In Vitro Palm

We have several plantations of date palms in vitro of the varieties Medjoul and Confitera that occupy an area of 40,000 square meters. We have 135 Medjoul palm trees and 178 Confitera palm trees in full production and 431 very young Medjoul palm trees of which some have begun to give their first dates last year and others are still without production.

In our nursery we have about 1,200 Medjoul palm tress in pots of 30 liters (35x35 cm) with a trunk height of 10-20 cm and a total height of 1-2 meters. These palm tree once transplanted to the ground, in 2-3 years they begin to produce their first dates and at about the eighth year they are already in full production.

In full capacity, these in vitro palm trees can produce 50-60 kilos of clean dates, once all the waste has been eliminated, but this amount must be reduced to about 40 kilos of dates if we consider that not all palm trees give dates every year because there is always a small percentage of failures and there are also some palm trees that give more production than others.

The collection of the Medjoul date usually begins at the beginning of October, while the Confitera date is a little later and begins to mature the second half of October or beginning of November. At the end of January, the collection can be considered finished because the few dates that can still be left in the palm tree are no longer of sufficient quality to be considered as a high quality or gourmet product.

The maturation of the Confitera date is more staggered and lasts longer over time. The date is collected and consumed directly or it can be kept in the refrigerator or freezer and then consumed, without losing virtually properties. The ripening of the Medjoul date is more concentrated and the dates ripen more quickly in the palm. They can also be consumed directly from the palm tree or kept cold before consumption.

The Medjoul date offers another consumption option that consists of collecting it yellow, when it has not yet begun to ripen, process it and control its maturation with gases. In this way, the off-season date can be sold as a fresh, crispy product, with a high water content and reduced energy value compared to the majority and typically traded date.

To learn more about the cultivation of date palm in vitro as well as the characteristics and properties of its dates, visit the interesting articles that we have published in our BLOG.