[Arid_gardener] Re: pomegranate question

[Dick Gross]

Lori, log on to this webb page (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MG056) for culture advice beyond the scope of this email. There is a ton of stuff on this fruit and if your answers are not here, you can search elsewhere.

I believe Pomegranate will survive mild frost but if it is portable, why run the risk by exposing it?

Pruning is not essential but poor pruning tactics end up with a multi-stem thicket. Your photos show some poor pruning practices. I suggest that you search the internet to learn how. I could show you but explaining it in an email is a bit laborous and daunting. You don't have to do it all at once. Make a  few, a cut or two, and study what calamity you've wrought before you continue.  I will mention a couple of issues.

When cutting a branch, cut it back to the shoulder leaving only the shoulder intact or just outside its junction with another branch. Cut all dead wood back to green or a shoulder to allow proper healing with callus.

I would remove the larger sucker originating at an angle from below the surface. Keep the vertical as the main structure and shape that to meet your objectives. If it is coming from the vertical stem be sure that you prune it properly. Lop it off a couple of inches from its union then pull back the soil until you can get a clean cut right at the shoulder. Leave it open until a callus forms on the new cut to prevent the entry of pathogens.

I would top the tree at a major junction with other side branches, probably a foot below the tip, and tip some of the side branches to force it to fill out rather than attain a top-heavy status.

Keep as much existing foliage as possible remembering that photosynthesis manufactures carbohydrates that feed the tree and taking off too much at a time can put it intonshick and starve vit to death, in a manner of speaking. You have to sort of keep a balance between a restricted root system.

I would also feed the tree with a week solution every time I water. Something on the order of a fourth teaspoon of Miracle grow per gallon each time you water.

I'm all out of breath, Lori. Remember that diagnosis by email may be dangerous and you should weigh my advice carfully before hacking away.  One more thing . . . .

Pomegranite roots easily from cuttings. Save the wood over 1/4th inch and get some new plants started for friends and a backup if there is a goof.

Dick Gross, Master Gardener volunteer
University of Arizona Maricopa County
Cooperative Extension.



  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: LOLLYGOA at aol.com 
  To: lmaxson at pacbell.net ; rkgross3 at cox.net 
  Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 10:38 AM
  Subject: Re: pomegranate question


  Hi Dick Gross and lmaxson 
   Thanks for writing back!
    The reason I brought it in was a freak early frost up here in NYC; the temp usually drops to the 30's near the end of oct and since I've read these are mediterranean trees, I thought I should not let it freeze. Plus, I read that fruit ripens in late fall, and wanted to give it a chance to redden. Don't know what type it is - the plant salesman in the market wasn't speaking  much english.. ("yes, yes, pomegranate") It has spikes.
  There is much, much less light in our east-window facing flat, and limited space for all my other friends who've now come indoors...
  If the pomegranate goes dormant in winter, can I put it in my garage? There will be no light but the fluorescent.  I do want to prune it after the leaves fall, it has 2 soil-level trunks, one of which is tall, the other with the fruit. 
  here are photos attached
  thank you for your patience with such a newbie, Lori Connell


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