That’s only true in the U.S. The plantation responsible for this statistic is owned by the Resnicks. They selected, named, and propagated a few million TC’s of it for juicing at their Pom Wonderful factory in Fresno CA. Surplus fruit is sold to nationwide produce distributors.
Farmers who target fresh market fruit have several better choices. Angel Red is one of them.
Don’t fall into the trap of believing that anthracnose is a single pathogen, or that “resistance” infers all species, or that a fungicide rated for an anthracnose on one crop will control anthracnose on another unlisted crop.
I just read an e-mail that Ross had sent me two months after he made that video, and he told me that ‘anthracnose’ hit his Myagkosemyannyi Rozovyi (‘Myagkosemyannyi Rosovyi’, ‘Soft-Seeded Pink’) which prevented the fruit of that variety from fully ripening. I find fungal disease of pomegranates to be a confusing topic, only one year did the fruit get effected by fungal disease here, while places that seem to not be as ideal places for the fungal disease to grow the fruit gets hit every year.
[quote=“alanmercieca, post:23, topic:70534”]
‘anthracnose’ hit his Myagkosemyannyi Rozovyi
[/quote]. That is unfortunate. I have some work to do to get up to speed on the state of the relevant literature on this as well as the experiences shared here.
[quote=“alanmercieca, post:23, topic:70534”]
only one year did the fruit get effected by fungal disease here
[/quote] Very interesting. Did this happen with all of your cultivars or only some? Did you use fungicides to eliminate it?
There you go
Richard, U of F is my alma mater! And while majoring in art, there, I had a part time job in the graphics department of IFAS ! I worked on many of the pamphlets they published in the mid-70s. I don’t know if you recall, but I posted about getting in touch with them, years ago, to ask their advice as to what might keep the fungal issues in check. They were testing (as you probably know) to see if poms would make a good commercial crop for Florida. And they hit wall after wall as well . . . even with all their access to the ‘big guns’ chemicals.
That is very interesting that John Chater’s grandson is at IFAS . . . but not surprising given that they are working seriously with pomegranates.
I was just outside this morning. It’s a lovely day here, unseasonably warm, so I decided to get out and do some spraying. I just sprayed the pomegranates along with the peaches, nectarines, apples and all the rest . . . even though it probably won’t do a thing!
@Phlogopite
Happy to see Jeff Moersfelder among the references. During the tasting trials of Levin’s collection at NCGR Davis, Jeff selected “Soft Seeded Pink” as a candidate for fresh eating. Back in the day we called him “Mr. Pomegranate”.
Unless it’s obvious that an area will get hit by ‘anthracnose’ most if not all years, it’s hard to know whether or not the spraying works for sure. Some years I do spray, some years I don’t.
Once the fruit show any sign of ‘anthracnose’ fruit infection there is not really anything much that could be done, by then it’s basically to late, prevention works best.
Sometimes I spray my pomegranates when I spray my pear trees, as a prevention, not as a treatment after the fact. The only fungicide that I have used on them was copper. That is unless apple cider vinegar can be considered a fungicide.
Only 3 varieties flowered the year that ‘anthracnose’ destroyed the fruit, and only ‘Salavatski’ showed any resistance to the ‘anthracnose’
@MDPoms and everyone else on this thread,
there is something I remembered that is worth mentioning.
Japanese Beetles.
Certain varieties of pomegranates are Japanese Beetle ‘magnets’. Unfortunately, Salavatski is one of the most attractive to them. Afganski as well. The insects love to burrow in the blossoms. It’s like opium to them! Not literally - but they appear to ‘get drunk’ and lethargic. They are difficult to dig out sometimes. They don’t want to give up their cozy little beds.
TOUGH! We go around and get them out and ‘into the Dawn and water they go’. It also works to put a small amount of Dawn in a spray bottle full of water. Squirt them - and they soon die.
Some years we have left them their own special trees - as a sacrifice!
Hoping that they will more likely be drawn to those trees - and leave others alone. OR - we use those trees as lures. They flock to those trees and are sitting ducks - ready to be squirted.
I believe that the JBs are big culprits in the spreading of fungal spores. All insects appear to be, actually, but especially the JBs. So if you tend to have Japanese Beetles in the summer - do your best to eradicate them. If left to do their thing - as the fruit develops, the calyx of the pomegranate will begin to blacken and next thing you know - the whole fruit is ruined. Sure they probably help pollinate. But at what cost?
Please add to this if you’ve found a solution that works. JBs are a scourge! Especially to the poms, plums, pluots and plumcots! (They like the letter P apparently!) The beetles practically denude these trees, leaving their usual calling card . . . lacey webbed leaf ‘skeletons’.
