Is it possible to grow a tree, a palm tree from a date stone? How to grow a date from a stone at home?

26 August, 2019
Houseplants
Suzanne Nyrova

The desire to have a date palm at home often arises in people after a vacation in exotic countries. The implementation of this idea is possible if you plant a date. As a beautiful tropical plant, this crop has long been eagerly grown in homes. However, it is worth knowing that not every type of this palm is suitable for growing at home, and caring for it can be a lot of trouble. Consider how to grow a date palm from a seed, how to care for it, and also discuss what diseases can threaten the plant.

How to grow a date palm from seed

Despite the fact that date palms grow in the tropics, it is quite possible to grow a real date palm at home. It can sprout from the pits of dried or dried dates bought in the store.
The date palm is one of the best ornamental plants for the home. In nature, there are about 17 species of date palms, common in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia and Africa. The birthplace of the date palm is considered to be North Africa and Arabia, where it has been grown for more than 5000 years.

In areas of natural growth, it has long been grown and used for economic purposes. They ate fruits, seeds, even the core of the trunk and young foliage. Dwellings were built from the trunks of the date palm, the roofs were covered with leaves, and mats, baskets, and ropes were made of them. Date palms have been and still remain an important part of the life of the local population for many centuries.

But the date palm grows slowly. The stone will germinate in three months, and beautiful feathery leaves will appear on the plant only after a few years.

Plant a few date seeds vertically into the ground so that the top of the seeds is covered by 1 cm of soil. Date seeds germinate well in a mixture of peat and sand in a ratio. It is better to do this in the spring or keep the pot in a warm place at a temperature of 22 degrees or higher. The ground must be moist.

The sprouts may appear in 1-3 months. This period depends on how dried the date fruits were.

To speed up sprouting, soak the date pits in hot water (80 ° C) for a few minutes before planting, or rub them a little with sandpaper. If cracks appear in the dense shell of the bone, moisture will penetrate deeper faster and the bone will germinate earlier.

After the sprouts reach a height of 10-15 cm, they can be planted in separate small pots.

The soil for a date palm should consist of turf, leafy soil, humus, peat soil and sand (2: 2: 4: 1: 2). It is advisable to add a little chopped charcoal to the pot.

Watering and light regime

Date palms are thermophilic. In summer, the temperature in the room should not drop below +30 degrees, and in winter it drops to + 17–20. Young trees tolerate heat well, but die due to drought. The soil in which the palm tree grows should always be moist. In winter, the substrate is sprayed from a spray bottle, in the summer it is watered abundantly, and a container of water is placed next to it so that the liquid droplets evaporate and settle on the leaves.

Young plants live on lighted windowsills. The pot with the tree is regularly turned clockwise.The crown of a palm tree, with uneven lighting and improper distribution of ultraviolet radiation, stretches and deforms, loses its rich green color and becomes pale.

The date tree is watered only with distilled or melt water. There are many harmful impurities in the tap liquid that clog the soil with heavy metal salts. Rainwater is also suitable, but it must be left to stand for at least 2-3 days for the additives to settle to the bottom of the container. In summer, a pot with a palm tree is taken out on the balcony or left in the garden, hidden under taller and spreading trees. Dates tolerate direct sunlight well, but feel more comfortable in the shade.

Since late spring, mineral fertilizers are applied to the soil along with irrigation. In flower shops they sell options for palm trees, which have all the necessary vitamins and minerals. Date sprouts in summer and autumn are fed once every 10 days. In winter, the amount of make-up is reduced. From December to March, top dressing is applied once a month.

In summer, organic fertilizers are used, as well as potassium nitrate. Dissolve 1 g of the substance in 1 l of water. They are introduced into the substrate after abundant watering so that the recharge does not leave burns on the root system. A date palm that lives in the garden can be fertilized with bird droppings. Use granular versions or weak infusions.

It is not difficult to grow a tree from a date seed. First, the seeds are stratified and germinated, then regularly watered and fertilized. Young trees are exposed to the sun and fresh air, pruned, tied up and protected from spider mites, scale insects and mealybugs. If you constantly look after and take care of the date palm, it will become tall and fluffy, and one day it will delight you with exotic buds.

how to grow pomegranate from seed

How to grow a date from a stone

Needless to say, there is enough plant exoticism on the windowsills of modern florists. However, the absence of a real date palm in the flower collection is a serious incentive for a new achievement. To grow a tropical beauty at home, you only need a date seed, a great desire and a solid supply of patience.

