Benefit
Now we will tell you what beneficial properties date palm fruits have. For starters, it has a huge impact on the cardiovascular system, which is why people suffering from heart or blood pressure problems simply need to eat dates.
This fruit actively affects the immune system, thereby strengthening human immunity. This dried fruit even helps men suffering from problems in their sex life.
Dates help in treating gastrointestinal problems. Therefore, people who suffer from gastritis, ulcers, and constipation should include at least a small amount of dates in their diet.
This fruit undoubtedly helps fight insomnia. It should also be included in the diet of women, since it has a positive effect on nails, hair and skin better than any cosmetic preparations.
It is often recommended to take this fruit with you to school or school, as it promotes activity throughout the day and significantly increases performance!
But one of the most important properties of dates is that they prevent the appearance of malignant tumors. How many benefits are there in dates!
Growing date palms at home
Various types of date palms are often grown in indoor and greenhouse culture. The most popular dates are palmate, canarian and robelena dates. The last two are more decorative, but novice gardeners most often experiment with palmate due to the easy availability of its seeds (you can sow seeds from edible dates sold in grocery stores).
Types of dates for indoor cultivation (photo gallery)
The palmate date is often grown indoors due to the easy availability of its seeds.
The Canary date in indoor culture is more decorative, and its fresh seeds can be brought from the south
The Robelena date is better suited for indoor cultivation than other types and is very decorative.
Of course, no fruiting or harvest of dates can be expected under indoor conditions. The indoor date palm is a purely ornamental plant.
At home, it is easy to grow a date palm from seeds from purchased dates:
- Rinse the seeds of eaten fruits thoroughly with clean water.
The pits from eaten dates can be washed with water and used for sowing.
- Stick each seed vertically into an individual cup with an earthen mixture so that the layer of soil above its top is about 1 centimeter.
- Place in a warm place with a temperature not lower than +25°C and keep the soil slightly moist at all times.
- After 1–3 months, shoots will appear.
Date palm seedlings have whole leaves, not pinnate leaves.
- After the shoots emerge, place them in the brightest window.
How to sow date pits correctly (video)
The first feathery leaves appear on date palm seedlings 1–3 years after sowing. If at this age the leaves still remain intact, it means the plants do not have enough light. Date palms are very light-loving. In summer you can put them on the balcony or in the garden; it is very useful for them to be in the fresh air. In winter, the room temperature should be around +15°C. Moderate watering is required; the soil in the pot should always be slightly moist in the depths. Over-drying of the earthen coma and over-moistening are equally dangerous. Pots for date palms are preferably tall, with obligatory drainage holes in the bottom and a drainage layer of pebbles or expanded clay at the bottom of the pot. Young plants are replanted every year in the spring, adults can be replanted less often, once every 2–3 years. For very large old plants growing in large and heavy containers, it is sometimes recommended that instead of labor-intensive replanting, one should limit oneself to partial replacement of the top layer of soil with fresh soil. It is not necessary to spray palm leaves with water, but it is necessary to regularly wipe them from dust with a slightly damp cloth or sponge.
The Robelena date is one of the most beautiful indoor palm trees with feathery leaves.
During my childhood, in the spacious and bright lobby of our school, among other plants, there were several large and beautiful date palms in wooden tubs with a capacity of about twenty or thirty liters each. I don’t remember that they were ever replanted, but we were regularly sent to wipe the leaves while on duty. My own attempts to grow dates from seeds were not particularly successful: the first time, nothing simply sprouted (probably, the fruits turned out to be too old or overheated during drying, they were very suspiciously dry). And the second time, although I managed to wait for the shoots, my dirty omnivorous cat decided that this was some new cat grass, and quickly dealt with the palm seedlings.
General characteristics
You need to understand that, like any other fruit, dates have a season. It is from October to November that you can buy fresh dates, but the rest of the time - only dried ones.
However, do not be afraid of the second option, since the benefits of dried dates are also great. In addition, dried fruit is stored much longer.
Why don’t the beneficial properties disappear after the fruit is dried? The answer is simple. Dates are dried naturally with the help of the sun; various syrups are not used for this.
Proteins – 2.7%. Fats – 0.6%. The calorie content of this fruit is high - about 282 calories per 100 grams.
Advice! After eating dates, you should brush your teeth thoroughly!
How to use dates in the kitchen
Dried dates can be eaten simply as a snack or added to dishes that use dried fruits. The mixes are the perfect addition to cakes and cookies that you don't want to add sugar to.
These fruits also make an excellent base for making quick and healthy snacks, such as truffles or homemade bars with chopped dates, seeds and nuts.
- Dried date syrup.
Syrup from dried dates is much healthier than sugar. It can be used to enhance the taste of cakes, desserts, drinks or as a sweet addition to pancakes. This will provide a sweet taste without the use of sugar, while still providing vitamins and minerals.
Date syrup can be purchased at health food stores, but is relatively expensive. Therefore, many housewives prepare it themselves at home. The preparation of such a sweetener is extremely simple and accessible even to a novice cook.
The selected quantity of dried pitted dates should be filled with water to a level that covers them. Leave for one or two days. Then mix everything until smooth, adding a little water depending on your preferred consistency.
- You can make a delicious and healthy dessert from fresh dates.
