Photo by Rick Gush
The pomegranate ( Punica granatum ) Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree develop in our garden is the only one of our fruit trees that I grew myself . That ’s because rooting pomegranate cut is just so easy .
Six years ago , I took some cuttings in the tumble from a pomegranate tree growing in a neighbor ’s yard and stuck them in a pot of moxie over the wintertime . When I took them out in April , the press cutting had all leafed out and formed radical . pomegranate do n’t seem to have root problems like plum , peach and orchard apple tree trees , so there was no need to ingraft a fruiting scion onto a rootstock , and I could just plant the newfangled , young pomegranates wherever I wanted . I give most of them aside , and the one that I keep is now a very attractive 7 - foot - tall , braid , threefold - stalk tree that commence produce a few fruits two days ago .
Pomegranates are unusual in that the suckers are n’t always unfit . pomegranate tree are of course multi - stemmed shrubs / trees , so leaving a number of the suckers on does no harm . Because I wanted to turn a triplex - stem , braided trunk , I let everything grow for the first few year and then selected the three biggest radical to pleach into the eventual trunk . Now , I do cut off the suckers and lower side shoots ; actually , I ignore them back to a few inches but leave some foliage because I recollect having a lot of leafage growing up and down the trunk helps add to the overall pumping power .
Although pomegranate grow most notably in semi - tropic locations , such as the Caribbean and Central America , they will stand a lot of common cold and will grow like locoweed in places like San Diego , Calif. ; Las Vegas , Nev. ; Texas ; and Virginia . The flora is originally from the Middle East , and it ’s still hugely popular there .
Pomegranate criminal maintenance is pretty easy and includes some periodic pruning that remove unwanted mug , cowlick and foil branches . The bush unremarkably favors branch that have shortsighted fruiting spur on them . Small growers rarely have pest problems with pomegranate tree , but orchard growers ask to follow out for a few potential bugs .
There is one crucial direction destination once the yield have reached close to their mature size of it : Avoid moisture - level variation in the soil . It is a very forged idea to irrigate a mature , fruit - bearing Punica granatum , because new water can induce the yield to swell and tear . rain can also cause fruit to part , so think about harvesting their mature fruit if it bet like it ’s going to rain .
I really like pomegranate juice , but juicing pomegranate tree is always messy for me . I put the hand orangish juicer in the bottom of our large kettle hole and squeeze the pomegranate half down there , where the inevitable ruby splash is n’t a problem . I have to mash pretty severely to get all the succus , which means that I have to puree the juice one fourth dimension to withdraw all of the little bits of acrimonious - tasting , livid , seed - chamber lining . I do n’t have a peachy leverage citrus presser , but with the pomegranate tree in the garden growing very nicely now , I ’m certain that one of those will be an learning objective in the near future .
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