Greetings everyone!  The topic is self explanatory.  I am wanting to hear from people growing pomegranates in 7a-b or colder.  If you have pics please post them.  I want to know how you are growing yours, what the hardiness level seems to be and the type.  I want to know all I can about making this happen in my area. 

I am over wintering two varieties in containers in garage.  My plan is to put them in ground in the spring. 

Cool, which varieties?

I have my inground and every year it died to the ground over winter. This year I increased the quality of wrapping and hope it survives.

If it does not work, I may consider container growing it. 

I have read that they will die back to the ground every winter and come back every spring.  The question I have is...will they be able to produce ripe fruit during the growing season.  I'm going to plant them in a slightly raised area surrounded by rock/brick.
I have a Eversweet variety and a Wonderful (started it from seed).  They grow like weeds during the growing season.  I have had them two years in containers...letting them grow before putting them in ground this spring.

Supposedly there are heirloom varieties that are growing in Alabama.  I have heard of one russian  variety that is supposed to endure zone 6 winters with no die back.  I hope someone with experience chimes in.  I had some pomegranate plants in pots that I allowed to freeze and now I have them in the house and they are still alive with no dieback.  I hope they can gradually become hardy for my area, though they technically could be already :)

Salavanski,Afganski,and Kazake is the kind you want to grow in 7b.They are hardy and produce good fruit.Talk to Richard from Pomnaturals he is the expert on hardy varieties.I cant post pictures because of the size limit.  

Much like fig trees, if they die back to the ground, all energy will be spent on growth, this cant be normal and would believe they need extreme covering over winters.

I have salavatski in zone 6b in the ground, ( with some simple protection and south facing near the house) and it does well. It produces decent fruit. It took about four years for the fruit to fully ripen. In earlier years, the fruit would set and later drop off in August-September. I prefer salavatski poms to "wonderful" variety in supermarkets. It has a sweeter flavor, but the the fruit is smaller. Let me know if you'd like cuttings.

Where did you obtain your plant Bill?  Is it possible to get a few cuttings?

I bought it from Bass about 5 years ago. Sure, no problem for cuttings.

[QUOTE=tennesseefig]Where did you obtain your plant Bill?  Is it possible to get a few cuttings?[/QUOTE]

Wellsprings has them on ebay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Russian-Pomegranate-Salavatski-Punica-granatum-Cold-hardy-Zone-7-LIVE-PLANT-/192015972658?hash=item2cb50b3932

They are very small plants but you are right, thanks for the link.  I bought some at Lowe's that had the name tag Granada on them and said they were hardy to zone 7.

Granada is a sport of wonderfull...not so sure about its so good for zone 6/7. Green sea pomegranate nursery has many of the "Russian" varieties brought in by dr. Gregory Levin...

I am growing R19 aka Nikitskii Ranii aka Crimson Sky...got it from edible landscaping in VA. Best producer in humid zones, from the hardy "Russian" varieties also has the red appeal, and was one of the top rated for flavor... (poms often do poorly with humid summers like we have in the south and east coast.

See also: http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/figs-and-pomegranates-two-great-partners-7910870?&trail=50

Why woild you buy pomegranate from wellspring? You can buy them online easily, nurseries sell 1-3 year olds 15-25$ from what I've seen. I'd rather a bigger one for 15 than a TC for 10.

Thanks for the info Lewi!  Have you successfully grown any fruit from your pomegranate yet?  Shalom.

Check out Chestnut Hill nursery, they sell 15 or so varieties of pomegranate and give information on the ripening time. In cooler climates that's a must!

[QUOTE=DevIsgro]Check out Chestnut Hill nursery, they sell 15 or so varieties of pomegranate and give information on the ripening time. In cooler climates that's a must![/QUOTE]

Nice lead. Never heard of them. They seem to have varieties that will be more successful in the humid south. 

[QUOTE=tennesseefig]Thanks for the info Lewi!  Have you successfully grown any fruit from your pomegranate yet?  Shalom.[/QUOTE]

Shalom u'bracha,

Picked off a fair amount of ity-bity fruit last year...picked them off as the trees are too young. You can see the fruit I picked on the thread I gave the link for.

There are a number of sources on growing pommegranades in cooler climates.

www.ediblelandscaping.com and www.palmapalmetto.de are particulary relevant because they have pommes (and fig) supposedly suited for cooler climates and because they are willing to ship to non US customers.

The most interesting seems to be from russia. Salavatski, Parfianka, Kazake, Entekeh-Sabi...