Of course, a house tree will not bear fruit and will not grow to the height of its wild relatives (35 m), but it will look amazing in the interior. In the content, the home date is unpretentious, but it will be useful to adopt several useful recommendations.

Substrate composition

Dates need loose earth that retains water. In flower shops there is a special soil called "Palm", but you can also choose a neutral version - "Universal". The composition of home soil for growing a date tree includes clay-sod and humus-leaf soil with crushed twigs and pieces of bark. The workpiece is collected at the edge of the forest, in the park or in the garden. They are treated with steam or a strong solution of potassium permanganate to disinfect. In the soil brought from the cottage, insects, microbes and mold spores can live.

The choice of planting material

To the great joy of lovers of indoor exotic plants, it will not be difficult to acquire a seed for planting in our time. Of the 17 species of date palm growing in nature, only the following are adapted to domestic cultivation:

The Canary date is the owner of a feathery trunk and narrow, hard leaves, growing up to 2 m in height.
Robelena - has a chic dense leafy crown and grows up to 1.5–2 m in height.
Finger dates - not as chic in appearance as the previous ones, but the most unpretentious and fast-growing species.

In addition to purchased seeds, a bone from a dried fruit purchased at a grocery store is suitable as a planting material. By the way, a finger date will grow from dried fruit, the berries of which are famous all over the world for their unusual honey-sweet taste.

Possible growing problems

The palm tree is very sensitive to the observance of all care rules. When deviating from them, the leaves are the first to suffer.

The tips of the leaves dry out - the air is too dry, you need to spray the plants more often.
Leaves turn yellow - lack of moisture, you need to water more often.
Leaves darken - waterlogging, reduce the amount of watering.
The date palm stops growing - it's too cold indoors. At temperatures below 16 degrees, the roots function poorly, practically not absorbing nutrients. Another reason may be the high acidity of the soil. It acidifies when watered with hard water. Such a plant will have to be transplanted.

In general, caring for an indoor giant is not so difficult. Palms are very responsive to care and will delight the grower with good growth and a healthy look.

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

Presowing seed preparation

In order for the seedlings to turn out to be healthy and of high quality, the bone (or several, if you want to play it safe) must go through several stages of processing before sowing:

Cleansing - the stone is removed from the date and thoroughly washed under warm, running water. It is important that even the smallest particles of pulp are not left on the seed coat that can cause rotting processes in the soil after planting. The washed seeds are allowed to mature for a day.
Awakening - to speed up germination, the seeds are put in a colander and poured over with boiling water or immersed in hot (about + 70 °) water for several hours.
Soaking - the treated seeds are placed in “cocoons” made of cotton wool, abundantly moistened with water, put in a shallow dish and removed to a very warm (about + 30 ... + 35 ° C) place until they swell. To prevent the material from drying out, a little water is poured into the mini-incubator every day.

When the bones swell noticeably, it's time for sowing. The best time for this procedure is the end of February - early March.

Many experienced flower growers recommend breaking the integrity of the seed shell before sowing - rubbing with sandpaper, cutting with a knife, piercing with a needle. However, as practice shows, well-swollen bones germinate successfully without these procedures, and in the absence of experience they are very easy to damage.

Transplanting a young palm tree

When a young palm tree grows to 15 cm, it is transplanted, then this is done every year along with the soil (its roots are very vulnerable) in April, then once every three years. In plants older than 10 years, the topsoil is changed. The day before, they water the ground well. Drainage (brick, expanded clay) is laid at the bottom of a high pot, the composition of the soil does not change. The dishes are chosen 4 cm larger than the previous one. The palm tree is removed from the old pot very carefully, trying not to damage the roots and leaves, shake off the ground, placed in another container, fill the voids with soil.

