Publications - Faculty - Recently Submitted Faculty Publications 2010
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Castle - Proc. Florida State Horticultural Society – Krome Section
Pomegranate in Florida for Commercial Enterprises and Homeowners
William S. Castle, James C. Baldwin and Megh Singh
Abstract:The pomegranate is being explored as a species for commercial and homeowner uses in Florida. A collection of ca. 75 accessions has been assembled. From those selections ca. 3,500 plants have been propagated in a commercial nursery and are being distributed to grower-cooperators and nurseries for evaluation. Two foundation trials have been established in Central Florida, one at the University of Florida, IFAS, Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC), Lake Alfred and another at Water Conserv II, Winter Garden. The initial effort showed that all the pomegranate selections were easy to propagate and in the field, nursery plants in 1-gallon containers grown on a citrus-based irrigation and nutritional program reached heights of 4 to 5 ft in 1 year with a healthy appearance. The plants at Water Conserv fruited after 1 year with many selections producing 15 to 35 fruit. Cercospora leaf spot caused some leaf drop and other unknown pests and/or diseases affected fruit development. An herbicide study using containerized ‘Parfyanka’ plants grown in sand soil showed unacceptable phytotoxicity to label rate applications of Indaziflam, diuron and norflurazon, but the injury from pendimethalin and simazine was ≤ 10%.