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1520016/pomegranates-in-colder-climates
"Climates that do not allow pomegranate to ripen have cool and/or short summers. These are seldom the same climates that are too cold in winter for the plant. In other words, pomegranates do well in zone 7 Albuquerque, but probably not in zone 8 Seattle for example."

While my climate may allow for pommes to survive (I live in Norway), I doubt that my summers are sufficiently long and hot to mature fruit on plants that come from inland russia.

On a resent trip to China (Xi'an), I saw miles and miles of pommegranate fields. They seemed to wrap each individual fruit into some bag, possibly to avoid birds/insects?

Yes you are correct, those who live in areas with shorter summers need early bearing varieties. R 19 aka crimson sky is early, also Bass has posted about ripening Slavatski in Bethlahem Pennsylvania (zone 6).

I love that they post ripening times, Oct, Nov pomegranate will never ripen for me outside of a greenhouse!

Do pom cuttings root the same as fig cuttings?  In zone 8 how long from cutting to fruit, give or take?

I haven't rooted them myself but from.what I've read the technique is pretty much the same and it takes about 3 years. But that's just what I read.

[QUOTE=bamafig]Do pom cuttings root the same as fig cuttings?  In zone 8 how long from cutting to fruit, give or take?[/QUOTE]
I planted some seeds from shop bought fruit ("wonderful", I assume).

Most popped up and were eagerly growing in my window shelves. I re-potted them outside in early summer. Those who went straight outside had a shock, and I doubt that they had the strength to survive winter. I planted a couple in a garden cold bench. Perhaps they will survive.

Be careful with pomegranate seedlings. They don't always produce or grow true to the mother tree. Some do produce the same or similar fruit to the mother, some flower only but never fruit. (If they are crossed with a double flowering variety that's quite interesting to grow). Most seem to never produce from studies I saw. They get caught in something called "juvenile root lock" and never mature. If they will ever mature they are supposed to do so by the 6th year, assuming that they don't die back to the ground. I would recommend fertilizing to avoid juvenile root lock, even if it's not a guarantee! Good luck. :)

I would imagine that is correct. I haven't seen any scholarly articles mentioning how readily they hybridize or seedling test results per variety, but some variation would make sense. With the low cost of a pomegranate tree usually I don't personally see much the point of seedlings for readily available varieties. But that's me and I'm also running low on space ;)

Thanks for the information! I do have a black Portuguese pomegranate seedlings that's a year and a half old by now. I agree for rare varieties, but for common ones cuttings seems far more convenient. It's interesting they remain so similar. You can expect as high as 90℅ germination rates and 60℅ survival rates in my very limited experience. Quite high. If they aren't cross pollination then it would definitely add a bit of minor genetic diversity to a home orchard.

[QUOTE=DevIsgro]I would imagine that is correct. I haven't seen any scholarly articles mentioning how readily they hybridize or seedling test results per variety, but some variation would make sense. With the low cost of a pomegranate tree usually I don't personally see much the point of seedlings for readily available varieties. But that's me and I'm also running low on space ;)[/QUOTE]
Pommegranate is not a plant that you can buy over the counter where I live, and import of any living plant material except for seeds means phyto sanitary certificate, cost and time.

I planted the seeds with the kids for fun.

-k

[QUOTE=alanmercieca]I am growing Salavatski in 7B north Carolina. One year we had a 7A type of winter and it survived it even though it was small still, it went down to 3 degrees Fahrenheit that year. I had to cut it nearly to the ground because of a shothole borer beetle infestation, they attack trees here when they leak sap. It came back very strong like a weed. No fruit yet after 6 years in the ground, sill waiting, yet winter 2013-2014 and winter 2014-2015 caused the plants to have a slow start those years, and the spring that followed one of those winters the shothole borers forced me to nearly cut it to the ground so I consider this tree 2 years behind.[/QUOTE]

It might not be fruiting because of the die back/cutting. I don't think pom's fruit on new wood like figs.

Wrong choice of fruit tree for colder climates.  Will probably never work unless you have a greenhouse.  I live where an old pom orchard was, in El Paso, and cannot imagine them doing well (fruit production) further north then Lubbock or Albuquerque.

Dig -- Thank you.  Every time I think about growing pomegranates here, I try to remind myself that I'm fighting reality.  Some fruits I should just buy at the store.

