Pomegranate Hedge Questions

[Blake]

This winter I plan to plant a pomegranate hedge along a portion of our fence line. The area is in a corner of our yard and extends about 25’ in each direction from the corner, so 50’ total length.

The planting bed is 6’ wide. (If needed, I’ll have about 2’ past the border of the bed to allow for branching for a total width of 8’ from the fence.)

Planned height for the hedge is about 12’ for added privacy above the current 9’ fence. A bit taller is fine – it’ll just come down to ease of maintenance.

Maximizing fruit productivity isn’t really the goal. We’re a small family. All varieties are intended to be eaten fresh (no juicing). I’d rather have a sampling of fruits from many trees than a lot of fruit from just a few.

Questions:

What spacing in between trees do you suggest? 6’ seems to be the general recommendation but at 5’ I can fit a couple extra trees into the space. Ultimately, it seems that at 6’ or less spacing the trees will grow into each other (i.e. a hedge) and fruiting isn’t going occur on the sides anyway.

How far from the fence line should I plant the trees? Thinking I ought to plant close to fence, say 18”, to create what amounts to half moon-shaped plants… not having to hard prune the “front” of the hedge will maximize fruiting on that side.

Thoughts appreciated.

[greenfig]

A great idea! I've seen a few times pomegranate trees used for espalier , there are relatively easy to train, i.e., the distance from the fence might not matter much as soon as you have enough for a tree, like 2-3 ft or so.
One suggestion I can give is to pick the varieties with upright growth, otherwise they won't get tall at all. With uprights you can plant denser too.

From what I have, the most upright are Ariana, Sin Pepe, Vkusnyi, and Sirenevyi. They are all soft seeded and good to eat fresh .

[Blake]

Thanks for the feedback. I haven't entirely settled on the varieties yet, but they won't all be upright (or at least strong upright) growers. My thought was to put the most upright at the corner and work outwards with the more mounding varieties at the edges. The height is most needed at the corner. Here's the list of varieties I've narrowed down to... Ariana, Vkusnyi, and Sirenevyi are definitely included!

Ariana
Desertnyi
Medovyi Vahsha
Molla Nepes
Myatadzhy
Parfianka
Sakerdze
Sirenevyi
Sogdiana
Vkusnyi

[greenfig]

Nice!

How early are the Medovyi Vahsha and Myatadzhy?
Do you like the fruit?

[Blake]

Both fruited for the first time this year. Medovyi Vashsha was probably going to be amongst my earliest and that, I guess, appealed to the opossums who promptly took both fruits. (I’m guessing it was opossums, I didn’t actually see them take them.) I tried this variety once before and it was very sweet, juicy, with very tiny and soft seeds. I’ve heard/read that the names means “honey” but I don’t recall a noticeable honey flavor when I tried it… just really sweet and juicy. I ripened one Myatadzhy. It was good. Also very sweet but more balanced with some acidity than I recall Medovyi Vashsha being. Soft seeds as advertised. It was early- to mid-season. I’m planting this one more on potential - I’ve read good things. I could see myself replacing either of these on my final list with something like Kazake. No doubt my final list will change up until the point I plant!

Still contemplating how close I should space the trees… it’s occurred to me that if one variety doesn’t perform or doesn’t live up to expectations in my climate I could simply remove it and let the others fill in the space easily if I’m in the 4.5’-5’ ballpark spacing wise.