I have a dwarf pomegranate I’m trying to finalize structure for.
I think I’ve decided on a front, final answer. I’m intending to prune for final structure this spring, then work on secondary branch development. Here’s the tree as it currently is:
Here are my plans come spring (white are key structural and a couple secondary branches I intend to retain, green is potential foliage masses, basically everything else goes):
I like the initial design. My only worry would be the leaf size, and getting the canopy density you’re shooting for. I would also think of using some foliage between the first two small pads, to break up the trunk a little before it reaches the canopy.
As a Hail Mary, have you thought about root over rock?
My concern with leaf size is that your design had several small pads of dense foliage, instead of a canopy. I don’t have a lot of experience with pomegranate, but small, dense pads don’t seem doable to me on a tree that size. Good on you if you pull it off, though.
Ah ha! Thank you! That was “I’m trying to indicate a general canopy” with limited MS Paint skills. You’re absolutely right that dense foliage pads are challenging/not realistic with poms, even dwarf poms.
If anything, I would also suggest long the length on that long branch on the right. It gives the canopy some very nice asymmetry and goes well against the initial direction of the trunk.
I think that’s a really good suggestion, and it fits my ultimate hope: I want to grow out the defining branch to the right so I can (1) grow the canopy up a bit and (2) provide more asymmetry to the composition.
And just like that, the entire tree is covered in new buds at every cut site. Fertilizer amount is one tablespoon monthly, Biogold; I’m going to crank it up for the next couple months.
I usually let them flower; flowers use relatively little energy, and they’re a big part of why I enjoy poms.
But I definitely knock fruit off; fruit uses a relatively large amount of energy, and I doubt I could make more than one cocktail with a dwarf pom’s worth of fruit.
Shalom @green_thumb! Right now, I’ve got the tree in a rootmaker pot; the goal is to thicken the trunk over the next few years so I can gain a little height.
I completely agree about the angle change, though; the plan is, after the next house move and some time in the rootmaker pot, to tile plant and work on nebari at a more dramatic angle.
Thanks much! Glad you like where it’s headed generally!
Emboldened by the big bends and dramatic changes on my yamadori crape myrtle, I decided to sit down with my pomegranate and make a few more drastic changes – most importantly, cutting that cross-trunk branch that looked lovely but wouldn’t ever be usable.
Forgive the crummy two-branch wiring job on the bottom right branches.
