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bearstate

Phoenix Dactylifera saplings and gender

18 years ago

Hi all!

Happy T-Day!

As some of you may know from posts I've made here in the past, I have a large number of Phoenix Dactylifera saplings, over 40 which I have raised from seeds taken from store bought dates.

With that many saplings, it is inevitable that some variation in the youngsters should be observed, but there is a distinct variation which I have noted and well have been privately questioning the nature of. To the point, I think this variation is an indication of gender.

Most of the saplings look robust like this ...

{{gwi:1176665}}

But some of them after much time sport only two long narrow blades, like this one ...

{{gwi:1176666}}

The blades on this are actually longer than any of the others which already have 5 and 6 blades, and much narrower. It's a very distinct difference.

Phoenix dactylifera is dioecious, having separate female and male trees.

Is this variance an idication of the gender of the young plants?

Comments (8)

  • 18 years ago

    The leaf variation is NOT significant.

  • 18 years ago

    Please remove the weeds from the pots on all future picture posts. I hate to see palm seedlings fighting weeds for survival.

  • 18 years ago

    Request denied.

    Sorry Oppalm; I don't know what those spreading things are, but I have found that they are not a detriment to the palms. In fact, they help retain moisture in the soil during the summer months and likely, warmth in the soil during these coming winter months. In other words, if they are weeds, they just happen in this case to be beneficial weeds. I have found that they do not root deeply and in fact, die back often. The palms are well fed and there is no contest between them and the 'weeds'.

    Do you know what this particular ground cover plant is that you are calling a weed?

  • 18 years ago

    I am not sure whats its called but I'll find out. I get that stuff in my yard and it drives me nuts as it spreads out and grows and grows and grows.

  • 18 years ago

    I see two different types in my patio area, but the two types may be dimorphic expressions of the same plant. One type is as it appears in the photo, small leaved, low and ground hugging. The other type grows straight up on a stem to about 8 to 12" high, often right out of the middle of a patch of the first type. That's why I figure it is a dimorphic expression of the first.

    It grows out of cracks in the concrete, spreading like a carpet out over the concrete. In this capacity it is both damaging and helpful as it roots into the crack and may be causing those cracks to enlarge, but also carpets the concrete, reducing the reflectivity of sunlight and the ability of the concrete to absorb heat and thus elevate temps on my patio. It's a double edged sword.

    Externally on the property, it is not a problem as the weed killer clearly keeps it in check to the point that it doesn't exist much outside the confines of my patio.

    I would like to know what it is.

  • 18 years ago

    Bearstate
    This is a very good question.. I also experienced this same
    thing and as you figured i thought it was some diffrient
    variation Because far as i knew they were both the same kind of date .
    but 1 had long slender fronds and one had robust fronds
    same seed i thought huh.. never know i guess... lol.

  • 18 years ago

    Naa, can't tell. Leaf of seedlings is no indication of gender. Just 2 ways to tell, wait for flowers or have a very expensive genetic lab test done. Kinda like havin' kids. ::smiles his jolly smile::
    I planted about 80 seedlings. about 60 are still growing (what the gophers didn't get) They have been in the ground for 6 years and 10 have produced male flowers, and 3 female and borne fruit. I'm wondering if females are slower to produce since they will have more work to do once they start flowering but I have no evidence of that other than just the numbers of how many m vs f I have.
    Beautiful plants by the way. Even with the spurge.

  • 18 years ago

    It remains interesting why some are thinner, more gracile leafed.

    It is worth reporting that several of the more robust have suddenly become very robust, doubling leaf width and adding more length. They also show very marked veining. The base of some of the more robust ones has gotten to be about as big around as the diameter of a nickel. I think I'm going to start seeing the leaves split out soon on those. It's just a matter of time.

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