I have a small Kazake growing outdoors that I got as a plug from Fruitwood nursery 2 years ago. Seems to be doing well so far. No fruit yet.
Here’s the description of Kazake from Edible Landscaping:
Kazake is listed with Salavatski as being the hardiest varieties for planting in colder winter areas. Originally from Uzbekistan. Rosy red fruit to a dull yellow (further south) with deep red arils. A compact bush. Kazake has a closed calyx. This trait prevents splitting.
Well that sounds promising at least! I see they have it in stock now as cuttings (but no rooted plugs at the moment):
I had Kazake several years ago just north of Nashville. Died to the ground the first three winters, but then grew into a nice 15 ft tree. It produced a few fruits, but nearly every one split and most rotted. They ripened in October when temps were cool, so they didn’t need much heat at that stage. October is our driest month, but still averages 3 inches of rain, so not the best climate for ripening pomegranates. I can’t imagine it ripening in the PNW. It did have really nice fall foliage, so worth growing for ornamental purposes, even if it never ripens.
I won’t mind if it’s not successful. The ornamental value is a plus.
What is the earliest ripening cultivar available? I can’t imagine that the difference in hardiness between varieties would amount to much. In many marginal places where people want to grow them, they are going to need some protection. So that sort of renders the hardiness issue moot. Ripening time is going to be a deal breaker in most of these areas, though, because they are lacking in heat and duration of season. That’s certainly the case for me. If it doesn’t ripen here by mid-October, it’s not going to ripen, and that’s starting out Apr. 1 or so in the high tunnel.
Inspired by the revival of this thread, I knocked on the door of the owner of the tree in the first post above to ask about it.
I’m sure no one is surprised to learn that the fruit never really ripens. He said that even in our hottest summers, the fruit is not ripe before the fall rains, when they split and rot. He said it never really has any winter dieback though, and that I’m welcome to take cuttings, so I’ll probably do that soon. He didn’t remember the cultivar, but said he was marketed as “dwarf” even though it has become rather large.
He sang high praise for quince, though, and showed me his large back yard quince tree. He even gave me a jar of quince jam he made last year. It is pretty good!
I’d be curious to know if the tree owner thinks they don’t ripen based on color or based on taste. Not all pomegranates develop the same deep color of ‘Wonderful’ (grocery store pomegranates) so it’s foreseeable that some people would judge them by color and simply never try them thinking they never ripen.
He seemed very into fruits in general, but he did specifically talk about color. So you might be right! When they start splitting this fall maybe I’ll ask if I can taste them.
As an example ‘Eversweet’ has such pale color that it is considered to be non-staining.
I’ve never rooted pomegranates, but it sounds like it’s pretty easy. I assume that’s still true for early spring (i.e. today) cuttings, even though most people seem to recommend rooting them over the winter?
The standard approach with pomegranates is to root dormant cuttings, I don’t have experience rooting non-dormant wood.
They look pretty dormant still, just a hint of bud swell:
Here’s the “bush” with last year’s desiccated fruit still hanging:
Well at least if the fruit is fairly well developed, it’s promising. I just ordered a Kazake from OGW. Looks like it’s fairly early and fairly hardy. Also, the fruit is on the smaller side, which is a plus in my book for pushing the boundaries of where its grown. So far, I’ve not heard promising things about high tunnel pomegranates in the north, but maybe there’s some potential. I had my eyes on Salavatski (if I recall correctly) but Lee Reich posted fairly recently somewhere that hes been growing that variety in his high tunnel for a bunch of years and gotten nary a fruit. I still think early is key over reputed hardiness, which I find to be a ‘squishier’ value. Ripening time is pretty consistent, relative to where it’s grown, and hard to screw up or misread. Hardiness reports seem to be all over the map for most species/varieties. I take them as an indicator, at best. If anyone knows of an even earlier variety, I’m all ears.
I ripened Sumbar and Sverkhranniy in ground in Portland last September. OGW has a Hyrdanar x Goulosha in ground that ripened this past fall. I have another 10 or so varieties going into the ground this spring.
Also you can root cuttings anytime of year.
I see no reason why you cannot start rooting cuttings now. BTW, it’s a good practice to remove last year’s fruit because bugs and fungi can overwinter in them.
Good to know! I wouldn’t leave them if it were my bush, this is the one another person in my neighborhood has.
I’ve rooted pomegranate cuttings even when leafed out.
Propagating pomegranates = easy
Deciding which pomegranates are worth propagating in western WA = hard
I actually find the spring the best time to start rooting pomegranate cuttings, I root them outside.
A couple of cuttings rooted this summer, I planted them out earlier this week, along with a few cuttings of other ones from @jsteph00921.
Was just walking past the tree I got my cuttings from, it seems pretty loaded with fruit, maybe 30 in total ranging from petal drop to fairly mature looking. And still a few dead husks hanging on from last year 
…
How many years did it take them to produce?
