Growing plants from seeds is so exciting and gratifying and it makes our homes more beautiful.

The process:

1. collect seeds form the dates (I used medjool variety). They are usually sold ripe and even more often – dried, but just FYI – the dates are ripe when they are slightly wrinkled and soft (I used dried dates).

2. Soak the seeds for a day to clean them off and remove any leftover fruit.

3. Soak the pits in fresh water for 2 days (48 hours): fill a cup or bowl with cool water and place the pits in water. Change the water once a day. This will help keep mold from forming. Soaked seeds’ coats absorb water and prepare it for the germination process. If there are any seeds that float to the top, remove them. Use only the seeds that sink to the bottom, those are viable.

4. Fold two seeds into a damp piece of paper towel: lay the paper towel out flat and place 2 date seeds on either end. Fold the paper towel over so it covers both seeds, then fold it in half. The seeds should be fully covered and separated by a layer of paper towel.

5. Place the seeds in paper towels into plastic bags and seal them. Make sure the seeds are still in place before closing the seal.

6. Store the bags in a warm, dark place for 6-8 weeks. The seeds will germinate best at 21 to 24 °C, but in my case they germinated at temperatures just below 20 °C just as successfully.

7. Check reguraraly for growth progress or presence of mold. Every 2 weeks open the bags and check for progress. Replace mold paper towels with new damp paper towels. After 2-4 weeks, you should see tiny roots growing out of the seeds.

8. Once the seeds sprout, pot them. Prepare one pot for each seed by filling the pots with one part seed-starting compost and one part sand. Lightly water the soil so it’s moist, then plant the seeds so half of each seed is exposed. You can cover the pots with plastic wrap, but it’s not necessary (I didn’t) and place them somewhere with indirect sunlight on temperature of about 20 °C.

Keep checking for progress. The seeds should sprout within 3-8 weeks.

Start with smaller pots, but the plants will need to be repotted to a larger pot as they grow.

9. Water the plants thoroughly. Pour water until it trickles out through the drainage holes at the bottom. Repeat this as needed – in my case it was every 4 days the first two weeks and after that, once a week l.

Once the plants sprout

1. Keep the plants in a sunny area. They will grow in full sunlight.

2. Water the plants when the first half of the soil feels dry. Check daily. If the dirt feels moist, then there’s still enough water, in that case wait another day or more.

3. Transplant the date palms into larger pots as they grow once the plant is outgrowing its current pot or its roots grow out of the bottom of the pot. This needs to be done throughout the plant’s life as it keeps growing.

4. Transplant the date palm into the ground if it gets too big for a pot. As long as you live in a warm enough climate, you can move your date palm plant outdoors and plant it in the ground. Date palms can reach 15 m in height. So choose a spot that will give the tree enough space to grow.

Date palms are slow-growing, so it may last up to 8 years before they grow to their “palm shape”.

Happy planting!