DATE PALMS
Date Palm Origin & History
Date palms are one of the first plants that were cultivated by man, and some of the date palm named varieties are thousands of years old!
Archeologists have discovered 5000 year old written records of date palms being planted and harvested in ancient Mesopotamia along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
They also discovered that, about 6000 years ago, date palms were used in constructing the temple of the moon god near Ur in Mesopotamia (current day Southern Iraq). Archaeologists studying ancient dwelling sites of Akadians, Sumerians, and Babylonians have found that houses of these ancient peoples were often roofed with date palm fronds and date palm trunks.
The scientific name for the date palm is phoenix dactylifera, and it is popularly known simply as the date palm. Although commonly referred to as a "palm tree", date palms are actually a true palm and not a tree. All palms, including the date palm, belong to a group of plants that are known as monocotyledons which include lilies, grasses, palms, hostas, daffodils, orchids and bamboos.
There are many other palms that produce edible drupes or dates, however their "dates" are usually quite small with almost all seed with very little flesh.
Only phoenix dactylifera - the true "date palm"
produces the large edible dates that are cultivated and sold today. The female phoenix dactylifera palm yields dates that measure from 1 to 3
inches long with varying degrees of sweetness. There are hundreds of named varieties of phoenix dactylifera date palms worldwide, however only a few dozen are widely know.
One of the most famous date palm varieties today is the large soft Medjool date, while the most widely grown date is the semi-dry Deglet Noor date palm. A few of the other famous date palm varieties which are available in California are the Zahidi date palm, the Barhi date palm, and the Halawi date palm. Each of these date palm varieties produce delicious dates with distinct differences in sweetness, flavor, size and moisture content.
Phoenix dactylifera date palms have been cultivated by man since before the begining of recorded history, and date palms were very important to many ancient civilizations. The name of the ancient land of Phoenicia actually means "land of palms", and many ancient Phoenician coins have images of date palms!
Date palms are mentioned in the bible, and their leaves were carried as symbols of victory by kings thousands of years ago. Date palm leaves were also used to hail Jesus during His entry into Jerusalem. Today Christian's have Palm Sunday, and Muslims break their Ramadan fast each night by eating a date. Islam regards the date palm tree as the tree of life, and ancient traditions place it in the Garden of Eden. The Prophet Mohammed said "There is among the trees, one which is blessed - it is the date palm, for it was created from the earth left over from the creation of Adam."
The date palm is not as well known in the USA, but it is very important in the Middle East and Northern Africa because the date palm grows well in the dry desert heat of these areas.
For commercial date production, the top date producing regions today are the Middle East and North Africa. Iraq was the largest producer of the dates, although today Iran is thought to be the largest producer. Saudi Arabia is another major producer of dates and their national symbol has date palms. Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria produce large commercial quantities of dates, and these countries also have date palms on their stamps and currency.
In the USA, dates are being grown in Southern California, Southwestern Arizona, and around Las Vegas, Nevada.
Dates are also grown in some areas of Mexico and in South America, as well as in Australia, Western China, Western India, and in Southern Pakistan. According to the World Food and Agricultural Organization, there are an estimated 100 million date palm trees worldwide. An estimated 60% of all date palms are grown in the Middle East and North Africa.
Date Palm History in California
Date palms are not indigenous to North America. The first date palms in California were grown from date seeds planted at the Franciscan and Jesuit missions in Southern California during the late 1700's. Some of these original seedling date palms still remained at the mission sites over 150 years later at the end of World War II!
The first offshoots of named date palm varieties from the Old World that survived to reached maturity in California were imported mostly from Algeria, Egypt and Iraq in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The majority of these early date palm offshoot imports were of the Deglet Noor variety, with smaller imported quantities of the Old World named date palm varieties Rhars, Areshty, Halawi (also known as Halawy), Hayany, Khadrawy, Saidy, and Zahidi. Most of these old world date palm varieties are thousands of years old, passed down from generation to generation by removing & planting off-shoots.
Eleven Off-shoots of the Medjool date palm variety were imported into the USA from the Bou Denib Oasis in Morocco in 1927. A disease known as "bayoud disease" was killing off the medjool date palms in Morocco at that time. These 11 offshoots were the first and only Medjool date palm offshoots imported to the USA, and they were originally planted in Nevada. Eight years later, these disease free Medjool offshoots were transplanted to the US Department of Agriculture station at Indio, California. All Medjool date palms in the USA today are descendents from these original eleven Medjool date palm offshoots.
