I germinated one last winter and it is currently maybe 10-12" tall. I will post a picture. I was not all that impressed with the growth over the past year, but maybe it will speed up.

Got 18 seeds from a packet of Medjool Dates at the supermarket. Of those to date, 14 popped in a week and a half.
Also got 10 free ones from "Ortanique" and every single one of those popped in one week.
No "trees" yet, but alot of popped seeds. I'll keep you updated.

i have had roughly the same growht rate as oppalm, with the fronds already didviding in the first year. I am happy with the growth rate of this palm compared to some others.

Hey Andy, I sprouted my Medjools around Christmas time last year, and now nearly all of them have about 4 strap leaves. The biggest seedling is just starting to send up leaves that are approaching splitting stage (I can see the ridges on the top of the leaves). Put them in full sun all day long if possible, and they'll be thicker and grow faster. Supposedly, they like heat, water in a well draining deep pot, and full sun. They have crazy deep root systems, even as seedlings, something like washingtonia. That's why its important to have them in a deeper pot. Watch out for mites indoors. Mine got attacked by mites, and the spears were being eaten.

I may need to re=pot it (only one has sprouted yet) Because they're in comparments only a couple of inches deep.

I have posted this picture before. This medjool date is just over a year old.

Andy

congrats on your dates

I have some to do,but I have not done them yet ( still in the package ) : )

right now waiting on my washys !

When I get home this evening, I will also post a picture of the one I started from seed last winter. I think mine might be mroe developed because it spent the summer outside, my apartment is a constant 80 degrees, and I have some plants lights over it.

Constnat 80, my gas bill would be $200.00 a month if I kept my house that warm. I keep my house at 67-69. My palm sprouts however are under a heat mat so their soil is in the 80s. I have them positioned about 6 inches under the window so they also get direct afternoon sun.
Oppalm-
That's not a bad growth rate. It looks like it's about the same size as my baby king which is about 13-14 months. It doesn't look like it's taking on its adult features but I'm used to that. I have small sabal minors that I germinated two summers ago and the look like giant seedlings. I met someone last winter in Florida who had started a date seed back in 1980 when he lived in New York. He used to drag it in and out until he moved down there about 5 years ago. It's in the ground now and has a couple of feet of trunk. The trunk was about 18-24 inches wide. It produces dates already.
Ed-
I look forward to your picture.

As promised here is the picture. I hope it is decent quality, considering it was taken with my phone with not a very good resolution.

Ed- the picture looks great. Thank you for shareing. I look forward to seeing what mine looks like in a year.

Hello from BKF, CA.

I just noted my P. Dactylifera seedlings have started to sprout too. I planted them back in October from raw seeds taken from grocery store purchased dates grown in southern California.

I'm somewhat tasked with managing some landscaping and I wanted to get some palms into the mix. Bought a couple Canary Island Dates and a couple Pygmy Dates, but decided to try and germinate some seeds on my own and so, turned to the grocery store for seeds as I heard that Medjools were a hardy relatively easy palm to germinate. And I like them better than the bearded Mexican Fan Palms that are prevalent everywhere.

I cleaned my date seeds by eating the fruit and then soaking the pits in water with a bit of table vinegar added for about 12 hours. Then finished rubbing away the remaining material and planted them in two drainable pots, 65 seeds in all.

I planted them at different depths to experiment with results, soaking the peat soil with abundant water after first planting. Then I ignored the whole mess, except for an occassional look, since October 2006, when I planted them. Got a little fungus on the peat and some seeds, but of the 65, I have 7 visible green shoots just starting to poke through the soil and about 9 more seeds that when tugged, indicate that they have started germinating by resisting the tug. I confirmed that the ones that resisted are in fact germinating by pulling one out. The sprouting seeds are the ones planted at the soil surface or just a few centimeters below it.

Note: Keeping the pot dry after the first watering seems to have helped. I did not apply any bottom heating except for general room temp. in my home.

16/65 = 25 percent. Not bad. And there just starting to do their thing. 2 to 3 months germination time.

well my date palm initially took ages to sprout but once it started it took off. sown october 04 and now has its 4th leaf coming. i guess it could have gone faster if i could have potted it into a bigger pot but i was unsure of its growth rate. btw whats a Medjool?

A Medjool Date Palm is the common name for the Phoenix Dactylifera ( binomial nomanclature ), a palm whose range has spread through world-wide cultivation from original limits in northern africa through the middle east.

The Medjool is the more common edible date palm.

There are many varieties of palm, most of which provide human cultivators with some sort of product, though not all have edible fruit. Not all palms have edible fruit, but in some cases, other parts of such palms are edible, eg. people eat the heart or inner pulp-wood of certain palms and not the fruit. Palm oils, leaves and other parts of palms have various uses, depending upon the palm.

