Newly Planted Pomegranate Dropped Nearly All Green Leaves

I planted a wonderful pomegranate a week ago. It seemed healthy enough, though the planting seemed to stress it a bit (the leaves looked a bit wilted, but nothing serious). Then, over the last two days we've had very heavy rains (three inches hit my yard) sometimes very hard, sometimes very light, but pretty much non stop.

Once the storm blew over, I went out to inspect things, and to my horror saw that my pomegranate is now mostly bare sticks, with perfectly fine looking green leaves piled at it's base. Needless to say, it is the only tree in my yard that had this happen.



Is this...normal somehow? Is it way more stressed than I thought? I know pomegranates are more happy with dry conditions, could the transplanting shock plus the sudden storm have done it in? Is there anything I can do to help it? Should I remove those leaves in case of disease?

I don't know much about pomegranates, except that apparently they've been grown from PA down to savanna, GA, so unless you're in a really cold climate I wouldn't expect them to do too poorly.

I would guess it probably drowned in the rain, as you suggested in combination with transplant shock. I hate using transplants for that reason and others, but if you pick a less flooded time of the year to plant it you may have better luck.

I wouldn't worry about plants shedding leaves in general. Plants tend to drop their leaves for any number of reasons when transplanted or moved. My experience with pomegranates is that they drop their leaves very easily, but they are super tough. What I put mine through was practically plant cruelty, but it survived and is thriving where it ended up.

This late in the year your young tree has had plenty of time to store up energy for the winter. "Wonderful" is hardy to zone 8 or so, preferably somewhere not too humid, but it's also not terribly picky.

I wouldn't worry unless it doesn't send out new leaves next spring.

Nicole Castle wrote:I wouldn't worry about plants shedding leaves in general. Plants tend to drop their leaves for any number of reasons when transplanted or moved. My experience with pomegranates is that they drop their leaves very easily, but they are super tough. What I put mine through was practically plant cruelty, but it survived and is thriving where it ended up.

This late in the year your young tree has had plenty of time to store up energy for the winter. "Wonderful" is hardy to zone 8 or so, preferably somewhere not too humid, but it's also not terribly picky.

I wouldn't worry unless it doesn't send out new leaves next spring.

That's good to know, at least I don't have to worry too much that I've killed it. I'm in zone 7, so the climate should be fine for it. The rain storm wasn't normal for my area, either (it damaged our roof, too!), so hopefully it won't have to tolerate much more weather like that before it goes dorment.

Jenny Rey wrote:That's good to know, at least I don't have to worry too much that I've killed it. I'm in zone 7, so the climate should be fine for it. The rain storm wasn't normal for my area, either (it damaged our roof, too!), so hopefully it won't have to tolerate much more weather like that before it goes dorment.

It's the other way around -- "Wonderful" will need winter protection in zone 7. It's hardy down to about 10F; some people report is dies back to the ground at warmer temperatures but will regrow from the roots.

Russian and central Asian (sometimes called Iranian) varieties can take more cold.