Growing Dates and Date Palms in California
Over the last 20 years, date palms have become widely planted throughout Southern California, primarily as landscape palm specimens and also for residential & commercial date production.
Homeowners in Southern California are planting date palms in their yards to harvest a yearly crop of home grown dates!
Date palms are also a very popular choice in residential landscapes today for their historic and religious significance, as well as for the tropical landscape appeal of the date palms.
Date palms are also being grown succesfully in some parts of Arizona, Florida, Lousiana, Nevada and Texas.
Some of the date palms used in landscaping are males and some are females. The female date palm cultivars are very desirable not only for their delicious dates but also for the tropical look they give to any landscape. Both male and female date palms are very popular because of their striking appearance & natural beauty, their ancient history, and also because of their easy maintenance. A date palm can be very impressive as a single specimen creating a tropical focal point in any landscape, and group plantings can be truly spectacular. The date palm can live to the age of about 200 years, and they can eventually reach heights of around 80 feet tall.
Date palms grow well throughout Southern California. Male date palms are often used in landscaping because once mature they do not yield the annual crop of dates which can attract pests if not removed from the palm. In female date palms, there are three main date palm varieties planted in California; the Medjool date palm, the Zahidi date palm, and the Deglet Noor date palm. Another date palm variety that is also very desirable for its dates as well as for landscaping is the Halawi date palm, which is even larger than the Medjool date palm.
Deglet Noor date palms are commonly planted in shopping centers and malls in southern California where they lend a striking tropical ambience.
Medjool date palms do cost more than deglet noor date palms, however medjool date palms do have a larger and more full dense canopy when compared to the Deglet Noor, which has a canopy that is more sparse and open with fewer fronds. The Medjool and Zahidi date palms are similar in appearance with beautiful silvery green foliage. The Zahidi date palm does have a slightly larger trunk than the Medjool and the Zahidi's canopy is slightly more full and dense - a very fine landscape palm.
Date palms in California do best with full sun and lots of water in the summer.
Date palms are very drought hardy and salt tolerant and can survive extended periods with little water once they are established.
Newly planted date palm offshoots require frequent watering until they are well established.
Mature date palms can withstand temperatures 10-15 degrees below freezing for short periods.
Male date palms are popular for landscaping in California because the male date palms flower briefly in the spring without the yearly crop of dates that female date palms have which, if left on the palm, can attract unwanted insects, rodents, etc.
For date production, date palms need maximum summertime heat and air with little moisture. The date palms also need plenty of summertime irrigation to yield a good harvest!
Date Palm Offshoots
Immature phoenix dactylifera palms produce identical off-shoots which can be removed and planted. This is true for both the male and female phoenix dactylifera palms while in their early years before reaching maturity.
For the last 5000 years at least, the removal and planting of these pups or offshoots was the only method in which a particular variety of date palm could be propagated. By this means superior quality date palm cultivars could be selectively planted and passed down from one generation to the next. Some date palm cultivars like the zahidi date palm are several thousand years old!
When female date palm off-shoots are planted directly out in the field, they can begin to produce dates about 5-7 years after being planted. However, when freshly removed off-shoots are planted directly out in the field without first developing their own roots, these freshly removed date palm offshoots can experience much more dehydration and frequently do not survive.
Larger size rooted date palm offshoots often begin producing dates the following year after being planted in the ground! We do have these larger size rooted medjool date palm offshoots in stock right now in 25 gallon & 65 gallon pots - call 909 941 1060 for sales info in California.
Each year we remove medjool date palm offshoots in a variety of sizes and place them in large pots and boxes to be sold or planted later. Our smallest date palm offshoots are removed from the mother palm at about six years of age when they have about one foot of woody trunk. We also have large rooted medjool offshoots available in very big pots and wooden boxes with several feet of woody trunk! For medjool date palm offshoot sales information in California, call 909 941 1060.
We have some larger rooted medjool date palm offshoots in big pots that are already producing dates!
Date palms can also be grown from seed, however only about half the palms grown from seed will be females, and the quality of the dates from these female seedlings will vary and be of generally inferior quality to extablished date palm cultivars.
