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Fun with a Pomegranate

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Billy M. Rhodes
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Sakaki
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Post  cmd5235 Wed Oct 17, 2012 8:24 pm

Hello again everyone!
I picked up this poor, untrained pomegranate tree for a whopping three U.S. dollars. Couldn't resist. Again, I'm not hoping to win any awards with this tree, but thought it'd be fun to post a few picts, get some styling imput, and see how the tree transforms over time. Have fun, go crazy, and let's see what we can come up with!

Fun with a Pomegranate Pomegr10

Fun with a Pomegranate Pomegr11

Fun with a Pomegranate Pomegr12

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Post  marcus watts Wed Oct 17, 2012 8:27 pm

grow it as thick as your arm, keep chopping it back so green bits remain close to the trunk, hope it starts to twist like the really nice ones and the tree is then ready to start refining

good bargain

marcus
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Post  Sakaki Wed Oct 17, 2012 9:34 pm

Sure you will have a lot fun with this guy, if it is not a nana Smile

Good luck
Taner
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Post  cbobgo Wed Oct 17, 2012 9:57 pm

how do you get it to grow sideways like that?

- bob
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Post  cmd5235 Wed Oct 17, 2012 10:16 pm

I couldn't figure how to attach the pot to the wall correctly, so I convinced my landlord to rotate the house vertically. It was a bit pricey, but I did it for the tree.

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Post  Billy M. Rhodes Wed Oct 17, 2012 10:53 pm

Sakaki wrote:Sure you will have a lot fun with this guy, if it is not a nana Smile

Good luck
Taner

I have a number of dwarf form, what is wrong with them?
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Post  Sakaki Thu Oct 18, 2012 10:50 am

Billy M. Rhodes wrote:
Sakaki wrote:Sure you will have a lot fun with this guy, if it is not a nana Smile

Good luck
Taner

I have a number of dwarf form, what is wrong with them?

I mean dwarf ones (pomegranates) grow & thicken too slowly compared to normal ones.
Sakaki
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Post  Billy M. Rhodes Thu Oct 18, 2012 11:59 am

Sakaki wrote:
Billy M. Rhodes wrote:
Sakaki wrote:Sure you will have a lot fun with this guy, if it is not a nana Smile

Good luck
Taner

I have a number of dwarf form, what is wrong with them?

I mean dwarf ones (pomegranates) grow & thicken too slowly compared to normal ones.

OK, this is probably correct.
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Post  bonsaisr Thu Oct 18, 2012 2:44 pm

As far as I can tell, standard pomegranates are no easier to grow than the dwarf. There is only one cultivar that has a twisted trunk, 'Nejikan.' These pictures appear to be a dwarf variety.
I would prune it to a single trunk and put it in a growing box to thicken up.
Iris
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Post  drgonzo Thu Oct 18, 2012 3:09 pm

In PA the trick you'll need to figure out is satisfying the dormancy requirement. They can't go much below 40F (although I'm testing that a bit this year) yet they do well when allowed to drop their leaves and have a "rest" period. I have a nice Nejikan the I picked up from Bill V. last fall and it spends November to January out of leaf in my deep sill west facing window, only being watered once a week.

Then out of no where around January 10th it broke dormancy and started growing. It was then moved to my big south window with all my other tropicals. Of course all the foliage it made indoors wasn't hardened to the full sun of spring. It also was subject to cercospore fungus while indoors and needed several sprayings....all in all it was a pain in the *&^%$ of a tree.

Then it sits there doing nothing all spring looking half dead, then finally exploded once the real heat of summer kicked in. Do I like the tree? Of course i Do. Would I get another one? No way Very Happy Very Happy

-Jay
PS Fall color on these is a shocking yellow and usually one of the first to change up here.
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Post  Sakaki Thu Oct 18, 2012 3:22 pm

bonsaisr wrote:As far as I can tell, standard pomegranates are no easier to grow than the dwarf.

Hi Iris,

Do you have this info based on written literatures or from your experiences/observations?
If based on your experiences/observations, may be the tree you observed had some problems, is it possible? Or it grows in a small pot?
I have both of them (standard and dwarf), and can tell you that if you grow both from seed (not in pot), dwarf one thickens as much as a few milimeters in a year and it slows down gradually in next years. It may take many years to become as thick as 1-1,5 cm, & too difficult (takes really donkey's years) to have a thickness of 2-3 cm.
On the otherside, trunk of standard one may have a thickness of 2-3 cm just in first year of its development! This is what I've experienced and observed in my region so far.

Regards
Taner
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Post  AnjaM Thu Oct 18, 2012 4:45 pm

Hi,

I don't think that ordinary Punicas are harder to grow. Both need to stay in the cold house over winter, thats the only problem.