It is impossible to cut off the top and form the crown of a palm tree, it is the point of growth of the tree, only damaged and old leaves are removed

Sowing features

A container for sowing date seeds can be a small plastic container or separate pots about 8 cm high. The nutrient substrate is prepared from turf, humus, sand and peat (2: 2: 4: 2) with the addition of a small amount of charcoal. The seeds are planted vertically, covering them with a layer of soil about 1 cm thick. The surface of the substrate is covered with sphagnum moss or the container is covered with a transparent film. While waiting for germination, crops are kept warm (about +25 ° C), maintaining soil moisture. Date bones are hard to germinate, the process can take from 3 to 6 months.

With the appearance of the first shoots, the shelter is removed, and when the seedlings grow up to 10-15 cm in height, they are transferred to a permanent place. At the same time, the composition of the substrate is not changed, but the capacity should be higher - about 10–12 cm. A prerequisite for the full development of palms is good drainage.

How to plant a bone correctly

As a soil for planting, a substrate for indoor flowers from a store is suitable. You can cook it yourself: mix equal parts peat, raw sawdust and river sand. Such soil is optimal for a young plant, but in the future, during the first and subsequent transplants, the pot will need to be filled with another soil. Proportions:

humus - 40%;
sod land - 20%;
sheet soil - 20%;
sand - 20%;
peat - 10%.

Germination of date seeds The planting process should be carried out as follows:

Deepen the peeled and processed seeds into the ground in a strictly vertical position.
Sprinkle on top with a centimeter layer of the same soil.
Place the container and seeds in a warm place (+ 22 ... 25 ° С). It is possible directly on the heating radiator.
Water sparingly so that the soil does not dry out, but the water does not stagnate either.

Attention! With proper care, in 2-3 months a sprout will break through from the ground - a juvenile leaf. Then it will grow into an arrow, consisting of 2-3 sharp leaves.

Conditions of detention

A flower grower who wants to grow a real date palm should be patient. Young plants do not look very impressive, and it takes at least 5 years for them to become a luxurious element of the interior. In the meantime, the pet grows and prettier, it should be provided with proper care:

The pot with a young palm tree must be systematically (preferably every 10-15 days) rotated around its own axis by 180 ° so that all leaves are equally illuminated. From prolonged stay in the shade, the leaf plates become brittle and elongated, develop unevenly and gradually stop growing. In addition, uneven lighting can make the palm grow lopsided and unstable.
It is very important to protect the pet from drafts, which are destructive for her.
The usual room temperature from +22 to +26 ° C is quite comfortable for a palm tree. With sufficient humidity, it easily tolerates heat up to +35 ° C. In winter, if possible, it is recommended to lower the content temperature to +18 ° C.
The soil under the tree should always be slightly moist, therefore it is very important to correctly organize the irrigation regime. In summer, the procedure is carried out at least 3-4 times a week, in winter 1-2 times every 7-10 days will be enough. For irrigation, it is recommended to use settled, warm (about +20 ° C), preferably non-chlorinated water.
The date palm is also sensitive to ambient humidity. Every day, the crown of the tree must be sprayed with a spray bottle and the leaves must be wiped off dust with a damp sponge, and once a week the plant is given a warm shower, during which the soil is covered with polyethylene. Regular water treatments not only provide the pet with a well-groomed appearance, but also serve as an effective measure against attacks of pests.

Note! It is strictly forbidden to cut or break off the top of the palm tree, since it is it that is the only point of growth of the tree.

In the spring, when it gets warmer outside, it is useful to take the home date out into the open air. The "walk" time is increased gradually, but at night the tree can be left in the garden or on the balcony only when the danger of recurrent frosts has finally passed. In the open air, it is recommended to place a young palm in a light shade from buildings or spreading trees so that the delicate leaves do not suffer from the burning rays. Despite the fact that in natural conditions the date spends most of its life under the scorching sun, a house tree may not endure such a test.

How to care

Standard care includes:

abundant watering;
timely feeding;
pruning;
seasonal transplant.

Selection of soil and pot

For planting dates, it is best to use disposable cups with drainage holes. They must be filled with sterile soil, which consists of the following components:

sheet land - 1 part;
perlite - 1 part;
vermiculite - 1 part.

The ground level should be 1 centimeter below the edge of the glass. After planting, the surface is covered with charcoal. The condition of the soil is warm and moist. The pot should be made of plastic or light wood.