In date palm seedling plantations, only about 10% of the palms produce fruit of satisfactory quality, and the dates from each of these seedlings are different from one seedling to the next. Marketing these non-uniform dates from a seedling plantation is difficult at best. Female date palms grown from seed also take a long time to produce dates, usually 10 years or more. The non-uniform crop from seedling date palm plantations is the primary reason for the recent abandonement of seedling date palm plantations worldwide in favor of date palm off-shoot plantations.
In recent years, scientists have developed tissue culture reproduction techniques of specific date palm varieties, however such propagation methods are not normally employed in commercial plantings.
Male Date Palm Flowers, Date Palm Pollen, and Date Palm Pollination
The true date palm (phoenix dactylifera) is dioecious, which means that there are both female date palms and male date palms. The male date palm has flowers that produce pollen. This pollen from the male date palm flowers will pollinate the female date palm flowers which will then become dates.
Bees are strongly attracted to male date palm pollen. As shown in the photo at left, there are a dozens of bees collecting pollen on this male date palm flower. Date palms can pollinate naturally by wind, bees and other insects, but proximity of the male date palms to the females is crucial for this open pollination to occur successfully, and date production from open polination is typically much less. Artificial pollination increases date production substantially. Artificial pollination of date palms is performed using the date palm pollen from male date palm flowers to polinate the female date palm flowers.The photo at left shows a male date palm flower one day after opening.
The flower stalks of both male and female date palms are produced inside a spathe which emerges from the axils of the leaves in early spring once the date palm has reached maturity. The date palm flowers form within the long stout spathe which, on bursting, exposes many thickly crowded floral branchlets inside that are thicker and shorter in the male date palm inflorescence, and these branchlets are longer and more slender in female date palm inflorescences. Adult female date palms produce from 5 - 20 spathes in early spring. The male flowers are borne single and are waxy white, while the female flowers are borne in clusters of three and are yellowish green in colour. A male spathe that is ready to split open changes color slightly from green to brownish and it becomes slightly softer. Immediately after the spathe opens and the male inflorescence appears, these male flowers reach their maturity. Date growers usually harvest the male flowers within a day of when the spathe splits open.
We have fresh male date palm flowers available in March and April each year for use in pollination, and also as a source of fresh date palm pollen.
To purchase fresh date palm male flowers (and date palm pollen), call (909) 941 1060.
There are several methods of date palm polination in use today. The oldest and simplest pollination technique consists of placing an entire male flower spathe in the crown of the female date palm and leaving the pollination to wind, bees and other insects. This technique does not always yield uniform fruit sets, however if a couple of the male flower spathes are placed in the crown of the female date palm when the female spathes are opening then maximum pollination is usually achieved, depending to some extent on the female date palm variety as some date palm cultivars are more easily pollinated than others. This method of placing entire male flowers in the crown of the female requires the availability of numerous male flower spathes and is not typically utilized in commercial plantings.
Successful commercial date production requires artificial pollination to ensure good pollination. In locations where labor is relatively expensive, the pollination is mechanized. Mechanized pollination reduces the number of male date palms needed for pollination. The male/female ratio in a modern commercial date palm plantation with mechanized pollination is generally about 40 females to one male date palm. The most common technique of pollination in regions with inexpensive labor is to cut the strands of male flowers from a freshly opened male spathe and place two to three of these strands, lengthwise and in an inverted position, between the strands of the female inflorescence after some pollen has been shaken over the female inflorescence.
Landscaping with Date Palms
Date palms have recently become very popular as landscape specimens in subtropical areas across the globe, and especially in Southern California! The true date palm varieties are more expensive than most other types of palms used in landscaping, however these true date palms are very desirable not only for their delicious dates but also for the tropical look they give to any landscape.Date palms are very popular because of their striking regal appearance & natural beauty, their ancient history, and also because of their easy maintenance. A date palm can be very impressive as a single specimen, and staggered group plantings can be truly spectacular! The date palm can live to the age of about 200 years, and they can eventually reach heights of about 80 feet tall.
Date palms grow well in Southern California where they are used mostly in landscaping. Male date palms are often used in landscaping because once mature they do not yield the annual crop of dates which can sometimes attract pests. For female date palms, there are three main date palm varieties used most for landscaping; the Medjool date palm, the Zahidi date palm, and the Deglet Noor date palm. Another less well know date palm variety that is also very desirable for landscaping is the Halawi date palm, which is even larger than the Medjool date palm.
