Growing Pomegranates in Arizona: Varieties, Watering, Fruit Splitting and Harvest
If you have driven through an older Phoenix or Tucson neighborhood this month, you have probably seen big, leathery red globes hanging off a shrub by somebody's back wall. Late October is pomegranate season in Arizona, and it is one of my favorite fruits to grow here.
Pomegranates are about as close to a "plant it and mostly leave it alone" fruit tree as you will find in the desert, and they have been growing in Arizona since the mission era.
Still, a tree that survives is different from one that gives you big, sweet, uncracked fruit every fall. Here is what I have learned.
Why Pomegranates Belong in an Arizona Yard
Pomegranates come from a hot, dry part of the world, so our climate feels like home to them:
Heat tolerant. They keep growing and setting fruit through 110-degree summers, as long as they get water.
Cold tolerant. Dormant pomegranates handle low-teens temperatures, which means they work in the low desert, the middle elevations and many higher-desert towns. Very cold spots in the high country are hit or miss.
Low chill. Most varieties need little winter chill, so a mild Phoenix winter is not a problem.
Soil tolerant. They put up with alkaline soil and some salt better than citrus or stone fruit.
They are also self-fruitful, so one plant is enough. Bees help with pollination, but you do not need a second tree.
Choosing a Pomegranate Variety
You will see a handful of varieties at Arizona nurseries and through mail-order growers. The three I get asked about most are Wonderful, Parfianka and Angel Red.
Wonderful is the classic commercial pomegranate and the one you buy at the grocery store. The fruit is large, deep red, and tart-sweet with a strong flavor. The seeds inside each aril are on the firm side, so you notice the crunch. It ripens late, usually October into November here, and it is reliable and productive once established. If you want big fruit for juice, this is the one.
Parfianka is a favorite of a lot of backyard growers. The arils are a bright, jewel red, the flavor is sweet with a little wine-like tartness, and the seeds are soft enough to eat without thinking about it. It ripens in the fall, often a bit before Wonderful.
Angel Red is a soft-seeded variety that is known for ripening earlier than Wonderful, which helps you get fruit off the tree before late-season problems pile up. The arils are juicy and the seeds are soft. It is a good pick if your fruit tends to split or get hammered by bugs at the end of the season.
If you have room for two, pairing an early variety with Wonderful stretches your harvest.
When and Where to Plant
The best planting window in the low desert is late winter through early spring, roughly January through March. Fall planting also works well here, since the soil is still warm and the air is cooling off, so if you buy one this week, go ahead.
For the spot:
Full sun. Six to eight hours or more. More sun means more flowers and more fruit.
Room to grow. Left alone, a pomegranate becomes a multi-trunk shrub around 10 to 15 feet tall and nearly as wide. Dwarf types work in big pots.
Drainage. Pomegranates tolerate a lot, but not soggy roots. Dig a test hole, fill it with water, and make sure it drains within several hours. Break through caliche if you hit it.
Dig the hole two to three times as wide as the root ball and no deeper. Set the plant at the same depth it grew in the pot, backfill with native soil (you do not need a lot of amendments), build a soil ring a few feet out to hold water, and soak it well. Add a few inches of mulch over the root zone, keeping it a few inches away from the trunks.
Watering: Deep, Steady and Consistent
Watering is where most pomegranate problems start and end. The goal is deep, infrequent, and above all consistent.
For a newly planted pomegranate, water every few days for the first couple of weeks, then gradually stretch it out. During its first summer, plan on a deep soak about every 5 to 7 days, more often in a heat wave or sandy soil.
For an established tree in the low desert, a good rough schedule is:
Summer: a deep watering about every 7 to 14 days
Spring and fall: every 2 to 3 weeks
Winter while dormant: about once a month, or less after a good rain
Each watering should soak down about 2 to 3 feet. Spread it under the canopy and a bit beyond, and move drip emitters outward as the plant grows.
The single most important thing during fruit development, from roughly July through harvest, is to avoid big swings between dry and wet. That brings us to the number one complaint.
Fruit Splitting and How to Prevent It
Almost everyone who grows pomegranates in Arizona deals with split fruit. You walk out one morning and half your crop has cracked open, often right after a monsoon storm or a heavy watering.
Here is what is going on. As the fruit nears ripeness, the skin gets thicker and less stretchy. If the tree has been a little dry and then suddenly gets a big drink, the arils swell faster than the rind can stretch, and the fruit cracks. Late-season rain, heavy irrigation after a long gap, and big day-night temperature swings all make it worse.
To cut down on splitting:
Keep watering steady. Do not let the soil dry out hard and then flood it. Regular, deep watering through late summer and fall is the best defense.
Mulch. A thick layer of mulch keeps soil moisture more even.
