How to grow pomegranate from the stone at home

Pomegranate fruits are a symbol of friendship and fertility. Hindus recommend red kernels for rejuvenation of the body, and peel - for cleansing from parasites. Pink pomegranate flowers will decorate any windowsill and fill the house with harmony and love. So why not grow your own miniature tree from a bone?

Choosing the right seeds

Where to get the planting material? Buy in the market or in the store large fruit saturated color. You can not take for planting fruit with rot or mold. The bones obtained from such specimens are weak and painful; they germinate and develop poorly.

Only healthy ripe pomegranates are suitable, which you need to carefully cut and extract the contents. To remove a soft cover, and to put seeds in a colander and to wash out under the crane to clear from juice and pieces of pulp.Carefully inspect the bones. Only solid seeds of a greyish-beige color or ivory shade are suitable. This means that they are already ripe and have enough nutrients to germinate. Planting material is green, soft to the touch, does not germinate. These bones just rot, falling into the ground, and disappear.

Germination

Pomegranate seeds put on a saucer and pour a little water so that they are half submerged in liquid. The planting material needs air, because oxygen awakens the seed and starts the germination process. It is impossible for the bones to float in water, otherwise they will die.

Planting material must be sanitized. Recommend such means as "Zircon" or "Appin". Only 2-3 drops, and no fungus and rot. Change the solution in the saucer every 12 hours. Seeds should lie in water for about 3 days, and they should not be allowed to dry, otherwise the hard shell will crack and the seed will die.

You can cover the saucer with gauze or cotton cloth, which holds moisture well. Water intended for soaking should be passed through a filter in order to remove impurities. Put the saucer in the heat, away from drafts.

Bones after a three-day swim practically do not change the appearance. Unlike other planting material, they germinate not in a plate, but already in the ground. It is important to prepare the right soil and pots in advance, because the seeds are put into the soil right from the plate.

Substrate Preparation

Pomegranate is taking root in almost any land, but in order for the plant to be strong and develop quickly, one of three options should be used. The easiest way to buy a special substrate intended for indoor flowers. It contains many nutrients, quite loose and breathable.

The second variant of the soil is prepared from peat and coarse-grained river sand, which is preliminarily calcined or dusted with boiling water to disinfect. Take the components in equal proportions, mix thoroughly and fill the pot with the mixture.

If there was no peat at hand, it is replaced with sod land and humus. Ingredients to combine and insist a few days, and before planting pomegranate grains add river sand. The latter component will make the soil looser and softer, and humus will become a source of minerals.

Regardless of the composition of the substrate, you need to put a drainage layer in the pot. If it is absent, water constantly stagnates at the bottom of the tank, the roots of the tree rot, and it has a fungus. Suitable for expanded clay or small pebbles, pieces of foam or crushed clay shards.

Tip: If the soil dries quickly or is too compacted, it should be replaced with a new soil, which is added to pine or other sawdust.

Planting seed

1. Fill the pot with the substrate, make several holes 1–1.5 cm deep in it and slightly moisten with a spray bottle.
2. You can not pits too deep, otherwise the germ will be difficult to break through the ground.
3. Put a wet seed and sprinkle with soil, without tamping it.
4. Sprinkle with water and cover the pot with cling film or plastic bag. Get a mini-greenhouse, which is always warm and humid.
5. No need to add fertilizer or growth stimulants. Pomegranate seeds take the necessary nutrients from the soil.
6. The main thing is to keep the pot with the future tree warm.

It is recommended to plant seeds in the winter, so that the first sprouts appear by spring,therefore, the grenade can be kept near the battery, but make sure that the earth does not dry out.

Natural selection

When shoots run through, it is recommended to rearrange the pot to the south window. Young trees need a lot of light to grow and gain strength. Do not remove the film, but air the sprouts regularly, opening the improvised cover for 1-2 hours, and watering. The ground should not be too wet or water should accumulate at the bottom. In such cases, you need to stop watering for a few days to the substrate has dried, and further reduce the amount of fluid for soil moisture.

If the seeds are planted in winter, in the beginning-middle of spring the first leaves will appear on the sprouts. Then the film is removed so that it does not prevent the trees from being pulled upwards. Only one plant is left in the pot, the strongest and largest. The rest you need to carefully pull out. You can simply pinch the top, leaving the root in the ground. It will gradually decompose, supplying the growing sprout with additional nutrients.

Important: Not all bones planted in the winter, peeking in March-April. Some may take months to wake up, so empty pots without sprouts are recommended not to be thrown away, but to be set aside and continue to be watered.If after 6 months nothing happened, then the seeds did not germinate.

Picking

Saplings can and not thinned, and transplanted in separate containers. Pomegranate picks are performed after the appearance of two true, non-cotyledon leaves.

How to carry out the procedure?

1. It will take a few pots of medium size. The amount depends on how many trees you plan to grow.
2. Each pot is filled with drainage and substrate with pine sawdust.
3. Make one hole at a depth of 2–2.5 cm. Be sure to moisten the ground so that the garnet quickly settles.
4. Carefully distribute the roots in the fossa. Sprinkle the seedling with earth, slightly ram the ground.
5. You can add water, but if the substrate is wet enough, watering should be postponed for several days.

Too thin and weak or crooked seedlings are recommended to throw away. From them grow painful trees, which are constantly exposed to attacks of pests or fungus.

Irrigation water and sunshine

Pomegranate comes from warm countries, so the tree adores the sun and tolerates high temperatures normally.A pot with a plant can be put on the south window-sill, closer to the light, but be sure to shade the delicate leaves of ultraviolet radiation. It is advisable to hang patterned curtains or blinds on the windows, which disperse the sun's rays and make them softer.

In the summer of pomegranate is useful to make a balcony. Country house owners move the plant pot to the garden. In the open air, pomegranate blooms faster and develops better. Pot recommend prikopat earth, hiding a seedling under a taller tree.

In winter, water the pomegranate twice a week, and in the summer up to 4–5. If the ground inside remains wet and the top layer dries quickly, it should be sprayed with a spray bottle. Water should not fall on the leaves of the tree and flowers. Use only warm distilled liquid, in which in spring and summer you can add fertilizer for indoor plants or complexes for tomatoes and sweet peppers. Among the natural feed emit the infusion of manure and aquarium water. It is necessary to fertilize the earth twice a month, before adding nutrients, pomegranate is plentifully watered.

Other nuances

1. To make the tree fluffy, you need to pinch the fourth one after the appearance of the third pair of leaves.This will cause the grenade to grow with two tops.
2. The plant will bear fruit if grafted. In other cases, the tree grown from the stone, only blooms, but the fruit does not appear on it.
3. Closer to winter, around November or early December, the pomegranate drops leaves. When the last one falls, you need to take the pot to a cool greenhouse or to the cellar. The plant should overwinter at a temperature of + 5–0 degrees.
4. From November to March, pomegranate is watered once every 1.5–2 months. Fertilize is not necessary.

During the flowering period, you can try to pollinate the plant with a brush or a cotton swab. No one guarantees that there will be an ovary on the pomegranate, but it is quite likely that several fruits will ripen on thin branches by autumn. Even if the tree does not give birth every year, it is worth planting for the sake of beautiful pink buds that will appear every 10 months.

Video: how to grow pomegranate