Hi, I’m also in 7A outside of Philly, have Salavatsky pomegranate trees and some decent sized starts. If you are able to root a few cuttings of your Afgansky Pom, we could swap our rooted starts. My Salavatsky has been in the ground for the last 4 yrs with no dieback, and this year has two pomegranates on it.
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Sounds good I do have have some rooted plants but they are tiny, in 4in pots and probably no taller than 6 inches at the moment.
I’ll have to find a spot for a Salavatsky. Does the fruit rot or attract any fungal issues like others have posted here? So far Afganski has not in our climate.
Do you grow it out in the open? I’ve been planting all of my poms against a structure here but not sure if it is necessary. A few blocks down from me someone is growing a pom out in the open by a sidewalk. I posted a video a few posts up. So it might be possible to grow them completely out in the open without sheltering from cold wind?
Check this out my seedling of Wonderful Pom fruit that I planted in this bed has taken a zone 7a abuse for 4 years, with dieback, has flowered. It didnt take damage this winter but the previous it did at 1F.
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Mine are in the ground, growing in the open. One of the fruit has the blossom end rot, but its burried in the middle of the bush, I really need to prune them aggressively, as they burgeon forth and form a gigantic green fountain of a plant. Very pretty in late spring, with lots of red flowers. I ought to keep just 4 canes when I prune in the spring to avoid having a thicket.
If you cut some of the Pom canes and root them, perhaps even now, they should grow fast. They are as easy as figs to root. I have rooted fairly large canes by burying them 3/4 deep and keeping them moist in a mix of clean soil, perlite and sand and out of the sun for a couple of months.
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@757Will
William . . . this tree looks Great! I took a couple of pomegranates off - ones that were starting to have that blocky shape that they get when ripe. But they also had some substantial black fungal areas!!! When I opened them - both were edible - but one was much more developed than the other - and much sweeter, too.
I think this is a Hotuni Zigar. Surprisingly little rot on the interior.
I’ll be lucky to get 20 pomegranates out of all my trees. The rot will win out, except for a few.
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That’s a beautiful pomegranate! I am hoping these hold on just a couple more months or at the least mid October.
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You know the ‘blocky trick’, right? When they swell to a chunky block shape - with rounded corners - - - they are probably ready.
What variety did you say that was? If I didn’t have all of that disease on mine - I’d send you some scions of a couple of the varieties I have - that set pretty nice fruit . . . until they turn black! 
If you can find someone with Hotuni Zigar and Nikitski Ranni . . . and get some scions and graft to your tree - these 2 would be great additions. Phoenicia does fairly well for me, too . . . but it is even too sour for me !!!
OH! And Kaj Acik Anor is a good one, as well.
I havent heard of the block trick, but my fruits mostly aren’t even fully colored yet. I want to leave them as long as possible so they can develop a higher sugar content. I like poms that are either all sweet or more sweet than sour. The one in the picture is Surh Anor, and I think they will be ready sometime in October. I picked one around the end of July or early August that was rotting but the arils were way too sour for me, it was too underripe.
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My fruits look to all be rotting this year alas. Usually maybe half rot. I keep forgetting to hit the poms with disease sprays… will aim to finally get that done next year. My apples are looking really good this year after using Luna in the spring.
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Whitefly/ aphid damage on the skin? Didn’t notice the speckled skin last season.
Seems to just be cosmetic, won’t know if the arils inside are affected until November when I pick. The whitefly are all over my persimmon which I’ve sprayed with horticultural oil few drops of soap and a little pyrethrin
Edit: Another possible cause of the specks, I did some foliar feeding on my citrus using SoutherAg and made a little too much so I used the remainder on my trees including the pom, maybe the sun burned where the spray was wet.
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Last year I eat it early because of rot and it’s not even humid where I live. It was super sour. I just tried one of my pomegranate today that I grew from seed. The fruit was red, but not deep red yet. It start cracking so I decided to try it. The seed was partially white, pink, and red. It was slightly sour. My impression, it was not bad. Going try the next one next month and hopefully there is more sweet than sour.
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I do the same thing . . . pull one early, every so often - before it all goes to _ _ _ _. 
Sometimes there is a good portion unaffected by the ROT. And sometimes the arils are not yet developed enough. And usually none are really ripe.
@vnomonee I almost always have some of those black specks. They don’t seem to be doing any damage. And I have no idea what they are. ??? They do not appear on the darker, brighter red varieties. I have them on the Granadas, the Wonderfuls, and the Phoenicias, especially. Not on the Hotunis or the Nikitskis, tho.
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Sigh. Me too. But, I have not found any sprays that are effective on poms.
I have pulled a handful of pomegranates that appear to be somewhat ripe, and cut out the parts that are edible. Lots of work . . . but it’s the only way to get to eat some of the fruit.
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oh good to hear the specks aren’t a sign of internal damage. this is my largest fruit ever from this tree hoping to see if it grows anymore from now until november!
Should I try picking some of these or should I stick to waiting till October? I am really surprised at the size of some of these. They are starting to get some nice color. I harvested a couple of AC Sweet poms early due to rot and they were still very good. Had good sweetness and softer seeds.
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Those are looking really pretty! How do they taste?
I would wait until October. My sister came by yesterday. She saw my Pomegranate. I told it’s not ready even if it’s red on the outside because I tried one already. Didn’t listen to me and pick it anyway. The seeds was still white. It was still very hard and the it tasted sour. If you put pressure on it, it will give, then It’s ripe.
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Will advise, been trying to prevent my family from picking them. As long as I’ve waited I dont want to be disappointed with a sour fruit. I know they take quite a long time. Depending on how they look I may even leave them until November.
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