The date palm is very often grown at home due to the fact that it is very easy to care for it and not very difficult to grow from the stone of an ordinary date purchased in the store. We can safely say that she is one of the most interesting representatives of the palm family, along with pine needles and chamedorea.
Content
Date palm care at home
Location
This plant is quite light-loving, so as much light as possible should be organized for it throughout the year. It needs a room with good ventilation, since it does not tolerate stagnant air. In the summer, when it is warm outside, the date palm can be taken out on the balcony or installed in the front garden, where it will feel good. In winter, the temperature will be normal for her + 10- + 15 ° С, but at the same time, there should be enough light. In order for the plant to grow evenly, it must be constantly rotated relative to the incident light rays. The top of the palm tree, on which the young leaf is formed, should always be directed into the interior of the room, and not towards the light source.
Watering
In the summer, the date palm requires abundant watering, like all representatives of warm countries. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that there is no stagnation of moisture, otherwise the process of root rotting may develop, and then, if this process is started, the plant may die. If water appears in the pan after watering, then you need to drain it immediately. A signal that watering should be reduced is the appearance of brown spots on the leaves. If the whole plant begins to darken, then it is better to immediately transplant it into a pot with fresh soil.
In the case of drying out the earthen coma, the palm tree may drop leaves that will not return to their original position.
This plant does not have any special requirements for air humidity, but dry air can cause the tips of the leaves to dry out. In this case, it should be sprayed more often, especially during very hot periods.
For irrigation, it is better to use soft water: in summer - rainwater, in winter - snowy, but always at room temperature.
If the lower leaves darken and die off, then this is most likely a natural process.
Transfer
A young date palm requires an annual transplant for the first 5 years of life. After that, the palm is transplanted as needed, in case the roots have occupied the entire volume of the pot. In the case of such root growth, you can cut off part of the roots without any problems.You can buy soil for transplanting at a flower shop, but you can also prepare it yourself from the following components:
- 1 part of turf land.
- 1 part humus.
- 1 part compost.
- 1 part sand.
In any case, an effective drainage should be provided.
Reproduction
The date palm is propagated by seed. As a rule, this is a common stone of the well-known date. The process is quite lengthy and can last from 3 to 6 months, maybe more. It all depends on the conditions under which the seed germinates. It is very important to ensure the temperature regime, which must be within + 25- + 30 ° С and normal humidity. In a dry place, the bone will not germinate. It may happen that the seed may not germinate until the very cold, but the temperature should be maintained until the moment when a young sprout appears.
The stone can be planted in peat, perlite, sand or sphagnum moss. The main thing is that the material can retain moisture.
In order for the bone to grow guaranteed, it is necessary to break the integrity of the shell with any available object: a file, a knife, a hacksaw for metal, etc. This should be done very carefully to avoid damaging the kernel.
The seed is planted vertically. The distance from the ground surface to the top of the bone should be no more than 1 cm. As soon as a young sprout appears, the palm tree can be transplanted into a pot and moved to a bright place.
Top dressing, fertilizers
For the normal development of a houseplant, such as a date palm, it is necessary to make regular, once every 10 days, feeding, during the period of active growth, from spring to autumn. In winter, when the palm tree is at rest, feeding is reduced to 1 time per month. The palm tree loves most of all organic fertilizers, which you can buy or prepare yourself. In the summer, once a month, you should provide for feeding with potassium nitrate, at the rate of 1 g of nitrate per 1 liter of water.
Pests and diseases
Pests and diseases affect the date palm as a result of improper care and violation of conditions of detention. These can be scale insects, mealybugs, spider mites, etc. The main condition for effective control of diseases and pests is the correction of those mistakes that were made as a result of growing the date palm at home. Remove pests, as well as traces of their vital activity mechanically. To do this, take a solution of liquid soap (dilute 15 g in 1 liter of water) and wipe the palm leaves with it. If these efforts have not yielded anything, then the procedure is repeated in a week. At the same time, measures should be taken so that the soap solution does not get into the pot with the earth, as this solution can eventually penetrate to the root system. If the infection is strong enough and such simple and affordable means do not help, then it is better to treat the date palm with insecticides, for example, actellik.
The palm tree is not only affected by pests, but can also get sick with diseases such as pink rot, which affects all parts of the plant, and spots that can disfigure the leaf plate. As a rule, only weak and unkempt plants are affected by such diseases. Therefore, you can make the only right way out: to prevent this from happening, the date palm needs proper and regular care.
If the moment is missed and the palm is sick, then you need to treat the tree with a fungicide, which includes mancozeb and methyl thiophanate. In this case, two processing sessions are performed with a weekly break. But the most important thing is to analyze and find out the cause of the appearance of such a disease, otherwise it may recur after some time.
