4-year-old pomegranate that it only blooms but has never set fruit and the branches are very long and not sure how to prune it

Question

I pomegranate is 4 years old has never set fruit as lots of blooms The branches are very long and leggy My tree is about 5 to 6 ft tall. Question on why it's not setting fruit and how to trim it back.

Answer 1

Most pomegranates are self-fruitful, that is, they have all the flower parts necessary for producing fruit successfully under ideal conditions. Let's think positively and assume that your plant is one of these; if purchased from a reputable supplier you might check this with them. Plants which are not self-fruitful are normally sold with a proviso that you need two distinct compatible varieties for fruit to appear. If there was no warning you should be okay.

So if these plants are producing flowers then something must be interfering with the process. A couple of examples might be: too cold when the blooms open, or not handled roughly enough. For example apples which are self-fruitful or not may be pollinated but the process does not complete correctly if there is a period of cold weather at bloom time, and tomatoes which are self-fruitful may not set fruit if there is no shaking movement to dislodge the pollen and allow it to fall or blow onto the receiving parts of the flower. The shaking is normally not a problem in a windy location or in frequent rain events.

So your challenge is to think of all the ways that pollination might actually happen but not be successful.

When pruning, try to make sure that some active shoots are left on the branches.