Deglet Noor date palms are commonly planted in shopping centers and malls in southern California where they lend a striking tropical ambience.
Medjool date palms have a larger and more full dense canopy when compared to the Deglet Noor, which has a canopy that is more sparse and open with fewer fronds.
The Medjool and Zahidi date palms are somewhat similar in appearance with beautiful silvery green foliage.
The Zahidi date palm does have a slightly larger trunk than the Medjool and the Zahidi's canopy is slightly more full and dense - truly a beautiful landscape specimen.
Medjool date palms grow taller each year, and it becomes more costly and dangerous to harvest the dates as they get taller.
Commercial date growers in California usually end up selling their older date palms that have become too tall for harvesting dates. These large date palm specimens are ideal for many landscaping projects!
In Southern California it not unusual to see tall date palm specimens providing shade in the parking lots of convenience stores and fast food restuarants. Date palms are also very popular in landscape designs for commercial buildings.
Hybrid Date Palms
Hybrid date palms are very popular today as landscape palm specimens in both residential and commercial landscapes.
All date palms that were grown from a seed are hybrid date palms. In general half the date palms grown from seed will be females, and half will be males. Small inexpensive seedling date palms are readily available. Seedling date palms are also available in much smaller sizes than date palms grown from offshoots.
A hybrid date palm produces offshoots around its base while it is immature. An offshoot removed from a hybrid date palm will grow into an identical date palm. When a hybrid date palm reaches maturity, it stops producing offshoots and begins flowering. Only then can it be determined if the hybrid date palm is a male or a female.
For landscape applications, both the male and the female date palm are very attractive. When mature, both the male and female date palms produce large pods or spathes each year in early spring. The male date palm's pods have pollen producing flowers inside, and the female date palm's pods have dates inside. When these pods are pruned off, then you can no longer distinguish between a male date palm and a female date palm!
The flavor, size, and consistency of the dates produced by a female date palm hybrid will usually be very different than the flavor, size, and/or consistency of the original date whose seed the the hybrid date palm was grown from.
Occasionally, a female hybrid date palm will have dates that are exceptional in flavor, size or consistency, and such a hybrid is then named and its offshoots are removed and promoted as a new date palm cultivar.
Hybrid date palms grown from medjool date seeds make beautiful landscape palms. We have medjool hybrid date palms in stock in sizes with up to 10 feet of trunk.
Date Development and Ripening Stages
The date fruit takes about six months to ripen completely. In the middle east, there is a name for each of the four stages of date ripening; kimri, khalal, rutab, and finally tamar.
The kimri stage lasts about 5 months and is basically while the dates are green. The next ripening stage is the khalal stage when the dates have grown to their maximum size and turn yellowish, orange, reddish or purplish depending on the specific date variety. Next comes the rutab stage, when the dates begin to soften and lose their bright colors. The date becomes fully mature at the tamar stage.
Most date varieties are eaten at the fully mature tamar stage, although some of the very soft varieties like the the Barhi dates and the Halawi dates are also eaten at Khalal stage, when they are sweet and crunchy. We have fresh dates available each year at this khalal stage of ripening.
We occasionally have exciting new date varieties available! One of our best new cultivars is named the Honey Jewel. The Honey Jewel date is amazingly delicious, soft and very sweet like honey in its fully ripe tamar stage. The Honey Jewel date has been repeatedly voted as the most delicious date variety at our Fresh Picked Tamar Tastings the last several years in a row, winning out even over the famously popular medjool date.
Dates are classified as soft, semi-dry, and dry. The dry dates are commonly used in the middle east for everyday consumption. The sweeter dates are used as a dessert in the Middle East as well as in the United States.
Mature female date palms yield from 100 to 250 pounds of dates per palm each year. One of the most important factors in date yield is the amount of irrigation water they receive while the dates are developing.
While the dates are maturing on the palm, the dates are preyed upon by birds, small mammals, and insects. Date farmers sometimes place a protective bag around each date cluster to prevent access to the dates and also for rain protection in some climates. The cultivation of dates requires a significant amount of manual labor and it can be dangerous in tall palms! Some date varieties are much more vulnerable to moisture. Soft dates are much more difficult to cultivate and they do require extensive care & special handling at the final ripening stage.
