Question: I have a number of Canary Island date palm trees on my property and recently had a lot of babies come up in areas that they cannot grow to adulthood. Since they are so large, I cannot have a particular one so close to my driveway.
I have tried to transplant them before, but they die. I have a beautiful one, about 3 feet tall, that I would like to transplant. I know it has a very long tap root and I am not sure I can get it all from our rocky soil.
It is very difficult to transplant palm seedlings that have been growing wild like yours have. As you have noticed, most palms develop deep root systems very quickly after the seed germinates.
Unless you are willing to dig deeply around each of the palm seedlings and take as much of this deep root system as possible, they will die. One option you can try is to undercut the seedlings with a shovel, but leaving the seedling otherwise undisturbed for one growing season. This will cut the taproot and allow it to develop a shallower root system, which will help in moving it the following season.
The other option you have is to move the seedlings when they are as young as possible.
Bob Morris is an associate professor with the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.
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