Adcive for the Home Gardener From the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
My questions are around best practices for fruit production. Should I fertilize the plant, and if so, with what and when? Should it have lots of water, little water, or none? Any advice will be welcomed
MGCC Help Desk Response: hank you for your inquiry to the UC Master Gardener Help Desk about how to get more fruit on your pomegranate bush.
There are a number of possible reasons why your bush is not producing more fruit:
- Pomegranates are self-pollinating, but do you have adequate pollinators in your garden? Growing a variety of flowering herbs and other plants that attract bees and hummingbirds can encourage their presence in your garden and enhance the ability of the pomegranate to self-pollinate. Also, planting another pomegranate bush may help.
- Is your bush getting at least 6 hours of bright sunlight a day? Shading of the bush by other trees, fences or buildings may reduce fruit production.
- Do you have the right cultivar for your area? Some cultivars are ornamental only. Here is a link to suggested cultivars: http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/plant_pomegranate.pdf
- Is your bush getting enough water or too much water? Although pomegranates are drought tolerant, they do require irrigation. Good drainage is important in order to prevent root rot. Mulch will help to retain moisture.
- Do you fertilize your bush? Fertilizing your shrub in March and July will help with fruit production. Excessive nitrogen should be avoided.
- Have you pruned your bush too severely? Do you remove suckers that grow from the root area? The suckers drain energy from the plant.
- Netting the bush can help to discourage squirrels from taking the fruit. The fruits ripen in 6-7 months and should be cut from the branch and not pulled off--to prevent damage to the plant.
- Since you mentioned that the bush drops its flowers in the spring, there is most likely some cause for the flowers dropping at that time as well. Besides wind and/or frost, the flower drop could be moisture stress because of the lack of rain earlier. (Not an issue this year!) Checking the moisture level of your soil at flowering time would be beneficial. Using a soil probe to check the moisture or just digging down 6 to 12 inches and checking how moist the soil is by hand are the best methods. The following website will explain how to check moisture content by look and feel. http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/county/training/inspprcd/handouts/soil_moist_feel_test.pdf
- Mulching your tree will also help with moisture issues. Placing 2 to 4 inches of mulch throughout the root zone of your tree is appropriate, but also provide 12" of clearance around the trunk.
Here are some links that provide more information about growing pomegranates that may be helpful:
http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/pomegranate.html
http://homeorchard.ucanr.edu/Fruits_&_Nuts/Pomegranate/
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/PLANTS/pomegranate.html
These links will give you more specific information about the questions listed above.
I hope this information is helpful and let us know if you have any further questions. Good luck!
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (EKP)
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).
/span>Client's Question: I apparently missed a recent program at MGCC's Our Garden on “Summer Fruit Tree Pruning”. Summer fruit tree pruning is a new concept to me. Can you please provide me with more information?
Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk with your question about summer fruit tree pruning. Sorry, you missed the Our Garden program on this subject. I hear it was excellent.
In July and August, you can prune out excessively vigorous shoots that shade lower fruiting branches. Use thinning cuts (removing a branch entirely) rather than heading a branch (by cutting off a portion of it) so that you don't stimulate even more growth. You can also train young branches by bending and staking them to grow in the desired direction.
Cherries and Apricots are also typically pruned during the summer before the rain starts (hopefully)--rather than winter--to avoid a branch dieback disease called Eutypa, which can infect wounds made during wet weather.
Wait for winter dormant pruning to remove other crowded or unwanted branches. I have attached a link to a great MGCC article about fruit tree pruning which includes more links to calendars of fruit tree maintenance throughout the year: http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/files/77175.pdf.
Good luck with your summer pruning. Please do not hesitate to contact us again with your questions.
Help Desk of the Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (JLW)
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).
Advice from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Client: Hello, I live in Contra Costa County and am basically a newborn to the gardening world. I want to grow fruit trees in my home "orchard". I have a “big” question: What fruits will grow well where I live and how do I grow them?
I hope that this information is helpful. Good luck on your “orchard”.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).
Client's Situation and Question: My rhubarb tends to die back in the summer much earlier than I think it should or expect. I know that the soils where it is planted are marginal and I haven't fertilized the rhubarb. I do give it regular water. What is causing the early summer die back? and how can I improve the health, vigor, and survival of my rhubarb?
UC MGCC Program's Help Desk Response: We believe that the rhubarb's early die back may be due to a combination of lack of fertility and Contra Costa County's hot summer temperatures. Rhubarb plants do best if fertilized regularly. If you want to grow organically, you can use a six-inch layer of good compost around the base of the plant. The compost will provide a continuous nutrient source that may last for several months. Rhubarb also responds well to manure, but be sure that it has been well composted since applying fresh manure will burn the plant. You can purchase composted manure at a nursery or home supply store. It can be mixed into the compost before you put it around the plant.
Another contributing cause of the summer die back could be hot summer temperatures. Die back is a common response to temperatures that are too high. Although rhubarb likes plenty of sun, providing some shade on hot summer afternoons may help.
Hope this info helps your rhubarb thrive. It's a great perennial vegetable to have in your garden—does well in desserts but can also be used in savory dishes.
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk (TKL)
Editor: Although this response is written for Contra Costa County gardeners, thanks go to the UC Master Gardeners of Sonoma County for input.
Don't miss our 2016 Great Tomato Plant Sale:
@ http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/EdibleGardening/GreatTomatoPlantSale/
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog at http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/.
Help and Advice from the Master Gardeners of Contra Costa's Help Desk
Client's Request:
I'm growing a lot vegetables and fruits this year. I'm expecting that many of these plantings will come ripe at the same time, I'd like to get the maximum value out of all this effort. At this time I'm especially interested in advice on storage for maximizing flavor.
Help Desk Advice and Recommendations:
The flavor of fruits and vegetables are influenced by maturity and quality at harvest and by how they are stored afterwards. To maintain the freshness and flavor of the produce you buy at the market or after all that work growing them in your garden, you are right to use the appropriate methods to store them at home. UC has some published some great straight-forward advice on this scenario… see the chart below:
You can click the picture and you may get a bigger view … or you can go to http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/datastore/234-1920.pdf to read and/or download and/or bookmark this easy-to-read and very informative two page guidance document from UC. (Thanks to Farmer Fred for reminding me of this very informative UC guidance….)
Good luck on your tasty garden harvest. Please do not hesitate to contact MGCC Help Desk again if you have further questions.
Master Gardeners Contra Costa's Help Desk
Note: The Master Gardeners of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/
/span>/span>