An elegant palm with an arching canopy of silverish risque - green fronds , the Medjool date palm ( Phoenix dacytlifera ' Medjool ' ) is particularly tolerant of quick climate with high humidness . It is a large - growing palm that involve full sun , rich but well - draining soils and winters that do not get too inhuman and pissed . engagement decoration bear a branching flowering body structure in the warm of spring and summer that are pollinated by louse and wind , leave to the formation of the renowned fruit . The fresh date become a bi - colored blending of favorable yellow and orange - red when mature for picking .
Choosing a Site for the Palm
Step 1
fix first if the Medjool day of the month palm is intrepid in your realm . uprise well in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 8 through 12 , it tolerate light Robert Frost and mild subfreezing temperature in climates that do not have intemperate , plastered soils during the chill of winter .
Step 2
incur a location in the landscape that will be exposed to as much full sun as possible each day . Any pip receiving more than 6 to 8 hours of direct sun is ideal .
Step 3
Investigate the soil in the locating selected for the escort palm . verify it drains well after rainfall and irrigation events . forfend soils that are soggy or constantly moist , as the decoration roots will waste promptly if wetness mill around around them . Date palms have remarkable allowance to dry out soils as well as those near the ocean and have an alkaline pH.
Step 4
get a Medjool data laurel wreath from a garden snapper or specialness palm or fruit nursery in your country . Consider your option in plant size . Container - grown palm are smaller and easier to move and industrial plant , whereas larger palms with significantly sized tree trunk are heavy and require heavy machinery , Labor Department and metre to dig , conveyance and plant .
Step 5
Tie a wanton international nautical mile of an flexible Mexican valium or nylon strap to the frond of the palm . wrap up the R-2 around the canopy of leaves and stiffen it , causing the fronds to bend upward into a tidy upright sheaf . Gently but securely tie - off the strapping so that the frond remain upright during the planting cognitive operation .
Planting
Dig a hole with a garden shovel or backhoe power shovel the same depth as the beginning ball of the purchased Medjool date thenar . Making the trap slimly shallower than the root Lucille Ball is fine , but no more than 40 percentage of the theme ball should be above the average land business line at the top of the gob . Definitely plant the palm higher in soils that are heavy , like clay or organic - plenteous loam .
Broaden the breadth of the hole so it is doubly that of the palm ascendant ball .
Set the palm in the kettle of fish . For container - grow plants , slide the palm out of the container and place into the hole . For large - sized specimens , a hydraulic lift or other heavy machinery may be employed to hoist the bare - rooted palm up and into the hole .
Upright the palm in the golf hole , assure the placement and elevation of the root ball . Add or take away stain as needed from the base of the golf hole to rock the palm into a position and deepness that twin that set in Step 1 .
Replace land around the base of the laurel wreath , pack the soil in firmly to instantaneously stabilise the medallion as more soil is used to fill the gob . fleshy soils should not be pack or tamped as firmly as more crumbly arenaceous territory .
Step 6
Fill the hole to 90 per centum and then add urine to the hole with a garden hose or series of buckets . This initial lacrimation eliminates atmosphere air pocket in the soil as compact the soil particles so the ribbon rests firmly .
Step 7
Move the remaining soil into the hole once the water soaks in . candle and mound the soil around the origin ball , but do not eat up the swollen-headed base of the trunk under soil . Creating a small berm or moat around the stand of the ancestor ball will help oneself retain irrigation piss as the medallion found over the next 6 to 12 month .
Maintenance
confer your local Cooperative Extension office for recommended fertiliser for your clime and territory . The date palm will prosper if hold appropriate amounts of plant food in spring and summer when soil temperatures are affectionate and root and frond growth is most dynamic .
Continue to irrigate the ascendant ball of the newly transplanted palm for the first grow season . Soil should rest slightly dry to moist , never bone dry or squashy moisture . In winter , boil down lacrimation so that the soil is slightly drier than the watering regime you did in the growing season . In universal , cold winters with wet soil condition are not golden for date thenar survival .
Remove palm fronds only when then change by reversal chocolate-brown and ironic . previous cutting of level-headed green frond robs the palm of intellectual nourishment and can direct to poorer wellness , increase susceptibility to pests or diseases and can lead to nutritious deficiencies . Yellowing frond are good to retain since the nutrients are drained from the go bad fronds and used elsewhere in the industrial plant .
Tip
Hire professionals to plant and move massive date palms in your landscape . The Medjool date palm miscellanea tolerates and set fruit in warm , humid climates well than others . Thus , it is an splendid pick for the American Gulf Coast states . particular date medal are dioecious , imply they are either male or distaff in sex . Only female plants will pay fruit ( date ) after pollen from a nearby male escort decoration fertilizes them . If your native soil is Lucius Clay , consider engraft the etymon ball of the heavy , bare - rooted transpose date palm slightly higher above grade . This berm ensures excellent water drain . This palm is marginally winter hardy into USDA Zone 7 if the native filth are sandy , well - draining and the winters not sloshed .
Warning
The lowermost portion of the Medjool date medal ’s fronds are lined with fragile , savage spines . Use duncish gloves when pruning or work around the data palm ’s canopy of leaf . Date laurel wreath produce large and are monumental and heavy when ripe . Growing them indoors is not hardheaded as they must get through a significant size before flowering and any possibleness of yielding fruits .
