There are many kinds of pomegranate, which can be roughly divided into two categories: one is ornamental flower pomegranate; The other is edible pomegranate. Ornamental flower pomegranate can be divided into flower pomegranate (mainly for viewing flowers, which generally does not bear fruit after flowering) and fruit pomegranate (this kind of pomegranate flowers first, but the flowers are not as gorgeous as the former, mainly for viewing fruits). Ornamental flower pomegranate is much shorter than edible fruit pomegranate, and its fruit is smaller. The flowering period of pomegranate is from June to July, and the fruit matures from September to October. Pomegranate is famous for its colorful flowers in the world, especially in the season when spring is gone and flowers are decaying. Pomegranate flowers leap on the branches like fire, which is really poetic and picturesque. The well-known pomegranate of the Four Seasons (also known as the pomegranate of the Rose) blooms all year round, bears fruit in summer, the fruit is shaped, the flowers are open, the flowers and fruits are hanging side by side, and the red flowers are hung with beads, so it is interesting to make bonsai and put it on the desk. If properly maintained, pomegranate fruit will not fall off from February to March of the following year, which can prolong the viewing period. However, if the fruit stays on the branches for a long time, it will consume nutrition, which is not good for the next year's flowering and fruiting. Therefore, in addition to picking it for viewing on festivals such as New Year's Day and Spring Festival, it should be picked in time after the fruit matures. Pomegranate is one of people's favorite fruits. Pan Renyue, a Jin native, wrote in "An Pomegranate Fu": "The pomegranate slayer is a wonderful tree in the world, and the fruit of Kyushu is also the name …". Pomegranate produced in Lintong, Shaanxi Province is famous at home and abroad for its large fruit, many seeds, sweet taste and delicious taste. There is a variety of pomegranate in Lintong called "Tianhong Egg", whose branches, flowers and fruits are all red. The potted pomegranate placed in the courtyard of Chairman Mao Memorial Hall is a famous ornamental flower pomegranate presented by Lintong people. Every spring and early summer, flowers are in full bloom, red and green; After autumn, purples are covered with branches, symbolizing the fruitful and prosperous revolutionary cause.

1. Tree-making

To make miniature and small pomegranate bonsai, seeds of pomegranate are often used for sowing, or its branches are used for cutting propagation, so as to obtain materials for making bonsai. To make miniature bonsai, two-year-old young trees are often used to tie it, and the shape is appropriately trimmed. To make small bonsai, young trees of 2-3 years old can be used for artistic processing. The tree is too old, and the branches are hard to bind. To make large and medium-sized bonsai, we often go to Shan Ye to dig old pomegranate piles, trim them properly, and tie them in a flat if necessary. After "cultivating the blanks" for 1-2 years, we can go to the small pots for viewing. The common styles in pomegranate bonsai are straight dry type, double dry type, curved dry type and inclined dry type. Pomegranate branches are soft and can be rolled into various styles, but the branches and leaves are mostly trimmed into natural shapes.

2. Planting and using pots

Pomegranate is often planted in late spring from March to April. Before planting, the branches and roots should be pruned once. Pomegranate likes fertilizer. When planting, put a few animal hoof pieces and a small amount of rotten bean cakes at the bottom of the pot as base fertilizer. Pomegranate has strong adaptability and is not strict with soil. It can grow in both acidic and alkaline soil. It is better to have loose and fertile soil, but it is afraid of waterlogging. When planting pomegranate bonsai, it is advisable to use purple sand pots or glazed pottery pots with medium depth or deeper depth, and pay attention to coordinating the color of pots with the color of flowers. The shape of the basin depends on the shape of the pomegranate tree.

3. Maintenance management

(1) Site. Pomegranate likes sunny and warm environment. Potted pomegranate should be placed in a sunny and well-ventilated place during the growing season. It takes more than 4 hours of sunshine every day to blossom. In summer, keep the soil moist. Pomegranate trees are not afraid of the sun, and some people don't understand this characteristic. When it is hot at noon, they move it to the shade, which is one of the important reasons for not flowering and fruiting or poor growth. If the potted pomegranate is placed on the concrete floor or on the concrete fence on the balcony, a wooden board should be placed at the bottom of the pot to separate the pot bottom from the concrete floor (because the cement floor conducts heat quickly, it is easy to burn the lower root system of the potted pomegranate). Pomegranate is cold-resistant, and pomegranate planted in the ground can overwinter outdoors in Beijing. Potted right pomegranate should be moved indoors at low temperature in winter, and the room temperature should be around 2℃ to facilitate hibernation in winter.

