If you get a nice air pot and you use one of the following it would not be so much work, if you only keep like 2 pomegranate plants in a pot, I am doing that with a lemon tree in a pot that must weigh like 100 pounds or more when the soil is wet. This dolly can handle 500 pounds, I don’t think that you’d need to get as big of a pot as I did for the citrus yet I have not been trying this a long time yet, our pomegranate so far seems like it could be happy a very long time in that same much smaller pot. Pomegranates plants have tap roots, that may be why they seem way more pot friendly in an air pot than a fig tree is https://www.homedepot.com/p/Devault-Enterprises-24-in-Plant-Dolly-Black-DEV2400B/202674362
1 Like
Matt
What about bagging ?
Has anyone tried that ?
On online friend of mine who lives as south as you can get in the Continental USA has fungus problems with all his pomegranate plants in the ground, yet in pots that does not happen to his plants. I think that it does not happen to potted pomegranates so much because the pots reduce splashing, especially a reduction of splashing directly from the ground.
I suspect that the more poorly the soil around an in ground pomegranate plant drains the more fungus in the soil and the more rotting there is, this can not only damage the fruit and it’s flowers, it also can cause plant die back in it’s self sort of like fire blight.
Also pomegranates plants have tap roots so their roots do not get as much water out of the top of the soil as many other plants do letting the soil stay wetter on the top during wetter times of the year.
Recently we planted 4 pomegranate plants and 1 pear root stock, first we amended the soil, then we added 3 square yards of moo-nure on top of that using restraining wall blocks to keep it in. For each plant we mixed the amended soil with Daddy Pete’s composted cow manure to fill in the hole. The soil is very well draining down to 9 to 11 inches depending on what part.
As originally, the area we planted these plants is still slopped to help even more with drainage. We put hardwood mulch down to reduce splashing, help amend the soil even more, to slow down soil/nutrient erosion and to help the plants and their roots to stay a little cooler and more moist since the roots are still poorly developed, and we have been having 90s here and there this year already. Yet it’s been raining a lot most of the time since we planted it and I am surprised how happy they are in their new location even on 90 something degree days, even on the wettest of weeks.
Zen -
I do have fungus problems. But, Richard and others suggested copper spray . . . and I used that this winter. I also removed most of the old mulch and sprayed the remaining mulch and surrounding ground, too. There were Mexican Petunias growing in clumps, around the edge of the bed, where the 2 Pomegranates were planted. I cut them down and will try to ‘kill’ them - as best I can . . . because I feel that they block the airflow to the poms.
I am going to do maintenance copper spraying . . . and see if I can control the fungus this year.
So far, the fungus has not damaged the fruit. The exterior is blotchy . . . but the arils are wonderful. I bought 2 more Grenadas - and had one successful propagation from my ‘mother’ plant. Hope it survives and thrives!
Also, Alan sent me a ‘Faye’s Paintbrush’ which is doing beautifully! I recently put it out in filtered light, until it gets a little stronger and accustomed to the outdoors.
- Karen AKA PomGranny
Below - my only successful Grenada ‘start’ from my older, (and very tasty), GrenadaMama !
1 Like
I use those, too. Very very handy. I ordered a couple of different sizes. And I find that it is nice to be able to ‘rotate’ the plants every now and then, to make sure the entire plant can share the light!
1 Like
I haven’t had too many problems with fungus on my pomegranates. Any fruit that cracks is in trouble though.
Its unclear if I will get any blooms this year; they are in their third year from the last dieback so I may get a few.
Is your experience that the “time to fruit” counter resets each dieback? I knew it wouldn’t be productive for that year, but I didn’t know it would be another 3 years.
It doesn’t reset to the beginning but it resets several years. Its one of the reasons why I expect I will be ripping my poms out in a few years. 15 years and maybe 2-3 years of fruiting in there…
I kept mine red silk in unheated garage, didn’t observe too much fungal disease pressure. I remember one year I spray copper soap (Cueva) before bud break. I haven’t done that for 2-3 years now.
Will Serenade organic fungicide help? I wonder why we don’t talk much about Serenade as organic fungicide.
One quick update… I have one in-ground Nikitski Ranni (aka Crimson Sky, AKA R19) Pomegranate here is northern VA, zone 7a. This is its third year in the ground and it produced one ripe pomegranate that I just picked a couple days ago. There was a very little bit of rot at the very bottom of the fruit but none of the rot had penetrated inside the fruit itself.
The quality of the juice was high, deep red with nice sweetness and quite a bit of acidity. The seeds were fairly large and hard but not inedible.
Hopefully next year I will get a larger crop. The bush grew quite a bit this year.
9 Likes
Nice. Did you have any late freezes this year?
I am honestly not sure. I wasn’t around much in the spring.
I just reviewed this other ‘pomegranate thread’ from 2018 and earlier. There were some posts that I missed all together - when I wasn’t around for a time.
I totally missed the @Matt_in_Maryland post which identified the pathogens responsible for all the damage we are experiencing. And his query about non-synthetic anti-fungal agents. That is the million dollar question. Everything that really seems to work, in field trial tests, is in the ‘big bad chemical’ category.
@Hillbillyhort - You asked ‘what about bagging’?
I don’t think this would help - because the fungus first attacks during the flower stage, and is well established (most of the time) on the calyxes of new fruit.
