Offshoot removal 2010

Scott Frische and several date palm volunteers offered to dig out and help separate the rare Amir Hajj offshoot from the mother palm. First, they tied the fronds up on the offshoot.

The Arboretum @ ASU Arborist Crew came a few days later and finished the job of slicing the offshoot from the mother palm.

Next came the job of digging out the base and roots of the offshoot.

After it was discovered the the offshoot was way too heavy, Mary George, Grounds Supervisor of the Polytechnic campus came to the rescue with her Bobcat.

Everyone took their turn digging.

The Amir Hajj was transported to the Tempe Campus.

Kanin Routson and his sister, Rafael, applied for and was granted permission to take possession of a rare Black Sphinx offshoot. They dug it out and slice it from the mother palm themselves. If the date palm survives the transplant to Tucson, Kanin will send the GPS coordinates of the new date palm's current location to add to ASU's Germplasm data base. Kanin had done a survey of the Black Sphinx cultivar while he was a student at University of Arizona.

On the right is the robust Amir Hajj offshoot now planted on Cady Mall south of the MU fountain. In the center is the Kustawy date palm donated to ASU by Scott Frische. The palm on the left is a 40 foot male date palm.