This technique does not always yield uniform fruit sets unless if several of the male flower spathes are placed in the crown of the female date palm. This requires the availability of numerous male flower spathes.
Successful commercial date production requires artificial pollination to ensure good pollination. In locations where labor is relatively expensive, the pollination is mechanized. Mechanized pollination reduces the number of male date palms needed for pollination.
The most common technique of pollination in regions with inexpensive labor is to cut the strands of male flowers from a freshly opened male spathe and place two to three of these strands, lengthwise and in an inverted position, between the strands of the female inflorescence after some pollen has been shaken over the female inflorescence.
Date Palms Used For Landscaping in California Date palms have recently become very popular as landscape specimens in subtropical areas across the globe, and especially in Southern California!
The true date palm varieties of phoenix dactylifera are more expensive than most other types of palms used in landscaping, however these true date palms are very desirable not only for their delicious dates but also for the tropical look they give to any landscape.
A date palm can be very impressive as a single specimen, and group plantings can be truly spectacular. The date palm can live to the age of about years, and they can eventually reach heights of about 80 feet tall. Date palms grow well throughout Southern California where they are used mostly in landscaping. Male date palms are often used in landscaping because once mature they do not yield the annual crop of dates which can sometimes attract pests. For female date palm landscape use, there are three main date palm varieties used most in landscaping; the Medjool date palm, the Zahidi date palm, and the Deglet Noor date palm.
Another less well know date palm variety that is also very desirable for landscaping is the Halawi date palm, which is even larger than the Medjool date palm. Deglet Noor date palms are commonly planted in shopping centers and malls in southern California where they lend a striking tropical ambience.
Medjool date palms have a larger and more full dense canopy when compared to the Deglet Noor, which has a canopy that is more sparse and open with fewer fronds. The Medjool and Zahidi date palms are somewhat similar in appearance with beautiful silvery green foliage. The Zahidi date palm does have a slightly larger trunk than the Medjool and the Zahidi's canopy is slightly more full and dense - truly a beautiful landscape specimen.
Male date palms do grow taller each year. Once established, their watering schedules can be cut back to slow their growth if desired. In Southern California it not unusual to see tall date palm specimens providing shade in the parking lots of convenience stores and fast food restuarants.
Tall date palms are also very popular in landscape designs for commercial buildings. In recent years, male date palms have also become very popular in residential landscaping providing a "tropical" look to any yard or garden. To purchase male date palms in California and male date palm flowers , call Date Developement and Ripening Stages The date fruit takes about six months to ripen completely.
In the middle east, there is a name for each of the four stages of date ripening; kimri, khalal, rutab, and finally tamar.
The kimri stage lasts about 5 months and is basically while the dates are green. The next ripening stage is the khalal stage when the dates have grown to their maximum size and turn yellowish or reddish depending on the specific date variety. Next comes the rutab stage, when the dates begin to soften and lose their bright colors.
The date becomes fully mature at the tamar stage. Most date varieties are eaten at the fully mature tamar stage, although some of the very soft varieties like the the Halawy dates also known as Halawi and the Barhi dates are also eaten at Khalal stage, when they are sweet and crunchy.
We have fresh dates available each year at this khalal stage of ripening. The Honey Jewel date is also very delicious, soft and amazingly sweet like honey in its fully ripe tamar stage. The Honey Jewel date has been repeatedly voted as the most delicious date variety at our Fresh Picked Tamar Tastings the last 4 years in a row, winning out even over the famously popular medjool date.
Dates are classified as soft, semi-dry, and dry. The dry dates are commonly used in the middle east for everyday consumption. The sweeter dates are used as a dessert in the Middle East as well as in the United States. Mature female date palms yield from to pounds of dates per palm each year. One of the most important factors in date yield is the amount of irrigation water they receive while the dates are developing.
While the dates are maturing on the palm, the dates are preyed upon by birds, small mammals, and insects. Date farmers sometimes place a protective bag around each date cluster to prevent access to the dates and also for rain protection in some climates. The cultivation of dates requires a significant amount of manual labor and it can be dangerous in tall palms! Some date varieties are much more vulnerable to moisture.
