Pomegranate

On this lovely Earth Day, I was happy to finally receive by mail the dwarf pomegranate tree I'd ordered from Gurneys a while back. The tiny root ball was covered with dirt and wrapped in plastic inside a cardboard box. I planted it in a smallish pot -- the "tree" is only about 8 inches tall at this point. I put it on the plant table in my large south-facing dining room window.

Immediately after planting it dropped several of its leaves. I hope it doesn't go into shock the way my dwarf fig from Gurneys did; my fig is now a tiny stem with a green tip and hasn't grown a single leaf since I planted it over a month ago. It's still alive, though, so I'm hoping it'll recover from transplant shock and eventually pop some new leaves. That's what happened with the dwarf orange tree I bought from Gurneys last summer; it was small and dormant for months until, in the dead of winter, it suddenly started growing a new head of leaves. Now it's looking great.

I decided at the last minute to prune a small amount of top growth off the baby pomegranate, hoping that this might stimulate new leaf growth. This was an experimental gesture which may end up blowing in my face if it causes the pom to go further into transplant shock. Still, I thought it might help. We shall see.

You may be wondering what I plan to do with these potted indoor fruit trees. I will move them to sunny outdoor locations after the frost, let them stay outside all summer so that they can get sun, rain, insect exposure (for pollination), and fresh air. Then I'll move them back in before the fall frost. Hopefully in a few years they'll start bearing fruit.