Pick on time. Splitting gets more likely the longer ripe fruit hangs. Harvest promptly once the fruit is ready.
Try an earlier variety. Varieties like Angel Red ripen before some of the late-season weather swings.
Split fruit is edible if you catch it quickly, but toss anything moldy or sour-smelling.
Leaffooted Bugs and Other Problems
If you see brown, shield-shaped bugs with flattened, leaf-like flares on their back legs crawling all over your pomegranates, those are leaffooted bugs. They are the main pomegranate pest in Arizona. They pierce the rind with their mouthparts and suck the juice, which leaves the arils inside discolored, dried up or rotting, even when the outside of the fruit still looks fine.
They tend to build up in late summer and fall. A few ways to fight back:
Hand-pick early. Knock them into a bucket of soapy water in the cool morning when they are sluggish. Scrape off their bronze egg rows on leaves.
Clean up. Remove fallen and split fruit, and keep weeds down, since the bugs overwinter in debris and nearby plants.
Bag fruit. Some growers slip mesh or paper fruit bags over developing fruit to keep bugs and birds off.
Other things you might run into:
Heart rot. Fruit looks normal outside but is black and rotten inside. It is caused by fungi that get in through the flower end, often helped by insect damage and rain during bloom. Good cleanup and bug control help.
Sunburn. Fruit on the south and west sides can scorch in summer. Leave enough leaves on the plant to shade the fruit instead of pruning it bare.
Feeding and Pruning
Pomegranates are not heavy feeders. A light application of a balanced fruit-tree fertilizer in late winter as new growth starts, and maybe another light one in spring, is plenty for most yards. Too much nitrogen gives you lots of leaves and suckers and fewer fruits.
Prune in late winter while the plant is dormant. You can grow a pomegranate as a multi-trunk shrub or train it to a single trunk as a small tree. Either way:
Pull or cut suckers coming up from the base that you do not want as new trunks.
Remove dead, crossing and crowded branches to let light and air into the middle.
Do not shear it into a ball. Pomegranates fruit on the tips of short shoots off older wood, so heavy shearing cuts off next year's fruit.
Most plants start producing a meaningful crop in their second or third year.
When and How to Harvest
In Arizona, pomegranate harvest generally runs September through November, depending on the variety and where you live. Pomegranates do not ripen after picking, so leave them on until they are ready.
Signs a pomegranate is ripe:
Color. The skin reaches its full mature color for that variety, often a deep red, although some ripe varieties stay pinkish or yellow-red. Color alone can fool you.
Shape. The fruit loses its perfectly round look and the sides start to flatten out a bit, so it looks slightly angular.
Sound. Tap it with your finger. A ripe fruit has a more metallic, hollow sound.
Taste test. When in doubt, pick one and open it. If the arils are deep colored and sweet, pick the rest of that batch.
Cut the fruit off with pruners rather than pulling, which can tear the branch. Whole pomegranates keep for weeks in a cool spot and up to a couple of months in the refrigerator.
How to Seed a Pomegranate Without the Mess
The bowl-of-water method is my go-to:
Cut off the crown (the little flower end) and score the skin into four to six sections along the ridges, just through the rind.
Fill a big bowl with cool water.
Hold the fruit underwater and pull it apart into sections.
Gently push the arils loose with your thumbs while still underwater.
The arils sink, and the white pith floats. Skim off the pith, drain, and you are done.
No red splatter on the counter.
Ways to Eat Your Pomegranates
Fresh. A bowl of arils with a spoon is hard to beat.
Salads. Toss arils into green salads, grain bowls and fruit salad.
Juice. Pulse arils briefly in a blender, then strain, or press halves on a citrus juicer.
Freeze. Spread arils on a sheet pan, freeze, then bag them. They keep for months for smoothies and toppings.
A Little Mission History
Spanish missionaries brought pomegranates to the Southwest along with figs and quinces. If you want to see heritage fruit in person, Tucson's Mission Garden grows mission-era fruit trees including pomegranates (https://www.missiongarden.org). For local growing advice, the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension (https://extension.arizona.edu) has fruit-growing guides for different parts of the state.
Quick Pomegranate Checklist
Plant in late winter, early spring or fall in full sun with good drainage
Pick Wonderful for big tart fruit, Parfianka or Angel Red for soft seeds
Water deeply and on a steady schedule, especially from July to harvest
Hand-pick leaffooted bugs and clean up fallen fruit
Feed lightly in late winter and prune while dormant
Harvest September through November when fruit flattens, sounds hollow and tastes sweet
Pomegranates reward a little attention with a lot of fruit. Get the watering steady, stay on top of the bugs, and you will be handing out bags of red globes every fall. Which variety is your favorite?
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