Dear Marie,
Several years ago I received cuttings of 22 numbered and named
Russian (15) and Iranian (7)pomegranates. One turned out to be a
dwarf and it is the least cold hardy of the bunch (yes, we
occasionally have freezes here). It lives, but has never fruited.
It might be useful as a dwarfing rootstock. Their names are all as
unpronounceable as Sverkhranniy. I have fruited virtually all of the
rest and several are very large and heavily productive, and some are
sweet. The closest to your spelling are R-31 (Saartuzski) and R-5
(Sakerdze). Despite their being collected from very cold climates,
here in Houston(zone 9)they ripen at the same time as well-known
varieties such as Cloud and Eversweet.
If you can spare a cutting of Sverkhranniy, I would like to try it
with its cousins, and see if it is any earlier to ripen. Moreover, if
anyone wants any of mine, I would be happy to provide cuttings. My
address is Ethan Natelson, 8707 Wateka Drive, Houston, TX 77074. I
would reimburse you for any postage, etc. Thank you.
Regards, Ethan
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
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