P.S. - The Dawn&Water squirt bottle works great on roses, too . . . also a favorite of the beetles.
Oh no. I get a lot of the Japanese beetles here 
. Interestingly I’ve never noticed them bothering my climbing rose, but then again nothing can kill that thing (I’ve tried). Have you tried netting? I get swarms of thousands of those beetles, so hand picking them off sounds like a full time job!
I spent yesterday potting my 19 rooted cuttings that arrived. I still had a few to do today. I got a killer deal on the pots ($0.15/ gallon!) and grabbed as many as I could squeeze in my SUV.
I had a total of 19 to pot.
Afganski x 1
Agat x 2
Austin x 2
Grenada x 2
Hyrdanar x Goulosha x 2
Kaj-acik-anor x 2
Lumimi (Favorite) x 2
Suhr Anor x 2
Sumbar x 1
Sumbarskii x 1
Makedonia/Greek Red x 2
It was absolute chaos, but I got it done 
. 3 aren’t pictured that I’d already put in the basement.
I get fruit from my tree in western Oregon. The cultivar is called Favorite. I have a few others you mentioned too. The sverkhranniy is particularly precocious. Favorite didn’t show first bloom until 3rd summer, fruit on 4th. The sverkrhanniy bloomed its first year. Hardiness isn’t really an issue here in 8b/9a, but the short growing season sucks. This is around 45 degrees N latitude, so cold comes early. early ripening is a must. I think there are several pomegranates varieties that would be hardy in your zone to plant outside. Ross the Fig Boss has an outdoor pomegranate tree in Philadelphia. No clue if he gets fruit, but it blooms gorgeously.
Oh my gosh! Are you doing all of that in your living room???
Guess ‘you gotta do what you gotta do’!!!
I am going to look up those other varieties that you are working with - that I’m not familiar with. Although - I’m done adding pomegranate plants at this point. I have way too much to deal with as it is! Too many trees to care for . . . for the amount of fruit that actually survives.
I took this photo several years ago. The trees are almost twice that size now. The ones with the ‘weed free’ circles are the poms. (Apples are on the left.) And there are over twice as many more pomegranates, which are not pictured.
Wow. That is interesting. I had a good crop of Salavatski fruit maturing . . . and then anthracnose took them all. Salavatski and Afganski are both very susceptible here in my orchard.
I have a friend who has a ‘wild’ pomegranate growing on her lot line in a sub-division in Virginia Beach. Huge tree! Probably Wonderful - as far as I can tell - and because of the tree’s age. I remember when Wonderful was the only variety one could find - and that was only in catalogs. I doubt someone found another one years ago . . . that ended up as that tree.
Anyway - I was visiting her and spotted the tree. FULL of fruit!
I don’t get it! ??? No sign of fungus whatsoever. I’m just popular with The Fungal Fairies, I guess!
Yes, although it’s was never uncommon for a mail order catalog to sell something under a different variety name than it really was, actually early wonderful used to be sold under the name wonderful. She probably either has early wonderful or a seedling grown from the fruit of a wonderful, or of a early wonderful. Wonderful crops too late I think. You or one of your neighbors most likely have a plants(s) carrying the disease. If I were you I’d spray all your plants minus things like the grass or course. Then again if you spray with something like a apple cider vinegar solution, or a hydrogen peroxide solution in to grass, that should not harm the environment. It’s best to do this when the plants are dormant
It’s my sun room and I really don’t know why the previous owners put carpet down inside the main entrance on a farm, but the carpet will be tossed in favor of something waterproof in the near future.
That’s a great collection! Do your pomegranates do ok out in the open without a wind break, or is there one beyond the photo? I’m trying to figure out where everything will be planted, but the less cold hardy ones that I have the most hope for will be against the south side of my house. Some of the others I am less optimistic about will probably have more of a survival of the fittest setup lol.
What is your spacing in and between rows?
I have a lot of space at the back of the property I can’t put my horses on because of a neighbor that can’t control their dog 
that I’d like to use, but I don’t have a water source that far from the house. I’m trying to see if there are any cheap, low tech drip irrigation systems that I could maybe haul a water container out to a couple times a week or less.
My Salavatski produced fruit for the first time this year. Planted on the east side of the house in Niagara Ontario.
This is a great insight! Thank you. If the beetles are another important vector, might spraying the pomegranates with surround deter them?
Wow, that is some beautiful fruit!
Would fungus cause the fruit to fall super early? (Not much bigger than a quarter?) I have had a large bush against my house, and it seems happy, but the fruits do not stay on very long at all.
If they are that small then they are likely just male flowers, not fruit, that’s tiny for a fruit unless the size of the ripe fruit is much much smaller than the average pomegranate fruit size. How old is this pomegranate bush?
