Newbie to growing pomegranates

[seattlefiggirl]

Hi New Friends,

I started growing figs and other fruits. Recently, I added pomegranates. I never thought I would grow pomegranates because I live in Washington state. I have not seen any local grow pomegranates! I thought pomegranates need more heat than my area could ever have. But then I saw some local pomegranates sold in my local nurseries. I researched to see if they could grow. growing pomegranates is not popular in my area yet. I hope others could help me identify or recommend which varieties can ripen in cool short summers. I know my choices are very limited. I really prefer soft seed types. Small to medium fruit is ideal. Dwarfing growing habit would be great! I would love to see some photos of flowers and pomegranate fruits that you grow!

[greenfig]

Welcome to the forum!
Spread the word too

I would probably go with the early varieties.
The ones that come to mind soft seeded are
Sverhranniy, Medovyi Vahsha, Sumbar, Syunt, Rannii

They should be possible to get until March or so.
From a stick it takes about 3 years until fruiting. If possible, I would pay for a larger plant to get fruit sooner.

[alanmercieca]

Sumbarskii, and Agat are soft seeded varieties that should work in your area as well.

[greenfig]

Alan,
@alanmercieca
Do you know if Sumbar and Sumbarskii are the same?

[alanmercieca]

No they are not the same, 'Sumbar' has slightly bigger fruit than 'Sumbarskii'. Sumbar might have better flavor and less acidity than 'Sumbarskii'. Yet there have been contradictions on how good/bad 'Sumbarskii' is. Maybe someone had a bad experience with it because the plant was not mature enough yet, or the weather not as good as in a more preferable climate. The following are links showing that they are different, and I have also seen at least 1 university PFD with both of them. They are just both named after the 'Sumbar valley', where they originated from, that is why the similar names.

01) 'Sumbar' https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal ... id=1580397
02) 'Sumbarskii' https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal ... id=1580386

@greenfig