Location and lighting

The date palm is a light-loving plant. Remembering the habitat of palm trees, we can conclude that the plant needs a spacious, bright room with a minimum of furniture and a sufficient amount of diffused light. Indoor palms do not tolerate direct sunlight, which causes leaf burns. The plant must be rotated regularly, otherwise the leaves will not grow evenly. In summer, the date can be placed on the balcony.

Temperature, humidity, watering

The optimum temperature during the growth of a palm tree in summer and autumn is + 20 ... + 25 ° С. The root system of date palms can hardly stand the cold: it is undesirable to place the plant on a cold floor and windowsill.

Under natural conditions, the date grows in regions with little rainfall. Thanks to its long roots, the plant is able to extract water from the depths of the earth, even in the driest times. But in home care, the palm tree needs a sufficient amount of moisture. It is recommended to drain the excess water accumulating in the pan after watering. It is recommended to water the dates with soft warm water without chlorine. Watering with hard water can lead to plant disease.

Give the plant a shower once a week. The soil must remain dry during this procedure. As a result, it is better to cover the topsoil with a film. Frequent watering is required in the spring-summer period - from April to August. The frequency of watering in winter should be reduced to one per week.

Fertilizers and feeding

For feeding, you must use fertilizers purchased in a specialized store. It is preferable to purchase top dressing in liquid form with a high nitrogen content. This chemical is responsible for the increased growth of the green crown. Before applying top dressing, it is necessary to moisten the soil with plain water. In spring and summer, top dressing is carried out 2 times a month, and in winter - 1 time per month. It is also permissible to use feeding from bird droppings (chicken, pigeon).

In order to independently prepare fertilizer, the third part of a three-liter jar must be filled with bird droppings and topped up with water. The mass should be infused for 10 days, stirring regularly. Plants should be watered with a liquid consisting of 1 part fertilizer and 10 parts water.

Transfer

The roots of the plant are very fragile and easily damaged. Therefore, a plant with a clod of earth is transplanted in the spring, using the transshipment method. When transplanting, the plant is preliminarily watered abundantly. Make good drainage at the bottom of the pot.

A young plant is transplanted (transplanted) annually up to 5 years of age, and an adult once every 2-3 years.

Pruning

It is strictly forbidden to cut the top of the palm tree, because its growth point is located in the upper part. This is fraught with the death of the palm tree. Yellowed, broken, dead and severely drooping leaves should be removed immediately. In one year, you cannot cut off more leaves than they have grown in that year. Cutting off the leaves should not damage the trunk. In the first years of life and growth, it is undesirable to cut a palm tree.

Winter care

In the room in which the plant will be in winter, the temperature should not rise above + 16 ... + 18 ° С.If the temperature background is higher than +18 degrees, then it is advisable to move the planter with a palm tree to a cooler place (to the balcony or window).

The optimum humidity in the room in winter is 50-60%.

Transfer

Palms under the age of 5 years are transplanted annually, choosing a larger pot (3-4 cm). Mature trees are "relocated" to a new container as the root system grows, but not more often than once every 2 years. You can determine that the plant has become cramped in the old pot by the roots that appear from the drainage hole. If there is no special need for the procedure, then a layer of depleted soil 4–5 cm thick is simply removed from under an adult date and the vacated space is filled with a fertile substrate.

Regardless of age, the date palm is very painful to transplant, so it should be carried out as carefully as possible:

The day before the procedure, the soil under the palm tree should be spilled abundantly with warm water to facilitate the removal of the tree from the container.
A drainage layer is laid in a pre-selected new pot, a little soil is poured, after which the plant is transferred into it, trying not to damage the old earthen ball and root system. Protect the top!
After transshipment, the voids are filled with fresh soil mixture, slightly compacted and watered.

Transplanting a date is a rather complicated procedure, especially if the tree is mature and heavy. In the case when it is problematic to pull a palm tree out of the pot without damaging the roots, it is better to donate the container and break it.

Will a seed sprout from an ordinary date?

Many experimented by eating a date and simply sticking the bone into a pot. But shoots never appeared from it. The fact is that the date tree is not quite an ordinary plant.

