Pomegranate is also called Anpomegranate, and the ornamental varieties are collectively called Flower Pomegranate. Pomegranate is gorgeous in color, beautiful in flowers and fruits, and is suitable for viewing in all seasons, especially in midsummer. In the eyes, it is red and dripping, fruitful in late autumn, drooping, luxurious and dignified.
[Morphological characteristics]
Deciduous shrubs or small trees often have irregular crowns, angular branchlets, often spines at the ends, and small buds with 2 bud scales. Leaves obovate, oblong, usually opposite on long branches and clustered on short branches. The flowers are bisexual and neat, ranging from 1 to several clustered branches. Flowers are usually red and yellow. Calyx bell-shaped, vermilion, white and yellow, calyx bell-shaped, fleshy, 5-8-lobed, persistent, with 5-7 petals. Berry is subglobose, copper yellow or copper red, with persistent calyx. Seeds have many fleshy exocarp (see color picture 57).
After thousands of years of cultivation and domestication, pomegranate has developed into two categories: fruit pomegranate and flower pomegranate. Pomegranate is mainly edible and has ornamental value. There are nearly 70 varieties in China. Flowers are numerous and simple. Pomegranate can be divided into common species and dwarf species. Common cultivated varieties are:
Var.nana is a kind of rose pomegranate with short plants and linear and lanceolate leaves. Open every month from May to September 1 time, with red flowers, semi-double petals and small flowers and small fruits. Double flower is called petal rose pomegranate.
Double pomegranate is also called thousand pomegranate or double pomegranate. Flowers are big and heavy, big and red, and the flowers and fruits are very dazzling, which is the main ornamental variety.
White pomegranate is also called silver pomegranate. May-July flowering 1 time, white. Double petals are called one or a thousand white pomegranates. Flowers are big, and bloom 3-4 times in May-September.
Yellow pomegranate is also called yellow pomegranate. The color is yellow and white. Its double petals are called thousand petals yellow pomegranate.
Agate pomegranate, also known as thousand petals colored pomegranate, has double petals. There are red, yellow and white stripes.
[distribution]
Pomegranate originated in Iran and Afghanistan, and was introduced to China when Zhang Qian was in the Western Regions in Han Dynasty. Now it has been cultivated in the Yellow River basin and its south area, with a history of more than 2,000 years.
[habit]
Pomegranate is a subtropical and temperate flower and fruit tree species, which likes temperature and cold. It is more resistant to barren drought, afraid of waterlogging, and needs more water during the growing period. For soils that are not strict with soil requirements, but are not tolerant to excessive salinization and swampiness, the pH value can be between 4.5 and 8.2, and sandy loam or loam soil is suitable. Too sticky soil will affect growth. Like fat, like sunshine, poor people bloom in the shade. Strong germination ability and easy branching.
[Propagation, Cultivation and Maintenance]
Sowing, plant division, layering, grafting and cutting propagation are all common, but cutting is the main method. Cutting propagation can take hard branches in winter and spring and soft branches in summer and autumn. 2-year-old cuttings are the best, and 1 annual cuttings are too tender. Tender cuttings are semi-lignified branches that were full in those years. Cutting time in the north is mostly in spring and autumn, and in the south of the Yangtze River basin, except hard branch cutting, soft branch cutting can be carried out in rainy season and early autumn. The cutting length of hard branch is 15 cm, and it is inserted into the soil for 2/3. After cutting, it is fully watered, and then the soil is kept moist. The length of twig cuttings is 10 ~ 12 cm, and the leaves are 4 ~ 5 pieces, which are inserted into the soil for 5 ~ 6 cm. Immediately after insertion, the leaves are shaded and often kept fresh, and they take root after 20 days. Sowing and propagation: collect seeds in September, take them out, sow them for several days, scrub them clean, dry them in the shade, accumulate wet sand or store the fruits, and sow them in February of the following year, with high germination rate. Plant division is to use strong rhizomes and seedlings, dig them up and plant them. As long as there is a little fibrous root, they can survive. Layering propagation can be carried out in spring and autumn. Before the bud germinates, the tillers of the roots are pressed into the soil, and after taking root in summer, they are cut off from the mother body, and seedlings can be formed in autumn and transplanted in the following spring. Pomegranate grows vigorously, and branches and new buds should be pruned and reshaped frequently. The biggest feature of pomegranate is its strong germination ability of cryptobud and its extreme resistance to pruning, which creates favorable conditions for plastic surgery.
Pomegranate can be divided into three categories: fruit pomegranate, flower pomegranate and potted pomegranate. Pomegranate pruning and shaping vary with different cultivation purposes.
