I recently received a potted Date Palm Tree from a coworker. He said that someone he knows gave it to him after growing it from a seed (I believe). I am trying to find out what variety it is. It is about 5 feet tall with green/silvery fronds that project straight up and slightly to the side. The last 1 inch of the tips of the fronds are slightly brown and are spikey. There's not much trunk yet to be descriptable. I am not sure if it is a Phoenix Dactylifera Zahidi or Medjool. Any help?
seedling date palm I have been growing date palms in California USA for 30 years. Sorry to say that your seedling date palm will not be a named variety. Every seedling is a new variety. To get a true to type variety you must take an offshoot that grows from the side of the parent palm. Half of seedlings will be male and not produce fruit. Of those that are female, perhapse 1% will be a usefull variety. They still make atractive palms though, even if they do not make quality fruit.
I've been growing date palms (Phoenix Dactylifera) for 30 years in Indio, California USA. I grow both the Zahidi and Medjool varieties as well as others. When you grow date palms from seed each seedling will be a new variety. Half the seedlings will be male palms. The other half will be female palms with some of the characteristics of the variety from which it came but not true to type. Perhaps 1% or less of seedlings will be of any value. Seedlings are still attractive palms, so will at least have ornamental value. To propagate a palm true to type, you must cut one of the offshoots that grow from the parent palm. There is a lot of work to doing this. A single palm usually produces offshoots only when it is young (first 10 to 15 years) or sometimes when they are stressed. They sprout from the base of the palm, usually from about the soil line or just a little above. The offshoot must have it's own roots so some care must be taken to encourage roots prior to cutting the offshoots. Once the offshoot is cut, it is usually 6 to 8 years until it bears fruit and 12 years to full production . This time has been shortened somewhat with drip irrigation to 3 to 5 years. Even with drip, it is still 7 or 8 years to full production. Medjool is a variety from Morocco. It is what we call a soft date, having very little invert sugar and more glucose and fructose. It is favored for it's sweet mild taste and large size. Zahidi I believe is from Iraq and is a Simi soft date. I like it for is almost caramel flavor. Because it is a dryer date, it travels well for hikes or snacks on the go.
Artificially pollinating palms was practiced since antiquity, does anyone know when out croos pollination, breeding stc. started to develope? P.S. Any information about that is aprecciated, but I would like to know also specificaly about Citrus breeding.