(2) water. Pomegranate is drought-tolerant, so it should be watered frequently in summer when it is growing vigorously (less water should be used during flowering and fruit-setting period, which will easily lead to falling flowers and fruits), and the soil should be kept moist, and it should not be too wet. Pomegranate is afraid of waterlogging, so it should be put down or moved into a shelter in rainy days to prevent water from accumulating in the basin. Water less in winter dormancy period, as long as the basin soil is wet.

(3) fertilization. Pomegranate likes fertilizer. In addition to proper application of base fertilizer when planting, decomposed liquid fertilizer should be applied once every half month during the leaf opening stage, bud pregnancy stage and fruit growth stage after flowering. After budding, it is necessary to apply .2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate or liquid fertilizer made of poultry manure twice (with an interval of about one week), so that the flowers can be bright and fruity. But don't fertilize during flowering.

(4) plastic surgery. Pomegranate has strong germination ability and can give birth to new branches several times in a year. Generally, robust new branches born in spring can form fruiting mother branches. In the following spring, short new branches grown from terminal buds or axillary buds often bloom, and the flowers with terminal buds are the most fruitful. Steep long branches born in the same year or new branches growing from old perennial branches generally do not bloom in that year, so attention should be paid to this feature when shaping. Branches born in summer and autumn are difficult to form fruiting branches and should be cut off in time. Pomegranate bonsai plastic surgery is often carried out before spring germination. Steep long branches, erect branches, over-dense branches and thin branches should be cut off, but attention should be paid to keeping those robust fruiting branches. From the branches pruned in spring, you can find some people with a certain attitude to prune and cut them, and you can go to a small pot for viewing in the third year after survival. If the mother branch is too long to affect the shape, about 1/3 of the branch length can be cut off, but it can't be cut again, especially not all the branches born last year, otherwise, this pomegranate will be difficult to blossom and bear fruit that year.

(5) pest control. Pomegranate has pests such as aphids, scale insects, inchworms and borers, which should be prevented in time.

If you want to make bonsai pomegranate blossom and bear more fruits, you must take the following measures:

① Turn over the pots. Turn the pots every 1-2 years. Young trees should be replaced with larger pots, and old piles can still use the original pots. Combined with turning pots, half of the old soil should be removed, new soil should be added, and the old roots and excessive fibrous roots should be cut off to facilitate the generation of new roots. To cultivate pomegranate, it is best to use poultry manure, viscera of freshwater fish, cake fertilizer, add appropriate amount of leaves, weeds, sand and so on, mix well, pour enough water, and rette to make humus soil. This humus soil is all-element soil, in which there are more phosphorus and potassium, which is beneficial to pomegranate flowering and fruiting. If you don't turn over the pot for many years, there will be more fibrous roots, less soil and less fertilizer in the pot, and there will be few or no flowers.

② fertilization. Pomegranate is more fertile than ordinary potted flowers and trees, so base fertilizer should be applied well when turning the pot. When planting pomegranate with general culture soil, the liquid containing more phosphorus should be applied when fertilizing, and O should be applied several times appropriately. 2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate.

⑧ illumination. In the bud-pregnant period of pomegranate, besides adequate illumination, it is also necessary to make the basin soil dry. When the leaves are slightly wilted, the pomegranate can be placed in the shade for about 3 minutes. After the temperature of the soil and pomegranate plants is reduced, clean water is sprayed on the leaves, and then water is poured into the basin after a while. Repeat this several times, and buds will appear in about 2 days.

④ pollination. In case of rainy weather during flowering, natural pollination will be affected. At this time, pomegranate should be moved to a ventilated place to avoid rain, and then placed in the sun for maintenance after the weather is fine. Pomegranate flowers can be divided into males and females. The front end of the male flower is large, and the connection between the back and the flower stalk is small. The front end of the female flower is small, and the rear part is larger at the junction with the flower stalk. In order to improve the fruit setting rate, artificial pollination can be used. The method is as follows: when the first crop of flowers just opens, lightly tap the stamens with a brush, and then lightly tap the pistils with this pen for several times, so as to help them pollinate. It is best to pollinate in the morning, and the hot weather at noon is not good for pollination.

⑤ thinning branches. Some people are reluctant to prune the pomegranate they have cultivated from seedlings, and some beginners don't know how to prune it. As a result, the leaves are flourishing and the nutrition is scattered, which is not only unsightly, but also not conducive to flowering and fruiting. Pomegranate should be trimmed and reshaped after falling leaves or before sprouting in spring, and some buds should be cut off in time if there are too many buds; After the fruit is set, according to the shape, you should also cut off the unnecessary fruit, a medium-sized pomegranate bonsai, and leave 3-5 pomegranates in the appropriate position. Its layout should be high and low, dense and well-organized. If there are too many fruits left, it will appear disorganized and lose its aesthetic feeling.