Date palm - a valuable fruit crop, used by man as a high-value food product, dried fruits go on sale. To see how the dates grow and annually bring an abundant crop of 60-80 kg of fruits throughout the entire development period of 60-80 years, it will turn out in a natural habitat. Fruits in the 4th year of growth.
How dates grow
In the wild, dates can grow on trees and shrubs.
Date palm in the wild
The plant develops rapidly in the climatic conditions of the tropics, in the deserts of warm countries.
In what countries
The natural environment for the development and fruiting of dates is North Africa and the countries of the Middle East. Settlers of modern Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt for more than 6 thousand years cultivate plants of the Palm family. At the same time, Indians dispute the claims of Africans, regarding their ancestors as pioneers in the cultivation of dates.
An up-to-date list of countries where palm dates grow includes Iraq, Bahrain, Algeria, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia and Syria. Palm trees are found in the USA, Egypt, California, Mexico and Australia. The permanent leader in the export of dates grown on their own lands is Saudi Arabia.
Wildlife Spread
Palm trees take root on sand, clay and heavy soils with moderate salinity. Plants withstand long periods of drought, but some species require stable water consumption. The need is easily met by periodic river spills and groundwater.
Interesting! The ideal temperature for flowering and fruit formation is + 17 ° C. Male and female specimens bloom from February to November.
Dates multiply seedly. Pollinated by the wind. It takes 200 days for the fruit to ripen. What ripe dates on a tree look like - the texture of freshly picked hard dates is dry and fibrous, has a brownish tint.
Where dates grow in Russia
Date shrubs need a humid climate for growth and fruiting. In the subtropical regions of Transcaucasia, as well as the adjacent subtropics of Iran, the summer period is sultry and arid. In winter, Mediterranean cyclones pass from the north side, and Iranian ones in the southeast. Growing date palms south of the Caucasus Mountains gives good results.
Interesting. It is possible to admire exotic palm trees in Sochi, but due to the lack of comfortable conditions for the plant, the quality of the fruits on the bushes is low. Collections of botanical gardens where forest and deviated dates are grown are found in the subtropical part of Krasnodar, but these varieties are not widespread.
Cultivation in the countries of the former USSR
In the post-Soviet era, many experiments were conducted on the acclimatization of palm dates in the USSR. However, successful growth and fruiting of palm trees were noted in the dry subtropics of southern Turkmenistan. The abundance of fruits in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan is imported from southern countries. In the Black Sea subtropics, palm trees grow weakly and die quickly in conditions of high humidity.
Canarian dates are more resistant to excessive dampness; it is widely cultivated as an ornamental shrub in the Krasnodar Territory, Abkhazia, and Georgia.
Ripening dates in Adler
Separate instances of Canary palm trees grow in the south of Crimea and in Azerbaijan (Baku, Lankaran). Planting date palms in the open lands of Ukraine is unsuccessful, even with winter shelter.
Description of date palm fruits
At home, the oldest date culture grows in a columnar trunk up to 2.5 m high, palm bark is covered with remnants of petioles. For the full development of crowns, dates are periodically deployed in different directions to the light. The leaves of plants are green, pinnate, up to 2-6 m long, curved by an arc. For a year on a palm tree sprouts up to twelve new leaves.
Young palm trees in nature create dense and impenetrable thickets with prickly, strong and sticking leaves in different directions. Inflorescences - up to a meter long, with male and female ears. The calyx of flowers is small, has a yellow color, the shape of a cup. In inflorescences, 3 petals.
Ripening dates
Male species of plants are equipped with 6 stamens, female species are equipped with 3 pestles and 6 modified stamens. The number of stamen flowers reaches 12,000, pollinating cups are collected in 6-9 inflorescences, pistil flowers (female) of 2500 in number form fruits - dates. Dates on a tree form 100-250 kg of berries 2.5-4 cm in size.
