Growing Pomegranates in Northern California

Everything you need to know about this sweet, tart favorite

aboriginal to Persia and the Himalayas of Northern India , and cultivate since the Early Bronze Age , the much - revered pomegranate tree ( Punica granatum , Zones 7–11 ) arrived in California in 1769 with Spanish colonizer . Pomegranate trees are long - lived , drouth - liberal , deciduous plants with glossy , bronze - tinted , shining green leaf . A showy , long - live spring and summer display of hummingbird - pull in orangish - red tubular prime is followed by an abundant fall harvest of remarkable fruit — round , brightly colored , and fill with sheeny red ( or sometimes pinkish or even exonerated ) arils check fresh , sourish , inordinately alimentary juice AND a small , nutrient - packed seed in the midriff . Just one cupful of the pleasant-tasting juice covers more than 40 % of your casual vitamin C need and is full of antioxidants , B vitamins , vitamin kilobyte , and a variety of minerals including calcium , branding iron , and potassium . Here is a tone - by - step guide on how to maturate your own pomegranates , along with descriptions of some of my favorite varieties .

Growing your own

Plant your pomegranate tree diagram in a gay location . Apart from require unspoiled drainage , they ’re not fussy about soil , though unspoilt compost and the addition of a handful of well - balanced , organic fertilizer is always appreciated at planting time . Pomegranates do well with regular , cryptic irrigation until established ; after that , they are drought tolerant . However , they will produce bad harvests and better fruit if keep on a reproducible ( swooning ) irrigation schedule during dryer months even when fledged . Overwatering or spotty lachrymation can ensue in cracked fruit , decreased production , and other problem , so consistence is key . Most pomegranate variety require between 100 to 250 thrill hours*—making the summertime - ironic mood of Northern California ’s Zones 8–11 saint . They are virtually pest and problem complimentary , but watch for aphid if it ’s a peculiarly wet give , and treat if postulate .

Size : Pomegranates , unless trained otherwise , are dim , bushy , multitrunked , gravid shrubs that will pass up to 15 fundament high and wide if left alone , but take well to shaping and can be easily kept to the hope size of it . With regular maintenance , a pomegranate can be grow as a tidy single - trunked tree , or trained into an attractive three - to - five - trunked specimen ( my personal favorite ) . They can also be shaped and fleece into hedging form if trust , but this will greatly limit yield yield .

fruit : pomegranate fruit on new shoot that come from old wood , so be witting of this when pruning , as cutting back too much new ontogeny can result in diminished harvests in subsequent years . Pomegranates begin to fruit within two eld of planting ( count on the eld of the newly purchase tree ) , but usually it have four to five years for the tree to mature sufficiently and produce bountiful harvest .

harvest home : A pomegranate yield is right and ready for pick when it feels great , has a “ metal ” speech sound when pink , and has achieved its shine and mature tegument colour . love it instantly , or refrigerate it whole for up to three months . you’re able to also make succus from your pomegranate , cautiously straining out the semen . immobilise for up to six months OR transmute them into delicious gelatin or syrups .

Here are some of my favorite pomegranate cultivar , each of which does well in our region .

‘Eversweet’ pomegranate (Punica granatum‘Eversweet’, Zones 8–10)

Harvest : Late August to late September

do equally well in coastal or inland areas , ‘ Eversweet ’ grow generous crops of orotund , deep pink , soft - seed fruit that ’s extremely sweet ( even immature yield are sweet ) with pale pink Department of the Interior full of clear , nonstaining succus . This tidy mixed bag grows to an arching spread of 8 to 10 foot tall .

‘Sweet’ pomegranate (Punica granatum‘Sweet’, Zones 7–10)

Harvest : later August through September

Early , high up - conceding , and wide adaptable ( performing well even in coolheaded - summer arena ) , ‘ Sweet ’ produces an teemingness of large , pink - skinned fruit with very odoriferous , juicy , light-headed pinkish arils inside which contain pink succus ! get through 12 feet tall , this modest tree diagram is a full nominee for education as an espalier or for container growing .

‘Parfianka’ pomegranate (Punica granatum‘Parfianka’, Zones 7–10)

Harvest : Early September to October

A vigorous , upright agriculturalist , ‘ Parfianka ’ dependably give rise expectant crop of expectant , crimson - skinned fruit . Consistently winning awards for flavor , ‘ Parfianka ’ is filled with sweet , slightly tart , deep red arils and is said to produce juice that smack just like a cherry red mushy .

‘Ambrosia’ pomegranate (Punica granatum‘Ambrosia’, Zones 7–11)

Harvest : September to early October

advantageously known for its tremendous pale pink fruits ( three time bigger than a “ even - sized ” pomegranate ) ‘ Ambrosia ’ is adaptable to different growing weather , performing as well inland as it does in cool areas . bass red , very toothsome arils produce a classical purpleness , lusciously flavored , sweet - prostitute juice .

A dormant fruit tree will not successfully leaf out , flower , or create fruit until the appropriate chill requirement ( the “ quiver minute ” ) have been met , keep abreast by a certain amount of warm conditions . Chill hours are the telephone number of drop and wintertime hours that fall below 45 ° F that the fruit tree diagram experiences during its inactive period — the clock time between fall leaf fall and spring bud break . As chilling is quite complex and hard to measure , lean yield tree iciness requirements are more often than not rough or estimate . Varieties well adapted to colder climates usually have scary demand between 800 to 1,000 hours . “ Low - chill ” varieties , adapted to fond - winter climates , might require 500 or even fewer quiver time of day ( as in the case of these pomegranates ) .

— Fionuala Campion is the owner and manager of Cottage Gardens of Petaluma in Petaluma , California .

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