A beginner's guide: how to care for a potted pomegranate at home

The pomegranate bloom is striking in its magnificence: against the background of a bright green openwork crown, many red-coral flowers are blooming, resembling small roses. The pomegranate tree, pomegranate or simply pomegranate is common in the subtropics of Western Asia and Southern Europe, and lovers of exotic fruit plants successfully grow it at home.

In order for the plant on the windowsill to feel like in its native environment, it must be provided with conditions close to natural conditions and competent care. We will talk about how to care for a pomegranate in a pot at home below.

Features of growing pomegranate at home

In natural conditions, the pomegranate tree resembles a phoenix bird. In the desert, everything smells and blooms only in early spring. For several days, scarlet poppies and tulips "burn" here. And the pomegranate slowly unfolds its delicate leaves and by summer begins to bloom, decorating the desert landscapes until September.

Such difficult living conditions have developed their own biorhythms and characteristics in a plant:

1. Drought tolerance and ability to grow in dry air. But this does not mean that you need to test the flower for strength. At room temperature, pomegranate is watered more often than it receives moisture in nature.
2. High requirements for the level of illumination.
3. Deciduousness.
4. Durability. Life expectancy with good care reaches 50 years.
5. The presence of a dormant period.
6. Love for light, highly drained soils.

Another feature of the pomegranate is the love of fresh air. In the spring, when the temperature is above + 16 ° C, the plant is taken out to an open balcony or loggia and kept there until mid-September (if weather conditions permit).

Reference. The grenade has nothing to do with the grenade. Translated from Latin, it means "grainy".

Suitable varieties

Indoor pomegranate is a group of cultivars based on the dwarf variety Punica granatum var. nana. On sale, the pomegranate tree is often found without specifying the variety, under the same name Dwarf pomegranate Nana. The peculiarity of the dwarf group of varieties is a small height, within 60-120 cm.

As of 2019, the following varieties of room culture have been bred.

Carthage

Shrub up to 100 cm high, with small emerald elliptical leaves opposite each other. Coral flowers, 2.5-4 cm in diameter, bloom from May to August.

Fruits up to 7 cm in diameter, sweet and sour. The skin of the fruit is thin, the grains are small.

Baby

The plant is smaller than the Carthage variety (up to 50 cm). It is a branched, densely leafy shrub. Leaves are light green, up to 3 cm in length, elliptical in shape. There are rare thorns on the branches. The flowering period begins in March and ends in November. The flowers are large, up to 7 cm, coral red.

Fruits are of medium size, up to 4 cm. To achieve a greater mass of fruits, it is recommended to leave no more than 5 ovaries on the plant.

Attention! In indoor conditions, not only special varieties, but also other varieties of fruit crops grow successfully. The flowers of the cultural pomegranate are larger than the dwarf ones. But you won't be able to get fruits weighing 500 g from a cultural pomegranate.

Optimal living conditions

For the well-being of a dwarf pomegranate, it is important to comply with the recommended or as close as possible to the ideal growing conditions:

1. Lighting. Under natural conditions, the pomegranate tree literally bathes in the sun. The more light hits it during the day, the better. In autumn and winter, in the morning and evening hours, it is useful to supplement the shrubs with phytolamps. The exception is direct sunlight in March and June-July. At this time, the tree needs light shading using gauze screens or light thin spunbond.
2. Location. The lightest window in the house (the northern one will not work).
3. Temperature. During the growing period, the plant is kept at a temperature of + 22 ... + 25 ° C. When fruits form and grow on the pomegranate, they withstand the temperature of + 14… + 16 ° C.
4. Humidity. Indoor pomegranate is not afraid of dry air. It grows well at 50-60% humidity.

Preparatory stage

Before proceeding with planting, prepare tools and materials.

Container

First, select the appropriate container... For purchased adult plants, this is a flat and cramped pot (the tighter the container, the less sterile bell-shaped flowers will form), for cuttings and seeds - a plastic container, box, glass (many summer residents use paper bags and cans from dairy products for these purposes).

Any container is thoroughly washed with a dishwashing detergent (or better, with laundry soap) and disinfected with a strong solution of saturated pink potassium permanganate (2-3 g of powder per 100 ml of water).

Priming

A pomegranate tree needs a light soil of a neutral acid-base reaction (pH = 6.5-7). Under natural conditions, it grows on poor, dry sandy loam or stony soils. But this does not mean that the plant does not care about the degree of soil fertility. On rich soddy-humus soils, the shrub blooms more abundantly and bears larger fruits.

For a room pomegranate, you need the following soil:

• sod;
• humus;
• leafy land;
• sand.

All components are taken in equal parts. Fine expanded clay is added to the finished soil for better aeration. The dwarf pomegranate is susceptible to attack by the whitefly. Therefore, before planting, the soil is spilled with boiling water (this is how the larvae are killed) and etched with a solution of the chemical preparation "Aktara". Prepare a solution in warm water. Dosage: 8 g of the drug per 10 liters of water.

Planting material

Having bought a plant, the flower is allowed to stand in quarantine for 3-5 days. This is necessary in order to understand whether pests or diseases are included with the purchase. And the grenade takes time to get used to the conditions of the new room. An hour before transplanting, the plant is watered abundantly.

How to plant a pomegranate correctly

If the pomegranate is bought in spring or summer, it is transplanted into a new pot after quarantine. In autumn and winter, a transplant is undesirable, therefore it is postponed until the spring of the new year.

