Pomegranate flower: photo when it blooms, why the tree does not bloom

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 for almost the entire warm period of the year. The lack of flowers can become a serious problem and deprive the entire future crop.

When the pomegranate blooms

Home-grown pomegranate usually blooms 2 times a year. The first flowering occurs in the spring months – April and May. At this time, the ovaries of future fruits are formed from the female flowers. The reappearance of ovaries and buds is found in August – it lasts until about mid-September.

If the tree is planted in open ground, then in a warm climate it is able to bloom continuously. In Iran, in its historical homeland, the plant blooms all year round, delighting with its appearance and abundance of fruits. In central Our Country, the flowering of an adult pomegranate tree begins in April and ends by mid-August. The southern regions boast a longer flowering period. In the northern latitudes, pomegranate trees are not planted – the cold climate is not suitable for their cultivation.

How the pomegranate tree blooms

From the moment the flower appears to its disappearance, only 3-4 days pass. However, new ovaries will appear the very next day. Thus, flowering does not stop 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 fruit occurs, in the summer months the plant pleases with an 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. Such a play of shades and a variety of color options allows you to achieve a stunning picture. Blooming pomegranate looks great both in the photo 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 the same proportion, however, depending on the cultivated variety, the ratio may change in favor of more fruitful female flowers. Also, the climate and the applied agricultural technology 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 due to the similarity of the bud with a small vessel. Male pomegranate inflorescences are called bluebells. 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 fairly 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 is located even slightly above the anthers.

Female flowers appear only on strong shoots of past years. A multilocular ovary is formed from several fused stipules. Inside, it is divided among themselves by parts of the stipule, forming small chambers that will be filled with grains in the future.

Male bells 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 does pomegranate not bloom

There can be many reasons why a pomegranate refuses to bloom. When planting in open ground, damage to a tree can be caused by a variety of pests or diseases. In addition, there is a risk of damage to the pomegranate due to an 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 many fruits it can bring. If the root system and shoots are not fully formed, the tree will refuse to bloom, despite all the care and care for it. As soon as the plant is ready to bear fruit, flowering will not be long in coming.

Unfavorable climatic factors

One of the most serious problems for flowering pomegranate is return frost. When a plant grown outdoors comes to life and buds and flower buds, 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 transferred to later months and will not be as plentiful and lush.

Pomegranate is a very photophilous plant. It is estimated that an adult plant needs about eight hours of direct sunlight per day. If the right amount of sun is not received or the tree grows in a shady place, the pomegranate will refuse to bloom and delight a person with its fruits.

For active flowering and fruiting, the pomegranate needs a fairly high relative humidity. In an apartment, getting ideal conditions is quite easy. When growing a tree in open ground, in order to make it bloom, a number of additional agrotechnical measures will need to be taken. With 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 around, the more moisture they are able to retain.

Improper care

In order to stimulate the appearance of fruits and make the pomegranate bloom, some experienced gardeners practice insufficient watering of the plant. The fact is that with a lack of moisture, the pomegranate begins to fulfill the accelerated reproduction program embedded 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, even a healthy adult tree can be ruined. In such cases, not only new flower ovaries dry out, but even shoots and the root system.

In order for an adult tree to effectively bloom and bear fruit, it is worth taking care of the correct formation of its crown. If the pomegranate is not cut in time, the roots will not have time to meet 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 bud swelling. It is important to cut the main branches of the pomegranate by about 14 – this will stimulate the active growth of the crown. Also cut off the shoots going to the trunk. Deprived of unnecessary branches, a 3-4-year-old plant will begin to bloom and delight its owners from 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 period of the first flowering. Among the diseases that contribute to a decrease in the number of pomegranate buds, there are:

1. Mučnistaâ rosa. The leaves of the pomegranate and its flowers are covered with a white coating and fall off rather quickly. The disease requires urgent treatment in the earliest stages. Spraying with Fundazol helps to get rid of damage to leaves and flowers.
2. Gray mold. Causes damage to flowers, shoots and fruits of pomegranate. It is caused by the excessive development of especially dangerous fungi. For treatment, fungicides and antimycotic agents are used.
3. 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.

Do not discount insects, whose periodic raids on fruit trees interfere with their active flowering and fruiting. One of the most dangerous pests for pomegranates is the whitefly. These insects stick around the leaves and branches of the tree, drinking all the juices from it, causing irreparable damage to the ovaries that have just appeared. 

Another dangerous insect for the plant is the codling moth. She begins to destroy the female buds when they begin to bloom, and also spoils the fruits that have already poured. 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 the pomegranate does not bloom

The lack of new ovaries in a plant can upset any gardener. Experienced farmers are advised to refrain from special chemicals aimed at increasing their number. Such concentrates contain chemical compounds that can damage neighboring plants.

There are several simple agricultural practices aimed at ensuring that the pomegranate tree begins to bloom as abundantly as possible. The first number among such measures are natural organic fertilizers with a small addition of complex additives for plants. To prepare nutrient fertilizer you will need:

• 15 L of water;
• 1 kg of cow manure;
• 15 g of nitrogen fertilizers;
• 7,5 g of potash fertilizers;
• 12 g superphosphate.

All ingredients are mixed in a small barrel. Watering is done every 10-15 days from late March to mid-August. At a time, about 1 liter of ready-made fertilizer is poured under each bush.

In order for 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 soddy 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 pomegranate flowering at home, farmers practice the technology of periodic pomegranate transplantation. 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 a lot 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, paradoxically as it may sound, is to give the plant a 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 yield in the future.

If none of the methods brought the desired result, you can use the last resort. From a healthy pomegranate that has been blooming for several years, the shoot is cut off and grafted onto the trunk of a young tree. This method can also allow you to combine several varieties in one plant.

How many years does pomegranate bloom after planting

The beginning of the flowering period largely depends on the proper planting and care of the plant in the first years of its life. It is believed that a pomegranate planted from a stone for the first 2-3 years is actively gaining green mass and only at the age of 4 begins to please the owners with abundant bright flowers. For pomegranate trees planted by seedlings, this period is slightly reduced – on average, they begin to bloom starting at 3 years of age.

Young plants may experience abnormally early flowering. The first buds may appear as early as the 2nd year of a pomegranate’s life. As a rule, such single specimens fall off rather quickly, since the tree is not yet ready to bear fruit.

Conclusion

Pomegranate blooms in comparison with other fruit trees for quite a long time. Amazing forms of 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.