It is unlikely that there will be a person on Earth who is not familiar with pomegranate. Its slightly tart taste is very pleasant. The blood-red color of the fruit contains a huge amount of useful substances necessary for human health. For the sake of fruits and a beautiful decorative look, pomegranate tree is grown in open ground and at home. Read about it in the article.
Historical reference
The pomegranate tree has been known for a long time. Even in ancient Egypt, when the pharaohs ruled, orchards with these fruits, which at that time were called Carthaginian apples, were planted everywhere. They were brought here by the Phoenicians in 825 before the advent of our era. But when the Romans attacked these places, everything was destroyed, except for gardens with trees on which pomegranates grew.
It took a long time before the plant began to be cultivated. This happened at the end of the 18th century on the territory of the American continent. This fruit was the main thing on the royal table because of the peel, which looks like a crown. Until now, some countries believe that garnet is the progenitor of royal hats.
What does a pomegranate tree look like?
It is mainly a deciduous plant. In height, it can reach five meters or grow in the form of a bush. The leaves are glossy, opposite, have an elongated shape and an average length of seven centimeters. It blooms for a long time and is very plentiful. This period begins in May and ends in August. The flowers are large, their diameter reaches three centimeters, and the shape resembles bells. Blossoming pomegranate tree is strewn with bright red-orange buds. This is an amazing sight! Many gardeners grow a tree only for beautiful flowers. Pomegranate is considered a long-liver. His life expectancy at home is half a century, and in the open ground - three hundred years.
Fruit characteristic
The fruits have a spherical shape, their peel is dense, yellow-red or red-brown. The diameter reaches 5-12 cm, the average weight is 600 g. The fruit inside has many chambers filled with a huge amount of seeds, there are up to 1400 pieces. Around each grain is a juicy pulp, which is the edible shell of the seeds. It accounts for 50% of the total weight of the fetus.
The fruit of a pomegranate tree (see photo below) ripens in time extended over time. This process begins in September and ends in February, with the exception of the southern hemisphere. Here are other dates: March-May. Pomegranate has a high yield: 60 kg from each tree.
The plant is always decorative: when it grows, blooms and bears fruit. In warm regions, during fruit ripening, they often crack on branches. This process is very interesting. The halves of the fruit diverge in different directions, taking a horizontal position, but the grains do not spill out. In regions with a predominant temperate climate, it happens that the fruits are picked later than the leaves fall.
Where does the pomegranate tree grow?
The birthplace of this plant is Persia (in the modern world - Iran). The places of distribution of the pomegranate tree in the wild are Central and Asia Minor, northwest India, Transcaucasia, Afghanistan, Iran. In a cultivated form, the territories of pomegranate growth are countries with a tropical and subtropical climate: the Middle East, Italy, Greece, Crimea.
Seed cultivation
Material for planting are seeds of large pomegranate. When buying it, you need to carefully inspect the skin of the fetus: it should be smooth, without damage. The grains are taken out of the pulp, washed well and dried. They should have a solid consistency and ivory color. If the seeds are soft and have a different color, they can not be used for growing plants.
Seed sowing technology
How to grow a pomegranate tree? Need to plant a seed. To do this, the pot, preferably clay, is filled with a substrate, which includes land, sand and peat. It is important that the soil is loose. Expanded clay, fine gravel or other material is poured into the bottom of the pot as drainage. Do not forget that excess moisture is detrimental to the root system of pomegranate tree. The technology for planting seeds is as follows:
- On the soil surface in the pot you need to make small indentations.
- Place seeds in them: one grain in each well.
- Sprinkle holes in the ground, but at different levels, without deepening the seeds into the ground more than a centimeter. Between the grains there should be a distance of about two to three centimeters. If it is not maintained, then due to the density of planting, the seeds will not germinate well.
- Water the seedlings.
- Cover the crops with foil.
How to grow seedlings?
If the planting technology is followed, and the seeds were healthy and ripe, the first seedlings will appear in a half-month. When they grow a little and become stronger, the polyethylene that covered the planting can be removed. All the sprouts in the pot should be carefully examined, the weakest should be removed, put the plants in a place lit by the sun and do not forget about watering.
