I’m a little disappointed in the taste of my first parfianka pomegranates. They’re not bad, sweet and tart but a little one dimensional maybe? I feel like the first year my Dessertnyi fruited I didn’t love it, now it’s my favorite. I guess it could also be my learning curve on optimal ripeness. Anyone had similar experience with less than stellar first year fruits?
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Yes. The plant needs a significant root system to produce it’s best quality fruit under given conditions. Now it’s true that Parfianka is highly rated – but in my experience it only gets there under steady day-and-night heat; i.e., without weekly fluctuations in median temperatures. I grew it under the latter conditions in zone 9b of San Diego (Rancho Penasquitos) and found that the Chater’s cultivars – esp. Eversweet developed much richer flavors.
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I just picked an Austin fruit the size of a tennis ball, which is much smaller than the fruit that you see in the market. The plant was in a five gallon pot and needed to be moved. I am in Zone 8b, but I must say that despite its size, it was one of the best Pomagranates that I ever tasted. I’m hoping that they take off without irrigation.
I planted 6 different varieties to hedge my bet.
Varieties planted this week at seven feet intervals and in order starting from the closest are:
Al-Sirin-Nar, Austin, Eversweet,Sumbarskii,Parfianka and Chernaya Rosa.
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Each of those cultivars have a different flavor characteristic; e.g., tones of blackberry, strawberry, etc.
Never tasted any of these before. This is my first attempt to grow Poms.
I’m hoping that they have some good drought tolerance such as figs or Jujubes.
I recently saw a bunch of non irrigated White Pomagranate trees planted at the community garden. So I decided to test these for now.
They actually prefer very dry and hot.
All plants have some drought tolerance in their native environment. What matters is if they are water-frugal in your environment. There are zero edible plants that I’d consider drought tolerant in my environment.
It is true that pomegranates can survive on minimal supplemental water in some locations – however, beware of the fruit quality you will receive.
Some cultivars prefer hot dry weather with moderate supplemental water. Others do poorly in that culture.
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That’s interesting. I just grow Wonderful, and I know they really prefer hot dry inland locations, and the fruit tastes better in fact, in those conditions.
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