Fruiting Behavior

[alanmercieca]

Labeling is so confusing. I can see why they’re easy to get mixed up, but I’m also pretty sure people take cuttings of any fruiting pomegranate and call them 'Wonderful' because that’s all the average person has heard of and it’s one of a handful of varieties ever listed in growing guides for regular gardeners. People have been growing pomegranates in Central Texas for a long time: there were even some grown a mile from my house over a century ago. Yet the only locally-propagated ones you can find in most nurseries are ornamental "dwarf pomegranates" and plants labeled as 'Wonderful'. I’ve noticed differences in the fruiting pomegranates planted around here that probably can’t be chalked up to environment, so I’ve got to think there’s at least a few different plants floating around under that name.

The real variety(ies) of wonderful pomegranate originated from somewhere in Europe, Israel being one of the places that it's been very popular for a long time, yet some people think that some varieties originating from the pomegranate orchards owned by the company of the same name have been distributed under the 'Wonderful' name as well. It's just like the 'Brown Turkey' fig tree varieties, there must be at least 15 varieties of fig trees called merely 'Brown Turkey', fig tree varieties of many different skin colors have been called merely 'Brown Turkey'. Sometimes for profit, since the variety name is very well known and grown, sometimes because people do not know any better, or they are not paying enough attention.

[pogrmman]

Sometimes for profit, since the variety name is very well known and grown, sometimes because people do not know any better, or they are not paying enough attention.

You’re right about people not always paying enough attention. I did find out that the reason my ornamental pomegranate was labeled as "Wonderful" is the nursery had been growing both, but mixed up the cuttings because the foliage is nearly identical. They’ve since reduced their pomegranate propagation efforts to a fruiting one labeled "Wonderful" and a yellow-flowered ornamental that has no red in the foliage, so its easy to tell apart from the fruiting one.

[pombazaar]

Completely agree. All the more reason to only buy from nurseries that specialize in pomegranates like Rolling River or Green Sea Farms or purchase from reputable sellers that you know verify varieties and label correctly.

A $9 Salavatski or Wonderful from Home Depot or Lowes isn't worth it knowing that there is a high potential for mislabeling. They're notorious for doing this with figs. Generic varieties labeled "Russian" should be completely avoided in my opinion simply for the fact that you'll never truly know what variety is it. "Cold Hardy Russian Red" for example, is most likely Salavatski but could be Afganski. You simply don't know what you're getting at the end of the day.

I would also strongly advise against buying anything from unknown eBay sellers as I suspect many unknowingly propagate from seed and label incorrectly. A Wonderful that was started from the seed of a Wonderful is not a Wonderful.

[alanmercieca]

I would also strongly advise against buying anything from unknown eBay sellers as I suspect many unknowingly propagate from seed and label incorrectly. A Wonderful that was started from the seed of a Wonderful is not a Wonderful.

I rarely use ebay, some sellers on ebay get their varieties from credible sources, so if I don't know that a seller is credible I ask the person where the tree came from. If they can not answer then I don't buy, not to just make sure that you know you are getting the right thing, to also make sure that it's really coming from the USA, a few people bought plant material they thought was being sent from inside the USA, and their purchase came from another country, and the USDA always finds out whenever someone makes a purchase on ebay for plant material originating from another country, even when the buyer does not know, and they take away the purchase.

[greenfig]

My cuttings came from UCD and it seems they are true to the names . All fruited with proper fruit. I have a few other varieties obtained via trades and hesitant to trade further before I learn what I have. It takes about 3 years from a cutting to the first usually mediocre fruit.

[pogrmman]

This early flush of blooms on my old plant is starting to open right now. There’s not a ton of them — maybe 150 over the whole plant (keep in mind this is a tree close to 20' tall and wide). At least a few are female, like this one open today.

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I’m also getting my first buds on my Red Silk — similar to the big plant, this first flush of buds is on short shoots (2-4 leaves long) coming off of old growth. There weren’t any overwintered buds on this one.

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Meanwhile, no buds as of yet on my double-flowered pomegranates, though some shoots look like they’ll set a few soon.

[greenfig]

My Desertnyi and Parfianka have lots of flowers. The first wave of male flowers was all dropped, the second wave is appearing that I hope will produce fruits.

[greenfig]

Here is how I train the pom as a tree. I like it that way.

[Blake]

That's a really nice shape,I too prefer the tree approach.

[pogrmman]

I also prefer a tree shape and end up spending a lot of time clearing out suckers. On my biggest tree, it’s a hassle to keep them under control, but the tree looks so much better and sets so many more flowers when it doesn’t have all the suckers shading out the middle of the canopy.

It looks like I’m hopefully gonna get a decent fruit set this year from the big one. This is one small side branch.

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Side note, I always get these splotches on many of my fruit. I’m guessing it’s something fungal because we’re humid and often rainy in the spring. In the rare cases fruit get set mid-summer, they look perfect (but don’t have enough time to ripen. Do y’all know what they’re caused by? I’m kind of wondering if this might be another reason for my big losses of fruitlets...

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Another side note, the flowers on my double pomegranate were lovely this year.

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