To germinate a date seed, you need to know some subtleties:

The date bone can sit in the ground for up to 4 months. Its germination rate largely depends on the quality and variety of the date, as well as the time of planting.
The date palm is a slow plant and will require patience to grow. It can take 3 to 5 years for the first split leaf to appear.
Home-grown palms are lower than "street" ones and rarely grow taller than 1.5 m. Moreover, they do not bear fruit.
For germination, it is better to take not thermally processed fruits, fresh or dried, large in size.

It is worth noting that in practice, shoots sometimes give rise to caramelized dates, fried, in chocolate, and others. Apparently, the dense bone reliably protects the core.

Conditions of detention are of great importance:

temperature regime;
humidity;
the quality of the substrate.

The soil should be warm and moist, but ventilated enough to prevent mold growth. If you organize the germination correctly, the root will appear at 3-4 weeks, and the first leaf by the end of the second month.

The date is not the same. Palms - and even fruits - look completely different depending on the variety. Ornamental dates are Canary, palm and Robelena. The latter is cultivated as a houseplant; dried fruits are not made from it.
From left to right: sugar date, stony, Canary, Robelena, finger.

Possible problems

Despite the fact that the date palm is not too capricious, not every grower manages to avoid difficulties in the process of growing it. In order to notice and fix the problem in time, you need to carefully monitor the appearance of the pet:

A putrid odor, brown leaves and a softened trunk, as a rule, are the result of systematic waterlogging of the soil. At the first manifestation of such symptoms, watering should be canceled. After the soil has dried, the plant is removed from the pot and the condition of the roots is assessed. If they are dark, watery and covered in mucus, then the date is unlikely to be saved.If there are living roots, they must be cleaned of sour soil and damaged processes, sprinkle the slices with crushed activated carbon and transplant the palm into fresh soil.
Drying leaf tips are a sure sign of insufficient watering or low ambient humidity. To eliminate the trouble, these indicators should be adjusted. However, the dying off of the lower leaves is a natural feature of the culture. They cannot be restored, so they are simply cut off with a sharp knife.
Yellowing of the leaves indicates excessive hardness of irrigation water or lack of nutrition.
Faded leaf color and a weakened appearance may be the result of too much lighting or an indication of the presence of a spider mite. To save the tree, it is necessary to arrange an unscheduled shower and relocate to partial shade.
Drying, yellowing, twisting and falling of leaves, as well as the formation of brown plaques on the plates, are common symptoms of parasite attacks, of which scale insects, mealybugs and spider mites most often threaten the health of dates. To ward off pests, the crown of a palm tree is sprayed with a strong infusion of garlic, and the leaves are washed in soapy water. If improvised means did not give the desired effect, it is permissible to use broad-spectrum insecticides ("Actellik", "Fitoverm").
Cessation of development - in conjunction with chlorosis of the leaves, this phenomenon indicates a too low (below + 14 ° C) temperature of the content, at which the plant stops assimilating food, as a result of which there is an acute deficiency of vital microelements.

Only surrounded by care and attention, the date palm grows quickly and after a few years it turns into an exotic beauty that allows you to turn the most ordinary room into a real cozy oasis.

Conditions for germination and care of crops

When the substrate moisture is provided, the first shoots will appear in one to three months. The substrate should be exactly moist, so it is better to moisturize it by spraying, and not watering, like an adult plant.

The sprouts, which have grown a strong leaf of four centimeters, are time to transplant into separate pots. The pots should be tall, designed for the long roots of the plant, the width does not matter. Drainage must be placed on the bottom: small pebbles, pebbles, expanded clay.
It is not difficult to grow a date palm into an adult lush plant: provide it with proper care from a small, from seedling.
The date is photophilous, the lighting should be bright and constant. Choose a room with windows facing west, south, east.

It is better to place the pots a little further from the window, as the sun's rays can burn the delicate leaves. A prerequisite for the development of a young palm is moderate humidity of the air and soil, the absence of drafts.

A sharp change in temperature, excess moisture in the soil is detrimental to the seedlings of the date palm.

How to grow a date palm from a stone at home

This evergreen plant with spreading feathery leaves does not need to be purchased from a flower shop. It can be grown from a common date seed.

