When or at what age do date palms..

[Kris]

Dear Date palm lover's  

i have a serious question,assuming a date palm is growing in a desert zone or location..at what age or how tall should it have a hard trunk to put out edible date fruits or flower in case of a male...?

Any statistics on that period of fruiting..Need help in knowing that info !

thanks & love,

Kris  

[Alicehunter2000]

I bought some with a friend a couple of summers ago from Homestead. His had about a foot of trunk. He told me last summer that it had fully formed dates on it. He should know (He's Lebanese). So I would say at least one foot of trunk.

[Cristóbal]

hi kris

phoenix dactylifera - desert date palm - will give fruit at about 7 years in the desert. heres a foto of early flowers starting coming from crown in spring. how tall ? trunk of 3-4 meters.

[Kris]

Dear David & Dear Crystal  

thanks for the very important information,since my date palm is around 8 years in ground and it does not have a one feet trunk yet and its located where it gets only filtered sun light..

but this year to my surprise it has put out the fruting or flowering stalk..its comming out as huge spear ! and iam overjoyed ! since its raised from seeds taken from fruits of whole dates from california.

i have started taking pictures of it and i will put them as they bloom...till then if you all have stills of what i have asked kindly feel free to share it here..

And i must say iam very happy...

thanks & love,

Kris  

[Kris]

Dear Friends  

how or when we will know that this date palm in discussion is a male or a female...since today morning i went near it to see,which i did not want to see.yes their were beautiful white flowers in the opened spear ! is it temperaory stage before the fruits emerge or that it ! is it a male then since the flower is like small white jasmine flower or a white pop-corn that we have in movie theaters...

since i have never been a fan of the male species of the phoenix...! friends where do i stand...yes,you are asking for visuals,i will take as soon as the raining stops !

Dear Robbin i know you have male CIDP can you narrate your experience in I.D it as a male or female date that i have...

Really if the answer is its a male,i think its the most disappointing news of this year ! 8 to 10 years of waiting is a total waste ?

God give me some patience....! i feel really P....-Off !  

love,

Kris.

[aztropic]

By your description,it does sound like a male plant.The female would have little visible dates behind the flowers.

Sorry

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[Kris]

Dear Scott & Friends  

here are the visuals of that date palm ! how long should one wait to see that little dates as you said..any time frame 7 days or 2 weeks ? of blomming of the spear...!

thanks & love,

Kris  

[Kris]

All the following stills are taken on the same day...but different angles & range !

[Kris]

.-.

[Kris]

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[Scott Mcintosh]

Kris, That looks like a MALE tree.

[Kris]

(Scott Mcintosh @ Mar. 25 2008,10:03)

QUOTE

Kris, That looks like a MALE tree.

Hoo No.............it can't be like this.....!

Love,

Kris  

[Scott Mcintosh]

Kris, Look at the bright side of it. You will need a male tree for good fruit set. Now find a female tree. I have a female tree. I get no fruit, I have no male tree.

[simona]

Male flower:

Or mine:

&here, female flower:

[Kris]

I feel preety high & dry...! 8 to 10 years of waiting to show all that i have a cal date palm growing in our garden...! since many had challanged that its a desert tree and it will never survive our wet humid tropical climate....this and that !

Kris......

.

[simona]

I'm sorry Kris.....

Male Flowers Attract Bees

Female Flowers Do Not!

Male Flowers Have

Pollen Filled Sack Structures

Female Flowers Do Not!

So just as Scott said, please look at the bright side....you'll need this male one.

[Scott Mcintosh]

Kris, It is still a date palm. I think it looks great. I have 16 Phoenix palms in my yard 13 male, 3 female. I will try to root a sucker off of my female Date palm. I hear it can be done.

[simona]

(krisachar @ Mar. 25 2008,10:36)

QUOTE

I feel preety high & dry...! 8 to 10 years of waiting to show all that i have a cal date palm growing in our garden...! since many had challanged that its a desert tree and it will never survive our wet humid tropical climate....this and that !

Kris......

.

The point is, you just proved that it can be done! Your palm survived! it not only survived but it also flowered for you!

Even if you had a female one....the result would have been the same: no dates...

