Some of mine - (the ones that like the warmer temps) - have been very slow to leaf out. And - I have lots of shriveled leaf starts on many, too. I agree - that the frost is the culprit. Given time - I’m hoping they ‘re-leaf’.
Others - like Salavatski, Afganski, Granada are well on their way. Lots of blooms. I may have lost a couple this winter. Oddly enough - Wonderful is right there with them. All green and healthy.
We pulled out a dead Agat, even though it is supposed to be very cold hardy - it was a goner.
The roots on our oldest pomegranate plant has survived a winter that went down to 3 degrees Fahrenheit, it was in the ground, all our other pomegranates plants are to newly planted to have seen that cold. Pomegranate plants have cold hardy roots in general, if the roots are well enough developed, yet I do think that the roots are sensitive to cold if they are not well developed enough, their roots also seem to be cold sensitive to some degree if the bush comes out of dormancy enough in the spring, and then gets hit by frost, yet I do think that sensitivity lessons some as the bush ages, and some cultivars seem to be more sensitive in the roots when that happens. Luckily none of the cultivars I have put in ground have been totally lost, only one in ground plant has actually died, yet I made a backup of it the year before it died, and the backup survived.
They had started to leaf out but then got hit by that artic blast last month and lost all the new leaves. They are all showing regrowth now so I need to start planning some in ground locations.
I have decided to add the name of the nursery that introduced ‘White’ to it’s name, so now I am calling it White (L. E. Cooke). There might be more than one cultivar going around as white. So I wanted to help prevent taking part in a mix up.
OK. New fungus attack method !
I ‘think’ that the fungus exposure to the fruit might be limited by removing the ‘male’ flowers when they are no longer needed for pollination.
BEFORE
It is ‘these guys’ that fall to the ground and create fertile ground for the fungus to spread. So - if removed - maybe that will be less of a threat.
ALSO -
I cut heads off! Well - actually . . . ‘bottoms’. !
If I see any black appearing . . . CLIP! Apparently the fruit does not need the calyx intact to mature.
Yes it’s true those male flowers can rot and the blossom end on occasion too. My location has a marine layer that comes in overnight and hangs out until mid-morning from March to at least the beginning of June. The temperature will be in the mid 60’s and the humidity 95%. By mid-day the humidity will be down to at least the 60%'s and the temperature into the 70’s. It’s an ideal situation for several types of micro-fungi; e.g. black sooty mold. I usually have to spray our Citrus, Mango, and White Sapote quarterly for those so I usually give the Pomegranate a shot too.
I’ve noticed that ants start surveying the tree shortly after bloom and they can track pest fungi in from the neighbors yards. I try to curtail that by spraying for them and the sucking pests they bring shortly after blossom fall.
Now that I think about it, maybe the male flowers on some of our pomegranate cultivars might be more sensitive to the fungal disease than the bisexual flowers are. All the male flowers seem to get diseased on some of our plants. That is something interesting to look out for. Yet here the male flowers often fall off right after pollination, not long after the male flowers open. Getting the male flowers away from the bisexual fruit is the most important, I think. I am also wondering if a strong vinegar spray on the male flowers after they are moved could also help prevent spread.
@alanmercieca
Having done a bit of reading about commercial fungicides used to control this problem, I would wait for blossom set on the females and then apply an elemental sulfur spray to the plant and ground area where the males (will) fall.
I have such a product (Thiolux) on hand for my fig repository so I’ll try it out next year.
Has anyone seen Jimmy VA’s YouTube channel? He grows in northern VA and gets loads of pomegranates, but he is unsure of the variety. Virginia Fruit Grower also grows pomegranate and says Eversweet and Kazake do the best for him in Virginia Beach. Lastly we know edible landscaping has had many years of success until recently when an unusual 3 day late frost event devastated their pomegranates. Michael recommended Bala Miursal and Surh Anor as they are his most productive varieties. I’m not sure what they do differently, and if they have some sort of microclimate, but they are all examples it’s possible. Each example is from a different region in VA, but with similar rainfall and humidity. Eversweet seems to have strong advantages considering it’s said to do well on the coast, and the fruit can taste good even when immature. I suspect Eversweet is probably best for coastal VA, but I dont know anyone who has tried it in Zone 7.
My suhr anor was very productive but all of the fruit succumbed to the rot so I pulled it out.
If you have a full sun, open space, prune openly and spray, you might have luck…
Mine is getting to the age where it will likely produce this year, I will report how it goes. I forgot to mention, one lady in my neighborhood grew one from seed, and while it does taste horrible, she gets them just about every year. Another lady in my neighborhood has a massive pomegranate tree, but I have never had the chance to ask her about it.
If you can avoid the dreaded rot, you can succeed. I gave up and pulled them all. If you have a tree and are successful, I think it would be prudent to be happy with that and not bring in any new plants that might bring the rot issue. It seems a few people are successful without the rot and all I can think of is that they just don’t have it at their location at this point. I know @PomGranny has been trying different sprays, but not sure if she has cracked the code yet.
Gregory Levin. Former USSR. Russia. Mr. Levin a Leningrad trained agronomist amassed the world’s largest collection of Pomegranates ,1117 varieties from 27 countries, many of the countries were part of the former Soviet Union. Russia. For example- R-8 Salavatski was selected from Turkmenistan, selected by Levin in the mountain gorges of Turkmenistan, a region that is the birthplace of the Pomegranate and one of the last places on Earth where it still grows wild. R-26, Afghanistan, etc.
For what it’s worth, I’m keeping Sur Anor, Kaim Anor, HydranarXGoulosha, and Bala Miursal in pots. I MAY try cloning them to place on the south side of the house right by the HVAC unit as a microclimate to see if anything survives there. It stays dry and with the additional airflow it should help with rot if the cold doesn’t whack them.
