wait until the fruit turns orange/brown and is easy to pull off, or starts to drop.

I am still in the process of seeing if my date palm will germinate but I dont think it will. One thing I must add is that the dates were in the refrigerator and now that I think about it, that might be the reason why they wont come up. They will take a long time to fruit (probably around 10 to 15 years from seed (maybe a little less in a really nice climate like san diego). And about that 2,000 year old date palm, it came from a seed in a tomb. Even better it isnt just any date palm, but a judean date palm (not 100% positive about spelling) which is now extinct. So its really cool to think about bringing an extinct species back on the planet especially something that has been gone for 2,000 years. They had to treat it with some fancy chemicals and the first leaf was white and a little discolored, but all the leaves now are green and healthy. It is getting close to fruiting age and is around 5 years old so if its a female, it might make some fruit and seeds. Apparently it has lots of medical purpose so who knows what it can cure! If a 2,000 year old extinct date palm seed can germinate so can yours! Heat is important and just waiting. I hear they can take a while to sprout, but if you see green shooting up, it shouldnt be long. They are nice plants and even though its great to buy an expensive date palm thats ready to fruit, its really nice to start one from a simple seed and watch it make fruit of its own. Good luck!

It honestly isn't as complicated as you make it because most of the issues you raise are growing condition issues like weather and none of us have any real control over them. We can modify them somewhat with things like providing shade to prevent sun scald and reduce temps or erect windbreaks etc. but the rest is just the normal risks of gardening and while we can anticipate them we can't control them. Some years gardening is good, some years it is bad. You just start your seeds 6-8 weeks before your plant out date which for your fall season, according to the knowledgeable posters on the Florida forum, is late Sept. to early Oct. The plants are done and pulled and replaced with the spring plants in February, weather permitting. DTM is just a very lose guesstimate and of little practical use, especially in the southern zones, so ignored for the most part. Ask Tom and some of the other regular posters on the Florida forum for details on how they compensate for bad year growing conditions. Hope this helps. Dave

My fridge doesn't get warm on top, or barely so. Mary, I use heating cables rather than mats, and always have so can't offer much personal advice. However, I believe that the mats are intended to be effective without the use of an additional thermostat UNLESS directions indicate that a controller is required. My suggestion is to visit the websites of the manufacurers directly and find a customer service phone number or website in order to get your specific questions answered. They are probably most efficient when used with plastic flats that many of us use for germinating seeds. The standard flats measure somewhere around 10X20 and mats are sized to accomodate them. I use two or three flats to germinate what I (and a couple of neighbors) need. My cable has a built-in thermostat.