Date palms were brought by the Arabs in the middle ages, as a structural element of the oasis. These palm trees are not wild, they are the product of an Arab settlement that had to survive in a place where there were no agricultural resources. They are not planted randomly but do so in a very specific way to take full advantage of the irrigation water that flows through the ditches until they reach the center of the terrace, which had an area of 700 m2, which is the plot that a person worked with an animal and was able to air the ground for a day.
These plots were planted on its periphery with palm trees and those palm trees were not to produce dates, they were to produce shade, a microclimate that will help produce fruit trees and grass crops such as oats, alfalfa or wheat within that palm grove. Therefore in Elche there was an important problem because making dates in a place that was not prepared for it was impossible.
Date palms are dioecious (female feet that produce dates and male feet that produce pollen). They are basically planted as an ornamental crop and only a small amount of them produce edible dates.
Elche is the only place in the world where you can make fresh dates at this time of year (winter) because we are at a latitude too far north (latitude 38). Dates are made between latitude 28 to 32, that is, in the middle of the desert. In Elche it is too cold and there should be no dates, but we have a great advantage that is the plant diversity of the palm grove. All the Palm trees of the Ilicitano Palm Grove are genetically different and this is one of the great strengths of the Palm Grove of Elche. We can have dates at a time of the year that it is impossible to have them since in their latitude they finish harvesting on August 30. However, our palm trees bloom late, ripen late and come with the late date, harvesting between October and January.
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