[QUOTE=Dig]Wrong choice of fruit tree for colder climates.  Will probably never work unless you have a greenhouse.  I live where an old pom orchard was, in El Paso, and cannot imagine them doing well (fruit production) further north then Lubbock or Albuquerque.[/QUOTE]

Never say never.....

http://www.treesofjoy.com/content/pomegranates-cold-climate

I don't want to be a debbie-downer.  I hope there are poms that are cold hardy, and the treesofjoy.com site showed some potential.  I did find a hardy russian pom that stated it would produce in mild, protected zone 6, but that is what I already stated.  http://www.fast-growing-trees.com/Cold-Hardy-Russian-Red-Pomegranate.htm

[QUOTE=Dig]I don't want to be a debbie-downer.  I hope there are poms that are cold hardy, and the treesofjoy.com site showed some potential.  I did find a hardy russian pom that stated it would produce in mild, protected zone 6, but that is what I already stated.  http://www.fast-growing-trees.com/Cold-Hardy-Russian-Red-Pomegranate.htm


[/QUOTE]

I don't think you can grow them realistically without protection. You might get lucky some years but for consistent production they would need to be helped through winters. In Turkmenistan they plant pomegranates on sloped hillsides so that they are easy to bury over winter.

I don't want to be a downer either, but "a man's got to know his limitations."  If anyone who isn't selling (and therefore marketing) pomegranates could document a history of growing them in Z6 (or worse), I'd probably jump on the bandwagon just as I have with figs.  Even a requirement for a modest amount of protection would be OK. 

But I wouldn't want to invest 5 years without fruit then see the plant destroyed by a random -10 F weekend.  Meanwhile, I'll focus effort on the species that will reliably produce tons of fruit with modest effort -- e.g., raspberries, peaches, and of course figs.

Alan -- On behalf of all of us, thanks.

We do the fig shuffle.  We can try a little pomegranate shuffle.

On a practical note: pomme fruit stores well (like apples). So store bought fruit should be about the same quality as home-made, unlike figs?

Of course, growing against all odds and advice is an interesting challenge in itself.

Pomegranates are far superior homegrown over store bought. They do store well but like citrus commercial growers pump them up for size & looks and pull them off as soon as they can. My navel orange tree tastes like a store bought orange right now. If I wait another month they will be excellent. 

I havent seen any varieties hardier than -9. That being said it's supposed to lend itself well to container culture and stay under 8 ft in a sizable container, or at least can be maintained that way. Look at frost dates for your area and ripening times of varieties. If the it has enough days to maturity you should be good. Logically if your frost is in October or November and it ripens in july/ August you should be able to ripen it. Not sure what forms are best for training them though, I've seen a lot of weeping ones but that takes up serious space.

[QUOTE=DevIsgro]I havent seen any varieties hardier than -9. That being said it's supposed to lend itself well to container culture and stay under 8 ft in a sizable container, or at least can be maintained that way. Look at frost dates for your area and ripening times of varieties. If the it has enough days to maturity you should be good. Logically if your frost is in October or November and it ripens in july/ August you should be able to ripen it. Not sure what forms are best for training them though, I've seen a lot of weeping ones but that takes up serious space.[/QUOTE]

I know a guy in New Mexico that has an heirloom variety at his grandmother's home place that has survived-17 degrees Fahrenheit. I have been trying to get cuttings for a couple years. Hopefully this will be the year I get them.

Shane Jennings
Alabama Pomegranate Association
https://m.facebook.com/alabamapomegranateassociation/

Shane, discounting hardiness to do know of poms that deal well with the humidity of the southeast?

I'm looking for salavatski either plant or cuttings if anyone wants to trade for fruit scions wood ( I have about 50 kinds) or I have a few fig cuttings . Pm me.

[QUOTE=ohjustaguy]Shane, discounting hardiness to do know of poms that deal well with the humidity of the southeast?[/QUOTE]

Hello,

There are many other factors to deal with along with humidity such as pathogens, cracked fruit, aril color development in warm areas, Yes there are varieties that will produce in humidity. Some of the best varieties are heirloom varieties. My friend Richard Bonsteel is searching Florida and I am searching Alabama for these treasures before these 100+ year heirloom varieties disappear. Because many were planted by seedling from settler to settler, some have adapted to the climate. Back in the 1980's, very unusual cold penetrated Alabama. Even the bottom of the state experienced -2 degrees Fahrenheit. There used to be untold thousands in Alabama, but this unusual event wiped out the week varieties.

Ison's just added 3 Russian varieties to their stock, two have been mentioned ITT. Having a 20% off sale for one week as well.

http://store.isons.com/fruit-trees/russian-pomegranates