My pomegranate collection

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Thank you for the advice, I will prepare for repotting soon, can't wait to take the plant out of that soil, so it can receive water and fertilizer like my other plants.
I'm not sure about cuttings, space is limited (I don't have a garden) and I have plans to add other trees, so it will be somewhat difficult.

One of my neighbors have a big pomegranate nana in his garden, which she may abandon next month. If that's the case, I'll try to salvage it and put it in a pot.
Here are 2 pics, sorry for the bad quality but that's what I received from her.
IMG_20180815_192847.jpg
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bonhe

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Thank you for the advice, I will prepare for repotting soon, can't wait to take the plant out of that soil, so it can receive water and fertilizer like my other plants.
I'm not sure about cuttings, space is limited (I don't have a garden) and I have plans to add other trees, so it will be somewhat difficult.

One of my neighbors have a big pomegranate nana in his garden, which she may abandon next month. If that's the case, I'll try to salvage it and put it in a pot.
Here are 2 pics, sorry for the bad quality but that's what I received from her.
View attachment 208373
View attachment 208374
You are welcome.
I understand.
For clarification, if your area has snow in the winter, don't transplant in Fall. You 'd rather wait until the end of winter when the buds are swelling up.
You are lucky to have permission to collect that pomegranate. Since you collect that in Fall, try to save its root as much as you can.
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bonhe

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This tree was used the soft breaking technique in spring and I pruned them back about 2 months ago. The pictures were taken this morning. The new shoot did not come out yet.
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Another tree. This branch was not used soft breaking technique and was pruned back about 2 months ago. It also does not show any new shoot!
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What is a learning point here?
All other large pomegranates has got soft breaking technique but no pruning at all. ;)
IMG_9038.jpg IMG_9039.jpg

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my nellie

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This tree... ...I pruned them back about 2 months ago. The new shoot did not come out yet.
Another tree... ...was pruned back about 2 months ago. It also does not show any new shoot!
What is a learning point here?
I can't figure out... I guess I'm a slow learner... :oops:
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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The lesson I read here is the same as I found in my own garden: as soon as you prune pomegranate, you will have to be patient.
Bohne, I have some huge wire scars from just 2 months of leaving the wire on. Do you have any idea on how fast that heals? I mean, is this going to take multiple years, or can I expect it to be restored next summer?
 

Toshi

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The lesson I read here is the same as I found in my own garden: as soon as you prune pomegranate, you will have to be patient.
Bohne, I have some huge wire scars from just 2 months of leaving the wire on. Do you have any idea on how fast that heals? I mean, is this going to take multiple years, or can I expect it to be restored next summer?

Definitely, every time I pruned back a branch without any foliage the entire branch has died on me. Definitely a waiting game with them as you said.
 

bonhe

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... just like a damn pine.
Could you elaborate your statement ?

The lesson I read here is the same as I found in my own garden: as soon as you prune pomegranate, you will have to be patient.
Bohne, I have some huge wire scars from just 2 months of leaving the wire on. Do you have any idea on how fast that heals? I mean, is this going to take multiple years, or can I expect it to be restored next summer?
I agree with your point. Do you see it back bud at all in the same season?
To answer your question, I took some pictures this afternoon to show you how the wire related scars will heal over.
IMG_9084.jpg

If I don't tell you, you will not know it used to be a deep wire related scars 6 years ago.
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Its another branch with tiny scars
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Another branch with scars
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This 3 years old scar from another tree.
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Another branch from another tree
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It means it takes somewhere between 3 - 7 years for the wire related scars completely heal up, depending on the size of wire, the tree's health, location of the tree. So, you should be patient in this matter :)

Definitely, every time I pruned back a branch without any foliage the entire branch has died on me. Definitely a waiting game with them as you said.
Thanks for comment. I never prune back without foliage, so I don't know. I will try to do it in the next season (if I remember ;)
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0soyoung

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Could you elaborate your statement ?
Well, they are ... s l o w ... to respond. They (pines) can be dead, but will take 6 months to announce it, so to speak. To some degree, this must be because of the narrow xylem lumens. But I was jokingly saying pomegranates are slow (stupid) just like a pine. :p:D

I've noted that horse chestnuts won't crack buds after the summer solstice - they will make buds, but buds won't release until after some vernalization. Many (most?) conifers will just set buds, but won't release them when day lengths are shortening (i.e., after the summer solstice). I was thinking about the possibility that pomegranate's being similar - maybe pruning in spring (prior to the summer solstice) could be different than in summer/fall. With horsechestnuts and temperate conifers some number of hours below 5C resets things and buds will break anytime it is warmer than 5C. But pomegranates grow in climates where temperatures never get below 5C. So, how would the bud dormancy be released, I asked myself - maybe some 'tropical' species can respond to the winter solstice? Not an unreasonable expectation, but ...