Seedling from 2005, 15cm

Fun with a Pomegranate D005-July12-PuniGranatum

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Post  Billy M. Rhodes Thu Oct 18, 2012 5:35 pm

This is a photo today of one of my dwarf poms. It is over 20 years old from seed and has always been in a pot. The trunk is maybe one inch and 1/2 dead wood. I fear the picture is poor because of the background. Height is maybe 18 inches.
Fun with a Pomegranate Img_9922
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Post  Fore Thu Oct 18, 2012 6:39 pm

drgonzo wrote:In PA the trick you'll need to figure out is satisfying the dormancy requirement. They can't go much below 40F (although I'm testing that a bit this year) yet they do well when allowed to drop their leaves and have a "rest" period. I have a nice Nejikan the I picked up from Bill V. last fall and it spends November to January out of leaf in my deep sill west facing window, only being watered once a week.

Then out of no where around January 10th it broke dormancy and started growing. It was then moved to my big south window with all my other tropicals. Of course all the foliage it made indoors wasn't hardened to the full sun of spring. It also was subject to cercospore fungus while indoors and needed several sprayings....all in all it was a pain in the *&^%$ of a tree.

Then it sits there doing nothing all spring looking half dead, then finally exploded once the real heat of summer kicked in. Do I like the tree? Of course i Do. Would I get another one? No way Very Happy Very Happy

-Jay
PS Fall color on these is a shocking yellow and usually one of the first to change up here.

That's too bad to hear Jay. I was thinking of getting one eventually, but won't now as I can't/won't provide any protection below 40F. Thanks for the info!
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Post  bonsaisr Thu Oct 18, 2012 7:00 pm

Under my conditions, I think the dormancy problem was my downfall, at least with the standard one. Being a confirmed schmendrick, I am trying another dwarf one. This year, I will try to give it a longer rest in the sunporch. I am also being more careful with drainage and drying out. They seem to be very susceptible to root rot.
Iris
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Post  drgonzo Thu Oct 18, 2012 9:00 pm

Fore wrote:
That's too bad to hear Jay. I was thinking of getting one eventually, but won't now as I can't/won't provide any protection below 40F. Thanks for the info!

As I say mine came inside in a cold window and did OK. But it was a leafless tree half the winter that still needed to be carefully watched for soil moisture.....

Iris is correct also in mentioning the tricky watering needs, I would let mine dry out to the point where the leaves were just starting to flag, then I would water deeply..

They sulk throughout spring and you have to be careful with your water BUT once the real heat of summer hits they go bananas and you can't stop 'em. Thats when I really pushed mine with regards extra fertilizer and full screeching sun all day long, I even put a piece of flagstone underneath the pot to help add extra heat.

They're 'Futzy" (at least up north they seem to be) but I'm at the point where thats kinda half the fun of keeping weird species as Bonsai. Ultimately it was a lesson to me that from here on out a tree in my collection needs to be able to overwinter in with the deciduous cold storage trees OR is fully tropical and lives inside leaves intact...I'll stay away from the borderline species from here on out.

-Jay
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Post  Sakaki Thu Oct 18, 2012 9:21 pm

drgonzo wrote:

As I say mine came inside in a cold window and did OK. But it was a leafless tree half the winter that still needed to be carefully watched for soil moisture.....

Iris is correct also in mentioning the tricky watering needs, I would let mine dry out to the point where the leaves were just starting to flag, then I would water deeply..

They sulk throughout spring and you have to be careful with your water BUT once the real heat of summer hits they go bananas and you can't stop 'em. Thats when I really pushed mine with regards extra fertilizer and full screeching sun all day long, I even put a piece of flagstone underneath the pot to help add extra heat.

They're 'Futzy" (at least up north they seem to be) but I'm at the point where thats kinda half the fun of keeping weird species as Bonsai. Ultimately it was a lesson to me that from here on out a tree in my collection needs to be able to overwinter in with the deciduous cold storage trees OR is fully tropical and lives inside leaves intact...I'll stay away from the borderline species from here on out.

-Jay

Hi Jay

After reading your post I am convinced that I owe the health of my poms to natural climate of my region.
I never take them in or out of a cold house or sun porch etc. They always stay outside all the year around as there is no frost, even minus degrees, during winters here.
Unfortunately (the other side of the medallion is that) I have to stay away from acers Sad
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Post  Fore Fri Oct 19, 2012 5:39 am

drgonzo wrote:..I'll stay away from the borderline species from here on out.

-Jay

So totally agree Wink But understand the desire for variety Razz
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Post  bonsaisr Wed Jan 30, 2013 5:23 pm

So far, so good. I left my current pomegranate, 'Nishiki,' outdoors until first frost warning. I think 40 F is a bit conservative. The standard varieties are listed for USDA Zone 8 or 9, & even bonsai can take a light frost.
I put the tree in my sunporch in October and left it there until the beginning of December, when there was a chance the porch might drop below freezing. This variety is not deciduous under these conditions, but some leaves turned yellow. I put it under the fluorescent lights and it has been growing like mad ever since. It hasn't bloomed yet because I keep pinching it back. It will probably bloom when it goes outdoors in April or May.
Iris
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