When to Pick a Ripe Pomegranate

Pomegranate is just a wonderful fruit to grow; the fruit is good for you and the trees are attractive in your landscape. As your tree matures, under the right growing conditions and with plenty of water, you will be rewarded with a bounty of pomegranate fruit. Sometime in the fall--from late August until October--is the time to pick your pomegranate fruit from your tree. Once the fruit is picked, it will continue to ripen in storage.

Color is the first indication that pomegranate fruit is ripe and ready to be picked. The fruit should be a bright, deep red with no green color, though it may have a few streaks of yellow gold.

All pomegranates on your tree might not be large, but that does not mean the fruit is not ripe. When pomegranates receive adequate water throughout the growing season, the fruit is usually about softball or grapefruit size when ripe. Before you pick a pomegranate, check the weight of it by resting it in your hand. Compare it to other fruit on the bush that does not appear by color to be ripe yet. The ripe pomegranate will be heavier. The heavier the fruit, the more juice it has inside.

A ripe pomegranate skin should be shiny and smooth without blemishes or cracks. The skin on a very ripe pomegranate will start losing its shine, looking a little leathery and slightly dull. If you wait until the skin becomes completely leathery and dull, it is too late to harvest because the pomegranate has probably split open by then.