Producing edible date fruit in florida

[Angel]

I live in St.petersburg florida and I would like to some day produce edible fruit from my seedlings. I have over a hundred seedling and a few different varieties that I brought back from different countries during my travels. I was inspired by this video documentary I seen on on YouTube called-motaleb grows Saudi dates- very amazing story this poor guy lost his wife was humiliated and harassed by his neighbors but he still held on and is now the first person to produce dates in Bangladesh. I did some research and the area in Bangladesh where this date orchid is has very similar humidity levels as St. Petersburg fl. Now i know that in the Arab countries they hand pollinate and they cover the fruit while they ripen. I was wondering if anyone in florida has tried this method and also what about growing in a huge greenhouse with dehumidifiers inside of it?

[Moose]

Its too humid in Florida. A greenhouse with a dehumidifier would be quite an expenditure. With so many other fruiting plants you could cultivate in St. Pete, why not just go buy dates?

[_Keith]

Every few years the weather may cooperate and give you an edible crop. Until then, just enjoy the beautiful palms.

Or produce seedlings for sale.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Don't the fruit just rot right off during the wet season? If you love dates so much you should move to the California desert, you'll be able to grow hundreds of varieties and even make money selling them.

[Jason in Orlando]

I see trees which appear to produce mature fruits here in Orlando, but I have no knowledge of what exactly makes the date mature, and this may be no more than an untrained eye making a poor observation. The general consensus here tends to be what Moose said; it's too humid and they don't produce acceptable fruit.

You mentioned a date orchid. Do you know what species that is?

Jason

[Xerarch]

I posted the following on another thread where Angel had the same thought.

"Dates are very sensitive to both humidity and rain during certain
periods of fruiting, both of these are far too prevalent in Florida to
expect good quality, the fruit will split if exposed to moisture. Hand
pollinization is a must, without pollination, the tree will still
produce fruit, so don't be fooled, it will just be smaller, not have
much of a pit if anything at all, less moisture, and most important, the
fruit won't taste nearly as good. Also, as has been stated above,
dates really want blazing heat, not 90's, has to be 100's. now, having
said all this, everything I read has to do with commercial production
and I have often wondered if suitable dates can be grown in non-ideal
conditions. Maybe quality can be "good enough" somewhere where
commercial production is not viable. As far as the dehumidifiers, that
idea is really shooting for the stars, but if your crazy enough to try
we'd all sure love to see the results, good luck.


Btw here is a interesting quote from "The Encyclopedia of Cultivated
Palms" in the section on P. dactylifera, "The date palm does not produce
quality fruits in humid climates, no matter how much heat is apparent
during the summer; However, 2 cultivars can produce fruits in such
regions as the Gulf coast of the United States: P. dactylifera 'Medjool'
and P. dactylifera 'Zahedii'"


I would really like to hear from some gulf coast folks that can attest
to the quality of medjool fruit in the gulf coast, I know it will
produce fruit, but how is the eating quality?"

I hope this thread will gain some traction because I would like to know more, to know what experiences people have had.

[bubba]

I have asked a similar question on this board that did not produce much traction. Although I have heard references to some Phoenix that produce edible fruit from time to time in the Key's in a particularly dry year, I was more interested in attempting to isolate that point, probably in Texas, where the lack of humidity allows the fruiting of Dates. I do not know if that would occur at the Western range of the Rio Grande Valley or a further point like Laredo.

I have no realistic intention of edible Dates in Florida and will never give up that up that Date Milkshake Hut in the middle of that Date Grove near Indio.

[Xerarch]

Thought I'd resurrect this to see if we can learn any more, I guess I jinxed myself with my last comment of hoping that this thread would "gain some traction"

[_Keith]

The second paragraph is consistent with all I have heard over the years.

http://www.treemart.com/html/medjools.html

[Kris]

I think if you have a male and female date palm at mature size you will definitely get edible grade dates.but the taste its quantity and fruit size will be erratic.some times for a couple of years no fruits at all.

here in our house we have sylvester

palm female,date palm male but the palms being in hot wet tropical region the date palm puts out flowers regularly every year but the sylvester palm puts fruits based on the sudden summer rains.i.e if it rains in summer no fruits at all.

if you search for my old threads on date palm you will see many visuals of it.

And if you love to grow them for aesthetic reasons then go ahead.or buy ready made big ones one male and one female. And see how they fair.

[JengForNow]

I'm not sure if FL have a suitable weather for dates fruit but I know that there are a lot of dates farm in AZ and CA like https://coachellasbestdates.com/.

[JengForNow]

I'm not sure if FL have a suitable weather for dates fruit but I know that there are a lot of dates farm in AZ and CA like https://coachellasbestdates.com/.