The Joke's On Me

kbmbillups1
kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited June 2021 in Fruit

I've had a pomegranate bush for several years and it's never gotten any fruit. So this winter I told that bush -if you don't get flowers this year I'm cutting you down.

Wouldn't you know it the bush has gotten 6 or 7 flowers on it so far BUT they're all falling off.

I looked it up and learned male flowers fall off while female flowers turn into fruit. OMG! Wouldn't you know it the bush has made all male flowers so far!

😁 😉

Comments

  • RustBeltCowgirl
    RustBeltCowgirl Posts: 1,403 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Don't you just hate when you get what you wanted ; then they tell you that you weren't quite specific enough.😃

  • naomi.kohlmeier
    naomi.kohlmeier Posts: 380 ✭✭✭

    Same here with my Apricot tree. It provides wonderful shade and is a pretty tree. I've had it for 6-7 years, and threatened to cut it down if it didn't have apricots. It bloomed like crazy. Had more tiny apricots than I could count, but almost all of them have fallen off prematurely. The few that are hanging on are getting pretty big. I'm not holding my breath that they will mature. Time will tell.

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I planted two varieties of honeyberry (needed for cross-pollination) about 4 years ago. The plants have grown very slowly and gradually, much slower than I expected, but they are now about 18 inches high and seem to be well-established.

    But I have yet to see a single berry forming. I am wondering if the two varieties (which were sold to me together as a set) don't flower at quite the same time, so they aren't getting pollinated. I poked at them this spring to see if I could hand-pollinated them, and the lightest touch caused the flower to fall apart.

    I don't know if honeyberries are going to work out. :-( Has anyone else tried them?

    My blueberry plants have put out a few blueberries, but they are still only a few inches tall after 4 years or so. One died, the other four are still alive. I put pine needles on them every year, and this year I put sulphur on them all to keep the soil acid. The problem may be a combination of not enough sun and heavy clay soil interfering with root development.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    @VermontCathy I have honeyberries and they were very slow at getting going. Just the odd berry here and there for the first 3-4 years. I think the problem may have been a lack of water and then they had two summers where there was little to no sun due to weeks of heavy smoke from wildfires. The past two years have been much better. I am hoping for more than a handful of berries this year. But they still have quite a ways to go before they get to their advertised height of 6 feet. I bought two more bushes last year. They haven't grown much either but might be growing a bit faster than the original two.

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thanks, @torey, it's good to know that these are slow-growing and slow to yield. That suggests that I am not doing anything wrong and just need to be patient.

  • karenjanicki
    karenjanicki Posts: 989 ✭✭✭✭

    Oh that would be frustrating. Is the entire plant male or does it produce both male and female flowers?

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭

    It's good to know I'm not the only one with fruit trees that aren't getting fruit. I wonder if they're all hard to get to fruit or if there's some conspiracy with these trees! ☺️

    @RustBeltCowgirl Ya, I should have been a lot more specific! I want 15 beautiful red ripe pomegranates or else! 😁

  • MissPatricia
    MissPatricia Posts: 318 ✭✭✭

    I have a fig tree (8-9 years) and a pomegranate (4-5 years) that have never fruited. So frustrating. Blueberries I have no problem with since trees were cut down allowing sufficient sunlight. I put down wood chips heavily around the fig tree 2-3 years ago and have pruned at least twice. Plan to prune heavily this fall or winter. If anyone has other or better ideas, please let me know.

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @MissPatricia Hopefully someone has some ideas! All of my pomegranate flowers did fall off. 😓 Last year my fig tree finally got figs after 4 or 5 years but the didn't ripen. I planted a 2nd fig tree last year so hoping to get figs this year. 🤞 Like you my blueberry bushes are producing like crazy!!

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I started a Jacaranda from seed and was in a bucket for a few years before I gave it to my dad and he planted in his yard. But after a couple years in the yard it still had not flower so he threatened to cut it down and wouldn't you know it ... it has flowered every year since! 😁

  • Sharie
    Sharie Posts: 276 ✭✭✭

    That's funny! I wish I could trade you some pomegranates for peaches or apples. They grow pretty big here, like 20 feet or higher. Cold weather fruit trees are lucky to produce a few fruit and they're not so tasty.