I just bought and planted this A.C. Pomegranate which is a hardy soft seeded variety that has done well in the Pacific Northwest where I live. I have it planted in a raised bed off a south facing patio that gets a lot of heat.
The way it was pruned by the nursery looks odd to me with the main branches going straight up, should I spread out the branches a bit with weights as shown in the picture to make it more of a vase shape?
Any advice appreciated.
I’d leave it as is. The branches will droop down over time. The only pruning I‘d suggest when the tree gets bigger is to remove all lower branches that may touch the ground and thin out growth in the middle when it gets dense.
Man, I’m shocked that’s doing well for you in the PNW. Here in CA where I’am we only get 13" of rain per year (which they love) and we are in the 80°+ range for 7 or more months.
I’d agree with @bleedingdirt, it looks fine for a younger tree.
Okay thanks! I’ll take the weights off and just leave it alone and see how it grows.
I just planted it, it’s supposed to do well, and I think I’ve given it it’s best chance, but to be honest, I’ll believe it when I see it!
Poms seem really shrub-like and weedy. My in-ground one is about 4 feet tall and looks about the same.
Speaking of Poms, I was just doing some yard work, and to my surprise my Wonderful has already started to flower. That’s about a month earlier than I usually see blooms.
Pomegranates are very unpredictable growers, decide what to prune once or twice a year tops. One thing I don’t see mentioned is prune off growth that could break another part of the bush if left growing. Nothing needs to be pruned now. I usually prune in the early spring or in the early winter. Those times of the year are way less likely to have a deep freeze (where I live), yet are great times to prune. In your climate you probably don’t have as much deep freezes as we do. Dormant or barely out of dormancy I find is best.
My poms were fruiting profusely on probably 50 or more trunks each for several years then I heard that professional growers keep their’s on fewer, but larger diameter growth. I pruned mine to thin them by maybe 10%. They stopped producing for 3 years. They seem to be recovering this year. I’m not pruning again. I’ll only clean up broken or other problem growth now. D
By nature pomegranate plants are bushes, not trees, if someone tries to force them to be tree like then they will put way more effort in to vegetation, so that they can be a bush again. I also think that they are way more cold sensitive when they are tree like.
I have mine somewhere in between bush and tree. I only keep 2-3 shoots from the roots and pruned first branches at about the 2.5ft mark.
