Jump to content
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT LOGGING IN ×
  • WELCOME GUEST

    It looks as if you are viewing PalmTalk as an unregistered Guest.

    Please consider registering so as to take better advantage of our vast knowledge base and friendly community.  By registering you will gain access to many features - among them are our powerful Search feature, the ability to Private Message other Users, and be able to post and/or answer questions from all over the world. It is completely free, no “catches,” and you will have complete control over how you wish to use this site.

    PalmTalk is sponsored by the International Palm Society. - an organization dedicated to learning everything about and enjoying palm trees (and their companion plants) while conserving endangered palm species and habitat worldwide. Please take the time to know us all better and register.

    guest Renda04.jpg

Prospects for Commercial Date Palms


ahosey01

Recommended Posts

Hey guys,

Hoping I can lean on the PT community here for some advice.

My wife and I are planning to purchase a small amount of acreage to set up a mom-and-pop commercial date operation.  Since dates have been cultivated for literally thousands of years, the literature on them is dense and there is a lot of information to be found.  This is still a few years off, but we're in the site selection process now, so we can ballpark the investment and work out plans for funding, startup, etc.

Here are the requirements I am aware of:

  • Daytime temps consistently above 90 (preferably 95) during fruiting season.
  • Overnight lows above 65 during fruiting season, preferably above 70.
  • No early frosts (late frosts are fine)
  • Low-moderate humidity (no SFL)
  • High water table (4-6 ft preferable, 10-20 ft acceptable with periodic flooding)
  • Soil must be alkaline.  Salt is mostly acceptable.

Late-summer rains can also ruin your crop for most varieties.  There are exceptions to this.  If the rainy season starts in September and your summers are hot enough, you can grow Amir Hajj because they ripen early.  Barhi dates can be grown where there are late-summer rains, because they're typically harvested before they are dried and have the consistency of apples.  Hayani and Braim dates can be grown where there are late-summer rains, because they can be picked and ripened under refrigeration.

I am trying to get creative and find property somewhere outside of the typical growing areas, because you pay a huge premium for good date-farming land in the Coachella Valley, the Bard Valley or the Palo Verde Valley.  I don't need a ton of land.  We are thinking 20-40 acres to start.  I had read an article about a failed operation in Laredo, TX, in the 1920's - but from what I can tell, the failure was due to the fact that the grower attempted to grow them from seed - rather than offshoots - and wound up with too many male plants and poor fruit quality.

Anybody have any ideas?  Willing to go international to Mexico or S.A., too, if that's the only option.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For optimum fruit quality you'll need higher temps than the 95 listed above.  This also depends on the variety, medjool seems to be a little more lax about that as I have heard they bear fruit in Florida etc.  But get this, one reason there isn't more commercial date production in Phoenix is because it's NOT QUITE HOT ENOUGH! (at least for some varieties) If you can believe that, also the monsoon rains can interfere with fruit quality, that's why the commercial producing parts of AZ are down by Yuma, also check out Dateland between Phoenix and Yuma.  I bought a small book about the history of the Medjool date at the little gift shop at Dateland, lots of interesting stuff there.  So as your looking for land, consider the particular varieties you want to grow and what their needs are, but SW Arizona and SE California are the best climate for dates in US by far.  In addition to low rain you'll need lots of water available, as the saying goes, dates like their feet in heaven and their head in hell.

  • Like 1

Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Xerarch said:

For optimum fruit quality you'll need higher temps than the 95 listed above.  This also depends on the variety, medjool seems to be a little more lax about that as I have heard they bear fruit in Florida etc.  But get this, one reason there isn't more commercial date production in Phoenix is because it's NOT QUITE HOT ENOUGH! (at least for some varieties) If you can believe that, also the monsoon rains can interfere with fruit quality, that's why the commercial producing parts of AZ are down by Yuma, also check out Dateland between Phoenix and Yuma.  I bought a small book about the history of the Medjool date at the little gift shop at Dateland, lots of interesting stuff there.  So as your looking for land, consider the particular varieties you want to grow and what their needs are, but SW Arizona and SE California are the best climate for dates in US by far.  In addition to low rain you'll need lots of water available, as the saying goes, dates like their feet in heaven and their head in hell.

So the calculation as I understand it is not specifically daytime temps - that’s more a general guideline -  but total thermal units over the course of the year.  When overnight lows drop past 50F for longer than a week or so, the plant stops its fruiting cycle.  At least that’s what I have read.

Ive found several ag journals describing small but successful date farms in coastal Peru and Chile, where daytime highs are rarely above 95, but where those highs last 8-9 months and nighttime lows are almost always 60+.  I think the problem in Phoenix is not that it isn’t hot enough in total degrees per se in terms of maximum degrees, but that it’s not hot for quite long enough.  My understanding is that this has to do with the monsoon season cooling off the daytime highs, and also introducing humidity which can rot the fruit on the palm.

The curious thing about the humidity point, though, is that the date is Oman’s number one crop.  And I believe Omani humidity along the Persian Gulf is like, near-Florida level.  I could certainly be wrong - I’m an American who’s never been.  This is just what I’ve read in the journals.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I too have read that they like they’re head in fire and they’re feet in water. They grew well in Jerusalem which averages about 28C during the summer, which is a bit cool but they reliably get around 5 months without any real rain during the ripening season. However I think the Judean date has been lost to antiquity and the fruit could grow to 13cm long. Real cool if they find a seed of that and bring it’s genetics back into the gene pool.

Ive grown some Medjool dates from US seed and they’ve grown well and I don’t ever intend to get into commercial production. I’m hoping that if they fruit I can at least eat them at that crunchy apple stage as we are too cool wet and humid in summer for the proper dried sweet type of fruit. I’m not sure if Medjool are any good like that though. I’ve had some of the crunchy variety and they were awesome to eat. 

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Upvote 1

Lakeland, FL

USDA Zone 1990: 9a  2012: 9b  2023: 10a | Sunset Zone: 26 | Record Low: 20F/-6.67C (Jan. 1985, Dec.1962) | Record Low USDA Zone: 9a

30-Year Avg. Low: 30F | 30-year Min: 24F

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

I read another article on these resurrected dates a few weeks back. I learnt a lot. It appears that the ancient Israelites were keen date growers who selectively bred their own varieties and possibly traded pups of the best varieties. From the genetic material they resurrected they found a lot of affinities with Egyptian and Babylonian(Iraq) DNA from the Eastern extent of the Phoenix dactylifera range but found that the male pollinators selected were often different varieties taken from far Western areas towards Morocco. That’s probably a simplified explanation and it’s only going on a very small sample size at their disposal. 

After the Roman destruction of Judea in 70 CE it appears that the plantations went into disrepair and some of the art of growing them was lost. Then the trees got old and died and any left were from seed that fell and so on, and over time the varieties were lost. 

I also found out that the Medjool date is a Moroccan variety. 

  • Like 1

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...