Dates sold in shops and supermarkets are the fruits of the common date. Do not confuse it with the Robelen date or with the Canary date, the trees of which can only be grown in the special conditions of flower shops. It is the common date that can be grown from an ordinary fruit seed.

Seeds

For planting, seeds from date fruits that have not been heat treated are suitable. These include the fruits of dried or dried dates.

Prepare seeds for planting as soon as they are removed from the fruit. Having cleared the pulp as much as possible, place the seeds in a glass of soft clean water at room temperature for 1-2 days, changing the water in the glass every 12 hours.

To avoid the appearance of mold, scrape off the swollen pulp residues from the bones, and place the bones themselves for 5 minutes in hot water with a temperature of about 80 ° C.

The time for sprouting sprouts from water-soaked date palm seeds will be significantly reduced and will be about a month, instead of the usual two or three.

You can speed up the appearance of the first sprouts by rubbing the date pits with coarse-grained sandpaper or deep scratches on their surface with a knife. The explanation is simple - the faster moisture gets inside the seed, the earlier it will start to germinate.

The soil

Buy soil for planting date palm seeds at a flower shop, although you can prepare it yourself by mixing raw sawdust, peat and sand in equal proportions.

Types of indoor date palms

There are 3 known species that have established themselves as houseplants:

1. Phoenix roebelenii O'Brien - originally from Laos. The maximum height of the species is no more than two meters, it is considered the shortest, which is why it was named "dwarf palm". Leaves of young plants may be covered with a white coating. Shade-tolerant look.

2. Common date, or palm (Phoenix dactylifera) - among the species, it occupies a leading position in popularity due to the beautiful shape of the palm and the ability to grow rapidly. But it has a significant drawback - the trunk is bare as the plant matures.

3.Date Canary (Phoenix canariensis) - originally from the Canary Islands. The growth of this species does not exceed two meters. Its leaves are tough, narrow and straight. The trunk is straight and strong. The petioles have sharp thorns.

Stone date

Probably everyone who simply adores dates for their unique taste would dream of growing a date from a stone at home. But will it bear a resemblance to the plant that grows in natural conditions? It is not so difficult to grow a palm tree from a stone, and for this you do not need to make any special efforts. But you are unlikely to ever see the fruits on it, because such a plant does not bear fruit under indoor conditions. However, in order to grow such a palm tree, you need to know how to plant the seed correctly, and you also need to remember the basic rules of care.

Buy, or better grow

As practice shows, greenhouse plants bought in a flower shop often do not survive in a new place. Accustomed to a certain humidity and air temperature, the composition of soil and water, they cannot adapt to new conditions.

If you sprout a date yourself from a stone and take proper care of it, it eventually grows into a beautiful and healthy tree. Of course, it will not reach 20-30 meters, as in natural conditions. But it will definitely grow to the ceiling.

In nature, palm trees grow up to 30 meters

In a greenhouse or winter garden, it is realistic to grow a palm tree 3-4 meters high

Indoor palm

True, this will take a long time: like all palms, date grows very slowly. Yes, and you are unlikely to wait for the fruit, but a few years after planting it can bloom.

Date palm blossom

Another reason against buying a finished plant can be its high price. Whereas a date palm from a stone will cost almost free.

Preparing the date bone for planting

First, you should start looking for quality planting material. To do this, you need to go to a store or market. The choice of dates must be very careful. It is important to consider that they should not be pretreated. It is best to choose dates that have been withered or dried for this purpose.

In order to increase the chances of a successful planting, it is better to use not one, but several seeds at once. Before proceeding with planting, their surface must be carefully freed from the pulp.It should be remembered that even the smallest piece of leftover pulp can lead to mold on the bone.

The peeled bone should be placed in a container with cold water for 2 days. The water must be changed systematically. Then the planting material should be inspected again for pulp residues. The bones are now ready for planting. Experienced growers recommend, to speed up the appearance of a sprout, resort to the following tricks:

Place the pit in a small container and pour in hot water. Wait 10 minutes and remove it from the liquid. Thanks to this preparation, a young plant will appear just a few weeks after planting. By the way, without this procedure, seedlings need to wait for months.
You can also gently pierce the seed with a pointed object or rub it well against the sandpaper. This method will allow the liquid to quickly get inside the seed. The result of this will be a fairly early appearance of the sprout.

