Content
- 1 When does the pomegranate bloom?
- 2 How the pomegranate tree blooms
- 3 What is the name of the pomegranate flower?
- 4 What does a pomegranate flower look like?
- 5 Why doesn't pomegranate bloom?
- 6 What to do if pomegranate does not bloom
- 7 How many years does it take for pomegranate to bloom after planting?
- 8 Conclusion
Proper care of a pomegranate tree from the first days of planting allows you to get a healthy tree that annually delights its owners with fresh fruit. Pomegranate blooms with lush buds almost throughout the warm period of the year. The lack of flowers can be a serious problem and ruin the entire future harvest.
When does the pomegranate bloom?
Home-grown pomegranate usually blooms twice a year. The first flowering occurs in the spring months - April and May. At this time, the ovaries of future fruits are formed from female flowers. The reappearance of ovaries and buds is detected in August - it lasts until approximately mid-September.
If the tree is planted in open ground, then in a warm climate it can bloom continuously. In Iran, in its historical homeland, the plant blooms all year round, delighting with its appearance and abundance of fruits. In central Russia, the flowering of an adult pomegranate tree begins in April and ends by mid-August. Southern regions boast a longer flowering period.Pomegranate trees are not planted in northern latitudes - the cold climate is not suitable for their cultivation.
How the pomegranate tree blooms
From the moment a flower appears until it disappears, only 3-4 days pass. However, the very next day new ovaries will appear. Thus, flowering does not stop even for a day; the pomegranate tree is in bloom almost all the time. And if you consider that at the same time budding and swelling of the fruits occurs, in the summer months the plant pleases with its incredibly beautiful appearance.
Flowers can be white, scarlet, yellow or crimson. Moreover, each of them can contain two or even three of these colors at once. This play of shades and variety of color options allows you to achieve a stunning picture. A blooming pomegranate looks great both in photos and in life.
What is the name of the pomegranate flower?
Pomegranate is a bisexual plant, so you can find both male and female flowers on it. Most often, both sexes are represented on the tree in approximately equal proportions, however, depending on the cultivated variety, the ratio may change in favor of more fruit-bearing female flowers. Also, climate and the agricultural technology used can play a certain role in the ratio of female and male specimens. Pomegranate flowers are very easy to distinguish from each other. Their name is generally accepted based on their appearance.
Female flowers are usually called pitchers. This is explained by the similarity of the bud to a small vessel. Male pomegranate inflorescences are called bells.At the same time, male flowers are necessary only for pollination, so they do not bear fruit on their own.
What does a pomegranate flower look like?
The female bud has a rather large and stable base and looks like a fleshy tube. Its jagged edge will remain on the ripe fruit in the future, forming a kind of crown. The pistil of female pomegranate flowers is long and located even slightly above the anthers.
Female flowers appear only on strong shoots of previous years. A multilocular ovary is formed from several fused stipules. Inside, it is divided among themselves by parts of the stipule, forming small chambers, which in the future will be filled with grains.
Male bluebells do not bear fruit in the future. Their appearance is a cone with a short pistil inside and tall anthers. They can form on fresh shoots. It is these flowers that amaze people with their magnificence. True, after flowering they die quite quickly.
Why doesn't pomegranate bloom?
There can be many reasons why a pomegranate refuses to bloom. When planted in open ground, damage to the tree can be caused by a variety of pests or diseases. In addition, there is a risk of damage to the pomegranate due to unsuitable climate. Also, the appearance of flowers may be due to improper processing of the pomegranate itself.
Do not forget that any tree is a living organism, which decides for itself how much fruit it can bear. If the root system and shoots are not fully formed, the tree will refuse to bloom, despite all the care and concern for it.Once the plant is ready to bear fruit, flowering will not take long.
Adverse climatic factors
One of the most serious problems for flowering pomegranates is return frosts. When a plant grown in open ground comes to life and opens buds and flower ovaries, a sudden cold snap can completely destroy them. In the event of such events, the pomegranate will either not bloom this year, or its flowering will be postponed to later months and will not be as abundant and lush.
Pomegranate is a very light-loving plant. It is estimated that a mature plant needs about eight hours of direct sunlight per day. If the required amount of sun is not received or the tree grows in a shaded place, the pomegranate will refuse to bloom and delight a person with its fruits.
For active flowering and fruiting, pomegranate requires fairly high relative humidity. In an apartment, it is quite easy to obtain ideal conditions. When growing a tree in open ground, in order to make it bloom, you will need to carry out a number of additional agrotechnical measures. In case of strong winds and long-term droughts, pomegranate leaves and flowers are sprayed with water using a spray bottle. It is also worth taking care of neighboring trees - the more plants there are, the more moisture they can retain.