Very commonly, palms are used for landscaping or ornamental plants, both indoor and outdoor because of their exotic and unusual appearance and in some instances, manageable size.

The Medjool is then, just one of many varieties of palm.

Whoa!

These little saps root D E E P !!!

For those of you reading this who are laughing at me for planting over 30 seeds in one pot ... laugh away!

I tried separating them out and yikes!! I'd read about the remote germination of Medjools requiring a deep container, but this presented a unique problem to separate dozens of saps from each other. I think I killed some in the pocess.

I settled on 2 liter plastic soda bottles, cutting off the top, just below the round and slitting the bottoms to provide drainage. I figure I can cut away the plastic when its time to transplant them outdoors. Try holding a sappling straight in one of these while adding soil around its foot long root and you are definitely in for an adventure. And get lots of potting soil. With 2 liter soda bottles, you are bound to run out real quick!

Might I suggest for the naieve first timers among you ( like me ) that you use that so called baggie method and when you see them start to germ, then plant them in the 2 liter plastic bottles.

I'm leaving one of the pots be, so that I can make sure that my fumbling transplant didn't kill all the saps from the first pot.

Next time, I'll know better.

yea they do grow very quick. last year i had to repot mine twice!

Bearstate, THANKS SO MUCH for the 2 liter bottle method. I had never thought of that. Thanks. I am going to try that.

I have mine in little compartments about 2.5 inches deep and an inch wide. I'm afraid if i transplant them that they will die. Mainly because i would not be able to keep the soil at 80 like it is now because of my heat mat.

I had read an internet article about some folks using the card board tube from wrapping paper, due to the remote germination of the seeds involving a deep diving root part.

It seemed too soggy a solution and I think that after cutting the bottom off the 2 liter bottle, it will be easier to push the contents from top to bottom out and into the final planting hole without damaging the plant or exposing its roots to UV sunlight.

The nice thing about 2 liter soda bottles is 1) they're free, 2) they are durable and don't get soggy and 3) you can cut them easily with a knife to get drainage slits and later to remove the bottoms when transplanting time comes around. You can put about 2 seeds in each bottle and with 65 seeds, I'd have about 32 places to plant palm trees.

I think that this idea would work fine for other plants as well.

Andyandy, I'd risk transplanting them as they are going to have trouble in 2-1/2 inches. These plants need to root deep. It's their nature. It's your call.

Transplanted Sappies have survived. Yeah!

I have obtained some 80 more seeds from whole dates purchased at grocery store and am using the baggie method this time. The baggie method is nice as it allows observations. For example, after 7 days, the dry bumpy seeds have absorbed moisture and their coats are now smooth. Still waiting for that first real sign of germination, however.

Due to the Mid January Freeze over North America, my Pygmy Date palms appear to have died. The Canary Island palms survived and seem extra hardy. My Sagos survived as well, but my Australian Tree Ferns died as did many of my Cut Leaf Philodendrons. It was a nasty freeze. Even a hardy Lantana plant here has withered from its former beauty and glory.

I sure hope we don't see a freeze like that again next winter!

Does anyone think it would be of to transplant my little date seedling into a deeper pot. I would not be able to keep the soil at 80 like it at a constant 80. just when the sun was out. other than that the soil would be about 62.

andy - it would be ok to transplant into deeper pots. I had seeds that seedlings that germinated in mid Jan 2007, that I transplanted to deeper containers the first of Feb and they look fine. If you have concerns, take your seedlings off the heat mat for a couple of days before transplanting. and/or transplant a couple at a time and check to make sure the transplanted ones are going to make it (you'll know in a week or ten days) before transplanting the rest.

Andy,

The seedlings I transplanted into plastic soda bottles all survived and are doing well.

Further, I do not use heat mats and they are doing well.

I think the heat mats are really only an assist to get the seeds to germinate. Once you have them growing, I don't think you need to use the heat mats any more. Just let room temp in your home be normal. Give them sappies room to stretch their roots.

BTW: My Australian Tree ferns survived the January Freeze! They are pushing up new fronds. Spring has sprung.

Update, I have two sprouts, one is still in the little compartment I germinated it in. It has one tall skinny stap leat that is about 7 inches tall. A second shoot is now emerging. I re-potted the 2nd sprot in one of those pots that young tomatos come in from the nursery. It didn't seem to be doing anything. It's alive but not growing much. It's in the mid 60s on cloudy days and gets quite warm when the sun is out.

