Pomegranate Trees

[lizzie]

Hi all

After reading the article in this months issue I was thinking of asking the family for 2 for mothers day.

What do people think about growing pomegranates in this country. Has anyone tried it and how were the results? I was going to plant them in very large pots so they could go into the greehouse in winter.

Any advice please? Ta

[Jenny Green]

I was tempted too, but I think they might be a lot of trouble for few results.

[lizzie]

My thoughts too Jenny.

Still unsure whether to chance it and see what happens.

[Anonymous]

I didn't think that pomegranite trees were hardy in this part of the world. If you grow them, they would only be suitable for greenhouse/conservatory.

valmarg

[lizzie]

According to the article they are fine in a sheltered site.

I was going to grow them in large pots so that they could be moved to the greenhouse in winter.

I'll have to have another think about it.

Thanks for all your remarks

[Sue]

Hi Lizzie

I used to work in a place that sold big specimen plants (last day today - new job next week - soooo exciting!)

Anyway, we had some semi-mature pomeganate trees that were shipped over from northern Italy. Their winters are colder but drier than ours, so we got olives and other similar stuff through the winter by keeping the compost in the pot on the dry side and then they would stand any amount of cold.

The pomegranates all flowered around mid summer last year and looked lovely but it was too late in the year for the fruit to properly form and ripen. I reckon they are for decoration only unless you can offer lots of extra heat to get them in flower early and ripen the fruit later in the year.

But... the leftover stock has all suffered badly this winter with considerable die back where the olives and other stuff has come through fine again.

Sorry - long post, but thought it was worth sharing as I had hands on experience.

Sue

[lizzie]

Thanks for that Sue. Much appreciated.

On the stregth of your advice and the others i'm going to give the trees a miss. It will probably save me a lot of heartache in the longrun.

Cheers.