Thinninga fruit harvest extinguish alternate - year bearing and increase yield quality in many species of fruit trees , but not the Punica granatum . This tree bring on well in semi - tropical and semi - desiccate regions such as southerly California , Arizona , southerly Texas and northerly Mexico . Though pomegranate may subsist temperatures as low as 12 degree F , the tree suffer winter damage that naturally define their crop in more northern areas . Pomegranates grown in Georgia may set only a dozen fruit in a good year , accord to the University of Georgia ’s Cooperative Extension Service .
Thinning Pomegranates
Step 1
If you decide to slenderize your pomegranates , thin fruiting branches rather than remove the fruit itself . pomegranate fruit from spurs near the tip of branches . To confine fruit output , snip weaker spur back to just before the swelling of tissue at the base of the twig .
Step 2
preclude fruit production in young pomegranate trees by trimming back limbs during tardy winter while the tree is dormant . Cutting back by a third the duration of the limb obviate most fruiting Mrs. Henry Wood and forces the tree to produce new shoots . Cut back the crownwork of the tree by a third each winter for the first three years .
Step 3
be given mature pomegranate trees by pruning out crossed and broken subdivision and thinning out crowded arm . Four or five main shoots mold the model of pomegranate Tree trained in the bush shape – the most winter hardy . Control size and create a sizable canopy by snipping unwanted fruiting shoots back to the main tree branch .
Step 4
Thin fruit cluster early – but only if necessary – before the Punica granatum puts free energy into fruit growth . Thinning yield by pinching the berry off at the base should seldom be required . Some heirloom pomegranate varieties grow more fruit , though pocket-sized in size of it , than commercial cultivars . mixture character impacts fruit sizing more than any thinning praxis .
Tip
Winter temperatures in most regions of the U.S. course thin the fruiting spurs of pomegranate through freeze damage . Wait until tardily in the winter before pruning , and get down with winter - kill and damage limbs and acantha .
Warning
Pomegranate fruits often split and rot in late fall before dropping from the tree . fungous infection could exaggerate the trouble . Spraying with fungicide may help , but find fault fruit early on for ripening off the tree also work . When fruit are well coloured , rap one sharply with a finger – if it ring , it ’s ready .