How To Purchase Date Palm Offshoots in California
We have our own groves of male date palms & female date palms in California. We sell offshoots from these date palms in a full range of sizes including fresh cut date palm offshoots that have just been removed from their parent palm.
We specialize in already rooted medjool date palm offshoots in containers. Please call 909 941 1060 for current date palm price & availablilty.
In addition to our male date palm offshoots, we offer a variety of female date palm cultivars including medjool date palms offshoots, zahidi date palm offshoots, halawi date palm offshoots, and barhi date palm offshoots.
Our Medjool date palm offshoots are available in all sizes from recently removed pups or "offshoots" to full grown mature palms.
We have Zahidi date palm offshoots & Medjool date palm offshoots in stock right now, as well as Barhi date palm offshoots and Halawi date palm offshoots.
Male date palms are a popular choice for use in landscaping, and also as a source of date palm pollen for pollination of female date palms. Female date palms produce dates, and they are planted in large plantations for commercial date production. Male date palms for landscaping are less expensive than most female date palm cultivars, while some female date palms grown from off-shoots of specific date cultivars have very limited availability and high demand.
We have smaller size female medjool date palm rooted offshoots for sale in 15 gallon pots & 25 gallon pots for those who wish to grow their own dates at home in their yard, and we also have some female medjool date palm rooted offshoots for sale in larger wooden boxes & in 65 gallon pots. Larger size mature female medjool date palms are available for transplant directly from the field as well, however these direct from the field palms experience die-back at the time of transplant while rooted offshoots in containers keep right on growing with no die-back when cared for properly.
Our smaller size male date palm offshoots are also for sale in 15 gallon pots and in 25 gallon pots (male date palms are used for polination & for landscaping).
Our female medjool date palm "rooted" offshoots are in containers. After these medjool palm pups are removed from their medjool mother palms, they have to develop their own roots which takes from 1-2 years, and they then begin to put out new growth. Our 8 year old female medjool date palm rooted off-shoots stand about 6 feet tall in their 15 gallon pots. These are rooted medjool off-shoots which are ready for planting. Please call 909 941 1060 for price information and how to purchase in California.
Older mature date palm trees are sold based on their age and the amount of woody trunk the palm has: a recently removed pup usually has about 1 foot of woody trunk, a 12 foot tall date palm has about 3 feet of woody trunk, and a 20 foot tall date palm has about 10 feet of woody trunk.
Date palm rooted offshoots in containers experience no die-back when properly planted and cared for.
Larger date palms however, that are dug up in the field and then delivered directly to the customer usually experience mild to severe die-back which can last a year or more before vigorous growth returns, and a significant percentage may not survive if not properly cared for. For this reason, we always recommend planting rooted date palm offshoots in containers rather than purchasing date palms directly from the field.
Please call 909 941 1060 for current price & availablilty of rooted date palm off-shoots in containers.
Fresh Medjool Dates For Sale
We grow our delicious medjool dates organically with no chemical fertilizers, no pesticides, and no preservatives; they are pure naturally sweet medjool dates! Did you know that medjool dates are 100% fat free? Our fresh picked medjool dates are available for purchase each year in October, perfect timing for Christmas!
Each year, we do harvest a limited quantity of fresh picked organically grown large medjool dates. Every year we do sell out before the crop is picked, so be sure to place your order early! We begin taking orders each year on August 25 for our medjool date crop.
Honey JewelTM Dates
A very sweet and delicious California date variety is the "new" cultivar named the Honey JewelTM date.
The Honey JewelTM date is amazingly delicious, soft and super sweet like honey in its fully ripe tamar stage of ripening.
The Honey JewelTM date has been repeatedly voted as the most delicious date variety at our Fresh Picked Tamar Tastings the last 4 years in a row, winning out even over the famously popular medjool date.
Dates are classified as soft, semi-dry, and dry. The Honey Jewel date is very soft at the fully ripe tamar stage.
We have fresh Honey Jewel dates available each year at their tamar stage of ripening when they are fully ripe and soft at the end of September.
We begin taking orders for each year's Honey JewelTM date crop on August 25.
