Commercial Date Palm Spacing

[ahosey01 1,015]

Is there guidance on how to space commercial date palms in a grove?

I am planting a small grove in my back yard and was curious.

[ahosey01 1,015]

16 hours ago, ahosey01 said:

Is there guidance on how to space commercial date palms in a grove?

I am planting a small grove in my back yard and was curious.

anybody?

[LivistonaFan 208]

14 hours ago, ahosey01 said:

anybody?

I wonder why nobody has an answer to this. After a little Internet research I found that 9 m distance between the tree (stems?) seems to be appropriate. On this website you can find a wealth of Information on the commercial cultivation of date palms: http://www.fao.org/3/Y4360E/y4360e00.htm

[mydateplams 145]

On 12/31/2020 at 12:35 PM, LivistonaFan said:

I wonder why nobody has an answer to this. After a little Internet research I found that 9 m distance between the tree (stems?) seems to be appropriate. On this website you can find a wealth of Information on the commercial cultivation of date palms: http://www.fao.org/3/Y4360E/y4360e00.htm

Im doing 25ft to center apart so the palm fronds do not touch each other when they are larger and to be able to drive in between and then you can also plant something between them.

 

 

[mydateplams 145]

You could even do like 20ft. 

[Robocop 0]

Hey @mydateplams, very helpful info and photos. At the moment I have planted date palms at 20ft x 25ft. It is 20 feet between plants and 25 feet between rows. Then I have done intercropping by planting citrus trees in between the date palms. So it’s like a date palm tree, then after 10 feet a citrus tree and then after 10 feet a date palm tree and so onwards.

I am thinking of expanding the farm and considering planting date palms in square system of 20ft x 20ft and then intercropping them with citrus trees. Do you think the citrus trees will get enough sunlight this way? Or should I stick with 20ft x 25ft?

 

[mydateplams 145]

I think it's going to be really tight trying to do any maintenance and it might work for some time but what happens when the palms are 10,15,20ft. I thought about the same but with olive trees and decided on having them in another location.

I have never seen a date farm or fruit tree farm with them palnted like that.

The image is 25ft and the trees have been planted 6 years making about 8-10years old and no way would a tree fit between them

[mydateplams 145]

When they are young it looks like you could plant anything between them but that space disappears quickly.

[mydateplams 145]

The stick is 12.5 ft

[mydateplams 145]

Last note.  You also want to be able to drive a pickup truck or tractor around them.

[Little Tex 219]

8 hours ago, mydateplams said:

I think it's going to be really tight trying to do any maintenance and it might work for some time but what happens when the palms are 10,15,20ft. I thought about the same but with olive trees and decided on having them in another location.

I have never seen a date farm or fruit tree farm with them palnted like that.

The image is 25ft and the trees have been planted 6 years making about 8-10years old and no way would a tree fit between them

how long until you think they will start trunking?

 

[mydateplams 145]

I have had these for four and one half years planted and have about 100 Medjools with 1ft of trunk and my guess is they have about 3ft-3 1/2 of root ball.

About 3-4 years for one foot of trunk. Check out the older photos so you can see the growth,

Note the fence posts in the back ground are 6ft and now to the top of the fronds are about 9-10ft.

They all flowered this year I just did not pollinate.

[mydateplams 145]

These are medjool from seed three year old.

I have about 200 of these.

 

[ahosey01 1,015]

On 5/14/2022 at 6:17 AM, mydateplams said:

I think it's going to be really tight trying to do any maintenance and it might work for some time but what happens when the palms are 10,15,20ft. I thought about the same but with olive trees and decided on having them in another location.

I have never seen a date farm or fruit tree farm with them palnted like that.

The image is 25ft and the trees have been planted 6 years making about 8-10years old and no way would a tree fit between them

Walter Swingle - the father of American citrus farming - wrote a book about date palm cultivation in the early 1900s.  He said this is how the Arabs grew figs and peaches and almonds and grapes in the middle of the Arabian desert for thousand of years, under the dappled shade of date palm fronds.

Edited May 16 by ahosey01

[mydateplams 145]

It's possible but at a 20ft and 25ft row spacing that's not much room for a tree to grow and have room maybe at 30-35ft.

The average fruit tree width is 25 to 30.