Volunteer plant: discovery and mystery

last year

last modified: last year

A few weeks ago I noticed a plant I had never seen before in my front yard. It had been there long enough to grow branches almost a foot long. It looked very healthy, although it was growing in hard-packed earth that is normally bare except for established trees and bushes that I deep-water once a month in dry weather. It was close enough to a tree to get water, but it can't have very deep roots yet, so living on once-a-month watering cannot be easy for it.

I'm a sucker for any kind of survivor, so I let it grow and started watering it. Yesterday I consulted my preferred plant identifier and learned that it's a pomegranate. That made sense, since it is about eight feet away from an established pomegranate bush. On closer examination, I saw that it was growing out of a segment of branch about four inches long and a quarter inch thick that took root at one end. (It's sprouting branches at both ends, though!) I looked up pomegranates and learned that cuttings take root easily. Mystery solved, I thought. A piece of the pomegranate bush must have broken off during the wet season, landed a few feet away, and rooted well enough to survive into the dry season.

But then I took a good look at the leaves. The baby pomegranate has much bigger leaves than the established one, and they're a much darker green. Clearly the same species, but not the same variety.

I know of only one other pomegranate in the vicinity. It's also in my yard, but too far away for a twig to fall where the volunteer is growing. Its leaves are also smaller, and they're a darker green than the established bush, but not quite as dark as the baby.

So I'm puzzled: where did it come from, and how did it get here?

Another puzzle is how I'll transplant it to a place where I can allow it to get bigger. But that one will have to wait for the wet season.

Featured Answer

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

last year

last modified: last year

I'm certainly no expert but reading around the topic it seems that pomegranates can be grafted and sometimes are. But the suckers do need to be kept cut back. I find it hard to believe this is a seedling given the hefty size of that root. And OP said it's buried at both ends.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (10)

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
last year
Any chance of pictures? If it is definitely a pomegranate there are two reasons it could look different: it is a seedling or it has grown from a rootstock.
vgkg Z-7 Va
last year
"So I'm puzzled: where did it come from, and how did it get here? "

A seed passed through a bird?
Related Professionals
New Braunfels Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Vidalia Landscape Contractors · Atlantic City Landscape Contractors · Binghamton Landscape Contractors · Wenatchee Landscape Contractors · Tupelo Architects & Building Designers · Leamington Architects & Building Designers · York Architects & Building Designers · Aurora Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Spring Landscape Contractors · Potsdam Landscape Contractors · Salisbury Home Additions · Albany Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Lafayette Landscape Contractors · Westerly Custom Closet Designers
central_valley
Original Author
last year
There should indeed be pictures. I took some with my phone, but I had cable problems and couldn't transfer them to my computer. It was dark by then, but I went out with a real camera this morning, only to find that the plant was in filtered sunlight, which made clear pictures impossible. It will have to wait until later in the day.

@vgkg Z-7 Va, please (re)read the part about "a segment of branch about four inches long and a quarter inch thick."
central_valley
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
I'm attaching some pictures.

The first one shows the whole plant (at least most of it), and the second shows the twig from which it grew. It's rooted only at the left end, but is sprouting from both ends.

In the third picture, a branch of the mystery plant is on the right. On the left is a twig broken off the large nearby bush from which I initially thought the mystery plant came. Notice how much larger and darker the mystery plant's leaves are, and how much lighter its stem is.

In the middle is a twig broken off the "other" persimmon bush. The bark and leaf colors are similar to the mystery plant, but I believe the leaves are a little lighter, and they're distinctly smaller.

The "other" bush is about 25 feet away from the mystery plant, on a level five feet higher, and they're separated by two retaining walls and chain link fencing. That is why I said it's unlikely to be the source of the twig.

I'll add another reason that just occurred to me: it's growing in a pot, and it's only a couple of feet high. A "twig" as thick as the mystery plant's base would have to have been broken off one of its core branches (I counted seven that are thick enough), and I see no signs of such damage.
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
last year
last modified: last year
Could that be a piece of root rather than a twig? There appears to be another piece close by and the ground looks disturbed. If roots are damaged they can throw up suckers.

ETA I'm wondering whether this is a pomegranate at all. It could be Lycium barbarum. The furrowed twig looks familiar. It's invasive in Ca.
central_valley
Original Author
last year
I think @floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK has the answer. I looked again, and I found that the "twig sprouting at both ends" is actually a segment of root, buried in soil at both ends. It must come from the nearby bush, although I wouldn't have thought that possible, given the differences I observed.

There remains the question of what to do with it. The conventional wisdom on suckers is "cut 'em off," but I'm tempted to cut this one out, transplant it, and make a new tree.
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
last year
If your pomegranate is grafted, then you would expect any growth from the roots to look different. If you transplant it you will get a copy of the graft not the named cultivar.
central_valley
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
Since a pomegranate is a bush rather than a tree, I don't think it could be grafted. If you grafted one shoot onto a pomegranate and insisted on cutting off any others that sprouted at the base, you'd probably kill the plant.
socalnolympia
last year
I had a fig tree pop up out of nowhere in my yard. There was no fig tree nearby, but I am aware of a small number of fig trees in the distant neighborhood. I can only assume it was spread by a bird. The fig tree started coming up out of some bushes, so I assume the bushes provided enough shade to prevent the seed from drying out, allowing it to get established in this relatively hot dry climate.

I can only assume it may have been the same situation for the pomegranate. Eventually the fruits crack open by themselves and the birds can start getting into them.