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Botanical name:
Phoenix dactylifera
Height:
60-120 feet tall (20-40m)
Spread: 20-40 feet (6.5-13m)
Sun exposure: Full sun
Soil: Acidic, well-draining
Hardiness zones: 8-11
Plant: Spring or fall
Do you want to grow a palm tree? Date palms are extremely popular in warm areas and produce excellent fruits. However, palm tree care is a little involved, especially if you are looking to grow a tree that will last for years and reach its fullest potential. Beautiful as these trees undoubtedly are, you should give their needs a little attention before you decide to take the plunge.
Learning how to care for a date palm means you can enjoy both the elegant tree and perhaps even some fruit if you are lucky. This guide outlines the essential tips you need if you want to know how to grow a palm tree with four-season interest and enduring charm and impact.
So how do you take care of a palm tree, you might be asking? Palm trees, when they’re mature, can handle heat and drought. However, since they are native to the desert, they have pretty specific requirements. In addition to irrigation and support, palms need good nutrient management and pest and disease control. Here are the essentials that can help you grow the healthiest specimens.
The large trees need room to grow and spread out the adventitious surface roots that anchor the plant and help it gather surface water. Take care when planting date palms to choose a location with plenty of space vertically and horizontally. Pick a planting site that has lots of room, taking the tree’s potential mature height and spread into account.
The site should get at least six hours of direct sun a day and offer well-draining, slightly acidic soil. If the site is windy, select a spot that will protect the young tree until it develops its root system. Plant the young tree in either early spring or fall. Dig a planting hole twice as wide than the root ball of the tree and just a little deeper. Fill the bottom of the hole with soil so the plant is sitting high and roots are barely covered. Position the rootball in the hole and fill in the sides with potting soil, then water well.
Young trees do best with supplemental irrigation for several months until they are established. You may need to stake them for straight date palm growing. The tree is tolerant of drought but needs plenty of water when flowering and fruiting. You will need a male and female tree for fruit production.
Can you grow a date palm in a container? Yes, you can. This has a number of advantages, including the possibility of moving it into a sunny location as the sun changes, and moving it to a place where it is protected from winds. For the best outdoor palm care for potted trees, pick a container with drainage holes and well-draining potting soil made for palms. An unglazed clay container is a good choice since it absorbs excess water.
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When repotting, trade up the size of the container when the original pot gets too small. You will see roots on top of the soil or coming out the drainage holes.
Dates aren’t particularly sickly, but they can be attacked by a few insect pests and diseases. It’s easy to fight these off if you catch them early. Insect pests to keep an eye out for include white scale and date palm spider mites. The scale bugs are tiny sap-sucking pests which eat leaves and fruit. Horticultural oil smothers these bugs quickly.
Date palm spider mites are even more common. If you see fruit dropping off before it is ripe, you probably have mites. You’ll need to dust the tree with a sulfur product, a strong blast of water, neem oil or insecticidal soap. Use one, then alternate with another treatment, to prevent the mites from developing resistance.
These palms are also vulnerable to black scorch disease, and it is easy to spot. Your tree looks as though it’s blackened from flames. Prevent this disease by being sure your garden tools are sanitized and being sure not to nick the tree. Bayoud disease is a fatal fungal disease that can also affect palms. It makes foliage turn white and exposed roots turn red. There is no cure for this, so you will have to remove the palm and burn it to prevent the disease from spreading to other plants.
If you would like to propagate palms, you can dig up the suckers from around the palm base and replant them. It is also possible to grow more palms from seeds. Palms produce low growths off the trunk base called offsets, or pups. Offsets are divided away from the parent plant and started in a prepared bed or pot of sand mixed with some topsoil.
Take care when separating the offset to preserve the leafy green top and acquire some root. Use a root saw to divide the young plant from the parent. Offsets need the same good date palm tree care as an adult. Date palm offsets will not be mature and ready to produce fruit for up to 12 years. The plant can grow in a pot for a few years but should be planted in a bed outdoors for best results.
Cultivar choice and zone are important information when considering how to grow date trees. There are varieties with some cold tolerance, but they rarely bear fruit. The best thing to do is see what is offered in your local plant store since they will carry varieties that do well in your particular climate. Here are five popular varieties:
Palms need water when they are first planted, then every year when they are fruiting. You should prune out dead palm leaves and apply fertilizer in late winter.
Palm trees do not grow fast, no more than a few feet or less per year.
There is no reason not to trim off brown palm fronds – if you can reach them.
