I would let the flowers on your pom fall off naturally. If it turns out that you have more fruit set than you'd prefer, you can pinch off any extra small fruits. And, for your lemon, hard to say what's going on without photos. And, without knowing how you're watering, fertilizing, what kind of soil you have. Early fruit set drop on citrus is also very common. Is the fruit that has not dropped formed normally? How do the leaves look, are they green or chlorotic? And, the leaf hoppers/sharpshooters are hard to control without resorting to insecticides.

Patty S.

Here is a link that might be useful: UC IPM: Leaf Hopper on Grapes

I agree, don't thin pom blossoms. They are too stunning to discard. My wonderful pom is covered with flowers right now and looks, well, simply wonderful. :)

What you have are symptoms of trees that need some TLC. Check out Growing Citrus in the Ground for useful tips on healthy citrus. Can't say enough good things about mulching citrus trees.

For your pom I would probably hose the bugs off with a fairly strong spray and then plan on doing some pruning.

My poms and I have a running disagreement - they want to be bushes and I want them to be trees. I am winning, but it requires heavy pruning on my part. I shoot for single trunk trees with three main branches. So far so good, but the poms do exact their revenge with those spike tipped branches.

mrclintz........ id love to see a picture of your pruning and what you have been able to accomplish, i have two trees planted in different locations, one that i am fine with being a bush another i would like to grow more vertical and tree like, much thanks
Gunnar

I have two pix of my wonderful on my smartphone, but no webspace to post them to. Just picture a very short thick trunk with three main branches coming out and then branching out from there to a space of about 4' wide by 10' tall. I will prune a number of times to keep the shape/size and allow a better view of the trunk after the fruit sets. It's a fair amount of ongoing work. Are you sure you are up for it? :)

Another challenge I face with my poms is that they want to weep - Some weeping is nice but not to the extent that they look overly floppy or messy. So I use some wire tied to a nearby fence to prop up some of the branches. Poms are the most labor intensive of any of my trees - and it's just because I want a certain look and behavior from them. Keeping them as a bush would be much easier.

Thank you for your input all.

I will leave the blossoms on the pomegranate, as you all suggested. BTW the insect I meant is called a leaf footed bugs, not leaf hoppers. Here's a link if anyone's interested http://www.phoenixpermaculture.org/forum/topics/bugs-on-pomegranate

Re the citrus, I went out there today to take photos and noticed that, in addition to the yellowed, sickly looking fruits there are also quite a few healthy green ones just developing, so Patty, you may be right in that the unhappy ones are part of the normal fruit drop that you mention. The leaves of my tree were yellowed earlier in the year but since I fertilized and mulched a few months ago the new growth looks healthy to me, so I'm going to assume that all is well.

Those bugs are large enough to blast with a hose or to hand pick then smash.