I like that cultivar, if I remember correctly it has a dark berry flavor.
Al Sirin Nar just came in today, Nice looking plant. Again if it goes well I will look at others.
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Orchard in Pauma Valley, California.
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My continued abuse of my Pom 'Nana". After spending a cozy winter indoors. I moved her outside to be greeted by 45 degree rain. All of her leaves shriveled to paper and fell if I didnāt remove them first. She is despite all the abuse doing great. New leaf buds are emerging at every node and likely a whole lot of new branching. I hope this stimulates a new round of flowering. She flowered once when she broke dormancy indoors over the winter but as expected nothing set.
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Thanks, Richard, for your posts. Iām new here and appreciate learning from your and othersā knowledge. Iām curious if you or any others have any ideas on what caused about a half dozen of my two dozen pomegranates to die back down to their main trunks this winter at my place in Napa. Iām in a fairly moderate zone, the AVA known as Coombsville. It can get cold, but really didnāt this past winter. My thermometer said 27 at the coldest. None of my dozen citrus suffered any notable damage, although they are up on a terrace next to a concrete patio and the house. But I nearly lost a half dozen pomegranates, all between 3-5 years. My theory is that it was because we had so much rain (over 40 inches) and they were trying to process all that water going to their roots. (Even /when dormant, I get the sense when I prune my pomegranates that they are still channeling sap through their veins.) This left them, I think, susceptible to a mild frost even before they leafed-out. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!
Pomegranates are susceptible to a blight in your area - I have seen it on a few of the accessions at Wolfskill Orchard.
Thank you. Was the blight you saw at Wolfskill ever manifested in its primary infection stage (when tree totally dormant) by a pink/peach colored fluid? If so, thatās definitely what I had. Funny; I started replacing my apples and pears with pomegranates because I said I was through with blight magnets,
Iām not too far from you down here in Livermore with a very similar climate. That is with the exception of rainfall this winter. And my poms look perfect. So my guess is too much rain killed the roots.
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No, it appeared something similar to black sooty mold ā last month.
Thanks. Youāre right. On mine, the bark looked like water-soaked and black. Underneath the black, it was dead. The orange ooze was on a nearby grapevine pruning wound. Thanks again.
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Iām not sure of the posting etiquette for replying to really old threads, but I have a pomegranate pruning question and there is already a pomegranate pruning thread. So, my apologies if I should have posted differently!
I have a very floppy R26 (afganski) pomegranate, and Iām not sure if I should prune it or not?
It is my first pomegranate. I purchased it in a gallon pot from Wilson bros when it was maybe 6"-8" tall, and planted it about 5 months ago (April 2021) near a South-facing wall of my house in mostly full sun, except when it is in the shadow of the house. Still, definitely more than six hours of sun per day during summer. It has grown probably 2 or 3 feet since then, but it is so floppy that the branches look like they are weeping willow branches or something like that.
Is this the normal? Is it somehow related to the planting location? Should I prune the branches so theyāre less weepy? For now, Iāve propped it up in a tomato cage just to keep the branches of the ground.
Sorry the pictures are so hard to see, thereās two pictures of the pomegranate without the tomato cage, and one with.
Yes some do weep. It will not hurt anything to prune. Although it probably will weep again. It may lose this as it grows as right now itās a very little plant. these things get big. Donāt overfeed it either. It could be itās not getting enough sun, or weak growth was caused from too much nitrogen. Itās not unusual for them to weep when young. I would not be too concerned about it.
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Iām not sure youāll ever get fruit in your climate, but here in California these can be 15ā tall in about 5 years.
Afghanski does not weep any more than most pomegranate varieties. Some varieties tend to be very thick and bush-like, rather than tree shaped. Like Agat. Others tall - like Purple Heart and Phoenicia.
It looks to me as though most of your growth is new and very light in color and has just not āhardened offā yet. See how it is white? That will turn light brown and as the plant gets more established and ages . . . the canes will stand on their own without flopping. Yours is normal for a very young plant . . . mine looked the same for itās first season. I kept them staked. That should help to train them to be more upright.
Before you know it youāll have more pomegranate growth than you want! And youāll be thinning it out to let sun and air in! 
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I hacked over 50% off of my 3 yr old pomegranate bush while dormant, trying to get it to two main stems. It died. I thought it was due to the amount I took off being too much, but seeing some of the super hard pruning in this thread, Iām left very confused about how my pom died. The one next to it is thriving. 
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How long has it been in the ground?
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This would have been the beginning of itās third season in ground, and it was already bigger than the one next to it that had an additional year in ground.
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Several times I had thought that a pomegranate of mine had died, sometimes they are not as bad off as they seem, other times they may die yet the same exact variety although a new tree comes up from the roots, and it could take until August/September to know for sure it the variety with come back. If the roots are developed enough youād find a new tree pop up regardless if the original died or not, when the original tree is stressed out enough a new tree or two or even maybe 3 can pop up. Yet I am not sure if the roots on your tree is developed enough for that to happen.
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Alan has a good point, it could come back from the roots if the top died. Donāt give up on it just yet. If you scratch bark is it brown? If so cut most of it off, and see if it sprouts new shoots. Check at all levels may still be green at base, cut off all that is brown.
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Itās not brown yet (although there is clear dieback on the tips, but that is from a cold snap that I think is unrelated to the rest of the apparent dieback, because it was looking healthy when I was making the pruning cuts), but itās not vibrant green anymore. Itās that muted muddier shade of green right now. āDying greenāā¦?
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