How to Grow a Pomegranate Tree
Pomegranate trees themselves are hardy and will flower in most any climate, but specific temperatures and direct sunlight are needed for them to bear fruit. Though the tree has a smallish size and is quite pretty so many people are happy just to have this tree as a decoration in their yard. The pomegranate is neat in appearance and is rounded to look more like a shrub than a tree. It can, under the right circumstances however grow up to 30 feet, but far more normally reaches around 12 to 16 feet in height. Though many dwarf varieties such as the Nana are known, and encouraged for anyone with out a garden to grow indoors.
The branches of the pomegranate tree are often stiff, angular and covered in spines which are a natural defense against some of its insect predators. The red brown bark color will later become gray with age and they can live up to 200 years in some areas, but will stop producing fruit after about twenty in most cases. Leaves may persist on the tree even when no fruit is bore and the shape of the leaves themselves are long and narrow in a lance shape, they are also very glossy, beautiful, and come in a variety of shades.
The flowers that blossoming in spring before fruit arrives also comes in a variety of shades depending on the type of tree you buy, but are commonly a deep scarlet red or white. There are many different species but the most popular are the Wonderful, the Angel Red, the Sweet and the Greneda, or Grenada in some parts of the world. Regardless most are over an inch across in each petal and have a red calyx in the middle which later produces fruit, the calyx itself is fleshy and tubular in appearance. The pomegranate tree can be cross pollinated by insects but is also self pollinated, of course cross pollination is always better for your tree so encourage bees and other insects around it.
Be sure to plant your pomegranate tree in a very sunny location with plenty of room to grow and blossom it's wonderful fruit which by the way tend to make it's branches sag, so never plant anything else underneath it or place it in an area where it has no room to slump down a bit. You may also want to consider staking this tree down as it is really more of a shrub with soft and flexible wood that blows around easily. Simply tie a string suitable for young trees around the trunk and stake it on opposite sides of the ground, this is particularly vital when first planting you tree before the roots have time to grow.
To prune your tree start in early spring before they start to blossom, you do not want to loose any fruits. If your tree has already started producing leaves and is ready to blossom you will have to wait on pruning it. The shoots coming up from the trunk are the ones you need to worry about pruning, simply take off the extraneous shoots with a pair of loppers, a pruning tool, and then discard in compost or the trash. Do not forget to put some pruning salve on the cut shoots to prevent your tree from developing viruses, bacteria or insect infestations in the exposed tissue of your tree. Over all pomegranate trees do not need much pruning and it is better to have some stray shoots than to over prune them and ruin your tree.