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| Flowers emerging from the spathe on a Canary Island date palm. |
Q. We have several Mexican fan palms, plus a few
identified as hybrid California and Mexican fan palms, in our backyard. They
are sending out flower stalks and make a huge mess for anybody who has a pool.
One of my neighbors said that only female palm trees produce these messy
stalks. True?
identified as hybrid California and Mexican fan palms, in our backyard. They
are sending out flower stalks and make a huge mess for anybody who has a pool.
One of my neighbors said that only female palm trees produce these messy
stalks. True?
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| Dates (fruit) produced by a female date palm. |
A. There are hundreds of different kinds of palm trees
and palms are variable whether they are male, female or produce both types of
flowers on the same tree! For instance, both the Mexican and California fan
palms have male and female flowers on the same tree. But the date palms, both
the true date and the Canary Island date palm, are either all male trees or all
female trees but they never have male and female flowers on the same tree.
and palms are variable whether they are male, female or produce both types of
flowers on the same tree! For instance, both the Mexican and California fan
palms have male and female flowers on the same tree. But the date palms, both
the true date and the Canary Island date palm, are either all male trees or all
female trees but they never have male and female flowers on the same tree.
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| Suckers from date palm. They can be removed and planted when they are older and their chances of survival are better. The suckers will be the same sex as the parent tree. |
So, if
you have the California or Mexican fan palms then all of them are “messy”. But date palms are different. Male date palms
are less messy around pools than female date palms. Look for fruit on older
female date palms if you aren’t sure whether they are male or female (they must
be about six feet tall before females start producing fruit).
you have the California or Mexican fan palms then all of them are “messy”. But date palms are different. Male date palms
are less messy around pools than female date palms. Look for fruit on older
female date palms if you aren’t sure whether they are male or female (they must
be about six feet tall before females start producing fruit).
It
is nearly impossible to “sex” a tree before it starts producing flowers or
fruit if grown from seed. Palms propagated from suckers will be the same sex as
the parent tree. California and Mexican fan palms are started from seed. Date
palms may be started from seed or suckers.
Two of our Mexican fan palms did NOT send out flower stalks this year. This is out of a total of 11 palm trees in our backyard. So nine of the fan palms did flower.
I am waiting to see if those same two palm trees fail to flower again next year. If so, we may have a definitive answer to the male/female Mexican fan palm question! I will keep you posted.
I left a comment and then realized it was not a reply but a new post so I removed it.
Let me know what happens. Odd that it didnt flower this year. I dont think nonflowering is permanent. Let me know what happens. You might have some males.
It will be interesting observational experiment! I will let you know next year.