New to pomegranates
New to pomegranates
Hello everyone. I found this site via a link over at ourfigs. I love pomegranates and have been thinking about getting a few going but wanted to check to see if my situation will be okay to grow them. Do they do okay in containers? If yes, what size and how big will it get in that container? I have 2 spots I could put them in, one is full sun and one is sunny for a few hours and shady for the rest of the day. I live in Jacksonville, FL so zone 8b/9a, would love some variety recommendations for hot/humid/rainy summers. What size container is ideal for them and is it okay to keep them smallish? Do they do well at all in partial shade or do they need full sun?
Re: New to pomegranates
Welcome!
Pomegranates grow well in containers but with limitations. I'm in zone 6A and have confirmed fruit production on 5 different varieties. My first question would be why do you want to grow in containers in Jacksonville? In ground will guarantee mature fruit with very little effort or maintenance. Container management becomes difficult once late June/July hits and days go by without rain. Without partial shading, every one of my trees start to drop leaves even with daily watering. The humidity will help, although too much humidity can lead to rot. In zone 8b/9a your trees roots will fry really fast in containers unless you're getting rain regularly.
Drip irrigation or the wick method (using trays) will simplify watering and fertilizing. But again, I highly recommend against container growing unless absolutely necessary. To produce fruit you will ideally need a minimum of a 15 gallon container. I recommend at least 20 gallons. In a container of this size your trees will remain dwarf sized but will still produce a good amount of fruit if you fertilize well.
As for varieties this really depends on your preference. Some are very sweet, others are very sour, some are somewhere in the middle. I'm limited by time in my grow season so I pretty much have to stick to early and cold hardy. I can personally vouch for Austin, Belbek, Kazake, Parfianka, and Salavatski. All are great tasting and varieties that are different than what you find in the grocery store (Wonderful). Parfianka is one of the best tasting varieties that exists. Agat, Al-sirin-nar, Desertnyi, Kara bala miursal, Sverkhranniy, and Syunt would all probably be good choices if Wonderful is too generic for your liking. In your zone you can probably grow just about any variety. Try to grow in ground if possible.
Here are a few posts of my results in containers:
viewtopic.php?t=204
viewtopic.php?p=1096#p1096
viewtopic.php?t=112
viewtopic.php?t=143
viewtopic.php?t=119
Pomegranates grow well in containers but with limitations. I'm in zone 6A and have confirmed fruit production on 5 different varieties. My first question would be why do you want to grow in containers in Jacksonville? In ground will guarantee mature fruit with very little effort or maintenance. Container management becomes difficult once late June/July hits and days go by without rain. Without partial shading, every one of my trees start to drop leaves even with daily watering. The humidity will help, although too much humidity can lead to rot. In zone 8b/9a your trees roots will fry really fast in containers unless you're getting rain regularly.
Drip irrigation or the wick method (using trays) will simplify watering and fertilizing. But again, I highly recommend against container growing unless absolutely necessary. To produce fruit you will ideally need a minimum of a 15 gallon container. I recommend at least 20 gallons. In a container of this size your trees will remain dwarf sized but will still produce a good amount of fruit if you fertilize well.
As for varieties this really depends on your preference. Some are very sweet, others are very sour, some are somewhere in the middle. I'm limited by time in my grow season so I pretty much have to stick to early and cold hardy. I can personally vouch for Austin, Belbek, Kazake, Parfianka, and Salavatski. All are great tasting and varieties that are different than what you find in the grocery store (Wonderful). Parfianka is one of the best tasting varieties that exists. Agat, Al-sirin-nar, Desertnyi, Kara bala miursal, Sverkhranniy, and Syunt would all probably be good choices if Wonderful is too generic for your liking. In your zone you can probably grow just about any variety. Try to grow in ground if possible.
Here are a few posts of my results in containers:
viewtopic.php?t=204
viewtopic.php?p=1096#p1096
viewtopic.php?t=112
viewtopic.php?t=143
viewtopic.php?t=119
Re: New to pomegranates
Thanks for the response! My reasoning is that I sectioned off along my fence and put landscaping fabric down to use container grown plants. With containers, I am able to cram more stuff in close proximity and reposition things so that everyone is getting appropriate sun. I could put them out front but would want to keep them smaller as they would be where I currently have bushes that were planted by the builder. I want to replace them anyways. Another issue with it being a new build is the soil quality is garbage, compacted sand and rock. I could get rid of the rocks and work in some peat / manure etc before I plant though. How far apart would they need to be in order to plant them in ground and would it be ok to keep them at around 6 - 8 feet? Would I still get fruit?
Re: New to pomegranates
Ahhh okay, this makes sense!
Soil quality really is a major contributing factor in growth and fruit quality. You can defiantly keep them at 6-8ft and will get a good amount of fruit. I would say a minimum of 6-8ft between trees since their spread can grow equally proportionate to their height. I saw this in Brazil recently. A tree that was between 6-7ft tall had a spread of about 5-6ft!
I don't think we've confirmed this 100% yet, but it seems that all of my fruit occurs on the previous years wood. Keep that in mind when pruning, especially if you want to maintain them at dwarf size and get a good amount of fruit. I think you'll have really good success!
