Pomegranate in a hydroponic setup?

[dani]

Do you guys know how would a pomegranate react to being grown in a hydroponic setup? I have a tiny plant that's several months old, but it's still very tiny. And I was wondering if I should try to grow it in a hydroponic setup instead.

Right now, the plant is in a tiny basket that's placed in a bigger container filled with soil. Initially, my goal was to try to turn it into a shohin bonsai (hence, the mini pot with holes stuck in a bigger container). Last week the 3rd and 4th set of leaves showed up, so it okay for now.

Here are some photos:

 

[Bonsai Mike]

We did this for 2 yrs so we could bring it inside in the winter with good results. It was my roommates project. He was an indoor fruit production major.

 

[cbroad]

I say give it a shot, there's only one way to find out! I wondered how woody plants would do in a hydroponic setup, so I tried growing ficus in a DWC setup and it's working out wonderfully. I have a 3gal and 5gal (which has been running for over a year) bucket setup and am almost finished building my new 27gal tub and I upgraded to a 1000w MH/HPS light. Here's a link to my thread: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/ficus-experiment.27965/

What kind of hydroponic setup are you thinking about using?

 

[ionca]

I have several pomegranates growing in a hydroponic setup in my classroom and they grow faster than those in soil under the same light intensity. In fact, they grow an order of magnitude faster it seems. Whether that will translate to root development, I don’t know. I’m still pretty new at this and I’m trying to find ways to merge the two.

Do you guys know how would a pomegranate react to being grown in a hydroponic setup? I have a tiny plant that's several months old, but it's still very tiny. And I was wondering if I should try to grow it in a hydroponic setup instead.

Right now, the plant is in a tiny basket that's placed in a bigger container filled with soil. Initially, my goal was to try to turn it into a shohin bonsai (hence, the mini pot with holes stuck in a bigger container). Last week the 3rd and 4th set of leaves showed up, so it okay for now.

Here are some photos:

 

[dani]

I have several pomegranates growing in a hydroponic setup in my classroom and they grow faster than those in soil under the same light intensity. In fact, they grow an order of magnitude faster it seems. Whether that will translate to root development, I don’t know. I’m still pretty new at this and I’m trying to find ways to merge the two.

Thanks for letting us know! My pomegranate is just a tiny plant at this point as you can see and the first roots just escaped the pot that's in. So far, it's going well. I've added NPK fertilized water in the container and the escaping roots would feed the plant out of it.

 

[dani]

UPDATE: First roots are already escaping the pot. I've setup a container with water containing diluted NPK fertilizer. The pot does not touch the water, there's a space between the pot and the water. There are couple more sets of leaves. The plant is doing well so far.

 

[Anthony]

On our side - Tropics -------- without cold, death is in 25 to 30 years.
Only seeds and cuttings keep them going - religious use - Hindu's - India since 1850

We just finished cutting up a 30 year old tree, very hard wood, for a sample box
and a base to be carved.
Started over a new tree from cutting last year.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[ionca]

I took some pics today. It’s been growing since Christmas, and it’s seen a lot of growth in the past 2 months. I plan to grow it outside this summer in another setup, hopefully adding thickness to the trunk.

I’m really into the idea of fattening up trees hydroponically...does anyone know if that is possible this way?

 

[dani]

Wow, mine was started from a seed. It's I think 3-4 months old and it's growing slowly, like very slowly. Yours is HUGE!!! But it looks good and very healthy! Thanks for sharing the photo. Question - I put mine in a direct sunlight in a tiny green house. The sun isn't that strong considering it's 2C outside and we had snow recently. After about an hour, the top of the plant kinda tilted and it didnt look good. So, I took it out and left it on direct sunlight but not in the green house. Any idea why it reacted that way?

 

[MrFancyPlants]

If the tilt was quick, it might be “damping off”. If you lost turgid pressure, it might be a goner. Or it could be growing towards the light. Use lots of light and keep your water aerated. It doesn’t hurt to change out the water/fertilizer frequently if you don’t have an airstone in action.
I have a volunteer oak the popped up in my tropical tank and it is going strong. I think more species than we know could be suitable for hydro.

 

[ysrgrathe]

Sunlight can be 10x stronger than grow lights -- never move from lights to full sun without hardening off.

 

[ysrgrathe]

I would be interested to try growing JBP in a flood table setup. I water my pine seedlings as much as 3x per day in the summer and they seemed to grow very quickly (anecdotally). These were in colanders in 60% grit / 40% peat. If I tried this I would probably root them in pure medium pumice (1/4 - 3/8").

I don't think pines would survive in a pure aquaponic setup; they don't like having wet feet. I tried striking pine cuttings in an aeroponic setup and it was not successful.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I think if one were to use stands of varying heights to support pots so all pots on an ebb and flow table had the top rims at the same level, an ebb and flow table would be a great way to keep shohin and ultra small bonsai watered. No reason to not try the system.

You might have to adjust the frequency of ebb and flow cycles, maybe 3 times or even 4 times a day in hot weather, Once or twice a day in cooler weather. But an ebb and flow table is a great idea.

Warning: If one of the trees is diseased, bacteria, water mold, or virused, the ebb and flow system could spread the disease to all plants on the table. For marine fish there is a submersible UV light to kill bacteria, virus and fungi, it might be a good idea to invest in such a unit. This would minimize the risk of spreading disease.

 

[dani]

UPDATE: The plant is growing. I keep it in a simple semi hydroponic setup (plant along with main roots in the tiny pot and the escaping roots are in the water that has diluted NPK fertilizer). Now the only thing that worries me is that I lost first set of leaves (they were very different from the normal leaves though, form and all) and I am not sure if they are supposed to fall out in general, but they got yellowish and fell out. Now I'm starting to see a lil bit of yellowish on the bottom leaf there and I don't know if I should be worried or not. I keep it on a direct sunlight, its quite sunny here, it's 28C outside (tbh, way too warm for the Spring season). So, any advice or comment is welcome.

PS: That container is wrapped, so no sunlight gets in there, to protect the root. I took it off for the photos and to clean the container. The white string is there for self watering reasons.