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I purchased 4 cold-hardy pomegranates from an MD in the Southern Fruit Fellowship 4 years ago and have been trying to root over a hundred of cuttings since then, with only 3 rooting well.
These plants originate from Georgia of the former Soviet Union and were sent to the USDA germplasm lab in UC Davis by a Soviet botanist who was exiled from Turkmenistan. The botanists' fascinating story is detailed in the book "Pomegranate Roads":
Cuttings of the pomegranates can be gotten through the germplasm lab if you want to try a species trial; priority is given to universities and other research institutions but cuttings can be gotten by the general public:
I have been trying to root cuttings from my pomegranates to give to friends, including you at DavesGarden. I am excited that it looks like I'm having success with the following method:
I purchased a clear plastic box 15 inches deep (from the dollar store) and filled it to 10 inches with 50:50 vermiculite and peat, wetted. To keep the medium at 100% humidity, I also buried to the soil line a clay pot plugged with silicone and filled with water. I put roottone on cuttings 12" long and placed them in the medium. The expert on pomegranates at our local (Jackson MS) Southern Fruit Fellowship group recommends 2 nodes above soil and 2 nodes below when trying to root them.
I checked the cuttings today (after 3 weeks) and there are root hairs growing from most of them!!!! I am excited to finally have success!!!!! I will send some rooted cuttings to 2 DG fruit forum regulars and hopefully can soon ship more to other folks for cost of postage if success continues!
The doctor who I got my pomegranates from originally did say that it takes 5 years for them to bear fruit, though mine bore after 2 years (3 years after being propagated).
These Georgian pomegranates have lighter but sweeter arils than the standard "Wonderful" variety from California sold grocery stores here. They are beautiful shrubs with conspicuous red flowers- I saw many large ones when I took a tour of Williamsburg Virginia with my 6th grader last spring.
Pomegranates are one of the more pest-resistant and reliable bearers in my mini-orchard, along with pears (which were attacked by fireblight this year), Fuyu persimmons (just scale and Japanese beetle pests so far) and blackberries. Unfortunately, I seldom get many pomegranates for myself since my daughters grab them first!
Cheers, Susan Mc
This message was edited Sep 14, 2009 7:03 AM
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