Before proceeding to the direct planting of the date seed, it is necessary to prepare the most optimal conditions for the plant.

How to germinate a bone

The seed for germination can be taken from fresh, dried or dried dates that have not been cooked. The fresher the product you use, the better your chances of luck.

Dried dates

Preparing the seed for planting

Before planting, the bone taken out of the date must be thoroughly cleaned of pulp, rinsed and dried. Otherwise, organic matter in the soil may rot. Then it is subjected to processing in order to accelerate germination.

To do this, damage the hard shell by choosing one of the following methods:

They scratch it with a sharp knife;
Make cuts with a file;
Wipe with sandpaper.

As a result, it will be easier for water to penetrate through the shell to the core and to activate germination.

Then the bone must be soaked in warm water, or laid between layers of wet gauze. To prevent moisture from evaporating, the container should be covered with a lid and placed in a warm place. And so that microorganisms do not develop in it, the water is periodically changed, and the gauze is rinsed.

The bones swelled and began to sprout

Advice. Soak multiple seeds at once, even if you only need one plant. Some of them may not emerge, some may die during transplantation, and from the remaining seedlings it will be possible to choose the strongest.

Such preliminary preparation will reduce the germination time by several months. If you just plant a seed in the ground and water it, it can germinate in six months or even later. Or don't germinate at all.

And after soaking, the sprouts appear within 2-3 months. Dates can be planted at any time of the year, but the end of winter - the beginning of spring is considered the best.

Landing

If you have the patience, you can wait for the seeds to sprout in the water, making sure that it does not stagnate or evaporate. In this case, only germinated seeds can be planted in the ground.

Sprouted date bones

But a few days are enough for them to swell and increase in size. Seed care in the ground is less tedious.

Prepare a mixture of equal parts all-purpose store-bought soil and sand;

Components of soil mixture for germination

Place expanded clay drainage at the bottom of the container and fill it with soil mixture;
Use a stick to make a deep hole in the compacted soil and place the bone vertically into it. 1-1.5 cm of earth should remain above it;

Planting hole

Landing moment

Try not to damage the sprout, if any.

Pour warm water over the plantings, cover the container with a transparent lid or film and place in a bright and warm place.

Advice. Young plants do not tolerate transplanting well, therefore, if possible, it is better to plant each bone in a separate glass.

Dates need a temperature of about 25 degrees to germinate. Until shoots appear, the soil should be kept moist and the planting should be ventilated frequently.

Sprouts can appear in two weeks and 3-4 months after planting, so please be patient and do not stop watering your "plantation". Young shoots resemble light green sticks pointed upwards. This is the first leaf that will stretch out and open within a few days.

Emergence of seedlings

3-4 days

Two weeks

Planted at the same time, dates can rise with a great lag from each other.

Caring for stone dates at home

Earth mixture

For the successful growth and development of a plant, it is necessary to choose the most suitable substrate for planting. So, it must be necessarily light, as well as loose. The date has a rather weak and fragile root system, so you should choose the most suitable soil mixture for growing it. This soil can be purchased at a specialized store. But you can also do it yourself. To do this, it is necessary to combine sawdust, humus, peat, and also sand.

Landing

Planting a date is not difficult at all. To do this, it is necessary to lower the prepared bone into a hole made in the soil vertically, and then sprinkle it with soil. Then the soil must be watered, while not very much water must be used. After that, the pot is moved to a warm enough place. In order to plant a date, you do not need any special containers. You can take a pot, a large bowl, etc. After the plants show both a small leaf and a sprout, they will need to be transplanted into separate containers.

Transfer

It is necessary to transplant the plant very carefully together with an earthen clod. Try not to compromise the integrity of the root. If the root system has been damaged, then such a seedling can be thrown away, since it will not take root in a new pot.

The date palm is quite undemanding and not capricious. This plant responds well to moisture, heat, and feeding. Fertilizers should be applied to the soil several times a year. Watering should be done in moderation. Such a palm tree reacts negatively to both drying and waterlogging of an earthen coma. In the summertime, he is advised to take a shower. Also, the date needs direct sunlight.

Planting a date palm, as well as caring for it, will not cause much difficulty. And in a few months you will have a luxurious plant grown by your own hands on your windowsill.

