A ministry friend in Central Java Indonesia mentioned recently abt planting Date Palm (Kurma) and using a rock on top of the soil to force the palm to strengthen the roots before the shoots. I assume he is talking abt seeded not child palm. Does anyone have more info on this technique? I am asking for more info. Thx. David
This could be a myth among the locals, this practice can damage the shoot permanently. And, this practice is only possible for seeds, not sucker planting or tissue culture produced plants.
In Pakistan, when a date palm stopped bearing dates, the myth was it had become male plant. However, they also knew how to change it to female again. They would burn the plant and its surroundings. The palm tree crown being very high would survive from fire but its trunk would get damaged. It would take a couple of years for the plant to recover and start bearing fruit again, thus proving farmers belief of this myth. They had no concept of male & female plants being separate, and they did not know that in fact they cleared up the surroundings around trees to allow natural pollination process.
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