@Ozymandias - How’s your Nikitski Ranni doing? Did you get fruit last summer?
@Zendog - How is your Sumbar doing? I just planted one of those this spring. Some varieties seem to fight off the fungal problems better than others. I was wondering if Sumbar is one of those?
I am seriously considering getting rid of all mulch around my poms and using layers of landscape fabric, instead. _I do think that mulch is a mixed blessing - preserving moisture . . . which then, becomes the problem!_It’s almost impossible to rid the ground of dropped blossoms that fall and embed in the mulch and then harbor fungus. I’d like to have a more ‘tidy’ surface that won’t collect more spores. We are trying cardboard out in the field . . . but that is endless - and work-intensive. It does create a clean surface underneath the trees, though, which makes it easy to ‘sweep’ up all of the debris which falls. And it’s pretty good at keeping weeds and grass at bay.
Anyone else have any ideas about this? What do you do to keep the weeds controlled under the canopy of your pomegranates and fruit trees?
One tip that I only learned this week - When you pick the fruit, cut it off above the spot where it attaches to the branch.
I was twisting the fruit off in some cases - and leaving the ‘spur’ where it attached.
I read that these little ‘fruit spurs’ (pedicels) that are left on the branch, are a problem which harbor pathogens. Instead of leaving them - we should be cutting the fruit off WITH the pedicel intact. The article I read advised trimming off pedicels in late fall, as well . . . along with any damaged or diseased branches.
The good news is - there are those that are working on developing fungal-resistant varieties. But, like the cure for cancer . . . will we live to see it? And will these varieties pay the price of tinkering - and end up like the Red Delicious apple? Shippable. Beautiful, Fungus and Disease Resistant . . . but Tasteless? Hope not.
2 Likes
I think that really depends on the goals of the people developing new varieties, hybrid tomatoes is a great example, developers of hybrid tomatoes their main goals are making varieties in which the tomatoes look flawless, that can take abuse while shipping, that are high production, that are disease resistant, and that can be sold in grocery stores. The average person buying tomatoes at grocery stores doesn’t expect impressive taste that they’d brag to friends about.
Lets use wonderful pomegranates as an example, I have heard that getting those pomegranates from the right sources in California you get way better fruit than if you buy it from a majority of grocery stores in the USA, most pomegranates bought at grocery stores in the USA are not as good as what you can grow, it can be very easy to trick Americans when it comes to produce quality, if they don’t know there is any better, then they won’t expect any better, there is very little motivation to make taste a major priority. There is DNA technology that can prove if certain DNA traits were passed on in a cross, on a plant by plant basis, greatly speeding things up. Yet that is very expensive, only people with a lot of money would consider using such technology.
1 Like
I got two last year and appear to be on track to get just a handful this year. (I had high hopes after a mild winter that there would be a big increase, but I also didn’t fertilize or do anything else for the bush.) The tree flowered profusely but didn’t set many fruit.
1 Like
Pomegranate Flowers but no Fruit?
Watch this video to hear what this man advises in this situation. His ideas are very interesting. I just tried it on one of my larger trees this week.
Watering the foliage goes against my instincts, because of my battle with fungal problems. More dampness? So, I made sure to do this early in the morning, in order to give the leaves and bark lots of time to dry.
And I have some open flowers still forming on my large Wonderful. So, I tried the honey solution - and will be watching those female flowers, to see if more of them (than usual) are pollinated and become fruit.
Looks like this fellow is growing his pomegranates in a very pom-friendly place. His fruit looks perfect!
1 Like
Hi Tim. I know it’s been a year since you asked the question about dieback, but I thought I’d share my experience with you. Like @scottfsmith, mine took several years to rebound.
The first pomegranate which survived past its first winter, for me here in VA, is a ‘Wonderful’. I’m not positive - but I think I planted it in the late 90s or maybe 2000. It did ‘wonderfully’ (groannnnn!) for years and years, although I had given up getting fruit . . . until it was 10 years or older - and then it surprised me and we had pomegranates! It fruited regularly - until 2016. (?) Not sure of year, but I remember that the winter was much colder that year . . . well, enough to effect that pom. It died back and I had to remove all of the larger trunks. Back to square one.
It has come back. This is the fourth summer for the ‘new’ trunks. It has finally flowered again - and seems to be setting fruit. Not a lot - but some.
I wasn’t happy with the die back, of course . . . but, it did give me the opportunity to train it differently this time around. One ‘perk’ to take advantage of, when we have die back.
I am letting it keep a more ‘shrub’ shape - and maybe it will protect itself from cold snaps. ? I think that training pomegranates as trees exposes them to harm from temperature changes they can’t handle. However . . . it also keeps more sunlight and airflow out - and fungus in. Seems there is always a trade-off.
Hope yours is doing well. Did you keep it?
1 Like
My suhr anor is finally producing. 2 fruits had rot and had to be tossed but maybe 8 fruit left. This was it’s last year before getting fired, so it must have listened.
4 Likes
They are very unusual looking, with their red calyx and green body! Let us know how they taste, OK? They look great.
I have one Suhr Anor, but it is only 18" tall. 
First summer in the ground . . . but doing very well so far.
What other varieties do you have?
Is the Russian hardy variety you reference the same as Salavatski?
Thanks