Pomegranates, called a 'super food,' will grow in West Texas

The pomegranate has been deemed a super food, and it will grow in West Texas.

Pomegranates originated in southern Asia and was widely cultivated from India to the Mediterranean during ancient times. From Spain, it was introduced into the Americas by Spanish missionaries during the 16th century. Its colorful, orange-red flowers and dense, bushy growth habit make pomegranate an attractive ornamental.

Pliny considered pomegranates to be among the most valuable of ornamental and medicinal plants. The many seeds are supposed to be a symbol of fertility. Legend also says that the pomegranate was the "tree of life" in the Garden of Eden, and from this belief it became the symbol of hope and eternal life in early Christian art. T he erect calyx-lobes of the fruit were the inspiration for Solomon's crown and for all future crowns.

Pomegranate can be trained as a small tree, but it is more commonly grown as a bushy shrub. The leaves are deciduous, narrow, usually glossy and dark green. The plant may have spines along its branches.

Pomegranate fruit may be yellow to bright red in color and up to about 5 inches in diameter. The rind is smooth, but leathery, with a persistent, tubular calyx (crown- like protrusion) at the blossom end.

The fruit is filled with numerous seeds that are surrounded by a pink to crimson colored pulp. The juice is tart to sweet.

Pomegranate is common from the tropics to the subtemperate regions and is well- adapted to areas with hot, dry summers like ours.

Pomegranate is rated for USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 7b. It can suffer damage at 10 degrees but others may be damaged at 18 degrees depending on the variety. The ornamental types tend to be more cold-hardy.

Winter cold can sometimes kill plants to the ground, but they are usually root- hardy. It takes a plant a couple of years to recover and begin to produce fruit again.

Grow pomegranate in full sun and in any well-drained soil. They seem to tolerate our alkaline soil pH quite well. Be sure to give plants plenty of space because they can get 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide.

Wonderful is the primary fruiting variety available, but there are many others, including Sweet. Other cultivars of pomegranates are available through mail order and from out-of-state nurseries if you cannot locate plants locally.

Texas AgriLife Extension Service has pomegranate cultivar trials in Fredericksburg, Uvalde and Houston. Plans to plant 11 different fruiting varieties in the Midland/Odessa and Abilene areas this spring are currently in the works.

Pomegranate plants are available as bare root and container, but container-grown in soilless media is easiest to find. Water thoroughly at planting and again every few days for the first couple of weeks; after that, waterings can be stretched out. Once established, plants should need watering every seven to 10 days. To help with establishment, construct a ring of soil (berm) several inches thick and high, and 2 to 3 feet in diameter, around the newly planted tree.

Fill the ring with water as necessary and keep a 4-inch layer of mulch around the tree. Keep a 3- to 5-foot circle of grass-free, mulched zone around it. Mature specimens withstand drought well, but fruit often splits after rainy spells following extended dryness.

Pomegranate are so tough, they don't need much but a light application of nitrogen at new growth and two more times during the growing season is helpful, especially if there is a fruit load. Avoid late season fertilizing if there is not a significant fruit crop.

Because pomegranate produces numerous suckers at the crown, frequent sucker removal will be necessary to train the plant into a tree form.

If you want a tree-form pomegranate, start training at planting time.

Select one or a few trunks and keep all suckers pruned off. Unless there is a strong desire for a tree-form, the bushy, free-growing shrub develops naturally.

In addition to eating fresh, the fruit may be used in the preparation of syrups, juice and jellies. Plants tend to be long-lived, but occasionally they freeze back to the ground.

Make plans to attend the second in a series of educational programs on Pecan Tree Management for the Yard and Small Orchard, 10 a.m. or 6:30 p.m. March 5 at the Commemorative Aior Force museum. These programs are being offered by Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the Permian Basin Pecan Committee.

Dr. Mark Muegge, West Texas District extension entomology specialist, will be one of the featured speakers.

Muegge, has 11 years of experience in West Texas pecan orchards studying pecan nut casebearer and can give you options and guidelines for controlling this sometimes serious pest. In addition, he will highlight the new Pecan Nut Casebearer Forecast Website that he and Dr. Allen Knutson, extension entomologist, have developed.

The Web site will help producers know when to scout for PNC eggs and make the best decisions for managing this aggravating pest.


Source: mywesttexas.com

Publication date: 2/16/2009

Joe, I owe you a debt of thanks. I have been drinking 9 ounces of 100 percent pure Pomegranate juice ever since you first posted about Pomegranate juice and diabetes months ago. I have not missed one single day. I even have my own producing tree here in Colorado. Thanks - Millet (1,432-)

What are some good varieties to grow?

Angel Red....... We grow a large number of Pom's and so far the best I've come across is the Angel..

Ned sells the Russian giant which he gave me one a few years ago. The fruit is very good and large. There is supposed to be a very good white variety but I haven't found one yet.

http://www.plantfolks.com/preview/sitebuilder/Plantfolks/OtherPlants.html

3 Gal. price $20

Turtleman's plants available here:

http://www.rsigrowers.com/fruit-trees/pomegranates/angel-red-pomegranate/prod_144.html

5 Gal price $25

From the World Ag Expo, many pomegranate growers were there, including their nursery suppliers. Their assessment is that with Angel Red, every single fruit goes to the fresh fruit market and none left for juicing. They could not satisfy both the fresh market and the juices. The revenues from pomegranates by the Paramount farms is fast approaching that of their citruses, if not already passed it.

Australians are expanding unto pomegranate, and Paramount farms have planted several hundred thousand acres of Saveh pomegranate.

Other popular hobby pomegranate cultivars are Ariana, Parfianka, Crab, Ink, etc. There are excellent Spanish cultivars also. One of the more popular soft-seeded (almost feels like seedless, white to pink arils) are Sin Pepe and Fleischmans. Ariana, Desertnyi, Parfianka and Molla Nepes are the soft-seeded amongst those with dark colored arils.

The pomegranate wine costs about $20 to $40 per bottle. And I make pomegranate wines and have evaluated different cultivars for wine making.

You gotta stop this... Now I'm going to have to get turtleman to let me try out one of these angel reds...

Now whats a good white variety to offset the colors ?

40 $ for a 5!!!

no wounder all those people from TX are buying these... I better raise my prices..

Joe, I am gorowing a Wonderful. I have never tasted an Angel Red. If it is better than Wonderful, it must be something. - Millet (1,432-)

It looks like my zone (7b) makes the cut so I may have to try these. I think I remember seeing Wonderful offered at a plant sale hosted by the local science museum although the others mentioned sound like they may be even better. I'll have to scope out a spot at the new house.

I just now planted two pomegranates that I bought last month. One is a variety Wonderful and the other a local that the Just Fruits folks call a Marianna.

The Wonderful is my second attempt. I had one that I put in about five or six years ago that I was training into a tree form. The 2004 hurricanes tried to blow it out of the ground which did a lot of root damage. It lived another two years then suddenly died. That last year it set five fruit which the dang squirrels ate even though they were still green as grass.

I've been wanting to try some pomegranate/fig jam for years. Maybe in a few more I'll make some if I can fend off the squirrels and hurricanes this time.

.....Alan.