• Greenhouse worker Martin Chinnock holds up two pots of date palm plants being grown. From the Somerset village of Baltonsborough, Date Palm Developments (DPD) has propagated and sent to the UAE nearly one million young cloned date palms over the past two decades.
    Greenhouse worker Martin Chinnock holds up two pots of date palm plants being grown. From the Somerset village of Baltonsborough, Date Palm Developments (DPD) has propagated and sent to the UAE nearly one million young cloned date palms over the past two decades.
  • Date palms are cloned because, when grown from seed, genetic variability produces trees that are not uniform and are less reliable in terms of yield. But cloning date palms is a specialised and expensive discipline and few companies around the world produce large numbers.
    Date palms are cloned because, when grown from seed, genetic variability produces trees that are not uniform and are less reliable in terms of yield. But cloning date palms is a specialised and expensive discipline and few companies around the world produce large numbers.
  • About 40 per cent of DPD’s output is sent to the Emirates, with the rest spread across more than a dozen other nations.
    About 40 per cent of DPD’s output is sent to the Emirates, with the rest spread across more than a dozen other nations.
  • “There are limitations on the scale. You cannot produce hundreds of thousands and produce them well. It’s a difficult crop to do technically. There’s a large demand, it’s a wide market,” said Dr Avril Brackpool, DPD’s managing director.
    “There are limitations on the scale. You cannot produce hundreds of thousands and produce them well. It’s a difficult crop to do technically. There’s a large demand, it’s a wide market,” said Dr Avril Brackpool, DPD’s managing director.
  • “There’s 30 years of propagation history of date palms here, starting as research and development, with the process being optimised over the years.”
    “There’s 30 years of propagation history of date palms here, starting as research and development, with the process being optimised over the years.”
  • It may be too cold in Britain for date palms to actually flower and produce fruit, yet DPD’s greenhouse contains tens of thousands of young date palms.
    It may be too cold in Britain for date palms to actually flower and produce fruit, yet DPD’s greenhouse contains tens of thousands of young date palms.
  • The process of creating them starts when date palm offshoots — these are like side branches — arrive in Britain from countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
    The process of creating them starts when date palm offshoots — these are like side branches — arrive in Britain from countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
  • After about six months in the growth room, plants are planted into “torpedo” plant pots and placed in the greenhouse’s controlled high-humidity area, where compressed air and water are sprayed to create a fine fog.
    After about six months in the growth room, plants are planted into “torpedo” plant pots and placed in the greenhouse’s controlled high-humidity area, where compressed air and water are sprayed to create a fine fog.

Environment

Growing date palms in Somerset — in pictures

Rob Gurdebeke

March 22, 2015

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From the Somerset village of Baltonsborough, Date Palm Developments (DPD) has propagated and sent to the UAE nearly one million young cloned date palms over the past two decades. All photos by Stephen Lock for The National

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