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[Estambul]

Hi,  I bought a house in Costa Blanca North 3 years ago, it has a lovely garden with mature palms and shrubs, and also an olive, a nispero, a pomegrante, a lemon and a small clementine tree,

This year the lemon tree has had less fruit, the pomegranate had about 16 blossoms, all of which either blew or fell off, and the clementine which is only very young, had an amazing amount of blossom. all of which fell off.

Could I have some advice about how to look after the above, especially the pomegranate and clementine. I've been feeding the clementine every week since March as directed on the product box but I'm a complete novice at growing this type of fruit.

Thanks in advance.

[Campo Girl]

Hola and welcome to the forum

I bought myself a young Pomegranate tree this year and I planted it in well drained soil, the bottom layer of the soil is made of house bricks, dust and the like and then I covered the top layer with compost, it has grown surprisingly well, not only that I regularly forget to water it!

Caring for the Pomegranate Tree   
Pomegranate Trees (punica granatum). The pomegranate is a deciduous shrub or small tree which is native to China and to Southern Europe. A number of varieties exist, both ornamental and fruiting, but the fruiting varieties we carry grow to about 10 feet tall. The fruit and flowers are both red, and the fruit ripens in the fall. Pomegranates are self-pollinating.

They thrive in the heat and need long hot summers to produce well. They tolerate many soil types including very alkaline soils but deep loams are best. They are drought tolerant but need regular deep irrigations for good fruit development. They tend not to fruit too well in cool coastal areas. Pomegranates are hardy down to 11 degrees C roughly. If grown in a container they can be brought indoors during cold weather or grown in a greenhouse.

A common problem is splitting of the rind. This is usually caused by heavy watering following a period of drought. Keep soil moisture relatively even to avoid this problem.

Caring for the Clementine Tree
The Clementine is a hybrid of tangerine and the Seville or bitter orange developed in 1902 near Oran, Algeria by Father Clement Rodier, a French missionary.

All Citrus enjoy high light levels, so smaller plants will do well on a windowsill in the house. Larger plants need a conservatory, greenhouse or sheltered summer garden, but should be given supplementary light if they are to be kept away from windows indoors. Be careful not to allow leaf scorch in direct summer sun through glass.

When there is no danger of frost, Citrus trees like to be outside in the summer months. However they must be acclimatised gradually to the new light level, by being moved first to a slightly shaded area outside for 2-3 weeks before being put in their sheltered, sunny spot for the summer. Equally when being brought indoors in winter, they should be kept in the shade for 2-3 weeks before coming inside. This reduces any stress to the leaves that the sudden light change could cause.

Most Citrus trees can tolerate temperatures down to 4°C (even 2°C for short periods). They must not be frosted, but a cool period is useful over the winter to rest.  They are also tolerant of high temperatures, but prefer to be at neither extreme for too long.

The trees should be fed weekly when in growth with a citrus fertiliser (high in trace elements). Use Summer formulation from March to September inclusive, and the Winter formulation fortnightly throughout the rest of the year. If citrus food is not available, then a seaweed based fertiliser is adequate if supplemented with the occasional dose of sequestrated iron and trace elements when any yellowing of the leaves occurs. Foliar feeding can also be helpful in correcting deficiencies. Too much feed will lead to scorching of the leaf tips, and it is a good idea to wash the compost through with lots of water once in Summer and again in Autumn to avoid a build up of fertiliser salts.

Generally flowering takes place in May, but may occur several times in the year with fruit setting each time. An enormous number of  fragrant flowers appear, but only about 1% will set on the large trees (more than this would overload the branches when the fruit reaches full size). Calamondins and kumquats and some lemons set a higher percentage of fruit and may even have to be thinned to avoid weighing the branches down too much. Dry, hot conditions will not favour fruit set, which can be improved by misting the flowers.

Hope some of that helps

[Alec]

Maybe your pomegranate is too young to bear fruit? I say this because I have two; the smaller, younger tree behaved just as you describe, while the larger one is now full of fruit. I might add that the great majority of flowers blew off in the spring and I started to worry, but obviously the tree knew best and it kept just enough for a good crop! Also I have no fruit on my newly planted clementines, but plenty on those which are (at a guess) four or five years older.

The pomegranates are now just starting to ripen, with the first flush of orange on the skins, but the birds have already discovered them. However I'm sure there will be plenty left for us as well.

We plan to juice most of these fruits as they're otherwise rather difficult (and slightly bitter) to eat. There are plenty of websites explaining the various methods which can be used - squeezing, crushing, lightly chopping with a food-processor, or steaming. We'll probably opt for the last of these as we have a good steam-based juicer which we bought in Scandinavia. Pom juice is supposed to be very good for you, it's a current health-food craze I believe.

Alec.