Replanting Container Grown Pomegranate – Tips On Transplanting Potted Pomegranates Outside

Pomegranate Tree Full Of Fruits
(Image credit: vovashevchuk)

Pomegranates (Punica granatum) can present as small trees or large shrubs. They are healthy trees if planted correctly and thrive in dry regions. It’s pretty easy to transplant a container grown pomegranate outdoors. You’ll need to be sure to get it sited correctly. Read on for more information for moving a potted pomegranate outdoors. 

Pomegranate Tree Transplant

Pomegranate trees are not stately by any means. Many grow as bushy shrubs. They are resistant to pests and diseases though and are easy to transplant from a container into your backyard These trees thrive in USDA plant hardiness zones 7b through 12. 

When is the best time to do a pomegranate tree transplant? If you buy a bare root plant, you’ll want to do it in the spring, right after you buy it. When you are moving a container grown pomegranate, however, you can be more flexible. You can undertake moving a potted pomegranate outdoors at any time of the year, although March and October are considered best.

Transplanting Potted Pomegranates

When you are transplanting potted pomegranates, you’ll want to take care when selecting the site. Pick the brightest site available in your landscape and avoid low-lying frost pockets, trees may be damaged by unseasonable frosts.

Also make sure that the soil is fertile and drains well. Pomegranates thrive in dry soil so sandy loam is ideal. These trees prefer slightly alkaline soil

Moving a Potted Pomegranate Outdoors

What’s the first step when you are moving a potted pomegranate outdoors? First, take the shrub from the pot and set the root ball in a bucket of water. Let it stay there for at least two hours.

Dig a hole in the selected site. Make it the same depth as the root ball of the container grown pomegranate so that the tree is planted as deep in the ground as it was in the container. Make the hole twice or even three times as wide as the root ball. Fill the hole with soil. Do not add fertilizer.

Water your newly planted pomegranate well at planting time. Keep the water coming on a daily basis for a few weeks, then slowly reduce the irrigation to twice a week. Each time you water, be sure that the entire root ball gets thoroughly wet. Keep this up for the first year.

Teo Spengler
Writer

Teo Spengler has been gardening for 30 years. She is a docent at the San Francisco Botanical Garden. Her passion is trees, 250 of which she has planted on her land in France.