Sub Irrigated Planters for Pomegranates (?)

[bopcrane]

Hello all,

wanted to see what your experiences were / if anyone had given thought to using SIP's to grow pomegranates.

I have one of each variety I have in the same style SIP's as I use for my figs and it seems to have been working nicely, though I have probably kept them on the drier side compared to my figs (with regards to waiting until the reservoir is completely dry before refilling it). A part of the year I neglected them quite a bit and they only received rain instead of refilling the reservoirs myself timely. I'm sure they'd have grown much better had I been more attentive to irrigating and fertilizing during the growing season. I've been overwintering them inside the greenhouse along with my figs and keeping them on the dry side lately since they are dormant


A few of the pom SIP's for example (Sorry for the poor quality photo, also ignore the stumpy one on the bottom right as I just chopped it for cuttings)

I don't have any pomegranate trees of similar age for a side by side comparison to really compare growing them vs conventional container trees of the same age and variety. I did just plant a 'copy' of each tree in the ground in my greenhouse about a month ago with a goal to espalier them, but those definitely wouldn't make for a fair comparison.

Was just curious to see if they would respond well to growing in these kinds of containers like figs and apparently they don't mind them too much. More research is needed (I'm thinking automated fertigation could make a large difference in growth rates but I wonder what effects it will have on fruit quality and yield? Is this such an issue as with figs?)

Interesting research on pomegranate fruit quality and irrigation:
https://www.ishs.org/ishs-article/1089_60
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 7419304482

[greenfig]

I have 1 pom tree in a SIP I bought from IKEA. It grows well but not too vigorously, anything in the ground is much happier. I don’t blame this particular sip, it is just probably should be much larger for a pomegranate tree, it is only 6-7 gallons.

[bopcrane]

I think I'd have to agree, SIP's don't seem like the optimal way to grow them unless you have a big container the roots can really take off in. The poms in my picture came from cuttings rooted in 16oz cups. They filled the container of soil, went through the soil "wick", and filled part of the reservoir with roots in one growing season, it's not going to be fun to separate or transfer them

The size of the SIP container I am using is between 4 and 5 gallons (I can get these buckets from a bakery for free sometimes, they usually have had icing stored in them). I think a much larger SIP would have noticeably better results

[greenfig]

I had to cut cut the wild escaping roots. I don’t think this affected the growing but means that the pom could benefit from a large container.
I see pomegranate trees used as bonsai so they can tolerate small spaces. It’s a different question when you want to harvest lots of large and properly ripe fruit. For that, you may need 10+ gal planters and lots of sun.

[JoshHolbrook]

It seems like it really holds back their growth - I have several in 1/3 of 55 gallon drums (so, maybe 15-20gal?) and they grow big, quick... Until they stop, haha. They're mostly all stalled out at about 4 feet and I think it's just root restriction.

[greenfig]

Interesting, mine in the IKEA pot stopped at about 8 ft last season. I am tempted to find it a spot in ground. It is Sin Pepe

[JoshHolbrook]

They seem to be gaining girth well, they just have lost the “like a weed” growth they had when I first introduced them to the bigger container. On the other hand, I bought a Christina Pom from Just Fruits and Exotics and it is 5-6 feet in a 2-3 gallon pot, so I don’t know what their secret is (and if I’m doing something wrong?)

[greenfig]

Yes, I agree that the poms offered for retail are often happier than mine in pots. Maybe soil and fertilizers? Or the sun exposure and watering? Quite often I even see fruits on them .

[JoshHolbrook]

Yeah, I’m hoping to sort of figure out that answer this year… I’m going to put all my potted plants on daily drip irrigation and fertilize better ( I realized this past year that my fertilizer I was using didn’t have any phosphorus in it, oops! That explains the lack of flowering.)

[greenfig]

Great! Please update us. And remember that poms will drop the flowers when overwatered, so be on a drier side for a month