Imperial Valley press., 1923-07-16
Ey E. L. GARTHWAITE,
Farm Advisor

1 Farm Advisor
Over 80 Imperial Valley date
enthusiasts motored to lndio recent
lv with members of the Imperial
/ County agricultural extension service
+ staff 10 study the methods of root
ing date palm offshoots as shown
at series of demonstrations ar
ranged by the Riverside County
agricultural extension service.
/ DR.. Walter I. Swingle, in charge
of date Investigations Of the bureau
of plant industry of the U. S. De
partment of Agriculture, spoke
briefly saving that the date palm
was the only eudogenous plant with
which most people were familiar,
most plants being cxogenous. For
this reason, date palms cannot be
propagated by budding or grating,
but only bv planting seeds, and by
roofing offshoots. Since. seeds are
very liable not to be true, the only
practical method of reproducing the
date palm is by roofing offshoots,
and for that reason this is one of
the most important phases of the
date industry.
The Department Of Agriculture
has spent over $4,000 in introduc-
/ ing the best varieties into TIL"
United States and of the 200 or
more varieties brought in, not over
10 arc suited to large scale CONNER
cial culture in the Southwestern
United States. Up until 1910 the
growing of dates was still in a de-
cidedlv experimental stage, but the
discovery of satisfactory methods of
ripening and curing the fruit, put
the industry or Il money making
1 foundation.
Offshoots could at one time be
/ purchased in Coachella Valley for
as low as $3.50 piece, and it was
not until 1915 when further imror-
! tation became impossible that grow
ers realized the necessity for root
ing offshoots i'll this country.
Delay Immaterial
DR.. Swingle stated that delay in
setting out date offshoots does not
stunt the growth, and proved his
point by showing the crowd tree
| that was grubbed out as dead, three
times, then held in an offshoot
house for ) years, and finally plant
ed nine years after being cut, it is
now healthy and in good condition.
! The growers then preceded to A.
! J. Shamblin s date gardens to OBJ
serve his methods of roofing off
! shoots. Mr.. Shamblin, who is now
in charge of the L. s. Department
of Agriculture Date Garden at Indio,
followed the practice adopted a
few years ago by some of the date
growers there, of setting the palms
well below the level of the soil.
! This method was originally adopted
because the high winds blew away
! the sand and soil from the root of
| palms set even with the surface of
| the soil, but has since been quite
generally adopted because of the
ease with which it makes possible
the roofing of offshoots.
Mr.. Shamblin explained that the
palms, which were years old when
| planted. were set Is inches below
the level of the ground, and basin
to s inches deep kept open around
| the palm for ) or 6 wears, enabling
offshoots to take root directly into
the soil. The palms are fertilized
well with manure, and during hot
! weather, watered about ) times n
| month.
Offshoots Well Rooted
Offshoots that are taken off may
| he six years old, but are only taken
off when well rooted, no matter
whether they weigh Is or 100
! pounds. Only three or -four of the
outer leaves are taken off, but all
the leaves are pruned back to about
four or five feet, depending on the
/ size and vigor of the offshoot. The
removal is done with the usual
chiscl-crowbar, sledge hammer and
axe, but is performed with great
care and skill, and as soon as taken
! off the bulb, roots, dirt and all are
carefully wrapped in a sack, put in
sled and dragged over to the hole
/ where 1t is TO be planted.
If the ball Of dirt around the root
is broken, the sack is left on when
planting. The land should be thor
ouGhly moist and in very good
working condition at planting time,
and should be kept so, water being
given frequently and regularly in
the warm weather, on some soils as
often as three times a week.
The hole into which the offshoot
is set is about SC inches deep and IL
inches in diameter. After the off
shoot is placed in, the hole is filled
up to within II or 10 inches of the
top with wet dirt. Water may then
be turned in or not, depending on
the moisture condition of the soil.
Manure is not put into the hole al
planting time, because Mr.. Cham
blin believes that, there being no
feeding roots to make use OF the
fertilizing constituents in the ma
nure, it is only wasted.
| DR.. Wcbbcr of the University of
| California here suggested that ma
nure in the hole at planting time
might have a definite toxic action,
as is the case with other trees under
similar circumstances. In the fall
Mr. Shambin digs a basin around