When leaves appear, pomegranate seedlings are transplanted into separate containers with new soil. You can cook it yourself. To do this, mix humus, leaf turf, sand, peat in a ratio of 1: 1: 0.5: 0.5. If planting is carried out in the winter, additional lighting is used, as the seedlings can stop growing due to lack of light.
The time of emergence of sprouts does not matter. If this happened in the winter, they will remain in pots until they get stronger. With the onset of spring, they are planted in a designated place in the garden. If the seeds have sprouted in the first month of summer, they are left in a pot and grown at home for another year. Already grown bushes will be planted in open ground.
Growing pomegranate from cuttings
Through the cuttings, all the genetic material is transferred to the new plant. Therefore, growing pomegranate in this way is the most common option. To obtain good planting material, the middle of a two-year branch with a length of 15 cm with kidneys is selected. After this, the stem is placed in a stimulating solution for several days, and then in a small pot with soil, the composition of which is the same as for sowing seeds.
After a month, the roots form on the handle, it is transplanted into another container, the dimensions of which are slightly larger. When the height of the tree reaches 50 cm, it is planted in open ground at a constant place of growth or transplanted into a large pot for further growing indoors.
Outdoor pomegranate planting
According to expert advice, this is best done in the fall, in the second and third months of the season. Although the landing is carried out in the spring. Pomegranate comes from a warm climate, so it prefers a lot of light. If the plant is deficient in it, the fruits may not ripen.
Growing exotic fruit begins with its planting in the ground. To do this, dig a landing pit, the bottom of which is first covered with an upper layer of soil, and then rotted manure mixed with the ground. Pour a bucket of fertilizer into each well. In moderate climatic latitudes, seedlings during planting are placed in a seat with a slope in a southerly direction. This is necessary for the convenience of shelter for the winter.
Pomegranate pruning
By observing the rules for caring for a tree, you can achieve high fruiting. Pomegranate blooms profusely, but the ovaries are not obtained from all flowers. Pruning must be done so that the crown grows less, since the tree can reach a height of six meters, growing in open ground. In order for a plant to form a low-stamp form, the following recommendations should be followed:
- The first time to prune a pomegranate during its transplant.
- If damaged or infected branches are present, remove them.
- Leave three branches in a circle, get rid of all emerging shoots.
- Shorten the branches planted the day before by 1/3 of their entire length.
- In subsequent years, unnecessary shoots need to be pinched during pruning.
- On the recommendation of specialists, pruning should be carried out when sprouts appear no more than five centimeters long.
Pomegranate in the house
Each gardener dreams of decorating his house with an exotic plant. And if it is a pomegranate tree (the photo is presented for review) - even more so. But you must always remember that its fruits grown at home are not edible. The plant in this case will be decorative. Pomegranate is bred by cuttings and grains. Growing a tree from seeds requires a lot of labor and a lot of time. The fruits of your efforts will not appear soon. At home, cuttings are most often used for planting, which are easy to harvest on their own. Some gardeners buy ready-made seedlings for planting.
Home Pomegranate Care
This plant does not require maintenance when grown indoors. However, there are certain rules that should be followed:
- The optimum summer temperature in the room is 25 ° C, and winter - 15.
- In the spring, when the return frosts end, the pot with pomegranate should be taken out to fresh air, to the balcony or loggia.
- This plant prefers top watering rather than root. Soil should never remain dry, therefore, in the summer, watering is frequent and plentiful, and in winter - as needed.
- Despite the fact that the fruits of the tree grown indoors are decorative, I want them to be. For this, the plant needs to be fed with a frequency of once every half a month.
- The pomegranate tree, like everyone else, has a period of rest. At this time, the plant discards leaves. To prevent this, just transfer the tree to a warmer room. But you should know that the suspension of the period of rest of the plant slows its growth.
Home Pomegranate Pruning
When growing pomegranate at home, the topsoil is updated annually and the plant is trimmed. To form a stable crown, the top of the young shoots is pinched when they grow to a height of up to 60 cm. Usually during trimming a low tree is formed, in which there are up to five skeletal branches. This process is carried out until the buds open. How to prune a pomegranate tree? To do this, get rid of all the weak, sick, damaged branches and sprouts that prevent the fruits from growing. This contributes to thinning the crown. Once every five years, old branches are completely cut out.