Pomegranate end of season ripening

11 years ago

I have some Russian Hardy poms (actual variety uncertain) that have for the first time in 10 years borne fruit to this point (I'm a zone 6b dreamer when I planted them that has slid to a zone 7 with warming, but the erratic swings in weather in my high dry climate have kept any fruit off until now).

So, what I'm really more worried about at this point is whether there will be enough "heat" and/or heat days to ripen the suckers from here on out. We were overly warm up until last week, then got a cool down into the 70-80's. Going to be 90 today. But, by this Saturday, 46 for a high, low in upper 30's.

Which gets to my question, do poms hit a certain low temp where they will quit ripening or is it more just the number of days before a freeze that will matter? Historically our first annual freeze date is Oct 31. We usually don't get a hard freeze until 15th to 20th (ish) of November.

Think I can get the poms to ripen?

Comments (3)

fabaceae_native
11 years ago
I would imagine you'll be fine if your first frost ends up being around the average time. Of course that assumes they are pretty far along already.

All the fruit on my potted Wonderful pomegranate ripens by mid October barring any catastrophe, and I'm in a colder climate (zone 6 around 7,000 feet in N. NM) with an average 1st frost of Oct 15th. I don't know how your Russian variety compares to the moderately late-ripening Wonderful though. This definitely reinforces my belief that the so-called hardy poms are not necessarily early ripening, which is equally important in marginal areas for poms.
rcnaylor
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the info. The latest weather report says we'll have a fairly early cold snap and get to 33 degrees Saturday (hi of 45). If that stops ripening, I think I have lots of fruit that is not going to be very ripe. boo.

Oh well, guess we'll find out pretty soon either way.
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rcnaylor
Original Author
11 years ago
Hey, just tried one of the pomegranates that had split. It was still pretty green but the fruit was GREAT. Letting some of the bigger red ones ripen some more. Can't wait to taste them.

10 years to get the first harvest. Pretty good patience!