Date Nutritional Information
Dates are highly nutritional and many believe them to be one of natures most perfect foods! People of the Middle East have consumed the fruit of the date palm for thousands of years as part of their diet.Dates contain polyphenols, which are a plant antioxidant that can destroy disease causing free radicals.
Dates have 20 different kinds of amino acids, which aid in the digestive process. Dates are very rich in both vitamins and minerals, and they contain more potassium than an orange or a banana per ounce. These nutritious fruit of the date palm contain vitamins A, A1, B1, B2, B3, B5, and B6. Dates also are rich in oil, calcium, sulfur, iron, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, copper, protein and fiber. Dates are fat free, cholesterol free, and they are very low in sodium. Dates also are high in carbohydrates, and they are an excellent source of quick energy. Dates are helpful to people suffering with anemia and fatigue, and dates act as natural laxatives which can be an easy remedy for constipation. In most date varieties, the sugar content of a date is almost entirely of the inverted forms glucose and fructose (except for deglet noor dates and thoory dates which have higher percentages of sugar in the form of sucrose). This is very important important for people who cannot tolerate sucrose. The invert sugar in dates is immediately absorbed by the human body without the need for digestion that ordinary sugars like sucrose undergo.
Traditionally, the fruit of the date palm has been used for treating many kinds of ailments in the Islamic world including the treatment of respiratory disorders, and to stimulate the heart rate. Dates also have traditionally been processed into a salve for treating certain kinds of wounds. The fruit of the true date palm also is recommended for consumption by lactating women to add extra nutrition into their diet. The Plant Sciences Division website at the University of California at Davis, states that Bedouin Arabs who eat dates on a regular basis have shown an extremely low incidence of cancer and heart disease when compared with people who do not eat dates regularly.
Dates also are an excellent choice for emergency food rations because of the date's high caloric content & nutritional value combined with the fact that dates keep well without refrigeration for long periods of time.
Medjool Dates & Medjool Date Palms
Among the sweeter date varieties is the medjool date, which is considered by many to be the "king of dates". The medjool date was once reserved only for the royal family of the Sultan of Morocco! This amazing date palm variety was first imported into the USA from the Bou Denib Oasis in Morocco in 1927.
The medjool date is most well known for its unusually large size and its delicious flavor. It can grow to about three inches long, and even though it is classified as a soft date the medjool date is firmer and more resilient than most other soft dates and it handles much better as well, making it a great choice for commercial production.
The Medjool date was brought to the United States through the United States Department of Agriculture. There was a disease in Morocco that was spreading quickly among the Medjool date palms and a Moroccan official offered some shoots to a representative from the USDA which in turn were eventually planted in California. The medjool is now thriving in California as one of the primary date cultivars.
Medjool date palms are also very popular for landscaping because of their regal appearance and full canopy. Medjool date palms have a larger and more full dense canopy when compared to the Deglet Noor, which has a canopy that is more sparse and open with fewer fronds. The Medjool and Zahidi date palms are more similar in appearance with beautiful silvery green foliage.
Every year in the fall we have a limited quantity of fresh picked organically grown large medjool dates available. Each year, we do sell out before the crop is picked, so be sure to place your order early! We begin taking orders for each year's medjool date crop on August 25.
Male Date Palms
Date palms are dioecious, which means that there are both female date palms and male date palms. Male and female date palms can look very similar, and they generally are not distinguishable until they reach maturity. Once a male date palm has reached maturity (usually at around 10 years old), the male date palm will produce flowers in early spring that yield date palm pollen.Male date palms have become a very popular choice for landscaping because they do not produce the annual crop of dates which can attract rodents, birds and insects. Male date palms also have a tendency to show more vigorous growth and to reach greater heights in fewer years because they do not waste their energy producing dates each year.
Most male date palms are grown from seed. When a male date palm seedling has superior pollinating chacteristics like larger flowers or better quality pollen, then the male date palm is selected to be propagated by removing its offshoots. The offshoots of these superior male date palms are sought by commercial date growers for pollinating their groves of female date palms.
We remove superior male date palm offshoots each spring from selected mature male date palms. These recently removed male date palm offshoots are highly perishable until they form their own roots. Immediately after removing the male date palm offshoots, we plant them in containers and keep them in shaded nursery conditions. They take about one year to develop their own roots & begin pushing out vigorous new growth. At this point they are ready to be removed from their containers and planted in the ground.