Improper care
To stimulate the appearance of fruits and make pomegranates bloom, some experienced gardeners practice insufficient watering of the plant. The fact is that with a lack of moisture, the pomegranate begins to carry out the accelerated reproduction program inherent in every living creature, so the number of new ovaries in such a plant increases significantly.The disadvantage of this method is that due to your inexperience you can ruin even a healthy adult tree. In such cases, not only the new flower ovaries dry out, but even the shoots and root system.
In order for an adult tree to bloom and bear fruit effectively, it is worth taking care of the correct formation of its crown. If the pomegranate is not trimmed on time, the roots will not have time to satisfy the needs of each shoot, as a result of which flowering will be delayed until the next season. Pruning should be done in early spring before the period of active swelling of the buds. It is important to cut the main branches of the pomegranate by about 1/4 - this will stimulate active growth of the crown. The shoots leading to the trunk are also trimmed. A 3-4 year old plant, devoid of unnecessary branches, will begin to bloom and delight its owners in April.
Diseases and pests
Pomegranate, like other plants, is susceptible to many diseases. They cause the greatest loss of ovaries in the spring, during the first flowering period. Among the diseases that contribute to a decrease in the number of pomegranate buds are:
- Powdery mildew. Pomegranate leaves and flowers become covered with a white coating and fall off quite quickly. The disease requires immediate treatment at the earliest stages. Spraying with Fundazol helps get rid of damage to leaves and flowers.
- Gray rot. Causes damage to flowers, shoots and fruits of pomegranate. Caused by excessive development of particularly dangerous fungi. Fungicides and antimycotic agents are used for treatment.
- Fomoz. With this disease, the skeletal branches die off.The pomegranate blooms, but the female buds become sterile. It is necessary to treat with Horus fungicide as soon as possible.
One should not discount insects, whose periodic attacks on fruit trees interfere with their active flowering and fruiting. One of the most dangerous pests for pomegranate is the whitefly. These insects stick to the leaves and branches of the tree, drinking all the juices from it, causing irreparable damage to the newly emerging ovaries.
Another dangerous insect for the plant is the pomegranate moth. It begins to destroy female buds when they begin to bloom, and also spoils the fruits that are already full. The best way to control insects is to use special insecticides. At the same time, it is better to give your choice to trusted manufacturers in order to be sure that the use of such poisons will not cause further damage to human health.
What to do if pomegranate does not bloom
The lack of new ovaries in a plant can upset any gardener. Experienced farmers advise refraining from special chemicals aimed at increasing their quantity. Such concentrates contain chemical compounds that can damage neighboring plants.
There are several simple agricultural techniques aimed at ensuring that the pomegranate tree begins to bloom as abundantly as possible. The first number among such measures is natural organic fertilizers with a small addition of complex plant additives. To prepare nutritious fertilizer you will need:
- 15 liters of water;
- 1 kg cow dung;
- 15 g of nitrogen fertilizers;
- 7.5 g of potash fertilizers;
- 12 g superphosphate.
All ingredients are mixed in a small barrel. Watering is carried out every 10-15 days from the end of March to mid-August. About 1 liter of ready-made fertilizer is poured under each bush at a time.
In order for a home pomegranate to bloom, an important task for a person is to select the optimal soil. The plant absorbs nutrients and blooms only in favorable conditions. The mixture should be light and consist of turf soil and humus. As an additive, you can use old plaster and a little bone meal. Dry cow dung can also be used as drainage.
To speed up the flowering of pomegranate at home, farmers practice the technology of periodically replanting pomegranates. The new pot should be 2-3 cm larger than the previous one. It should be understood that traditionally pomegranate blooms better in cramped conditions. If the roots have plenty of space and nutrients, the plant will only increase its green mass.
A very important technique for increasing the number of flowers on a future tree, as paradoxical as it may sound, is to give the plant rest. When a young plant begins to bloom, the ovaries are torn off so that the roots and branches become stronger and can increase their productivity in the future.
If none of the methods brings the desired result, you can use a last resort. A shoot is cut off from a healthy pomegranate that has been blooming for several years and grafted onto the trunk of a young tree. This method can also make it possible to combine several varieties in one plant.
How many years does it take for pomegranate to bloom after planting?
The beginning of the flowering period largely depends on proper planting and care of the plant in the first years of its life. It is believed that a pomegranate planted from a seed actively gains green mass for the first 2-3 years and only in the 4th year of life begins to delight its owners with abundant bright flowers. For pomegranate trees planted as seedlings, this period is slightly reduced - on average, they begin to bloom starting at 3 years of age.
Young plants may flower abnormally early. The first buds may appear as early as 2 years of pomegranate life. As a rule, such single specimens fall off quite quickly, since the tree is not yet ready to bear fruit.
Conclusion
Pomegranate blooms for quite a long time compared to other fruit trees. The amazing shapes of the flowers delight the eye with a riot of bright colors. The absence of ovaries in a plant indicates possible problems that need to be solved as quickly as possible.