Step-by-step transshipment technology:

1. Take a clean flat container 20-30 mm larger than the previous pot.
2. The drainage hole at the bottom of the pot is closed with a clay shard or large expanded clay.
3. A layer of expanded clay is poured at the bottom, and after it - 1 cm of sand.
4. Prepared soil is poured on top in the form of a mound.
5. The plant is pulled out of the pot, the roots are slightly straightened with a garden cat. Dead roots are removed.
6. Soil is poured into the pot from above and lightly tamped with a wooden peg on the sides to prevent the formation of air voids in which the roots do not receive water and nutrition.
7. Water the soil abundantly with water or Zircon solution for better rooting (1 ampoule per 10 liters of water).

After transplanting, the plant will stop growing slightly or even shed some leaves. This is how the fruit tree responds to the transplant procedure. If the situation does not change within a week, repeat the watering with Zircon solution.

Further care

Plants that have successfully survived the transplant need competent care.

Watering

The signal of plant thirst is the drying out of the soil in the pot to a depth of 2 cm. The frequency of watering depends on the climate of the room (humidity, light level, temperature).

Under conditions close to the required, the plant needs water:

• in summer - every day or every other day;
• in September, the number is gradually reduced;
• from November to March watered once a week.

In the spring, the soil under the pomegranate is moistened in 1-2 days. In addition to water under the root in the spring and summer, daily spraying is useful, especially if the air temperature is above + 25 ° C.

Top dressing

With a properly built feeding scheme, the plant not only blooms profusely, but also bears fruit. Fertilization schemes:

• mid-March - watering with an ash solution (1 tsp. sifted ash per 10 liters of water);
• early April - watering with mullein solution (1 tbsp. l. per 1 liter of water);
• every 2 weeks until September, the flower is fed with any liquid complex fertilizer for indoor fruit;
• in early September, pomegranate is fertilized for the last time with phosphorus-potassium fertilizer (1 tbsp. l. per 10 l of water).

In winter, the plant does not need feeding.

Trimming and shaping

Pomegranate branches grow randomly, there are a lot of them. The main rule is not to spare and cut small branches to the maximum. This is done in January, before the leaves bloom. Then the pomegranate is pruned as overgrowth according to the same principle - removing small weak branches. A properly formed plant has 4-6 skeletal branches from the root.

If the pomegranate is formed in the form of a tree on a trunk, 1 main stem is left, which is pinched at a height of 15-20 cm and skeletal branches are formed. In standard trees, in addition to formative pruning, growing shoots are removed.

Protection against diseases and pests

Pests near a room grenade are brought in with planting material or purchased land.

These are greenhouse insects:

• whitefly;
• shield;
• spider mite.

These pests can be easily destroyed by a single treatment with a complex pesticide of the 3rd hazard class, for example, "Aktara" or "Fitoverm". After processing, the plant is isolated from other flowers and monitored for its condition.

Diseases are caused mainly by violations of agricultural technology:

• yellowing of leaves - due to high air temperature, drying out of the soil in the pot, lack of iron, molybdenum.
• leaf fall can be natural, before winter sleep, or due to dry soil;
• drying of leaves or individual branches is associated with problems of the root system caused by dryness or waterlogging of the soil (mold, root rot, cancer).

Before treating diseases, it is important to establish their exact cause. To do this, examine the flower, and if the soil dries poorly, reduce watering. Spray with "Epin" solution or water with "Zircon" if the plant is not flooded.

If there is no improvement, the flower is taken out of the pot and the roots are examined. If rot is found, it is cut to healthy, sprinkled with Kornevin powder and transplanted into a new pot.

Dormant period

From November to March, the tree sleeps. During this time, lower the temperature to + 16 ... + 18 ° C and reduce watering. Cool conditions in the absence of a basement or balcony are created by moving the flower close to the window and separating it from the rest of the room with a film.

Important! Without hibernation, the pomegranate lags behind in growth, becomes more vulnerable to disease, degenerates according to varietal characteristics. Try to provide at least 2 weeks of rest for the tree (the minimum period of rest for the culture).

How to propagate indoor pomegranate

Propagated by pomegranate seeds and cuttings.

Cuttings

Reproduction begins in spring, late February - early March. For planting, choose one-year-old cuttings 20-25 cm long. Cut at the bottom under the kidney, at the top - between the kidneys. The bottom is treated with "Kornevin".

Rooting is done in two ways:

• in water: the cutting is placed in a container with water for 2-3 weeks;
• in the ground: buy universal soil, perlite, vermiculite, keep it for 2-4 weeks, covered with a film, periodically ventilate and moisten the ground.

Pomegranates are transplanted by the transshipment method.

Seeds

Only seeds in a soft shell are planted, not dry seeds. The grains are kept for 6-8 hours in a growth stimulant or aloe juice. Sow in clean peat or a mixture of peat with coarse sand or perlite. The container is covered with a film, which is removed after emergence. Plants are placed in a well-lit place. When the seedlings grow to 4-5 cm, they are planted.

How to transplant

Further transplants of the plant are needed every year after reaching 5 years of age. Large tubular specimens are reloaded once every 3-5 years. Transplanting technology is similar to the initial planting of a plant.

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Conclusion

Of all the subtropical fruit houseplants, pomegranate is the most promising crop for beginners. Unlike citrus or feijoa, it does not have strict dormancy requirements and low temperature limits combined with high humidity.

The tree should be formed and fed on time, then it will respond to care with luxurious flowering. The ripening of mini-pomegranates is interesting for children, so caring for a fruit crop can be turned into a family hobby.