[Kris]

Thanks very much to Dear Simona & Dear Scott !

i get your point,i must say in our yard their is a another date palm just behind this male cal date palm.that one was raised from seeds from muscat dates..lets see when its going to surprise me as to what it is,it has not fruited or flowered but its of the same age.but its body also looks slender as this male guy.and not stout at all ? i must say right in the first place i wanted to grow CIDP but could not have accesses to that buety till i met M@x he sent me hundreds of these as seeds and also saplings of red & std fruticas.and they are growing fine at my roof top ! at this rate iam scared that if i buy a chainsaw,which is in my wish list,i might take on the P.sylversteris,Cal dates & muscat dates(If males)to be replaced with talipot palms & Cidp's..

My mind does not seen to think properly...preety confused now,as to what next..

But friends thanks a lot for cheering me up ! but what ever i do i will certainly ask everyones suggestion that's a promise..and also i will update on stills as to how this date palm is turning out...(Progression stills) !

love,

Kris.

[simona]

Keep up the good job, Kris! You're doing great!

[Kris]

New updates...!

[Kris]

.-.

[Kris]

- -

[Kris]

Lets see the flowering stalk after 2 weeks...

[Kris]

A close-up of that above...

[Kris]

Once the flowering stalk has emptied,i did cut that stalk as it was looking odd on the date palm tree..

But to my surprise,the date palm smells sweet as though the flowers are still there in full bloom.inspite we had twice mild rains..!

[_Keith]

Kris,

I try not to let my palms date until they are at least 16 years old.  

And even then I insist on a chaperone for the first few dates.

Although I don't know why I try.  Sooner or later, they wind up with every pollen in the neighborhood, anyway.  

Keith

[Kris]

Dear Keith  

i have a suggestion to make on the above statement !

in my case i only hear to what my heart say's and never bother much about the age or the calander... ???

And 90% of the times the inner voice had led me rightly... ::  :laugh:

And i assume that you can read between the lines.....

lots of love to you,

Kris  

[Tad]

kris here the males do it pretty early, like with less than a foot of trunk.

[Tad]

this is the one flowering

[Kris]

Dear Tad  

How are you and those stills are very nice..And i must say a thread or a post becomes more intreasting with more of people's opnion & interaction...And when Pro's in this field like you participate in the thread,the discussion becomes active & more helpful...to all of us here !  

thanks & love,

Kris  

[FRITO]

Ive been watching some type of phoneix here locally. probably P. dact as its clustering naturally.

it has started to flower for the first time this spring and is just starting to "trunk"

with clumps growing at its base.

Havn't looked closely but its probably male as Tad says they start young.

[iamjv]

Hey Kris, so sorry to hear of your news, sadly I know only to well your disappointment. My CIDP turned out to be male... My Sylvestris turned out to be male... & My CIDPxDacty turned out to be male... now we know why date growers ONLY use pups for new plants-that way they guarantee they'll have a producing palm. Jv

[Tampa Scott]

Kris, This photo is for you, and it is a male CIDP.

[Kris]

Dear Luke,JV & Scott

thanks for all the info's...And Scott thanks for the visuals.and i realised that

male cidps are not as bad looking as i thought so...after all !

thanks & love_to you all,

Kris

[John in Andalucia]

I'm sure this is dactylifera close to my house. Is it male or female? I'm not qualified enough to say, but it's flowering and has date pods most of which are empty!?

Another shot showing suckers at the base..

[Tampa Scott]

It is a female tree. Must not have a male near, if seed are hollow.

[John in Andalucia]

Thanks Scott. There were a few pods with seeds in like 2 or 3 which I brought home with me, but the majority were hollow as you say. The dactylifera is by the roadside on the end of a line of 8 or 9 CIDP's. It's rare to find one around here.

[Tomsky]

I have several varieties of Phoenix palms and use science to determine the sex of each tree. My scientific reasoning is that if fruits are formed after flowering, it is a female. If no fruits are formed, it is a male. Other than that, I know nothing about botany.

Jack

[Kris]

I have several varieties of Phoenix palms and use science to determine the sex of each tree. My scientific reasoning is that if fruits are formed after flowering, it is a female. If no fruits are formed, it is a male. Other than that, I know nothing about botany.

Jack