Indoor pomegranate: growing and care at home for beginners

To decorate the interior, many grow indoor plants. It can be flowers or just green bushes, weaving vines. Pomegranate, as a houseplant, is quite rare. Although it grows well at home. You can grow an ornamental shrub or tree. With proper care for a dwarf species, you can enjoy delicious, juicy fruits.

What varieties of pomegranate are grown at home

The best dwarf varieties are Carthage and Baby. They are the most decorative. They are bred not so much for the sake of fruits, but because of the abundant flowering. The shrub from spring to autumn is strewn with small, but very beautiful, numerous scarlet flowers.

For beginner gardeners, it is better to buy a plant in a pot. You don't have to wait for seedlings to grow. The finished bush will bloom faster. But if you want to see the whole process - from sowing to fruiting, then you should start by buying seeds.

Carthage

Variety Carthage - a tree less than a meter tall with small leaves. Requires a haircut, without which the branches become thinner, the plant blooms less often. The fruits are small, the size of a matchbox. Edible, sweet and sour taste. Seed germination is low.

It takes about seven years from the moment of sowing to the first fruiting. It responds to a sufficient amount of moisture and light with annual fruiting.

Baby

Decorative pomegranate Baby is grown from seeds. This is a small shrub that grows no higher than half a meter.The elongated leaves grow in bunches, several leaves together. The first flowering occurs in the fourth year after sowing. Seed germination is average. The flowers are relatively large, purple.

Is it possible to eat fruits in the first year of flowering? Probably not. The first flowers are usually empty flowers. The fruits are small. Ripens up to seven pieces. If there are more ovaries, the excess should be cut off. Shrub needs trimming and thinning.

External parameters and characteristics

Pomegranate is unpretentious, but each variety has its own characteristics. The shrub form of the plant is suitable for window sills.

The crown is wide, with numerous erect branches covered with brown bark. The leaves are small, elongated, olive in color. The plant is deciduous or evergreen. It all depends on the conditions of detention and care.

Scarlet flowers of two types - male and female. There are more men, they resemble bells. Women's are more elongated, small fruits are formed from them. At first they are covered with a thin orange peel. By the time of ripening, the color changes to burgundy with a brown tint.

Cultivation and propagation of indoor tree

Reproduction and cultivation of indoor pomegranate is no different from planting other ornamental plants. Sowing material can be seeds or cuttings. If the goal is to grow an ornamental plant for the sake of beauty, and not for fruits, then you can use the seeds of an ordinary ripe pomegranate. To get delicious fruits, you should think about how and how to plant a houseplant.

From the handle

When planting a cutting, all the features of the variety are preserved. The plant blooms earlier and begins to bear fruit. Harvest cuttings in early July or late winter. In the first case, the cuttings take root better. But the latter is more commonly used. The mother plant is less likely to be damaged.

Cuttings are taken about 10 centimeters long with five or seven buds. The cut is made with a sharp knife at an angle, from fruit-bearing trees. Sections are treated with a root stimulator, planted in fertile soil at an angle. Cover with foil, keep warm, water regularly.

In a month, the cuttings will take root, young buds will appear. The film is removed. For better branching, a third of the shoot is cut off.

From seeds

Store-bought seeds can be used. It is better to take the seeds of a ripe indoor pomegranate. They are cleaned of pulp, hard bones are selected. Before sowing, soak in water with a growth stimulator. Seeds should be sown in November or March, in a moist mixture of peat and sand. Shoots will appear in 2 weeks.

How a pomegranate grows

When growing pomegranate in comfortable conditions, the leaves are preserved year-round. In the absence of such, leaf fall begins. Then it is advisable to rearrange the plant in a cool room until spring, occasionally watering.

In March, the pomegranate wakes up from hibernation. First, the leaves bloom, and after a few weeks, the flowers. Flowering continues until autumn. In summer, pomegranates are taken out to the balcony or garden, protecting from the wind.

Necessary conditions for growth

To know how to grow pomegranates, you need to familiarize yourself with some rules of indoor floriculture.

Soil composition

A soil consisting of sand, leafy, soddy soil, humus is suitable for a young plant. All components are taken in equal parts. For a mature tree, you can prepare soil from 50% soddy soil, 25% leaf humus, 12% peat, 13% sand.

Suitable pot and size

Initially, pomegranate roots should grow in close quarters. When transplanting, the diameter of the pot increases by 2 centimeters.

Lighting

A tree needs a lot of sunlight. It is better to place the pomegranate on the south side of the window. In summer, at lunchtime, in order to protect the plant from burns, it must be shaded.

Temperature

Pomegranate loves warmth. During flowering, the temperature should not exceed twenty-five degrees.

Humidity

If the room is stuffy and the air temperature exceeds 25 degrees, the pomegranate is sprayed twice a day with settled summer water.

Rules of care

Not every novice grower knows how to properly care for a plant. It's not hard to learn, it just takes a little effort. As a result, a he althy pomegranate tree will grow and bear fruit at home.