Soil quality really is a major contributing factor in growth and fruit quality. You can defiantly keep them at 6-8ft and will get a good amount of fruit. I would say a minimum of 6-8ft between trees since their spread can grow equally proportionate to their height. I saw this in Brazil recently. A tree that was between 6-7ft tall had a spread of about 5-6ft!
I don't think we've confirmed this 100% yet, but it seems that all of my fruit occurs on the previous years wood. Keep that in mind when pruning, especially if you want to maintain them at dwarf size and get a good amount of fruit. I think you'll have really good success!
Re: New to pomegranates
Welcome to the forum!
Personally, with figs and and Poms, unless I know the variety is true to the name and is suitable for my area, I prefer pots for the first 2 or so years . When young, they often grow better that way and you will observe the vigor and growth habit (ie upright vs spreading) that may change your original plans. With any luck , you’ll get a fruit too! My success ratio is about 50% meaning that a half is discarded because I didn’t like something.
Good luck!
Personally, with figs and and Poms, unless I know the variety is true to the name and is suitable for my area, I prefer pots for the first 2 or so years . When young, they often grow better that way and you will observe the vigor and growth habit (ie upright vs spreading) that may change your original plans. With any luck , you’ll get a fruit too! My success ratio is about 50% meaning that a half is discarded because I didn’t like something.
Good luck!
USDA z 10a, SoCal, near Los Angeles
Re: New to pomegranates
Okay so I went ahead and improved the soil in the front of my house. I have 4 pomegrante trees now. I dont know the variety of 2 of them so I assume they are wonderfuls. One is in ground and one in a container. I have 1 Parifanka in a container and I am putting a Salavatski in ground. We will see how it goes.
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alanmercieca
- Posts: 206
- Joined: Fri Nov 01, 2019 3:59 pm
- Location: North Carolina
Re: New to pomegranates
I would put them in the ground if I were you, in the hot and humid south the last thing that you want to do is put a pomegranate in a spot that it stays wet, for disease reasons, yet like you were already told in the sun in pots is bad for them above a certain temperature, so in other words some of what you need to do to help prevent disease, is the same thing that would dehydrate a potted pomegranate, I have had 3 potted pomegranate bushes nearly die of the heat alone when it hit the 90s during the summer.
You could try putting a decent shade cloth over and around the pot, that would slow down dehydration in the pot, while keeping the pot cooler, it's the plant that gets too wet in a pot, the soil dries out too fast, so keeping some or more moisture in the pot should not harm the plant, I would also use lighter colored pots than black if you could, like I have seen many terracotta colored ones. Also it would help a little to get a light colored saucer to put under the pot, that way if there is some water in the saucer some of it could absorb in to the soil in the pot, I think that you should see how well that works, I was going to try that with our Lemon and our orange, when it gets too hot out, they loose the flowers, and the fruit, and it's hard to find shade where we live, I also don't want to have to do a lot of unneeded labor.
Another thing you could try is using netting like this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G79PK5W/ , it cuts down on the strength of the sunlight, without holding a lot of moisture in, I am just not sure, how much it reduces the strength of the sun.
Wind while it's hot is another thing that is bad for citrus, which that netting would reduce air movement, so I was going to try it with my citrus this year., I might as well try it with my potted pomegranates as well. I did almost loose 3 potted pomegranate bushes after all.
If those things do not work good enough, then I suppose that if you are willing to put on, and then take off a shade cloth regularly, each day, then maybe that could work in combination with the shade cloth over and around the pot.
You could try putting a decent shade cloth over and around the pot, that would slow down dehydration in the pot, while keeping the pot cooler, it's the plant that gets too wet in a pot, the soil dries out too fast, so keeping some or more moisture in the pot should not harm the plant, I would also use lighter colored pots than black if you could, like I have seen many terracotta colored ones. Also it would help a little to get a light colored saucer to put under the pot, that way if there is some water in the saucer some of it could absorb in to the soil in the pot, I think that you should see how well that works, I was going to try that with our Lemon and our orange, when it gets too hot out, they loose the flowers, and the fruit, and it's hard to find shade where we live, I also don't want to have to do a lot of unneeded labor.
Another thing you could try is using netting like this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G79PK5W/ , it cuts down on the strength of the sunlight, without holding a lot of moisture in, I am just not sure, how much it reduces the strength of the sun.
Wind while it's hot is another thing that is bad for citrus, which that netting would reduce air movement, so I was going to try it with my citrus this year., I might as well try it with my potted pomegranates as well. I did almost loose 3 potted pomegranate bushes after all.
If those things do not work good enough, then I suppose that if you are willing to put on, and then take off a shade cloth regularly, each day, then maybe that could work in combination with the shade cloth over and around the pot.
Re: New to pomegranates
I for sure only have spots for the two that I planted in ground. If the ones that are potted do not make it than it is ok. I put them in SIP's with a pretty good sized reservoir and I can fill that up daily. It keeps the soil damp but not too wet by any means. But like I said, if they don't work out then it's fine. My dwarf lemon tree loves the SIP so far as well. For figs I was trialing SIP's, fabric pots and regular nursery pots and they seem to prefer the SIP's and I have been having good results with persimmons also. Everything seems to like them so far.