How to Take Care of a Pomegranate Fruit Tree

Pomegranate fruits are native to the Middle East region and date back to ancient civilizations. Pomegranate trees thrive in hot, dry areas and gardeners who live in suitable climates often enjoy the challenge of growing pomegranate trees. In some warm and humid regions, gardeners grow pomegranate trees as ornamental cultivars rather than for fruit because the pomegranates that result tend to be of lower quality.

Things You'll Need

• Pomegranate tree
• Compost
• Nitrogen fertilizer
• Bypass pruners
• Loppers

Instructions

1. Grow a pomegranate tree in a sunny location that will accommodate the tree when it is mature. The general planting space recommended for a pomegranate tree is 20-by-20 feet. Proper soil drainage is important for the overall health of a pomegranate tree. Add a side dressing of compost around the tree to improve the drainage, if necessary.

2. Provide irrigation to encourage the tree to produce an abundant pomegranate crop. Water the pomegranate tree when the top 6 inches of soil are dry -- generally about once per week during the growing season. Water until the soil is wet down to a depth of approximately 3 feet. If rain falls, irrigation will likely not be necessary. Make sure the soil does not dry out immediately prior to the harvest in the late summer and early autumn.

3. Fertilize one pomegranate tree with between ½ and 1 lb. of nitrogen over an entire year. Apply the fertilizer once in the autumn or winter or apply one-half of the fertilizer in the late winter and the other half in the spring.

4. Watch for suckers that grow around the base of the tree. A sucker is a new shoot that grows around the center trunk of the tree. Many gardeners choose to allow several suckers to grow into multiple sturdy trunks of the pomegranate tree. Having multiple trunks lessens the possibility that the tree will experience life-threatening damage from frost. Some of the multiple trunks may suffer damage, but some will also survive. Allow five or six strong suckers to grow into trunks over the course of two years and remove the rest as they appear.

5. Prune the pomegranate tree during the winter months. Find the new growth on the outer edge of the tree. This growth appears on mature branches that are active fruit bearers. Lightly cut back the tips of the new growth to encourage more growth. Examine the inner branches to find branches that are crossing and rubbing on each other. Remove these branches as you find them. Thin out some of the old growth from the center of the tree also to encourage larger pomegranates.

6. Harvest pomegranates during the month of August prior to the pomegranates becoming fully ripe because fruit that completely ripens on the trees often splits open. Use bypass pruners to clip off a pomegranate that has reached its mature color and cut it open to look at the seeds. If the seeds are a mature color and there is plentiful juice, the pomegranate is ripe.

References

• Growing Pomegranates