my punica granatum seedlings comparison, this year experiment
The ones inside are trying to grow to better light. Those outside are probably putting the energy towards more roots and thicker trunks. Just guessing, but the twisted trunks outside may be the plants are following the light to get the best sun angle daily which gives the trunks movement. Great experiment!
This reminds me of my maybe 6th grade science experiment where we grew bean plants outside, inside under artificial light and in a closet. Similar to your results, the plants that grew in lesser light grew long and spindly trying to reach for better light. The one in a closet grew long and spindly until it spent all the seed’s energy and died.
Punicas poked shelf above them.. there is no above light source and they growing straight up, no fototropism similiar to observed in another plants on same windowsill (facing east)
I hope they survive
Need to step up from organic soil and fertilizer tho , my plants started consuming too much, and soil looks depleted. Prob gonna start farming spiderplants in leftover soil cuz they are almost unkillable
Any tips on how to get the seeds to sprout? I know they like it very warm. Perhaps I leave the pomegranates on too long? I"ve just been propagating them through cuttings. Will you be bringing the stems closer together before bundling them up?
The amount of supporting equipment that goes along with those capabilities is pretty large. Specialized intense lighting, and complex filtration systems, etc. and some species still refuse to grow very much if at all. To replicate direct sunlight is not easy to do (look to the marijuana growers for leads).
Agree. When I decided to grow Japanese maples here in central Florida (Zone 9b) I knew it would be a struggle because we may only have a few days a year where the temperatures get down in the 30s. Not near enough time to give them their ideal 2000-2500 hours of winter chill hours (32-45 degrees F) they desire. As you said, they would struggle for a couple of years and then die. I refused to give up on them and decided to do the chill requirement for them. Around the first week of December I defoliated them, give them a good watering and put them all in a garage refrigerator. I check them every two weeks to insure they are not drying out. As the weeks go by you can see the new buds get extremely fat as they sleep for the winter. They come out of the frig the first week of March. After about a week back outside they just explode in new growth and look absolutely beautiful. It’s really hard to keep up with all the pinching because they are growing so fast. It’s a lot of extra work but IMHO it’s well worth it if you’re a Japanese maple nut like I am. Probably the most important thing I learned about growing trees is if you give them what they need they will reward you with awesome growth and vigor. I also had to set up my outside area so that the sun could never directly touch their leaves. Just one little ray of light from our summer sun would fry their leaves. It’s a lot of work, but that’s what I’ve decided to grow so that’s what I have to do.
Wow interesting!! Really like these kind of tests as they will either challenge current theory / practice or fall in line with it!! Would like to hear from more people on this. Anazing thing about mother nature is it will always surprise you with a curved ball.
