I’ve had it more then ten years, probably closer to fifteen. Bt I don’t remember where I got it or the variety. It wasn’t a small fruited one tho.
What time of the year are they falling off?
Not sure, but its not too long after flowering. (I remember seeing both petals and small fruits on the ground.) The bush by the way is prob 12 feet tall.
The fruiting flowers start out looking like peanuts. Falling off usually means not enough nutrients or water, or male flowers. Since the plant is so old I doubt that the roots are not developed enough yet, which would limit water and nutrients.
Either your plant is totally male, or there is something wrong with the soil, what kind of soil is it planted in?
It’s definitely on the dry side as its under the eave. Soil is probably average. But the plant is otherwise growing well. I look this spring to see if anything looks like a peanut, thanks.
If the plant is not getting enough nutrients or water then that could cause a lot of male flowers to form, and flower/fruit dropping. I would try mulching over the root zone, lots of mulch. Back in the day pomegranates all used to be grafted on to root stock (seedlings) or they were seedlings. Seedlings have roots that go much deeper than the rooted cuttings that are planted today.
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That’s incredible. What a beautiful fruit! I’ve always assumed they needed a much longer and hotter season than even Niagara has. You’ve renewed my hope in the whole project. Mine grows well every year, but it’s still relatively small and hasn’t flowered yet. When does yours leaf out / bloom?
I had started this answer to your question . . . and then never hit 'send. Just found the draft. Sorry.
No. I don’t have a wind break of any kind. I use the ‘sink or swim’ method! If they can’t take the temps - then I need another variety. And there are too many to baby them too much.
As for spacing. I kind of winged it. I knew how wide I wanted to allow them to get. And I knew how much space between each plant in the row, so a mower could get through. I wanted the ‘aisles’ wider . . . just for mowing, working with the trees and airflow.
Just measure or ‘eyeball’ the approximate width that you want for each plant. And then imagine or measure the space between the plants (I kept a good bit of distance between each plant . . . but wasn’t too worried about that, because I didn’t plan to let any of the trees get too tall or too wide. I think I left 10-12’ between the plants in a row. Ideally - I wanted about 3’ clear space between the ‘edges’ of each plant
Before planting anything I marked the ‘center’ of each plant width - and these would be my guide for the center of each hole. (And then my ‘diggers’ were not very precise at all . . . so I lost my perfect grid.)
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That is a question that one of our Surround fans will need to answer. It may be silly, but I can’t stand using the stuff. I know it is ‘safer’ - but I dislike the looks of it - and if I’m going to go to all the trouble of spraying with anything . . . I’d rather use something with more of a guarantee of success in avoiding/and or curing the problems that ruin our fruit.
- I would ‘bet on it’ that it’s all the same ‘combo’ of diseases. What I cannot figure out is why there are people, here, who have pomegranate trees that have been producing for years and they do not have any ruined fruit. ???
- I have not tried the MyaRos variety. I can’t recall its description, but I’m not interested in poms with small soft arils. To me . . . if it doesn’t ‘crunch’ when I chew it . . . it doesn’t ‘do anything for me’! LOL And some people can’t stand having to deal with the ‘seed’. Doesn’t bother me a bit. (good fiber, anyway!)
- Haven’t tried the Makedonia one either. But that sounds like one I might really like! I might like to replace one of my ‘soft seed’ varieties with this one?
This variety originally from northern Greece, we also named it as Makedonia Red. The fruit has semi hard seeds and good sweet/acid flavor .
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No worries! I know I have been hitting you rapid fire with questions. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer and share your knowledge and experiences!
I think this is where I’m going with it. I am thinking I’ll select a few I know I’m really pushing zones with, but want to try because of certain supposed attributes, and plant those in more protected areas. But I’ve got duplicates of most of those as well that I will probably plant in less protected areas to see how they do. The rest will also be planted in less protected areas.
[quote=“PomGranny, post:48, topic:70534”]
I think I left 10-12’ between the plants in a row.
[/quote] Ok it’s good to know you have been able to plant that closely without issues. I’d think it would take quite a few years without pruning before they could reach out enough to close up that space.
[quote=“PomGranny, post:50, topic:70534”]
I’m not interested in poms with small soft arils
[/quote] This is an interesting point. I’ve never tried a soft seeded variety, but I’m so used to eating Wonderful pomegranates, I wonder if I would miss the crunch too. Hopefully within a few years I’ll find out lol.
The Makedonia/ Greek Red is of interest to me too. I’ve seen a few online nurseries selling it as suitable to cooler climates but I’ve yet to find any reviews or info online from any individuals growing it. I had 2 small ones I bought from a woman in VA from Facebook marketplace for a steal, but I gifted them to the brother and sister who let me come take cuttings of their very successful local unknown cultivar bush. I plan on buying more soon.
I can link you to the woman I bought them from if you’d like. I’m not entirely sure where they come from originally, aside from it’s a berry wholesaler, so how accurate their labeling is or how they propagate is a bit of a question mark. I may purchase another from Edible Landscaping at some point to be more safe.
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This study is very interesting. Thank you for sharing! I ordered an Azadi along with a couple of Eversweet plants and a couple others from Planting Justice this week. Fleishman is on my list to get as well. The other 3 varieties that demonstrated resistance I haven’t been able to find available online.
I’m interested to see how they do here. Azadi has seemingly conflicting information regarding cold hardiness from different nurseries but I did hear from someone in a local gardening group on Facebook who said he has a young one in the ground that’s done well so far. Considering how harsh this past winter was, that’s a very good sign.