Watering and spraying

How often to water the plant? It depends on the time of year. In winter, abundant watering is not needed. More moisture is required in spring. In summer, the plant is watered often, but avoiding stagnant water. In the heat, the tree is sprayed daily with settled water.

Fertilizer

Start fertilizing in spring and continue until fall. What to feed the plant? It is better to give preference to nitrogen-phosphorus and organic fertilizers. Bait is not required in winter.

Shaping and pruning the bush

In order for the pomegranate to bloom more abundantly, bear more fruit, look well-groomed, pruning is required. This procedure is carried out in early autumn. You need to cut dried, twisted, densely growing branches.

Transfer

Pomegranate up to three years must be transplanted annually, in early spring. Mature trees - once every three years.

Resting period

In autumn, the pomegranate tree begins to prepare for wintering, gradually shedding its leaves. At this time, certain conditions must be created. To begin with, rearrange the plant in a cool room with a temperature of at least 13 degrees. Also reduce watering.

Three-year-old trees need to be prepared for wintering. Until this age, a young pomegranate can winter under normal conditions.

How to plant a pomegranate for fruiting

Without experience, the grafting process may not always succeed. For vaccination, it is necessary to take a cutting grown from a seed, and a kidney from a fruit-bearing tree. On the handle, make a shallow incision in the bark, one and a half centimeters long. Insert a cut kidney into the incision, wrap the graft with electrical tape. Pour pomegranate abundantly.

In eight days it will be clear whether the grafting process was successful or not. Once grafted, the pomegranate tree will begin to bear fruit in five years.

The beginning of flowering and fruiting and features of care in this period

Flowering begins in late April-early May and continues until the end of August. Flowers have different shapes. In the form of a bell - not bearing fruit, and if they look like a jug - a pomegranate will gradually form from these flowers.

Care should be as follows:

1. For greater yield during flowering, watering is reduced, but the soil should not be allowed to dry out.
2. You need to spray the tree carefully, it is unacceptable for water drops to fall on the flowers.
3. For a flowering tree, the appropriate room temperature is twenty degrees.
4. Fertilize once a month with phosphate fertilizer.

Diseases and characteristic symptoms

There are several diseases that can affect indoor pomegranate.

Powdery mildew

Mostly the fungus infects pomegranates in the middle of summer. The infected plant is covered with a white coating, in the early stages of the disease it resembles a cobweb. Over time, the leaves lose their shape, turn yellow, fall off. In case of infection, pomegranates must be treated with Fundazol.

Cancer of branches

When sick, the bark of the pomegranate tree swells, the branches become covered with cracks. The plant must be cleaned of the affected branches, cut them with a sharp knife. Cure pomegranates from this disease is quite difficult.

But you can prevent its appearance. To do this, it is necessary to observe the temperature regime, to prevent damage and hypothermia of the tree.

Spots on the leaves

Yellowish-brown spots may appear on the leaves due to excess moisture in the soil. When spots appear, the plant must be transplanted, while removing rotten roots.

Whitefly and aphids

Pests settle on pomegranate leaves, gradually suck out the juice from the greens, lay larvae. The breeding process is quite fast. An infected tree must be treated with soapy water or karbofos.

What problems arise when growing

Pomegranate owners may face some problems.

Not growing

Reasons for poor indoor pomegranate growth:

1. After transplanting, it can grow roots.
2. The soil in the pot is dense.
3. Insufficient lighting.

Flowering but not fruiting

The plant does not bear fruit for several reasons:

1. If the rest period was violated.
2. Not enough heat.
3. Bad lighting.
4. Frequent drying out of the soil or excess moisture.
5. Lack of nutrients in the soil. From April to September, it is necessary to apply mineral and organic fertilizers once a month, alternately.
6. Irregular crown formation.
7. A bell-shaped flower is sterile. It is better to cut off such flowers.

Sick often

Frequent illnesses may indicate improper care. A disease such as powdery mildew can affect a tree due to low temperature, high humidity, musty premises.

With frequent watering, stagnation of water in the pan, the root system of the plant will begin to rot. Gradually, the leaves turn yellow, then crumble. In a short period, the tree dies. To prevent this from happening, the plant must be carefully removed from the pot, the roots that have begun to rot should be removed. Wash the root with a solution of potassium permanganate, dry it, sprinkle the cut points with activated charcoal. Transplant to another soil.

Sickly appearance of a plant in spring and summer may indicate a lack of moisture and nutrients in the soil.

Leaves turn yellow

If at the beginning of autumn the leaves began to turn yellow on the tree - it does not matter. The pomegranate is a deciduous plant and shedding leaves at this time of the year is a natural process.

The plant does not tolerate dark rooms, dry air, drying of the soil. The place of growth for the indoor tree must be chosen near the south window. If the pomegranate has been in the shade for a long time, it must be gradually accustomed to the light.

Untimely watering is detrimental to the plant. The soil should be especially monitored during the summer period and the heating season, since the soil dries out faster. After watering, the water from the pan must be removed.

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