When to Plant Pomegranate

Q. We are thinking of planting a pomegranate bush in our backyard. I suppose right now in the middle of summer is not a good time to plant. Would late September or early October be okay, or do we have to wait until Spring? Any other helpful hints on planting this type of bush?

Pomegranates grow well in hot, dry climates that have winter temperatures that don't fall below about 20° F (-7 C). Pomegranate can develop several disease problems that affect the quality of the fruit in humid climates. You start to see some winter damage to pomegranates starting around 20° F. Some varieties can handle colder temperatures in the winter than others.

A. Summer months, when it’s hot, is not the best time for planting anything except palm trees and Bermuda grass. Pomegranates will struggle after planting during the summer months. To attempt summer planting, you better have a very green thumb and lots of experience gardening in the desert.

Pomegranate flowers form on "current season wood". This means that the flowers form on the wood formed that year. This is why pomegranate doesn't start flowering until a little bit later in the season than peach or apricot trees. And pomegranates continue to flower through most of the summer.

            Wait until Fall, about mid Sept to mid Oct in southern Nevada. You will have more success during the Fall months and the plant will be happier. A disadvantage is that the selection of local plants is not as large as in the spring months. Probably the two most popular pomegranate varieties are the traditional Wonderful or the sweeter and soft seeded Utah Sweet variety. If you don’t see what you want, wait until spring.

The Ambrosia variety of pomegranate is one of the earliest varieties with it fully ripe and ready to pick in about September. Ambrosio generally forms fruit larger than this one.

The fruit inside, called arils, is about the same color as the outer skin or rind in Ambrosia. That might not be true in many varieties.

            If you must plant now, do it early in the morning and have the hole already dug and the soil used for planting amended with compost. Fill the hole with water the night before and let it drain overnight.

Maintain the old wood of pomegranate and the percentage of larger fruit will be higher. Some of the more popular varieties include Wonderful, Sweet, Eversweet, Grenada and Sharp's Velvet. A variety recently released in the United States called Parfianka is getting a lot of attention lately.

            When planting, soak the container in freshwater for about 30 minutes. Take it out of its container and immediately place it in the hole and start filling the hole with water. Add the amended soil to this slurry and let it flow around the plant roots.  Stake the plant to keep the roots from moving and water the entire planting hole thoroughly so it’s muddy. Water it again, just like that, the next day. Set the irrigation controller so that it waters not more often than every other day during the heat.