Planting a sprouted seedling

A sprouted seed is not difficult to plant and grow. It is placed vertically in the hole, then gradually sprinkled with earth. Sprinkle with a little water, move the pot to a warm place. Special conditions for planting are not required, you can choose any container for germination.

Liviston palm - how to plant and care at home

It is recommended to transplant sprouts together with the soil in which they germinated. For each seedling, you need to prepare a suitable deep pot and soil. Expanded clay and charcoal are poured at the bottom of the container, the drainage layer should be at least 2 cm.

Note! The next transplant is carried out when the length of the first leaf reaches 15 cm.

How to grow a date from a stone

Before you start growing dates from seeds, remember that the dried fruits we buy in stores come from palms that have never been cultivated as indoor plants.

At home, the date palm of Robelena and Canary is grown, and the common date is used for harvesting in nature.

Despite this, the seed of the fruit is very easy to germinate. But growing to the size of even a small palm is much more difficult. I have had many similar experiments, but only a few have been successful. The seeds taken from dried fruits germinate very well; in order to plant a date, you do not need to look for fresh fruits somewhere.

Soil for planting

Experienced plant breeders advise using a mixture of peat and sand for seed germination. After transplanting a germinated plant, the substrate must be replaced with a more suitable one. There are soils for palm plants on sale, but it is better to prepare the soil yourself, adding all the substances necessary for the development of the plant.

So, we prepare the soil for the date palm from the following components:

A mixture of clay-sod land - two parts;
A mixture of humus with leafy soil - two parts;
Sand, peat - one piece at a time;
A good pinch of charcoal.

Stone date

Planting date seeds in the ground

Next, we will take a closer look at how to plant a date seed. To germinate the seeds, we take a common container, plant six to eight seeds at some distance from each other in the prepared soil. The substrate described above is prepared for an already germinated plant; the seed can be germinated in a mixture of earth with sawdust.
Planting depth should be equal to the length of the seed plus half.
Planting is carried out in moist soil, no watering is carried out on top. The container with crops must be placed in a warm place.

How to plant a date palm from seeds - figured out, now it is necessary to create all conditions for the plant.

Preparing the date bone for planting

In order to increase the chances of a successful planting, it is better to use not one, but several seeds at once. Before proceeding with planting, their surface must be carefully freed from the pulp. It should be remembered that even the smallest piece of leftover pulp can lead to mold on the bone.

Place the pit in a small container and pour in hot water. Wait 10 minutes and remove it from the liquid. Thanks to this preparation, a young plant will appear just a few weeks after planting. By the way, without this procedure, seedlings need to wait for months.
You can also gently pierce the seed with a pointed object or rub it well against the sandpaper. This method will allow the liquid to quickly get inside the seed. The result of this will be a fairly early appearance of the sprout.

Before proceeding to the direct planting of the date seed, it is necessary to prepare the most optimal conditions for the plant.

Caring for stone dates at home

Earth mixture

For the successful growth and development of a plant, it is necessary to choose the most suitable substrate for planting. So, it must be necessarily light, as well as loose. The date has a rather weak and fragile root system, so you should choose the most suitable soil mixture for growing it. This soil can be purchased at a specialized store.But you can also do it yourself. To do this, it is necessary to combine sawdust, humus, peat, and also sand.

Landing

Transfer

Planting a date palm, as well as caring for it, will not cause much difficulty. And in a few months you will have a luxurious plant grown by your own hands on your windowsill.

Transplant timing and technology

If the plant is less than 5 years old, then the transplant is carried out every year, then as needed, because an adult plant is difficult to tolerate such a procedure. An indicator that it is necessary to transplant a flower is protruding roots from the drainage holes. This indicates that the pot has become small.

Important! The soil is selected the same as for planting.

The best way to transplant is transshipment, because the palm has very delicate roots that can be easily damaged. A drainage layer is poured into the bottom of the new pot, after which a palm tree is placed in it along with a lump of earth. Add new soil and water the plant.

Planting in a large pot is fraught with stunting of the flower.

It is recommended to renew the topsoil every six months to replenish the soil with new nutrients.

An adult plant after 5 years is not transplanted every year, but only the top layer of the earth is renewed