10 year anniversary - Punica

[leatherback]

So.. This week my wife and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. And I was given a pomegranate tree for the anniversary.

Quite a gift, especially as she does not really like bonsai.. Unfortunately, they are quite rare, so I had to go mail order on this one, from one of my favorite british bonsai stock dealers.

I suspect it will arrive next week. Quite a bit of work on this one though!

 

[BobbyLane]

Good buy, i saw these on the new products page. they're strong growers and provide interest throughout the seasons. i have one thats going to go in the growing bed shortly.

 

[LanceMac10]

I got an automatic dishwasher.....and I was cool with that.

Nice that they were focused on what brings you joy.

I waved forty years of hand-washing goodbye.

 

[leatherback]

I waved forty years of hand-washing goodbye.

Guess I was given 40 years of extra work. Hm..

 

[Lazylightningny]

She doesn't like bonsai!? She needs to be brainwashed better!

 

[Carol 83]

Happy Anniversary! I usually get shiny things, and just sneak the trees in.

 

[leatherback]

Good buy, i saw these on the new products page. they're strong growers and provide interest throughout the seasons.

Yeah, now I need to pick @bonhe s brains come spring to see how to deal with this tree. Maybe it is time for a holiday in USA . I do not know anyone growing a punica bonsai in my region.

 

[bonhe]

Yeah, now I need to pick @bonhe s brains come spring to see how to deal with this tree. Maybe it is time for a holiday in USA . I do not know anyone growing a punica bonsai in my region.

Thanks for picking me, leatherback!
The tree looks very healthy and very nice material. If I was you, I would remove all the unnecessary branches in the winter when all the leaves are off. The reason is that the tree can concentrate the growth on remain branches, so they are getting big much faster. I wound do that when there are no leaves, so that I could examine the branches is better. I hope it makes sense.
You need to give it a lot of sunlight, fertilizer at this stage. It looks like its current pot is good enough for the tree growth. The branches are still small, so they don't need to wire at this time. You may wire them next year.
You should protect it from the cold. You should have asked the seller how to care it in the winter since I don't have any experience to grow the tree in the cold area!
Good luck to you
Thụ Thoại

 

[leatherback]

You should have asked the seller how to care it in the winter since I don't have any experience to grow the tree in the cold area!

Thx bonhe. It is really a starter. Alsto the thick branches on the left will go over time, I think. (Do these close cuts well?). Once I get it here, I will focus on prepareing it for winter, and yeaj do a full trimbac then.

It will go into the garage after leaf drop. This year I will install a frostprotection in the form of a heating cable with thermostat, and a few layers of bubbewrap. I have a half dozen mediterenean plants, all of which will need protection in the middle of winter. And if we get REAL cold weather, they will come indoors in the coldest room in the house..

 

[bonhe]

Thx bonhe. It is really a starter. Alsto the thick branches on the left will go over time, I think. (Do these close cuts well?).
..

You are welcome leatherback.
Yes, I agree.
With the large cut, it will not close but it is good, because you can create hollow effect from that. The pomegranate needs to have cavities to make it look old.
You should remove the big branch at the end of spring, so that you can make cutting from that. Don't worry about the size. Even the big cut as 40 cm diameter can root out easily.
Thụ Thoại

 

[Tentakelaertje]

Congratz on your anniversary Jelle! That is a Nice tree and good to hear your wife is finally feeding your addiction too!

 

[leatherback]

Woehoe.. it arrived last night. And is it healthy! Full of flowers. Maybe tonight it is still light when I get home; Will take some pics then.

 

[leatherback]

 

[Ruben Bouwmeester]

Tasty.

 

[just.wing.it]

Nice tree!
Congrats on 10!

 

[AlainK]

Hi "leatherback",

This is a very nice tree. Here, it's rather easy to find in garden centers but the trunks are much smaller.

Thụ Thoại was the best person to get advice from:

You should protect it from the cold.

Right: I lost two because they stayed outside. Where I live (Loire valley), the winters are probably milder than in Northern germany and I left them outside, with a 10 cm layer of dry leaves, but if it gets too cold for several days, that's the end...

 

[leatherback]

@bonhe you mention taking the large branch of in late spring as a cutting.
What substrate would you use to put the cutting into? (You would not bother with layering?).

Also, I read in multiple propagation advice sites that punica cuttings should be taken in late winter. You have better experience in spring? Could you perhaps share the process how you would take / treat these larger cuttings?

I have rooted many cuttings of other species, and have realized these details can matter a lot, and are very species dependent.. So I am trying to get my head around it, and make an informed decision here based on people that have actually propagated many pomegranates. Would be a shame to do this and loose the large side-branch on a technicality/misunderstanding!

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Sorry, but I can't help to chime in. Spring cuttings here in the Netherlands seem to work. I got all of them to root when struck just before bud break. Which is around April/May if memory serves me right. Depending on the temperatures.
They leaf out and start growing without roots, then around june they'll have a nice set of roots forming. It could take up to july though.
I have done around 20 of them, all of them made it. I think I remember not using rooting hormone and just sticking them in the soil. But it never hurts to use it.

They were all just a few mm's thick branches. I'm not sure if larger sized branches work the same way, but my guess is that they will.

 

[bonhe]

@bonhe you mention taking the large branch of in late spring as a cutting.
What substrate would you use to put the cutting into? (You would not bother with layering?).

Also, I read in multiple propagation advice sites that punica cuttings should be taken in late winter. You have better experience in spring? Could you perhaps share the process how you would take / treat these larger cuttings?

I have rooted many cuttings of other species, and have realized these details can matter a lot, and are very species dependent.. So I am trying to get my head around it, and make an informed decision here based on people that have actually propagated many pomegranates. Would be a shame to do this and loose the large side-branch on a technicality/misunderstanding!

Thanks for asking.
I will not bother to air layering it because it is so easy to make cutting.
In my experience, cutting of pomegranate should be done in the end of spring because it will give one enough time to recover and root out in the summer. I can do cutting in the end of spring too, but only with a small cutting. The big cutting will hardly be survived. The cutting in the fall ands winter are big no no!
I think I posted the topic how to perform a big cutting either here or in Vietnamese Bonsai fórum in the past. Let me check, if I don’t see it here, I will make this topic just because you really want to know ?
Be patient with me.
Thụ Thoại

 

[bonhe]

I just checked this nut house, and did not see my post of big cutting. I will try to make this topic this weekend!
Thị Thoại