Even if you don’t have a garden at home, you can still create an organic container garden where you can grow tomatoes, bananas, mangoes, tangerines, eggplants, strawberries and other vegetables or fruits.
But in addition to being our food, plants purify the air and fill the home with life and joy, also providing a decorative detail to all environments.
Palm trees have been, since ancient times, some of the most used plants for this ornamental purpose. These hardy, hardy plants have been used to beautify cities, but they can also do so in your own home if you learn how to germinate their seeds to grow them yourself.
The date species (Phoenix dactylifera), native to warm climates and introduced to America by the Spanish, has the ability to adapt to different climatic conditions, and can be grown in pots!
To germinate date palm seeds, you can look for their fruits (dates) on a plant, or purchase some.
In addition to being edible, these fruits are used medicinally to detoxify the intestine, or to soothe sore throats and colds. But here we will use only the seeds inside.
For sprouts, remove the pulp (if you don’t, it could cause mold) and place them in water to discard those that float. Those that sink should be kept soaking in warm water for a few days. Try to change the water often and don’t worry about them rotting, as they will need a lot of moisture to germinate.
Then, you must place them in a bag and add a little water (two tablespoons). If you close it and keep it in a warm and dark place, the humidity will condense on the walls of the cover and, together with the temperature, will facilitate germination, which can last around two months.
Once they start to germinate, you will need to plant them. It is preferable to do it in spring, since the climate will facilitate its growth.
You can do it in small containers until the first leaves grow and then transplant them, or directly do it in a deep pot with a mixture of peat-based soil and coarse sand to ensure good drainage and encourage the growth of the first roots, which are usually very delicate.
Then, make a hole in the soil with your hands and place the seeds, covering them with an amount of substrate equivalent to twice their diameter.
Finally, water and try, from now on, to keep the soil always moist.
Place your planter outside, for example on a balcony, patio or terrace. But be careful not to expose it, at the beginning, to direct sun, so as not to damage the plant. Try to do it gradually.
After a few months, you will see the first shoots begin to emerge. When they have grown enough (in about three years), you can plant them on dry land if you prefer, or even remove the branches one by one and replant them separately to have more palm trees in your home.