Hyrbidization ideas

[pogrmman]

I wouldn’t go much less than 6' centers either — most pomegranate trees get pretty big, pretty fast. That being said, there’s a lot of inconsistency with respect to size. One of my neighbors has had dwarf pomegranates in the ground for at least two decades and they’ve never been bigger than waist-high and 3' wide. There might be some pruning involved to keep them that size, but they’re tiny. Meanwhile, a local nursery has had another dwarf pomegranate in the ground for just as long and it’s topped every year to keep it at less than 8' tall and 5-6' wide. Both of them get the same tiny fruit with minuscule arils that have just a tiny bit of extremely sour juice. I believe many of the plants sold as "dwarf" pomegranates are grown from seed and, thus, vary quite a lot.

[Hillbillyhort]

So I could agree with a~ 6-8 ft spacing if you thought they would all survive?
What I have is a bunch of seedlings that I have grown out from seed of several plantings in Ga.
These are 2yrs old , in tree pots, over wintered inside last 2 yrs. about 3ft tall. Multiple shoots bigger than a pencil.
Hoping 2yr olds are tough enough to give them a chance. Out side this year ( plant in ground) ?
These plantings ( seed source) only had the hardiest varietys planted in them. I am hopping they have naturally crossed.
I am in zone 6 wv.
So ....
I feel they are not all likely to survive here , ( not a chance in hell really ?)
So my thoughts are to plant them close and let the winter thin them out.
If "any" survive in ground, and live to fruit here , I will be happy!
So I am thinking 2-3 ft spacing , expecting high casualties. Could propagate survivors.
So ..with that in mind ,does 2-3 ft. Sound reasonable? As a trial.
Also do poms normally cross pollinate on their own ? Can I expect these will have crossed , naturally?
Is a 2yr old tough enough for a fair cold hardyness trial ?
" One year olds " did not make it last year,.. just sayin

[Hillbillyhort]

So just to be clear here ..
My goal is ....for winter hardyness... Fist..!
( with out that.. I just have too many house plants )
Then .. Fruit . Of acceptable quality. .. For my zone .
So.. Any edible Pom here would be good. ( or more than I have now .)

[chonas]

My ideal would be dark skin, soft seed, sweet taste, large fruit, and rot resistant. I know these guys seem to suffer in wet climates.

[tarnado]

Late to the party, but I think any personal goals would be to get a fruit ripening pomegranate early early early. I'm not to much caring about all the other attributes - just earliness (as our region does not accumulate much in the way of heat units). Once the earliness attributes could be brought forward, that could serve as a foundation for future breeding.

[pombazaar]

What month are you seeing ripe fruit in Seattle? Sverkhranniy is one of the earliest and would be well suited for your zone.

[greenfig]

I am curious if anyone here has tasted Sverhranniy and can confirm the "Very early" ripening claims.
The info online is scarce and mostly copy and paste across the board.
I have a 2 yo tree but it hasn't fruited yet.