<p>Deciphering various phenological stages can play a vital role in efficient resource and crop management in pomegranate. The present study defines eight phenological stages of pomegranate in its annual growth cycle using the extended BBCH (Biologische Bundesanstalt, Bundessortenamt und Chemische Industrie) scale. The major stages are bud development (stage 0), leaf development (stage 1), shoot development (stage 3), reproductive development (stage 5), flowering (including both male and hermaphrodite flowers) (stage 6), fruit development (stage 7), fruit maturation (stage 8), and physiological rest and forced dormancy (stage 9). Each of the stages is subdivided into secondary stages and numbered using a standardized 3-digit coding, giving a total of 48 secondary growth stages. The developmental phases of staminate and hermaphrodite flowers are defined and described separately for more precise phenological descriptions. We also studied the growing degree days (GDD) requirements for the onset and completion of each major growth stage. Fruit development and maturation began in the first week of March and continued until the first week of August. The fruit development stage lasted for 13 to 14 weeks, accumulating 2022.81 ± 46.37 GDD on average, whereas fruit maturation took 8 to 10 weeks, accumulating 1181.10 ± 152.10 GDD on average. Precise identification of growth stages helps in equally precise monitoring of crop growth and is particularly important to crop improvement, germplasm characterization, and optimization of management practices including crop regulation, canopy architecture management, nutrient and pest management, timely harvesting at optimal maturity, and assessment of fruit yield and quality.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>