How to collect dates
The bulk of the dates are collected by cutting the entire fruit bearing cluster. In North Africa, where the palm trees come from, fruit pickers, using bifurcated sticks or ropes, climb the palm tree and cut the clusters, carefully lowering the branches to the assistants below.
Residents of California and Saudi Arabia, where date palms grow on artificial plantations, harvest using mechanized means: harvesting saddles, retractable stairs, and mobile lifts. The harvest period lasts from August to November.
Canary Date Palm
All dates on one bunch and branches on a palm tree ripen at different times, you have to return to the same plant repeatedly.
Types and varieties of date palms
What dates look at different stages of maturity:
- Kimri For 17 weeks after pollination, the white berries turn green, quickly gain volume and contain 85% moisture. The taste is bitter and tart, due to the high content of tannins.
- Khalal For more than 6 weeks, tropicians have watched ripening dates grow, then harvest the first crop of hard yellow-red fruits with bitterness.
- Rutab (Rhutab) - the fruit ripens 5-7 weeks after Halal, the tips darken, the water level drops to 35%, the mass decreases, the skin hardens, the flesh becomes soft and sugar.
- Tamr (Tamer) - the fruits dry out, coarsen and darken, reach full maturity. Humidity of dates - 20%. The full readiness of sweet berries for harvest occurs 3 weeks after Rutaba.
Dates are also classified by moisture content:
- dry or hard - humidity 18% (Turi, Zahedi, Sokari);
- semi-solid, or semi-soft - 18-23%;
- soft - moisture> 23% (Mazfati, Kabkab, Hasui, Barhi, Anbar, Khadravi, Majkhul).
Solid fruits are stored for years, but are used mainly by Bedouins. Dates are laid out on the ground and dried in the sun or buried in the sand, increasing the shelf life to 2 years.
Hard and soft varieties of dates
Pressed berries serve as “desert bread” - “adju”. Soft and semi-solid varieties are sold in sets.
How to care for a date palm at home
Is it possible to grow from seed
A palm tree will grow in 5-6 months, but an exotic plant will not bear fruit at room temperature. The stalk of a date in the natural environment reaches a growth of 1 m in 4 years, the next 2-3 years after planting it will have enough space on the windowsill. The exotic plant will be an excellent decor for the living room, bedroom or kitchen. It will also serve as a good gift to relatives, friends or employees.
How to grow a date palm from a stone
The date will turn out from a bone that has not undergone heat treatment, fresh fruits and dried fruits from the store will be an ideal option. Often for the sake of experiment, people stick a seed in a flower pot, and it takes root. At home, the sprout appears within six months. The best time for planting a palm tree is February-March.
The procedure for growing palm trees is quite simple, it is enough to adhere to a number of recommendations:
- The bones should be cleaned and washed, preventing the process of decay. In the washed state, the seeds are allowed to lie down for a day until the next stage - soaking.
- The date bone is very hard, polishing with sandpaper will help speed up the germination process, you can also boil it in hot water.
Date palm at room
- The maximum effect is given by soaking using cotton wool. A block of cotton wool is abundantly moistened with water, placed on a plate, placed in a stone, covered on top with an additional layer of moistened cotton wool. A good alternative to cotton wool will be gauze, sawdust, hydrogel.
- For germination, an abundance of heat is required. The cotton container is conveniently placed on the battery. It remains to daily control the level of moisture, add water.
- A well-swollen bone is ready for transplanting into the ground.
Important! Having decided to grow one or more dates, planting additional seeds will be the right decision. Some sprouts will die under the influence of pathogenic microbes or inept actions during transplantation, safety net will not hurt.
