wait until the conditions are perfect. Your climate is very similar to the native dactylefera habitat. These seeds don't easily go bad like tropical palms.

If you are not going to be manually sticking them in the ground it might be better to do it before the fall, so the seeds get covered naturally.

[kinzyjr]

@ahosey01

If you get most of your rain in the winter months, fall would be a good time to start sowing.  It also helps if you give them some supplemental water until they've had a shot at rooting deep enough to hit groundwater.

If you would like, you can also have the first batch of babies from my seed-grown date palms here.  Just transplant, water, and wait. 

[ahosey01]

3 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

@ahosey01

If you get most of your rain in the winter months, fall would be a good time to start sowing.  It also helps if you give them some supplemental water until they've had a shot at rooting deep enough to hit groundwater.

If you would like, you can also have the first batch of babies from my seed-grown date palms here.  Just transplant, water, and wait. 

I like the sewing and the babies approach. It would look much better back there without so much damn tamarisk. The more ways you try the more ways you have to win! Lol

[kinzyjr]

@ahosey01 Send me a PM and I'll send the babies right over.