The medjool date was once reserved only for the royal family of the Sultan of Morocco! The medjool date is most well known for its unusually large size and its delicious flavor.
It can grow to about three inches long, and even though it is classified as a soft date the medjool date is firmer and more resilient than most other soft dates and it handles much better as well, making it a great choice for commercial production.
There was a disease in Morocco that was spreading quickly among the Medjool date palms and a Moroccan official offered some shoots to a representative from the USDA which in turn were eventually planted in California. The medjool is now thriving in California as one of the primary date cultivars. Medjool date palms are also very popular for landscaping because of their regal appearance and full canopy. The Medjool and Zahidi date palms are more similar in appearance with beautiful silvery green foliage.
Male Date Palms The true date palm phoenix dactylifera is dioecious , which means that there are both male date palms and female date palms. Male and female phoenix dactylifera date palms can be very similar in appearance, and they usually are not distinguishable before reaching maturity.
Once a male date palm has reached maturity typically at about 12 years old it will form flowers in early spring. This sheath probably weighs close to 10 pounds. The Female trees have the same kind of sheath, and as they begin to flower, we will remove the sheath and separate each strand.
We then tie the strands together and hand pollinate the flowers using the fresh pollen that we have collected from the male trees. We use a small ketchup squirt bottle for this process. We pollinate each female tree at least three times. Around April or May, as the fruit begins to "bud" on the strands, we will begin the thinning process. First, we open up each bunch of strands that we have tied together, and cut out the middle, leaving only the outside strands. This allows better air flow, and the chance for each individual date to grow to it's optimum size.
It is not unusual for the temperatures to be above degrees during May when we are thinning, and closer to degrees during the date harvest, so most of our date workers will wear long sleeved shirts and long pants, and cover their faces with bandannas to protect themselves from both the sun and the heat.
This is a strand of Medjool Dates before being thinned. By removing the majority of the dates, the ones that are left will have enough room to grow to a much larger size. This is the same strand of dates. As you can see, there are a lot less dates on the strand, but the number of pounds per tree will be the same, it's just that the dates will be significantly larger.
Date trees take as much water as a willow tree, yet they cannot tolerate rain or humidity. That's why dates have to be grown in the hot desert, where our average rainfall is less than 3 inches per year, and our summer temperatures reach nearly degrees.
The ground around the date trees has to be kept clear of grass and weeds which cause humidity. Special "borders" are built up around the trees in order to flood irrigate and contain the water at the root of the tree. This special border disker scoops up the sand and forms a border around the date trees. These borders keep the water where it is needed, at the root of the date trees. Each tree requires approximately 60, gallons of water per year, but only at its roots!
You could think of it as someone who likes to wade in the water, but doesn't want to get their hair wet! The borders help conserve water and eliminate grass and weeds throughout the grove.
Our foreman is holding a small "bunch" of dates that has been cut down from the tree. Notice the thickness of the main stalk. This picture was taken early last August, before the dates had ripened. A bunch of dates not Medjools just prior to the date harvest. Around the beginning of August, the Medjool Dates are covered with a white muslin bag to protect the dates from birds and insects.
The bags also help to catch any dates that ripen prior to the beginning of the date harvest. Because each bunch is quite heavy, the fronds below the date bunches are positioned to help hold the weight of the dates.
All of our date trees are grown from pups offshoots from the parent tree. This guarantees that both the tree and the fruit produced will be identical to the parent.
It takes between 6 to 8 years before the pups will be big enough to transplant, and then another six or seven years before they will begin to produce. To make it easier to separate the pups from the parent tree, we have attached a special chisel to the backhoe.
The backhoe can exert quite a bit more force then an individual worker. A date pup partially separated from it's parent tree.
After the new pups have been planted, they are given a "flat top" haircut, and wrapped in cardboard to protect the heart. They will receive a constant flow of water thru a drip irrigation system.
Although many date farms still use ladders, we use a U-Shaped basket on a forklift to reach the dates. We will be able to utilize this method until the trees are approx. The forklift will be parked at the base of the tree, so that the tree trunk is positioned between the forks.
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