Cold Hardy Pomegranate: Makedonia Red?

I have just purchased a Makedonia Red Pomegranate from ediblelandscapes.com. I am not convinced that this variety is truly zone 6 hardy, as they proclaim (I’m allegedly zone 6a). Will likely give it a semi-sheltered location and amend my heavy-ish clay soil but am hoping to leave it unprotected beyond that. I can’t find anything about this rare varietal and would be interested to hear if anyone has experience with Makedonia. I will begrudgingly protect it if need be but I won’t be going too far.

If anyone wants to enlighten me on pest and disease pressure on pom’s as well I’d love that.

Happy growing,
Jujube

I can only speak to the questions regarding pests/disease. I had pomegranates in WashingtonDC and on the western shore of the Chesapeake. I never noticed any issues whatsoever with pests or diseases. The only issue I recall was a cool, rainy period one autumn that ruined a crop. I would suspect that you will encounter the same, and issues with a too short season for ripening. There the bush bloomed mid April and ripened mid to late November.

Thanks GeneH! Ya I’m in central Ohio so I kind of expect occasional issues regarding full ripening.

I am in Cincin+nastyweather, Ohio and It won’t grow here. I am zone 6B down on the banks of the Teays river near the Brent Spence bridge.

When looking up the name the only link I see regarding that is edible landscaping. I will tell you many nurseries will like to stretch zones. I have found zone listing on both Raintree and One Green World where they state things are at a hardier zone than they are. For example Raintree has a yellow donut peach that they claim is hardy to zone 5 but many other sites including Dave Wilson Nursery which they get their plants from state it to be hardy to zone 6. I think the reason they do this is they don’t warranty their plants past a certain time. Raintree nursery says they will come out of dormancy in July and that is it. Edible Landscaping has a 90 day season but that does not cover the winter at all.

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@poncirusguy Have you grown this variety?

My friend bought a cold hardy pomegranate from raintree. At 7 years old it has not fruited yet and gets knock back to its enclosure size. It has been a waste for him. I have not bought one.
My motto is learn from others mistakes and not your own. It is much easier.

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I haven’t grown that variety, but i lived in the midwest before. If fruit is your goal, then you won’t get anything from this. In Zone 8a, i am usually not harvesting Poms until November, and that is with an average last freeze of mid to late March. The other thing they don’t mention is if this variety will produce by itself.

@Dudeness
Screenshot_20220111-230555

Stated as self fertile.

@poncirusguy Well since it is already ordered I will have to just test it out myself.

Wondering if pot culture would help in producing fruit by moving to the garage in the winter to prevent due back

Just because a variety can survive zone 6, does not mean that it can produce there, and does not mean that it could survive all the different kinds of Zone 6 climates.

What I find interesting is ‘Trees of Joy’ is also in Bethlehem, PA, the same place that Edible Landscaping claims that ‘Makedonia Red’ is from. The owner of ‘Trees of Joy’ is someone that looks for cold hardy pomegranates that can produce in that kind of climate. Chances are that Bass of ‘Trees of Joy’ knows about that variety. I think that you should e-mail bass and see if he knows anything about.

@alanmercieca wow, thank you for the suggestion. Such a wealth of knowledge on this site

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It is much easier to start plants very early because the sun is already past equinox than to keep growing late in the season long past fall equinox when there is no sun left. Put your tree under lights late February then pick fruit in October. You can also grow fruit like I grow my citrus fruits.


I pick sweet lemons all winter long.

@poncirusguy that’s a nice setup you have. Is it south facing or heated? Would you expect “Hardy” pomegranates in pots to respond similarly with the same treatment?

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@alanmercieca I have reached out to trees of joy and name dropped Bass via your recommendation. Greatly appreciate the recommendation and will add any information I find to this post.

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Self Fertile here as a Yes or No doesn’t tell the whole story when it comes to pomegranates. Some varieties put out 90+% Functioning Male Flowers (FMF) and <10% Bisexual Flowers (BF). Only the BF will produce fruit (as they have fully functioning male and female parts). In the most ideal growing conditions, a plant like this would produce very few fruits.

Of course you won’t know until you try and see what you get (given the lack of easily attainable information on this variety)

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@Jujube It is south facing and I do have to heat it when temperatures fall below 10F or if there is no sun and temperatures fall below 20F. It is 4 layers of used sliding glass doors thick. Overall it needs little heat added.

@Dudeness thank you for enlightening me I was unaware of such traits in some pom varieties

@alanmercieca

Bass from Trees of Joy in zone 6 Bethlehem PA just got back to me and here is what he says about makedonia pomegranate

“It’s from the makedonia region of Greece. It has survived zone 6 with some die back in cold years and fruits here”

So I’m hopeful I can get it to fruit as well in central Ohio

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Does central Ohio = I-70

@poncirusguy yes, I’m in Columbus OH

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