pomegranate bloomed but didn't set fruit

I have a 4 year old "Wonderful" pomegranate that first bloomed (rather sparsely) last year but nevertheless set a dozen fruit . This year the blooms were abundant and I was ecstatic dreaming of a bumper crop of delicious exotic fruit to enjoy and share. No such luck, only one fruit set and I'm so disappointed. What happened? Not enough bees? I had hundreds of them last year on my Indigo Spires Salvias and was looking forward to seeing them again this summer, but there may be only a third of the number buzzing. Could this be the result of the hive collapse epidemic and would that explain my lack of fruit?

I don't have much personal experience here, but pomegranates are known to have difficulty setting in humid weather since their natural climate is dry. So that would be my first guess: it was more humid this year than last year. There are many reasons why trees do not set, pollination is the one that first comes to mind and that could indeed have been an issue, but there are many others. One other one I would think of in this case is alternate bearing: if a tree bears too much one year it may be inclined to bear very little the next year (to recover). Apples commonly do this; I don't know how common it is in pomegranates.

Scott

I had trouble with my fruit trees from the lack of rain. I don't have them on an irragtion system and what happened to me is a high number of small fruits fell off the trees. It was simply from not enough water at the right time. Early spring was fine for rain but it basicaly stopped raining when the trees were flowering.

You're up the road from me so I assume you had the same rain pattern this year. That might be what happened. I'm sure I would have more fruit if I started watering a few weeks earlier than I did. As an example I lost 50% or so of my peaches within the first two weeks of the fruit forming. They were also a good two weeks late for picking too.

Thanks for the input scottfsmith and CoreHHI. I'll pay closer attention to watering deeply when the tree blooms next year. I'd like to be successful enough with this fruit to justify planting more. Anyone have advice on blueberry varieties for the coastal SC climate? I'm hoping to plant some that are also reasonably ornamental in a big front bed.

CoreHHI, pomegranates are plants from dry climates so normally a lack of rain would not matter. Even a drought in SC is a gusher as far as they are concerned. However for younger plants that could well be a factor if it was unusually dry there.

I started some cuttings this year which I planted out early, and was surprised how well they held up to the drier spells we had in spite of having only a root or two. My new figs right next to them were wilting.

Scott

It was unusually dry here. Where I planted my trees is a little bit of a problem this year. My peaches are on a little slope in sandy soil. Great in a year that rains like normal but not so good in drought. My citrus trees are loving life right now, 100 degrees doesn't bother them one bit. I try to plant in spots that will work out best for the plant. I have bannas growing in a natural run off spot etc. Same with cannas. Drier areas get plants that don't do well sitting in water.

Across the board I did lose a high number of fruit off of every tree and I would say water was cause. I had a pomegranate until the neighbors dog eat it. LOL. Going to try again next year but I don't have working experience with them for the moment.

You are right on about hills and water. I have many trees on a steep hill and have found the more water-sensitive things can have a hard time for several years before they finally get deep enough roots. I eventually gave up growing tomatoes on the hill since I could not keep enough water on them. The grapes did OK but the steeper the hill they were on the slower they grew. The apples, peaches, and plums all did pretty well except some peaches in a very rocky area with hardly anyplace for the roots to go. That is probably something like your sandy soil on the hill. The good news is every year the roots get a little bit bigger and the tree does better and better at dealing with low water stress. This summer is the first where I did not need to water any of my trees or vines at all.

Scott

All my trees are pretty young, think next year they'll be fine on their own. I don't want to run irragation to them and all that. I grow fruit for fun not as a business.