A Spring Snapshot from the Grove

Highlighting the Dedication and Skill of Our Date Workers

This is a crucial time at our date ranch. Each spring, our dedicated crews of date workers undertake some of the most labor-intensive and important tasks in the Medjool date harvest cycle. With pollination complete we now focus on the tree’s growing fruit arms. Each palm has an average of 18 fruit arms. Our skilled crew members wear a safety harness clipped to a basket attached to a forklift. The forklift driver carefully raises the basket with the crew up into the palm tree and positions them safely to work on the fruit arms. They evaluate the fruit clusters and remove the center of each fruit arm. The centers are thick and require sharp shears and hand strength to remove in one cut. This helps thin the fruit and allows for good air circulation for the growing dates.  

Following the de-centering, the crew then carefully bends the fruit arm creating an arch without breaking the stem and ties it with twine to a nearby palm branch. This important step secures the fruit arm and ensures that the weight of the date cluster is supported and protected from wind damage or breakage. 

After the de-centering and bending are complete Another crew of highly skilled workers go up into the palms to thin the fruit clusters even more. This labor-intensive hand thinning is done in a zig zag pattern on the fruit strands: one date on two dates off. They work with precision and speed to ensure the palm produces the finest quality dates.

The dedication, skill, and hours of hard work put in by our crews during April and May are what make each harvest possible. The result is a healthy and beautiful date palm tree that is ready to produce the sweetest Medjools!

We can’t wait for Harvest!