Pomegranate: it can be refurbished into a single-stem round crown, so attention should be paid to highlighting the trunk when pruning, and the upper branches should be pruned into a naturally developed type. Dead branches, weak branches, dense branches, long branches and sprouting branches in rhizosphere must be cut off in time to facilitate ventilation and light transmission, reduce nutrient consumption and facilitate fruit bearing. When pruning and shaping, we should be careful not to prune the spring shoots too short, because the top bud on the spring shoots has a high fruit setting rate. Pomegranate should also pay attention to proper fruit thinning in order to concentrate nutrition and make the fruit large and small.
Pomegranate: generally, it is not necessary to re-cut, but 3 ~ 5 lateral branches can be left and trimmed into a multi-stem or short flat-headed crown. In the process of management, dead branches and weak branches should be removed at any time. If you don't bloom at flowering time, you can cut off the terminal bud to inhibit the infinite growth of plants and promote the production of new lateral buds. Generally, after this pruning, buds will appear after 1 week and then bloom. After flowering, the residual flowers and branches that have blossomed should be cut off in time so as to grow new branches and flowers again. If you don't prune after flowering, the number of branches will increase gradually, which will affect the tree shape and make the branches weak. Pomegranate flowers should be cut short once every three years, and all the branches that were sent three years ago should be cut off and completely updated.
Potted pomegranate: During the growing season, according to the ornamental characteristics, it should be peeled and trimmed for many times, and renovated into various artistic shapes such as spherical, unique short stems and flat tops, so as to achieve beautiful tree shape and increase the number of flowers and fruits.
Attention should be paid to pomegranate pruning: ① Pruning dead branches, pests and diseases, twigs, cross branches, cluster branches and rhizosphere sprouting branches in spring, and maintaining strong branches and crown shapes is conducive to promoting more new branches, flowers and fruits. Seedlings can start coring many times at the height of 10 cm to promote the growth of branches to reach the full crown width. (2) When pruning, pay attention to leaving the outside without leaving the inside, keeping it straight without leaving it horizontal, and leaving the cut buds outside. (3) The pruning should focus on tendrils and rhizosphere sprouting strips, because tendrils usually sprout from hidden buds in the cortex of main branches or large lateral branches, grow strongly, stand upright or above syncline, but are often overnourished, soft in tissue, difficult to differentiate flower buds, and interfere with tree shape, consuming a lot of nutrients. Rhizosphere germinates in underground rhizosphere and grows faster than crown branches, but most of them only consume nutrients and fail to achieve the purpose of cultivation.
In terms of cultivation and maintenance, in addition to mastering the above pruning techniques, it must also be noted that pomegranate should be planted in areas with sufficient sunshine, fertile soil and good drainage, and sufficient base fertilizer should be applied. Liquid fertilizer 1 ~ 2 times should be applied before flowering to promote bud development, and fertilization should be suspended during flowering. Pomegranate should be topdressing after the flowers wither, but pomegranate should not be fertilized too much after fruiting to avoid falling fruit. Potted pomegranate should also master the main links of light, water and fertilizer, and there must be enough sunshine in the growing season, otherwise the branches and leaves will be white and long, the flowers will be few, and the fruit will be difficult to sit on. Fertilizer and water should be suitable, nitrogen fertilizer should not be too much, watering should be reduced appropriately in flowering period, watering should be strictly controlled in winter, and watering should be 1 time per month.
The main pests and diseases are: pomegranate leaf spot, pomegranate fruit rot, pomegranate beet armyworm, Cercospora angustifolia, Plutella xylostella, bearded mite, yellow thorn moth, brown thorn moth, crape myrtle, Japanese tortoise scale, peach aphid and so on. Control methods: ① Spray Bordeaux mixture, amobam, thiophanate methyl, etc. Before and after the leaves begin to grow. ② Spray omethoate, trichlorfon, dichlorvos and other pesticides. In the nymph and larval stages of pests. (3) spraying dicofol and other chemicals in the nymph stage.
[Appreciation and Application]
Pomegranate is a famous landscaping tree species with beautiful flowers and fruits. It should be planted in an open-air garden with sufficient light and good drainage, either alone or in a corner of the lawn. Double-petal varieties have three seasons of flowering, and the flowers are particularly beautiful, which are mostly used for potted viewing. Pomegranate old pile bonsai, thin branches, dotted with red fruits is more pleasing to the eye. Because of its strong resistance to toxic gases, it is the main tree species to beautify factories and mines with pollution sources.