We have these rooted male date palm offshoots available right now in 15 gallon, 25 gallon & 65 gallon pots - call 909 941 1060 for sales info in California.
Halawi Dates & Halawi Date Palms
Halawi date palms (also known as Halawy) produce a very sweet soft date variety of medium size with wonderful caramel-honey like flavor. The halawi date palm variety originated in Mesopotamia and has been propagated by off-shoots for millenia. The name halawi actually means "sweet" in Arabic. In some cultures, the halawi date is eaten at the khalal stage when it has become yellow and is still crunchy like an apple. The flavor at this khalal stage is less sweet and very different. If allowed to ripen further, the halawi date will next enter the rutab stage where it begins to turn a beautiful golden-amber color as it softens and becomes very sweet and delicious.
Halawi date palms grow well in Southern California. When used for landscaping, the halawi date palm trunk and canopy are larger than both the medjool and the zahidi, making the halawi date palm a truly spectacular landscape date palm specimen!
Our Halawi date crop is available for purchase once again this year. We begin taking orders for each year's halawi date crop on August 25.
Zahidi Dates and Zahidi Date Palms
Zahidi date palms (aka Zehedi, Zadie, and originally from the Persian Azadi) yield a very sweet and delicious medium size date that is basically a dry date, although it can be used as a soft date or as a dry date depending on the length of time it is allowed to remain on the palm.
The zahidi date palm is an ancient cultivar from Mesopotamia dating back millenia, and the name meant Nobility in ancient Persian. Fully ripe zahidi dates have beautiful golden-yellow color and they are early season.
The Zahidi date palm rooted offshoots shown at left are 12 year old rooted off-shoots in 25 gallon pots.
We have female zahidi date palm offshoots available with special pricing. These rooted zahidi offshoots stand from 12-16 feet tall and have from 1-2 feet of woody trunk, and they are mature enough now to start producing dates! Please call (909) 941 1060 for pricing.
Zahidi date palms are very vigorous as well as prolific in fruiting, and they do grow well in Southern California. For landscaping, the zahidi date palm is among the finest of the date palms. The zahidi trunk and canopy is very similar to the medjool date palm with beautiful silvery green foliage, and the zahidi has a slightly more dense upright canopy than the medjool. Like the medjool, the zahidi date palm is highly prized for the quality and flavor of its dates, as well as for its majestic appearance.
We begin taking orders for each year's zahidi date crop on August 25.
Barhi Dates and Barhi Date Palms
The Barhi date is very sweet and very soft. This relatively small but very popular date variety is also one of the few dates that are edible while still hard and cruchy at the khalal stage of ripening.
Barhi date palms are highly sought after and relatively few new off-shoots are available each year. As a result, Barhi date palm offshoots tend to be one of the most expensive date palm offshoots, and they often are not available at any price!
We begin taking orders for each year's barhi date crop on August 10.
Frequently Asked Questions
- SHIPPING: For medjool date palm offshoots in 15 & 25 gallon containers, we recommend that you transport the date palms in your pick-up truck. Local delivery to your driveway can usually be arranged (only in Southern California) with a delivery cost from $25 to $150 depending on the round-trip mileage (150 mile maximum round-trip travel distance). Transport for large medjool date palms can also be arranged in Southern California.
- Our medjool dalm palm rooted offshoots (and our other date palm cultivars) are grown near Indio, California. Smaller size medjool date palms are available for pick-up in Rancho Cucamonga, California, by appointment only. Delivery of medjool date palm trees to customers in Southern California can be arranged. We do recommend that you hire an experienced landscaper (we do not offer landscaping services!) for planting and irrigation of date palms.
- Sub Tropical Fruit Trees: Available for pick-up in Rancho Cucamonga, California, by appoinment only, at one of our two locations.
- PAYMENT: We accept Cash, Check, American Express, Visa, Mastercard & Discover. You can pay in advance or at the time of pick up.
- MEDJOOL DATES: fresh picked medjool dates are available each year in late September and October, organically grown in California.
- GUARANTEE: We guarantee our plants, fruits and trees to be in good condition at the time of sale.
- For all other questions, you may contact us at: Tropical Oasis Farms, PO Box 1011, Rancho Cucamonga, California 91729
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