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Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: simon_grow on April 19, 2017, 08:34:59 PM

Title: Crazy flowering on Pomegranate
Post by: simon_grow on April 19, 2017, 08:34:59 PM
My pomegranate tree is going crazy with blooms this year. I got lots of fruit last year and had some huge clusters of fruit, something like 6 fruit on a single branch but this year, the flower clusters are even larger although the fruit have not set yet. One of the larger flower clusters have 26 flowers on a single branch.

I have heavy clay soil which is horrible for most my trees but my Pomegranates seem to thrive on it. This is an Angel Red tree with Parfianka, Desertenyi and Fleishman grafted onto it.


(https://s12.postimg.cc/azwtrjovt/IMG_1955.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/azwtrjovt/)

(https://s12.postimg.cc/5prv094mx/IMG_1958.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/5prv094mx/)

(https://s12.postimg.cc/i5oktzxyx/IMG_1959.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/i5oktzxyx/)

(https://s12.postimg.cc/9bxocwb09/IMG_1960.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/9bxocwb09/)

(https://s12.postimg.cc/41spllqrd/IMG_1961.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/41spllqrd/)
Simon
Title: Re: Crazy flowering on Pomegranate
Post by: sildanani on April 19, 2017, 09:45:38 PM
That's great! How many years since it was first grafted? What kind of graft did you do? I have a 4-5 year old root stock that has not flowered yet. Maybe from a lack of chill hours? Does your tree get chill hours in winter?
Title: Re: Crazy flowering on Pomegranate
Post by: simon_grow on April 19, 2017, 10:26:53 PM
I Grafted one variety on the tree each year for the last three years. I believe I've had this tree for about 4 years now. The original rootstock was in about a 1-3 gallon but they grow extremely fast here. I use cleft grafts when the shoots are dormant. I've read that Pomegranates need some chill, I usually get between 100-200 chill hours a year.

Is your Pom a named variety? Seedlings may take much longer to fruit. I don't know much about Pomegranates.

Simon
Title: Re: Crazy flowering on Pomegranate
Post by: Johnny Eat Fruit on April 19, 2017, 10:52:07 PM
My Pomegranates have many flowers too. Hopefully, we will have a hot summer so they will get ripe and sweet with full flavor. Last year, in 2016, it was cooler and the fruit quality was not as high as the previous year. We will see for 2017. My Angel Red has the lowest chill requirement and is the first to flower. The Desertnyi is the 2nd to flower and my Parfianka is the last at my location.

Johnny


(https://s1.postimg.cc/qxtgq3yaj/8_U1_A4935.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/qxtgq3yaj/)

(https://s1.postimg.cc/dtoekbzob/8_U1_A4962.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/dtoekbzob/)
Title: Re: Crazy flowering on Pomegranate
Post by: simon_grow on April 20, 2017, 01:15:37 AM
Nice trees Johnny. What varieties are you growing? That's a lot of flowers on your trees, hopefully we will get the heat to sweeten up our fruit. I get a lot of aphids on my Poms which then attracts mold. I'm going to try to spray my trees more with some orchard spray.

Simon
Title: Re: Crazy flowering on Pomegranate
Post by: shinzo on April 20, 2017, 04:53:54 AM
Nice trees simon and johnny.
Mine is getting big also (and it is also like yours simon, in clay soil), they semm to like it). Last year got a lot of fruits. This year flowers has just began to appear, you are ahead of us mediterranean growers :).
@ Johnny : With this wide tree how do you pick the fruits in the middle of the canopy, very challenging task with all the thorns.
Title: Re: Crazy flowering on Pomegranate
Post by: Mark in Texas on April 21, 2017, 08:59:25 AM
Nice job Simon!  Do you have any problem with internal fruit rot?  We're having that problem in Texas.  I lost about 20 from it last year maybe because of the very wet August. 
Title: Re: Crazy flowering on Pomegranate
Post by: simon_grow on April 21, 2017, 11:54:35 AM
Thanks Mark, I had a few fruit with damage on the skin and these fruit had some internal problems. I noticed there was also some green mold on the outside of the fruit where the skin was broken. The majority of the fruit were fine but some fruit did have green and or sooty mold from aphids.

Simon