Important Points

• Dates are highly salt tolerant.
• Alternate bearing habit present in date palm.
• Dates contain 75-80% carbohydrate in the form of inverted sugar.
• In India – Dates are harvested in the Doka stage.
• In other countries, dates are harvested in the dang stage.
• Metaxania is common in dates.
• Fruits are preferred for fresh consumption in the Dang stage.
• The date drink is known as Dibbi.
• Arrack, a liquor made from dates, is popular in Iraq.
• One kilo of fully ripe fresh dates provides about 3150 calories.
• It is said that about the date palm – “His feet should be in the running water and his head in the fire of the sky.
• 10% of males should be planted in the orchards to provide sufficient pollen grains.
• Leaf-cutting time – June.
• Ethephon is an effective fruit thinning agent.
• Dates harvested in the Doka stage contain 70-80% moisture.
• Doka fruits are successfully processed to prepare ‘Chhuhara’.
• The use of metaxenia – to induce earliness and improve quality.
• Khadrawy and Medjod are varieties developed by somatic embryogenesis.
• Trailer-mounted palm dusters are used for pollination.
• A good date palm variety requires 3300 heat units for full maturity.
• Iraq is the world’s largest producer.

Metaxenia

The effect of pollen on the developing maternal tissues of a seed or fruit outside the embryo and endosperm due to double fertilization.

Development stage of Date / Grade

• Hababouk – Hard, Green.
• Gandora or chirmi – Fully grown, Hard, Yellow in colour.
• Doka / Dang or Rutab – Softening
• Pind or Tamer – Full ripe and dehydrated

Varieties

• Juice suitable – Zagloul, Hayani
• Chuhharah making – Khadrawy, Medjool, Sharan.
• Fresh Eating – Halawy, Barhee, Khalas, sevi, Khunezi.
• Pind Khajoor (soft date) – Zahidi
• Sharan – Uneven ripening

Type

Bread type dry date – Thoory

Cane sugar date (Semi dry date) – Dayari, Deglet Noor Zahidi

Invert sugar date (soft date) – Halawy, Khadrawy, Borhee, Medjool

 Climate

• Long summers, mild winters, high night temperatures. Low relative humidity and little or no rain, especially during flowering time.
• optimum temperature – 25ºC
• The quality of fruits is reduced due to dust storms.

Soil

• Dates can also be grown on poor soils such as sandy, loamy, or clay soils.
• But sandy loam soil with ideal drainage good for cultivation.
• Dates can also tolerate saline and alkaline soil conditions.

Propagation

• Mainly propagated by offshoots / suckers
• Propagation by seed usually results in 50% male and 50% female plants.
• Gender/sex is known only when palms are in the flowering stage.
• Suckers develop from axillary buds located at the base of the stem.
• A palm can produce a maximum of about 10-25 suckers during its productive life.
• Suckers weighing 10 to 25 kg of age 2 to 3 years with a good root system are best suited for planting.
• Suitable time to remove off shoots from mother palm is spring (February-March) and autumn (August-September).

Planting

• The pits are dug from 60 to 100 cm³ in summer.
• Planting is done at 6 to 8 m. spacing.
• The planting time is from February to March.

Manure and Fertilizers

• About 30 – 40 kg of FYM and 200 g each of N, P, and K are given under rainfed conditions.
• Full quantity of FYM with half quantity of N and full quantity of P₂O₅ and K₂O is given in the month of September-October.
• Give the remaining half of N in January-February.

Irrigation

In sandy soil, the crop needs irrigation at 7-10 days intervals in summer and 15 days in winter.

Interculture and intercropping

To control weeds and provide better soil conditions for palm growth and development, shallow cultivation is done.

It is also advisable to grow leguminous crops inside young date palm seedlings.

Mulching

Various types of mulching material are available for use but black polythene has proved to be an ideal mulch.

Training and pruning

It does not require training or pruning until at least 5 years of age. However, leaf pruning is required for well-grown plantings.

Flowering and Fruiting

• Date palms start flowering at 4-5 years of age.
• Spathes emerge from January to March.
• Female and male spathes bloom at different times, so cross-pollination is effective.
• Cross-pollination by hand is most effective.

Fruit thinning

The main objectives of fruit thinning in date palm are-

• To increase the size of fruits.
• To improve the quality of fruits.
• To prevent delayed ripening.
• To reduce the density of bunches.
• To prevent the shriveling of berries.
• To prevent breakage of stalks.

For Thinning spraying of Ethephon at 100 or 200ppm after 10 or 20 days of fruit set.

PGR

It is also possible to induce seedlessness in date palm by spraying GA₃ (25 to 100 ppm) on female flowers at the time of flowering, and then again after 4 weeks.

Harvesting

The harvesting time varies according to the local demand, but mostly harvesting is done at the Dang and Doka stages. Doka-stage fruits can also be used to prepare dry fruits.

Yield

• 30 kg per palm under non-irrigated conditions
• 200 kg per palm under irrigated conditions.

Diseases

Graphiola leaf spot (Graphiola phoenicis)

Affected leaves have small, hard dark brown or black pustules filled with yellow spores. These are scattered on both upper and lower leaf surfaces.

Control

2 to 3 sprays of Bordeaux mixture or Dithane M-45 @ 0.2%.

Insect pests

Black headed caterpillar (Opisina arenosella)

The caterpillars feed on the underside of leaves by hiding inside tunnels on the leaf folds.

Control

Spray 5-10 ml of Monocrotophos near the roots of each tree or spray 0.04% on the leaves.

Red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus)

This pest attacks the stem mainly through its larvae which bore into the stem and tunnel through the tissues in all directions.

Control

The larvae can be killed by thrashing wires in the tunnels.

Termite (Odontotermes ohesus)

Termites mainly attack roots and make galleries inside the stem, branches may wilt and die.

Control

Chlorpyrifos solution should be sprayed inside the soil at the time of pit filling.