We recommend trying stuffing fresh dates with a delicious filling. To prepare the filling you will need:
- goat cheese or sheep cheese
- salt,
- lemon,
- pepper,
- hot peppers,
- green onions,
- lemon juice.
Roll the cheese pieces into balls. Season with paprika, onion, olive oil and lemon juice. Place inside the fruit. Here's the perfect way to eat fresh dates!
Dates for weight loss
In ancient times, women noticed this amazing property of date palm fruits - burning fat. Although it would seem to be a very high-calorie sweetness.
Nowadays, famous nutritionists have experimentally proven this ability of dates. The sucrose they contain does not accumulate in fat folds, but is used to produce clean energy!
It was mentioned above that many people take dates with them to work or study. This is also easy to explain.
Even a small amount of them can relieve hunger for a long time. This is also a good snack for the night, when everyone is craving something unhealthy and fatty.
So, thanks to this article, you learned about the benefits of dates, their composition, and also became acquainted with their effect on the human body. We hope that we were useful to you and answered all your questions!
Problems
- Darkened leaves and a soft trunk indicate too high environmental humidity;
- Palm tree stops growing when air temperature is too low>;
- If the tips of the leaves turn brownish, this may indicate low humidity, insufficient watering or drafts;
- When leaves begin to turn yellow, the cause may be a lack of nutrients, insufficient watering, or the use of hard water for moisture;
- Young date leaves may turn brown as a result of sunburn.>;
- Leaves droop and lose their decorative properties due to lack of moisture.
Sometimes the date palm loses its decorative properties and healthy appearance due to improper care.
- The palm tree may also stop growing due to a lack of nutrients in the soil or too high acidity of the soil (it should not be higher than 7.0 pH);
- Leaves may begin to wither, fall and darken due to the fact that the plant is in a draft;
The main mistakes in caring for a date palm include waterlogging the soil or, conversely, insufficient watering, low environmental humidity, and the presence of drafts. By avoiding these mistakes and putting in a little effort to provide the plant with comfortable conditions, you can grow a beautiful and healthy palm tree!
Insect pests
Most often, if maintenance conditions are violated, the date palm suffers from spider mites, mealybugs and scale insects. The best way to control pests is to correct maintenance mistakes. It is best to remove insects and traces of their vital activity that destroy the plant mechanically, by wiping the leaves of the date palm with a soap-vodka solution (15 g of liquid soap, any dishwashing detergent or a teaspoon of grated solid soap dissolved in warm water, dilute in a liter of warm water and add to solution two tablespoons of vodka).
If the number does not pass, after a week the treatment of the leaves must be repeated, just do not forget to protect the soil in the pot from getting soap into it. In case of severe pest infestation, you will have to resort to treating date palm leaves with insecticides, and the best of them is actellik.
Among the diseases of the date palm, spotting is known, which disfigures the leaf blade, and pink rot, which affects not only the leaves, but sometimes also the stem, and causes them to rot. Fortunately, only weak and sick plants are susceptible to infection by these diseases, so the key to the health of your date palm is to follow the rules of caring for it. If trouble happens and the plant gets sick, treat the palm tree twice with a fungicide containing mancozeb and methyl thiophanate, observing a week interval between sessions.
Diseases
Let's look at how to care for a date palm during illness.
Among the pests that can affect the date palm are thrips, mealybugs, scale insects, and spider mites. You can use several methods to combat them:
- Wiping the stem and leaves with a cloth soaked in medical alcohol;
- Treating palm trees with warm soapy water;
- The use of an insecticide, for example, Actellica, Fitoverma, Pyrethrum.
The palm tree may also be affected by pink rot or brown spot . Prevention of these diseases is to follow the rules of plant care. For treatment, you should use a fungicide, for example, Topaz or Fitosporin.
The presence of spider mites can be indicated by yellowed leaves of the plant. Brown plaques appear on the leaves, which means a scale insect infection has occurred. The leaves turn brown inside and become whitish on the outside - evidence of thrips damage. Wilting of the crown and rapid drying of leaves may be a consequence of the appearance of mealybugs.
Date palm dries out
Sometimes the leaves of a date palm dry out from the tips, and this is clear evidence that the air humidity in the room where the plant is located is too low, with a normal level of 50%. This is not so much, and there are more than enough ways to increase air humidity to the required value, so do not be lazy to spray and wash the leaves, otherwise the palm tree will lose its decorative effect, and it will be a great pity for wasted time and effort. Remember that the date palm dries out only if the owner is careless.
Date palm turns yellow
If you have not changed your attitude towards palm tree care in time and have not resolved the issue of supplying the plant with moisture at all levels, the next signal of an imbalance in the water balance after dry tips is yellowing leaves of the date palm. This means that you not only spray the leaves of the plant irregularly, but also forget to water it, allowing the earthen lump in the pot to dry out. If you don't have enough time to care for the plant, maybe it would be better to give your date palm to someone who has the time to take care of it?
Date palm leaves darken
When the soil in a potted date palm is chronically waterlogged, the plant's leaves gradually darken from green to brown, the trunk becomes soft, and the plant smells rotten. As soon as you notice this, stop watering the palm tree, remove it from the pot and inspect the roots: if they become dark, soft and watery, the plant has already died, but if there are still living roots among the rotten roots, then it makes sense to cut off the dead roots, sprinkling the sections with crushed charcoal, and transplant the date palm into fresh soil.