Date palm transplant rules
Palm trees under the age of 4-5 years are transplanted annually, adult plants - after 2-3 years. Perform the procedure in the spring. Then, once a year / six months, the upper soil layer is removed, the vacated area is covered with new soil. For transplanting, a pot 3-4 cm larger in diameter is used. The bush is carefully transferred to a new container, the voids are filled with soil. When choosing a finished soil mixture, the option "For palm trees" is suitable. Having decided to prepare the soil yourself, you should adhere to the following proportions:
- 2 parts of light clay-soddy soil;
- 2 parts of humus-sheet composition;
- 1 part peat;
- 1 part of rotted manure;
- 1 part of sand;
- a small amount of charcoal.
Date Robelini
How the soil should be: loose, soft, moisture, and breathable. At the bottom of the pot, a drainage layer should be organized that maximally prevents stagnation of water. The capacity for planting should not be wide, but high, providing comfortable placement of long roots.
Care Tips
In order for an adult indoor date tree to decorate the house, caring for it over the years requires taking into account important points:
- Palm tree is afraid of drafts. Ventilating the room in autumn or winter, you should protect the plant from the flow of cold air.
- For palm care, well-maintained, soft, chlorine-free water with a temperature of 20 ° C is suitable.
- Leaves need daily spraying, wiping with wet sponges. So the palm will be protected from pests, will gain a well-groomed appearance. Every week the culture is subjected to a real soul, covering the ground with a film.
- Cropping or breaking off the top of the palm is not allowed. The death of the plant is inevitable.
- Palm trees are fed with miners and organics: every 2 weeks in the warm period and once a month in the winter. Suitable for palm trees and deciduous plants. Fertilizers are preferably added to wet soil, in diluted form.
How to care for a decorative date at home
The date palm from the stone can decorate the interior or completely destroy coziness and comfort. If the plant is sick, it looks rather unsightly: the foliage turns yellow, darkens, falls off, the trunks become soft, a putrefactive smell is formed. Diseases appear when improperly maintained or attacked by pests.
Watering mode
Having planted a palm from the seed while the plant sprouts, watering is required rare, on the verge of complete drying of the soil. As the young bush forms, it is important to control the topsoil (2-3 cm), watering is carried out as it dries.
The water remaining in the pan should be drained immediately. In winter, plant life cycles slow down, and hydration is minimized. Stagnation of moisture will lead to the death of the root system, dates will die.
Lighting requirements
It is preferable to plant a palm tree in a well-lit place, constantly turning the stem to the sun, all leaves will participate in the photosynthesis process. Without light, the leaves stretch out, unevenly develop and become fragile.
Note! The optimum temperature in the warm period is 20-25 degrees, in autumn and winter - 15-18 ° C. Plants easily tolerate short-term temperature drops (up to 8 degrees).
Placing dates on the battery in winter threatens to overheat. The marble floor or window sill adversely affects the sensitive root system of the palm. Decorative supports of the required height will solve the problem. In summer, the best place is outdoors without drafts. In the sultry period, the plant has to be shaded briefly, preventing the appearance of sunburn.
Why date palm leaves darken
If the leaves darken, curl into a tube and fall off, small brown plaques appear on the surface, these are the first symptoms of the appearance of unexpected guests. Date palm is vulnerable to mealybug, thyroid gland, spider mite. Resist pathogens soap solution (it is better to use a simple laundry soap for washing), garlic juice or Actellika.
Date palm dries
Pale yellow-green shades of the palm indicate an excess of light or damage by a red spider mite. Brown spots on the leaves signal the need to reduce watering. In case of insufficient soil moisture, the plant will lower the leaves, too dry air will cause the tips of the leaves to dry. Softening the trunk and darkening of the leaves are the results of excessive watering. The problem is usually accompanied by an unpleasant odor.
The benefits and harms of dates
Dates are a sweet and healthy treat that can replace sweets or sugar. Fruits contain B vitamins, carotene (provitamin A) and vitamin K. Of the mineral components, fruits are especially rich in potassium, contain calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and iron.
A small content of sodium, zinc, copper and manganese is also preserved. The calorie content of dates reaches 280-340 kcal per 100 grams of product, depending on the variety.
