How to grow a date palm out of a bone

A bone from a date bought in a store can be turned into a spreading and fluffy tree. The height of wild plants is from 12 to 30 m, and home plants are about 2 m. The leaves of indoor specimens are wide, rich green. Date palms grown in apartments never produce fruit, but sometimes delight owners with exotic flowers with a bright characteristic aroma.

Preparation of planting material

Fruits from which to extract the bone, must be ripe and juicy, without mold, mildew and unpleasant smell. Planting material obtained from spoiled dried fruit does not produce healthy and strong shoots.

Dates are neatly cut into two pieces and removed. The fruits have oblong cylindrical seeds, covered with a thick coat of reddish or purple-brown hue. In length, they reach 3-4 cm.

The pulp remaining on the bone is removed with a knife or sandpaper. A sharp object cleans the workpiece from the remnants of dates that can rot, and damages the protective capsule. A shell treated with a stiff sponge lets water through better.

Seeds begin to germinate in January or February. It will take from 3 to 6 months to make a thin sprout through the protective capsule, which will turn into a tree. Seeds pour boiling water. Hot water softens the capsule and awakens the core. Planting material for a day is dipped into the Epin solution. The liquid is drained, and the workpiece is shifted to wet gauze. The fabric is folded in several layers so that it retains moisture better and is placed in a plastic container. You can fill the cloth with cotton balls or sawdust. The sphagnum moss, which absorbs a lot of liquid, is also suitable.

Seeds are left in a closed container for 3-4 days. Water is regularly updated. In the stagnant liquid, a fungus and a mold is made, which damages the seeds of the dates and destroys future sprouts.

The plastic container is put on the battery or other heating device. Bones need to be germinated at a temperature of + 30-35 degrees.If done correctly, the planting material will swell in 3 days.

Ready seeds, which have increased in size, are planted in pots. Tanks are filled with a nutrient substrate. Particular attention is paid to the composition of the soil, because it will provide date stones with vitamins and microelements.

If during sprouting, the seeds are set up with thin roots, they do not have to be buried in the ground. Such specimens are simply laid out on the ground and they are waiting for them to be fixed in the soil.

Substrate composition

Dates need loose earth, which retains water. Flower shops have a special soil called “Palma”, but you can also choose the neutral option “Universal”. The composition of domestic soil for the cultivation of date tree includes clay-sod and humus-leaf soil with shredded twigs and pieces of bark. Preparation dial at the edge of the forest, in the park or in the garden. Treat with steam or a strong solution of potassium permanganate to disinfect. In the soil brought from the dacha, insects, microbes and mold spores can live.

Earth is combined with raw sawdust, peat or sphagnum. Add calcined river sand. The coarse-grained component better passes moisture and does not trap excess liquid in the substrate.

It is possible to germinate seeds of a date in peat mixed with sod or clay soil. After the appearance of thin shoots, the future palm tree is transplanted into a container with sand.

The substrate is poured into small pots or ordinary plastic cups. Several holes are made in the bottom through which excess water must flow. Be sure to pour a thick layer of pebbles, expanded clay, foam or broken clay shards. The material has a drainage function, protecting the growing plant from fluid retention and mold. To prevent the development of fungus, charcoal powder is introduced into the substrate. The component absorbs fluid and disinfects the earth.

Soil before planting seeds thoroughly moistened. You can make a little vermiculite. Clay mica retains heat and feeds young shoots. Mineral and organic fertilizers do not use, they only burn unformed roots and slow down the development of date palm.

Landing and departure

The pot is filled with the substrate and a hole 6–8 cm deep is made in the ground. The stone is pushed into the ground vertically and covered with soil. The soil does not need to be tamped. Plastic cups or clay containers covered with plastic wrap. It retains moisture and creates a tropical climate inside each pot. Flowerpots with future date palms are placed next to the battery. Seeds are germinated at a temperature of + 25-30 degrees.

The cups are periodically opened so that condensate does not accumulate on the film, and the earth is saturated with oxygen. The bones awaken and germinate in 1.5–3 months. The first appears a simple thin leaf, and then - the stem of the lancet form. After sprouting the cups with date palm are moved to the southern or eastern sill. The tree will need a lot of sun to form a fluffy crown of rich green. During this period, you need to follow the roots. It is impossible for them to crawl out through the drainage holes.

The plant, which was crowded in a plastic cup, transplanted into a larger pot. The root system is transferred to a new pot with an earthy ball.Most of the seedlings die after transplantation due to damaged young shoots.

Date palms can not be grown in a large box or plastic container, and then carry out a pick. The procedure is dangerous, so the plants do not tolerate it well. After separation and damage to the root system, young trees get sick, wither and die, while others are deformed.

When transplanting plastic cups neatly cut with sharp scissors. A lump of soil is extracted along with the roots and transferred to a clay pot filled with sod and hardwood mixed with peat and sand.

In the first 2–3 years, only individual green skewers are formed in the plant. Wide sheet plates appear after 5–6 years.

Watering and light mode

Date palms are thermophilic. In summer, the temperature in the room should not fall below +30 degrees, and in winter it drops to + 17–20. Young trees tolerate heat, but die due to drought. The soil in which the palm tree grows must always be wet. In winter, the substrate is sprayed from the sprayer, watered in abundantly in summer, and a container with water is placed next to the liquid droplets evaporated and settled on the leaves.

Young plants live on illuminated window sills.The tree pot is regularly turned clockwise. The crown of a palm tree with uneven illumination and irregular distribution of ultraviolet light is stretched and deformed, loses its saturated green color and becomes pale.

The date tree is watered only with distilled or melt water. In the liquid from the tap a lot of harmful impurities that litter the soil with heavy metal salts. It is also suitable rainwater, but it must be defended at least 2-3 days, so that the additives settled on the bottom of the tank.
In the summer, a pot with a palm tree is carried out on the balcony or left in the garden, hidden under higher and spreading trees. Dates are well tolerated in direct sunlight, but feel more comfortable in the shade.

From late spring, mineral fertilizers are applied to the ground along with irrigation. In flower shops sell options for palm trees, which have all the necessary vitamins and trace elements. Date shoots in the summer and autumn are fed 1 time in 10 days. In winter, reduce the amount of water. From December to March, fertilizing is applied once a month.

In the summer, organic fertilizers are used, as well as potassium nitrate. 1 g of the substance is dissolved in 1 l of water.Bring in the substrate after abundant irrigation, so that the feed does not leave burns on the root system. Date palm living in the garden can be fertilized with bird droppings. Use granular variants or weak infusions.

Growing a datestone tree is easy. First, the seeds are stratified and germinated, then regularly watered and fertilized. Young trees are brought to the sun and fresh air, cut, tie up and protect from spider mites, scale insects and mealybug. If you constantly care and take care of the date palm, it will become tall and fluffy, and one day it will delight you with exotic buds.

Video: how to grow a date palm