Then I got to thinking about flower bud set - how that happens mostly after the summer solstice. Lots of sun and ??? causes gibberellin production to drop and a messenger rna from the leaves around the vegetative bud arrest it and start the process of morphing it into a floral bud. Hmmm ...., (I said to myself) this is getting far deeper than bonhe usually goes; he always has a simple moral to his fables.

Maybe something more basic with cytokinin and auxin. In one sense, auxin is the signal of 'life above'. When the signal disappears, the message is to 'seal it off' = die back. In pines, the tip bud is the apical meristem, but another one will be made as long as there are enough leaves (needles) which also produce auxin. Aside from JBP/KBP, few pines will survive with only tip buds, so needles must be the major producers of auxin. Maybe it is similar with poms?

So, I dunno what is going on. Never had a pom. Probably won't. The only learning point that I am getting is that poms are s l o w, ... just like pines. What is going on inside a pine still has be a bit mystified as opposed to, say, a maple which seems fairly straightforward.

So, tell us, Thụ Thoại, what is the learning point?


btw, I always enjoy these little tidbits.
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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Poms are very defensive growers in nature I've noticed. They come from a pretty harsh climate where they sacrifice a whole part of the tree to survive. In the mediterranian area I've seen at least 20 large size trees with 60% dead branches that it makes me think; if an auxin signal from the shoot stops, the plant starts saving/storing energy instead of spending it. It will just wait until next year.
Maybe conservative is a better word for their behavior.

And wow, 7 years for scars to heal!? Alright. I am going to change the style to clip and grow now ;-)
Now that you ask, I can't find any backbuds after the summer trim. If memory serves me well, in spring, they backbud pretty well after being cut before bud break.

Do you have the same observations? I just have mine for 4 years now, more as a fun want-to-have plant than anything else to be honest. I got enthusiastic about them after reading this: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160711120533.htm
Mitochondrial recycling, now that's an awesome trick!
 

Anthony

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On our side [ with no winter ] they grow lush, heal very
well.
AND die after 25 to 30 years or so,
Same for Agnus castus.

How do you like that for adaptation?
Good Day
Anthony
 

my nellie

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0soyoung, I enjoy these "little tidbits" of Thụ Thoại, too!
Always crucial!
... ...I was thinking about the possibility that pomegranate's being similar - maybe pruning in spring (prior to the summer solstice) could be different than in summer/fall.
... ...Hmmm ...., (I said to myself) this is getting far deeper than bonhe usually goes; he always has a simple moral to his fables.
... ...Aside from JBP/KBP, few pines will survive with only tip buds, so needles must be the major producers of auxin. Maybe it is similar with poms?
... ...So, I dunno what is going on.
The only learning point that I am getting is that poms are s l o w, ... just like pines.
So, tell us, Thụ Thoại, what is the learning point?
btw, I always enjoy these little tidbits.
I cannot contemplate in such depth... I have not the qualifications... but I do believe there must be something more than the Pomegranate's slowness.
So yes, Thụ Thoại tell us! :)
 

bonhe

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Thanks for all replying.
Pomegranate has the same characteristics. It responses well with pruning of the current season’s growth back to 2 – 3 leaves when the leaves are still in red-greenish color (around spring equinox) or when it is in mid spring (prior to summer solstice)

You can see this tree pruned on 5/28/16
4.png

and had a lot of new shoots on 7/17/16
7-17.png

As with other trees, to break the dormancy, the environment should have proper temperature, humidity and day length over 10 hours a day.

In my opinion, the reason the pomegranate does not have another new growth after summer solstice is probably due to the buds are already set in for the next growing season, and the auxin inhibits these buds well. These buds are only released from auxin inhibition when the suitable environment happens. (The remained green mature leaves are able to produce a lot of auxin which in turn inhibit the lateral bud swelling and growth.)

The learning point is that if you have to prune the pomegranate, do it before the summer. Otherwise, just do soft breaking technique or wiring in growing season, then prune them back in the fall or winter when there are no leaves. By that way, the tree is still able to produce a lot energy for the next growing season.
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bonhe

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Pomegranate keeps coming to my yard! This morning, my teacher gifted me this tree started from cutting about 20 years ago by him.
It was in the 3 gallon pot for years and roots escaped down to the ground from the draining holes. I cut the escaped roots next to the draining holes.
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After remove all the dead branches and pruned the live branches short.
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I don't like this 90° angle created between the trunk and big branch.
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That low branch was cut. I keep more than enough branches at this time to help building up the tree's strength. I am planning to transplant it either tomorrow. I love literati style!
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I should keep this angle as the future trunk line
IMG_9276 - Copy.jpg
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bonhe

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I had time to transplant the tree on post # 198 this morning.
Its rootage.
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It has a big root with other smaller roots.
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The big root was shortened. I had to use a big handsaw to cut it. It is a change to study the pomegranate's root system.
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The tree was stabilized in the clay pot with twine.
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Done. As you can see. I am using a big pot to build up the tree's strength for training later on.
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