Photo of part of my Soda Bottle Medjool Farm:

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1114524}}

Wow you've got quite a few there. I did go ahead and transplant my 2nd seedling. It was obvious that the 1st transplant had servived ans was growing. The 2nd one i made two days ago and it has not died. The next couple of days should get them growing again as it's supposed to be sunny. Sun through the window means that the soil wil jump into the 80s.

Bear

My hat's off to ya !

Great idea !

It's an old thread, but an on going saga for those who posted to it.

I've just come to the conclusion that my Medjools were getting starved in their 'soda bottle' planters and so, I've picked the 4 bladers out and replanted them, 5 of them in 5 gallon pots and one as an over winter test, in the ground.

Here's the soda bottle managerie ...

{{gwi:1114529}}

and here are 5 four bladers ...

{{gwi:1114530}}

The root balls were in fact getting scrunched up and were in danger of not getting enough nutrients as they were pushed against the bottom of the soda bottles ...

{{gwi:1114531}}

So, hi ho, hi ho, it's off the work we go ...

{{gwi:1114532}}

Voila! At least some of my Medjools have new room to grow and I've likely lost a pound in sweat while tasking this out. I put one in the ground to overwinter as a test and will put more in the ground come Spring if all goes well.

Slow growth so far is obviously attributable to the small pots. I'm expecting more growth now.

It looks like yours are a little ahead of mine. Mine were germinated aproximately as the same time as yours.

Here are my two that are about the same age. This picture was taken a week ago Saturday. I have moved them to a spot where it is much warmer (when it is sunny) but gets a little less sun. The seedlings in the middle are Royals and are the same age as the dates. The Royals have picked up sppen in the new location (until this low 60s rain crap hit us. We are supposed to get some humid high 80s in a few days

Here is a link that might be useful:

Andy,

Try putting them into bigger pots. If your root balls look anything like the pic I showed above, you can bet that they are struggling to find more nutrients and will grow faster if they find it.

Bearstate-
Actually I have already once removed them from these pots and put another 1/2 inch or so of soil to the bottom. Ironically the larger of the two has yet to have a root shoot through a drain hole. The smaller one did and it shot right through one again after I added the soil. I think I might see how they do through our next warm front before I decide to re-pot or not. They keep showing steady growth and they are about 4-6 weeks from going in for the winter. I can place them right on the windowsill. Once I put them in bifgger pots I will need to put them on some kind of stand.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I debated about the bigger pot issue with overwintering indoors on the horizon and finally caved in after taking a peek at the root balls and how crowded they were.

However, I get the feeling that the indoors requirement will only be for about 6 to 8 weeks in December and January, possibly early February, when a really hard freeze might be expected. And even then, for only a few days in that period. Here in BKF, things stay above 30 degrees most of the winter with just a few times, sometimes prolonged when things will get colder. Even rarer, are those times when it is both wet and cold which are the key elements of a deadly hard freeze.

So I opted to pot big and will take them ( the palms ) in only if the weather looks like it'll get nasty cold.

I get the feeling that Phoenix Dactylifera are hardy enough to take it. There are people growing palms as far North as Chicago and reporting success in this forum.

I have some Canary Island Date Palms that came through the hard freeze as if it never happened.

The palm that got battered what Phoenix Robeloenii.

A big pot is still a pot. And a pot can be moved indoors if necessary for a couple days, even if it means putting them in the garage w/o sunlight for a day or two.

That's the plan.

It's nice to hear for the first time chat about what I have already been anticipating ... shorter days and the Sun at a lower azimuth in the sky. Winter sewing season is coming up and I've got a pile of projects waiting in seed to be planted.

:)

Unfortunately here in the Detroit area when they are moved in it's for 6 months. I believe Dates are hardy into the teens but that's adult plants. I think Canary island date palms are a little less hardy and my experience with Roebis is to not let them EVER experince

Yeah,

Here in California, folks get complacent about palms and other tropicals, because normally, they just plain survive with no problems. And even when the cold wacks them, they usually pop back from their root base and are as good as new.

Two of my 4 bladers just went 5 blade after repotting from 1 gallon to 5 gallon containers.

Here's a photo of my Phoenix Dactylifera Medjool palm.

Its about 8 years old. Its the palm in the clay pot.

I bought some Phoenix dactylifera Medjools dates from Sam's Club, and bought some Phoenix dactylifera seeds from banana-tree. The seeds from banana-tree started sprouting after 9 days. I put them in a saucepot, added water and soaked them for three days. After that I put them in a steamer and put the steamer on top of the saucepot with an inch of water in saucepot. I put them on top of my stereo receiver which is always hot. I rinse them 2-3 times a day to prevent rotting.

Here is a link that might be useful: Saucepot & Steamer