Medjool Date Palm

Phoenix dactylifera 'Medjool'

fruit

Medjool is the king of dates - large, soft, and richly caramel-sweet, the premium variety sold for fresh eating. It grows on the date palm, a stately desert tree that has been cultivated for thousands of years and is the classic palm of oasis agriculture. Date palms are dioecious, meaning male and female flowers grow on separate trees, so a fruiting Medjool (a female) needs pollen from a male palm, usually applied by hand. The catch for growers is climate: dates need brutally hot, dry summers and a dry ripening season, so while the palm tolerates some cold, it fruits well only in arid regions like the desert Southwest - in humid areas the fruit fails to ripen and rots.

✅ Plant alongside

Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests

• Garlic: A low-water aromatic underplanting suited to the hot, dry, well-drained ground date palms prefer
• Lavender: A heat- and drought-loving flowering companion that draws pollinators and tolerates alkaline soil
• Yarrow: A tough perennial that attracts beneficial insects and thrives in lean, dry desert soil

🛡️ Pest & disease prevention

Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts. Tap a name with an arrow for its full guide

• Bayoud disease →

  A devastating soilborne Fusarium wilt of date palms - plant clean, resistant stock and never move soil or tools from infected groves (Medjool is susceptible, so source carefully)

• Black scorch →

  A fungus that blackens and distorts leaves and flower stalks - prune out and destroy infected tissue and avoid wounding

• Parlatoria date scale →

  Encrusts fronds and fruit - treat with horticultural oil and remove heavily infested old fronds

• Birds →

  Strip ripening dates - bag the fruit bunches in mesh as they color

🌾 Harvest & storage

A rooted offshoot begins flowering in about 3 years and reaches good production in roughly 4 to 5, then bears for decades. After hand-pollination in spring, the fruit takes about 8 to 10 months to ripen, coloring and softening through late summer and fall. Harvest dates as they reach the soft, wrinkled, deep-brown stage (the fully ripe tamar stage for Medjool), picking over each bunch in several passes as fruit ripens unevenly. A mature palm can yield 150 to 225 lb of fruit a year. Cured dates keep for many months.

🥗 Nutrition & benefits

Dates are a concentrated natural sweet: about 277 calories per 100 g with a high 7 g fiber, an exceptional 696 mg potassium, plus magnesium, copper, and B6. Medjools are eaten fresh as a candy-like snack, stuffed, chopped into baked goods, or blended as a natural sweetener.