North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["MARIE ASHTON" <bwoodtx@verizon.net>]

As you know, zone 4/5 is just too cold for in ground pomegranates, pots are the only way.

There is a variety called "Severkhranniy" the name means super early that ripens in some areas in early August. It is a sweet tasting variety. The very early ripening, dispenses with the need for long summers and some of the heat requirements. Now as to blooming and setting fruit, most of the varieties that have been tried were breed in either Florida or California, the orignal wild pomegranates in Central Asia have been blooming and setting fruit in a cold climate for centuries. The varieties that have been breed/found in the colder areas of Russia/Central Asia are a better bet to bloom and set fruit in cooler area it appears. The pomegranate is a very adaptable plant if natural selection is used. There are very low growing wild pomegranates growing in areas of Central Asia with winter temperatures of  15 below(F).

You are very right about the standard US varieties not being worth the trouble in these colder areas.

There are a lot of other factors that those I just mentioned above, to achieve good fruiting, that is why site testing is needed for these Russian/Central Asian varieties.

Richard Ashton

----- Original Message -----

From: lee reich

To: North American Fruit Explorers

Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 9:48 AM

Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Pomegranate

I got around the winter kill problem for pomegranates here in zone 4/5 by growing my plant in a pot which I kept in cool storage after it went dormant for the winter. The problem is that after 5-10 years, the plant had still never bloomed. I finally got rid of the plant. Any suggestions, beyond the obvious, for the lack of blossoming?

It seems to me that another limitation for pomegranate in the in the northern areas of eastern U.S. would be that there would be insufficient heat and time to ripen the fruits well. Not to mention untimely rains splitting the fruits open. All of which is why I chose to grow mine in pots, where I could get the plants growing early and then ripen them, if needed, in the greenhouse.

Lee Reich, PhD

www.leereich.com

Books by Lee Reich:

Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden

A Northeast Gardener's Year

The Pruning Book

Weedless Gardening

On Dec 2, 2005, at 11:03 PM, MARIE ASHTON wrote:

Are you in 6a or 6b?    6b is down to -5 and there are some possible varieties that might work. 6a at down to -10 is a little chancey but worth a try. Since pomegranates bear fruit on new wood you do not have to worry about buds being killed. If you have a winter snow cover then there is also a variety that might  work (under the snow cover).

But to state again 6b is a good possibility with the new (in the US) Russian/Central Asian varieties. The varieties that I would recommend are "Kazake" or "Salavatski". "Agat" if under snow cover (a low growing, good fruiting

pomegranate). If want to try one let me know and I will try to see that you get one to try, but pomegranates like a lot of fruit trees do not reach their best cold hardiness until about the third year and would need to be somewhat protected the first two years.

Richard Ashton

----- Original Message -----

From: Ginda Fisher

To: North American Fruit Explorers

Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 8:47 PM

Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Pomegranate

On Dec 1, 2005, at 2:02 PM, MARIE ASHTON wrote:

How many of you are interested in pomegranates. It seems that many people think they are too much trouble to eat. They are somewhat troublesome, but some think they are worth the trouble.   The easiest  way to utilize them is to juice them with a common citrus/orange press, that's just a pressure press not the kind with the reamer as that kind will get the partation material and skin into the juice and that is bitter (tannin). There are a lot of new varieties available now and some cold hardy ones.

Richard Ashton

zone 7b/8a Central Texas

I am interested in pomegranate, but here in zone 6, I think I will have to content myself with indoor plants.  If anyone knows of a pomegranate hardy to zone 6, though, I'd be excited to try it.

Ginda

eastern MA, zone 6

---

_______________________________________________
nafex mailing list
nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Reproduction of list messages or archives is not allowed.
This includes distribution on other email lists or reproduction on web sites.
Permission to reproduce is NEVER granted, so don't claim you have permission!

**YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!**
Posts from email addresses that are not subscribed are discarded.
No exceptions. 
----
To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be used to change other email options):
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex

File attachments are NOT stripped by this list.
TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES!
Please do not send binary files.
Use plain text ONLY in emails!

NAFEX web site:   http://www.nafex.org/

_______________________________________________

nafex mailing list 

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Reproduction of list messages or archives is not allowed.

This includes distribution on other email lists or reproduction on web sites.

Permission to reproduce is NEVER granted, so don't claim you have permission!

**YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!**

Posts from email addresses that are not subscribed are discarded.

No exceptions.  

----

To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be used to change other email options):

http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex

File attachments are NOT stripped by this list.

TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES!

Please do not send binary files.

Use plain text ONLY in emails!

NAFEX web site:   http://www.nafex.org/

---

_______________________________________________
nafex mailing list
nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Reproduction of list messages or archives is not allowed.
This includes distribution on other email lists or reproduction on web sites.
Permission to reproduce is NEVER granted, so don't claim you have permission!

**YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!**
Posts from email addresses that are not subscribed are discarded.
No exceptions. 
----
To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be used to change other email options):
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex

File attachments are NOT stripped by this list.
TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES!
Please do not send binary files.
Use plain text ONLY in emails!

NAFEX web site:   http://www.nafex.org/