The bright flowers and zingy taste of the pomegranate make it an ideal fruit tree for desert gardens.
Introduced into California by Spanish missionaries over two hundred years ago, pomegranate has long been a favorite in Arizona for its hardiness, color and fruit. Pomegranates work well in desert landscapes because they are not finicky when it comes to soils and climate.
Native of the Middle East, from Iran to the Himalayan Mountains, pomegranates thrive in semi-arid, mild-temperate to subtropical climates throughout the world. They are naturally adapted to regions with cool winters and hot summers. Pomegranates will live for many years. There are specimens in Europe that are known to be over two hundred years of age.
High humidity seems to adversely affect fruit formation. Because of this, our arid, usually low humidity climate is perfect for the pomegranate. The tree can be severely injured by temperatures below 12° F.
Properly cared for, pomegranate trees can reach heights of fifteen to twenty feet and as many feet wide, but most trees in the desert, for one reason or another, rarely exceed ten feet in height and width. Dwarf varieties are available to fit smaller areas.
The pomegranate is usually deciduous, but the leaves will remain on the tree year round in warmer areas. The trunk is covered by a red-brown bark changing to gray as the tree gets older. You can also tell a pomegranate tree by looking at the leaves. The glossy, leathery leaves are narrow and shaped like a lance tip. There is a strong tendency for the plant to send out sucker shoots from the base of the plant. These should always be kept pruned off.
Attractive scarlet, white, or multi-colored flowers lead to nearly round, two and one-half to five inch-wide fruit. The pomegranate is self fruitful, meaning that it does not need another tree for pollination, and the flowers will accept pollen from themselves or from other flowers brought to them by insects. Cross-pollination increases the fruit set. Wind does not play an important role in pomegranate pollination.
The fruit is surrounded by a tough, leathery skin or rind which is typically yellow inside and light or deep pink or rich red outside. The interior of the fruit is separated by white, spongy, bitter tissue into compartments packed with sacs filled with sweetly acid, juicy, red, pink or whitish pulp. In each sac there is one angular seed. High summer temperatures are essential during the fruiting period to get the best flavor.
The fruit of the ‘Wonderful’ variety, the variety most often planted in Arizona, matures and is ready for harvest in the fall, usually in November, although some other varieties may mature sooner. The fruits are ripe when they have developed a distinctive color and make a metallic sound when tapped. If you are in doubt of the ripeness of the fruit, pick one and test it before harvesting the rest of the fruit from the tree.
Once off the tree, the pomegranate can be stored at a temperature of 32°to 41°F. Some have been able to keep the fruit in storage for up to seven months within this temperature range and at 80 to 85% relative humidity without shrinking or spoiling. The fruits improve in storage, becoming juicier and more flavorful so don’t be in a hurry to use them up. Be sure and save some for later.
The fruit can be eaten right off the tree by deeply scoring the shell several times vertically and then breaking it apart. The clusters of juice sacs are then lifted out from the rind and eaten. The sacs also make an attractive garnish when sprinkled on various dishes.
Pomegranate fruits are often used for juice. After removing the sacs, run them through a basket press or by reaming the halved fruits on an ordinary orange juice squeezer. Another option begins with warming the fruit slightly and rolling it between the hands to soften the interior. A hole is then cut in the stem end and the fruit is placed on a glass to capture the juice as it runs out. Squeeze the fruit from time to time to get all the juice. The juice can be used as a fresh juice, to make jellies, sorbets or cold or hot sauces, and to flavor cakes, baked apples, and other specialties. Pomegranate syrup is sold commercially as grenadine. Pomegranate has been found to be relatively high in antioxidants, compounds that help protect the body from disease.
The pomegranate does best in well-drained ordinary soil, but also thrives in saline soils or even rock strewn gravel. In Arizona, the trees should be lightly fertilized with two to four ounces of ammonium sulfate or other nitrogen fertilizer once during each of the first two springs after planting. At maturity, the tree will do well with three applications of nitrogen fertilizer spread out over the growing season. Fertilize it the same as you would a citrus tree. The trees also respond to an annual mulch of rotted manure or compost.
Once established, pomegranates will take considerable drought, but for good fruit production they must be irrigated regularly. Inconsistent irrigations will cause the fruit rind to split open and allow the entry of insects and diseases. The optimal watering cycle for pomegranates is once a month in the cooler time of year. Once daytime temperatures are consistently above 85 degrees Fahrenheit, then the trees need to be irrigated every 10 to14 days. A good deep watering needs to wet the soil at a depth of two to three feet.
Trees planted during the hot months should be watered every day for the first two weeks to encourage root growth. Afterwards, particularly after new leaf growth begins, the irrigation cycle can gradually be cut back to the normal rotation.
New plants should be pruned back when they are about two feet high. From this point you should allow four or five shoots to develop, but make sure that they are evenly distributed around the stem to keep the plant well balanced. These shoots will develop into scaffold branches that will bear the fruiting wood. Scaffold branches should never be lower than one foot above the ground. Any shoots or branches below this should be considered suckers and removed.
As new branches develop from off the main scaffold branches, make sure to shorten them during January or February each year for the first three years to encourage the maximum number of new shoots on all sides, prevent straggly development, and achieve a strong well framed plant. After the third year, only suckers and dead branches are removed. Since the fruits are borne only at the tips of new growth these extra branches will increase the fruit yield.
The pomegranate can be raised from seed but the plant that results may not have the same characteristics of its parent. For that reason, most new plants are made from cuttings. Pomegranate cuttings root easily and plants from them bear fruit after about three years.
To take cuttings, cut sections of mature, one-year old wood twelve to twenty inches long and remove all of the leaves. Treat the bottom end of the cuttings with rooting hormone and insert about two-thirds their length into the soil or into some other warm rooting medium. Plants can also be air-layered but grafting is seldom successful. Keep the medium well watered and warm and soon roots will form. These cuttings can then be transplanted into place.
When transplanting a pomegranate tree, choose a location with full sun with soil that drains well. The optimal times to transplant trees are in March or October.
Pomegranates are relatively free of most pests and diseases. Minor problems are leaf and fruit spot and foliar damage by white flies, thrips, mealybugs and scale insects, but the roots are seldom bothered by gophers.
Pomegranates can be planted close together for windbreaks, hedges and screens or planted by itself to make a highly decorative accent plant in the landscape. Pomegranates should be placed in the sunniest, warmest part of the yard or orchard for the best fruit, although they will grow and flower in part shade.
The unique taste of the pomegranate fruit, along with its hardiness and attractive flowers, make this plant a good choice for any desert landscape.
If you have questions, you can reach one of the Master Gardeners at the Cooperative Extension office, 820 E. Cottonwood Lane, Building C, in Casa Grande. The telephone is (520) 836-5221, extension 204.
The University of Arizona is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution. The University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation in its programs and activities.
Rick Gibson
Extension Agent, Agriculture
University of Arizona Cooperative Extension
820 E. Cottonwood Lane, Building C
Casa Grande, Arizona 85122
Voice: (520) 836-5221, 227
Fax: (520) 836-1750
email: gibsonrd@ag.arizona.edu
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