What is Wrong with this Pomegranate?

10 years ago

6 years ago I purchased a dwarf pomegranate from Gurneys. It always had a few small fruits, but they got ripe.

We moved it to our new property this year, along with 2 Wonderful poms about 4 years old started from cuttings. The Wonderful variety looks healthy and strong, but has never born fruit or flowers.

The dwarf is a problem:

And it's fruit:

The fruit never got ripe. But it cracked as though it was ripe.

Is this tree a lost cause? It's on a drip system in a gopher basket. Seems a shame to waste water on such a sorry specimen.

The soil is well drained decomposed granite.

Suzi

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Comments (10)

Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
Original Author
10 years ago
Bump. I really need your help. Please?

Suzi
MrClint
10 years ago
I can only tell you what I would do, and that would be to dig these trees out and plant new healthy ones. Poms are readily available here in So Cal, can be bought for cheap, and unless you are winging it with regard to their care, they are very easy and problem free.

I would also water them well, often and by hand the first couple of years. A good layer of mulch would help a lot too.
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drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
10 years ago
Some dwarfs are 100% ornamental. Fruit looks ripe to me. Way over ripe.
User
10 years ago
Suzi,

I think it is an Iron or Zinc or both deficiency....at least that is what happens to them in Florida. Because I don't know CA soil and FAR from an expert why not ask an expert? You know one already, Harvey. He grows acres of poms he would know straight off how to fix it instead of advice like dig it out and throw it away which is ridiculous.
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the advice. I didn't know dwarfs are just ornamental. The two I started from cuttings are growing and green. They just don't blossom or fruit. Maybe too young...

Drew, they are over ripe by appearance, BUT when you cut one open that is perfectly red, the kernels are NOT ripe. Taste a bit like cardboard.

bamboo_rabbit, I'll PM Harvey with a link to this thread. Don't want to clog the other forum with another OT thread.

The thing is, the two Wonderful variety shrubs are on the same slope getting the same treatment in the same soil. They "look" healthy.

Thanks everyone!

Suzi
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
Original Author
10 years ago
Bamboo_Rabbit, I got advice from Harvey! His advice that the only dwarf he knows is Nana, and he would pull it out if I want fruit. It is strictly ornamental. So, it has to go.

I'll probably put another fruiting tree in it's place, and work on getting the two Wonderful variety of poms that are healthy and green to blossom and fruit. He thinks maybe they need nutrients. We'll work on that.

Thanks!

Suzi
goyo626 S.Cal.8b/SZ20
10 years ago
I would recommend Parfianka. Softer seed, superb flavor, and easy to maintain. A couple years ago I almost kileed mine by not watering it often enough (it was in a pot) was given great advice from people in this forum. I put it in ground and is now growing very rapidly (12 inches in some places).
User
10 years ago
Suzi,

If you want to go with another pom there are a ton of varieties that taste much better than Wonderful......it is the Red delicious apple of poms:)

Glad Harvey could help.

This post was edited by bamboo_rabbit on Wed, Mar 19, 14 at 12:30
MrClint
10 years ago
desertdance, consider 'Angel Red'. It's earlier than 'Wonderful' and is of excellent eating quality like 'Wonderful'. If you can find a nursery or big box store that carries L.E. Cooke trees, they should have AR.
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
Original Author
10 years ago
I noticed one bud. First ever on a Wonderful. I'm thinking they are happy to be out of the containers they were in at our last home in the low desert, and now in-ground on a nice slope in the foothills of Idyllwild in a sunny but cooler climate.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions. For sure that stupid mistake of buying a dwarf from Gurneys will be gone into the compost pile. Newbies, which I was, don't have a clue which pom is best.

I now know, but am not excited about jerking one of my healthy Wonderful variety for a replacement. The dwarf might just get replaced by a Pineapple guava.

Thanks to you all! If my Wonderful don't produce, I will replace them both with your suggestions.

Suzi