How to care for and grow lemon at home?

The agrotechnology of growing citrus fruits in a room is complex. You should start with lemon, growing and caring for it at home is easier for it than for other sissies. You can buy a young bush, or you can grow it, starting from sowing a seed or rooting a cuttings. Under all favorable conditions, a crop from a seed plant can be obtained in 20 years, from a cuttings in 7-8. But a lemon from a stone at home will be more fit, healthy, beautiful with its dark shiny foliage. It can be grafted with a shoot from a fruiting lemon, which will speed up flowering. The choice is for the amateur.

What kind of care does a room lemon require at home?

Lemon is a tree; it also tends to grow in indoor conditions. There are several varieties that breeders have accustomed to indoor keeping. But they rebel if the departure is wrong. Before planting a seed, you need to know that only indoor varieties can share a home with a person. These include:

• Pavlovsky;
• Anniversary;
• Mayer.

These varieties are distinguished by a quick entry into fruiting and high productivity when caring for lemon at home. When buying a ready-made varietal seedling, you need to wait for flowering in two or three years.

Indoor lemon with good care can live up to 30 years. Lemon after tying is poured for 9 months, but after it continues to increase in size, but becomes tasteless and thick-skinned.

It is important not to allow the flower to weaken and to cut off the buds until there are 20 leaves on the bush. Scientists believe that each fruit is fed by 9-10 mature leaves. Depending on the number of leaves, you need to leave the harvest. For the same reason, you need to protect the leaves from shedding, with which the plant protests when it is uncomfortable. At the same time, pruning of the tops of the branches is obligatory in order to form new shoots, which means to increase the number of leaves. Therefore, plant care is carried out on the verge of knowledge and intuition.

Optimal conditions for lemon care

Only if you have a spacious, bright room can you count on creating a citrus garden. Even being in a constant place, the tree does not like to be moved. And for uniform development, it is rotated a few degrees after 10 days, so that a full revolution is obtained in a year:

1. There must be at least two meters from the stand to the ceiling.
2. Lemon cannot stand dry air. Optimum 70% humidity. This means keeping the plant away from the radiator, having a humidifier or an aquarium, equipping the moisture zone in any way possible, and often spraying the leaves with a fine spray.
3. In the summer, it is useful for a lemon to be under the sun for 2 hours, but not longer. Therefore, the morning sun on the east window is just right for him. In winter, when growing lemon and taking care at home, backlighting should be organized for 5-6 hours.
4. The content temperature for lemon should be between 14 and 27 degrees. During the flowering period, the lemon needs coolness.
5. The watering schedule in summer is very busy. The pot is watered twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, soaking the clod of earth completely. Due to good drainage, stagnation of water does not occur. A drip tray should be installed underneath. For irrigation, soft settled water is used.

The temperature should not change dramatically.If the plant is brought from a cold veranda into a warm room, it will shed its foliage. The ground in the barrel is cold, and the leaves are warm! In winter, you need to find the coldest corner of your home for a lemon. Without a full dormant period, flowering will subsequently be scarce.

Of great importance in the care of a lemon is its formation, keeping it in growth with systematic pruning and pinching of the green cone. The deepest pruning is done in the spring. 5-6 live leaves are left on the branches, the rest are removed, from which material is obtained for the propagation of lemon by cuttings.

Diseases and pests of lemon

When caring for lemon at home, and growing it, you need to know the signs of disease in order to quickly correct the mistakes made. Often the plant needs moisture, which can be determined:

• from above the earth is gray, in the hands of a lump crumbles;
• the pot, when patted, makes a ringing sound;
• the leaves curled up into a tube, and the tops drooped.

As a result, after a while, the leaves, flowers and ovaries will begin to fall off.

If the plant does not receive feeding, the leaves become light, flowering stops, the ovaries begin to fall off. But the same signs and with excessive fertilization. Therefore, it is necessary to follow the recommended doses and instructions on how to take care of lemon at home.

If the plant has not been transplanted for a long time and the land has not been changed, fertilizing watering may not save it. The earth has compacted, the irrigation water has made passages in the thickness and drains away without completely wetting the volume.

As a result of errors in care, a weakened plant is colonized by insect pests or fungal and bactericidal diseases appear.

Various citrus diseases are specific, they are called:

• xylopsorosis and tristera - viral incurable;
• gommosis - infectious when the trunk of a tree is affected;
• malseko - infectious, begins with reddening of the leaves, the tree dies;
• root rot is a fungal disease, it is required to remove damaged parts and transplant into new soil.

The cause of any disease is improper care of the plant. And even if the tree does not bear fruit, its diseases are the same.

How to grow lemon at home

The selection of the container for the plant and the substrate is of great importance. The container must have good drainage holes. The root system of the lemon is compact, the young plant treats the annual transplant well, therefore it is not worth creating conditions for acidification of the soil in a large pot. For older plants, the land is changed less often, but the top fertile layer is renewed annually.

Composition of the earth:

• deciduous humus - 2 parts;
• humus from cattle - 1 part;
• washed river sand - 1 part;
• wood ash - 0.25 parts.

At the bottom, lay out a layer of charcoal mixed with expanded clay, add vermiculite to the substrate for friability. Transplant plants after the grown lemon roots are wrapped around a clod of earth, using the transshipment method.

When pruning a lemon tree, a lot of planting material and twigs remained. Cuttings will be made from them if you pinch off a couple of leaves from below and put a green twig in the water. Further, the cutting takes root in the substrate in a small volume. How to care for lemon cuttings? After the cutting has given a leafy growth, it is kept as an adult plant. At a height of 25 cm, the top of the plant is pinched, limiting growth. The formed central and lateral shoots in the amount of 4 pieces are left, the rest are cut off into a ring.

Lateral shoots are grown 25 cm and pinched again, repeating the operations as for the first time. A bush is formed twice more, as a result, enough leaves are obtained on a round tree, and flower buds are laid on the branches. The lemon is ready to bear fruit, it has gained enough strength to feed the pouring fruits.

Seed propagation of lemon is a lengthy process. The resulting seedling must be grafted in order to get a fruiting tree.The wildflower will develop for a long time, bloom little and the quality of the lemons obtained will be poor. Therefore, the grown plant needs to be grafted by budding or into splitting in order to get a cultivated tree.

A seedling without grafting will make an excellent ornamental tree with good disease resistance. It is necessary to form the crown so that the bush is neat and does not stretch with branches, taking up a large space.

Lemon planting and caring video

You bought a young lemon tree in the hope of harvesting fragrant fruits all year round for tea drinking and strengthening the immune system.

And it really will give a lot of fruit if you know how to care for a lemon: water, feed, transplant, etc. We will learn all the intricacies of caring for home-grown lemon trees, including crown formation and fruit picking.

Room lemon: home care

Lemon care consists in regular watering, sufficient lighting, feeding, adherence to temperature and humidity. It is equally important to know how to transplant your homemade lemon.

Having decided to grow a lemon - a tree at home, check out the intricacies of care:

Watering lemon

How to water a lemon? In the cold season, starting in October, and until spring, water the tree moderately once a week using warm water. In the spring and summer months, as well as in September, we spill the soil well with warm water once a day. Periodically we loosen the top layer of the earth.

The main thing in watering a lemon is to prevent stagnation of water in the soil, leading to decay of the roots, and not to dry out the earthen ball: this is fraught with twisting of the leaf and falling leaves and lemons.

Lighting for lemon

How to care for homemade lemon in terms of lighting? Lemon doesn't need long daylight hours if you want more fruit than leaves. The tree bears fruit well in bright diffused light: it is better to keep it on windows facing east. If the window is south, in summer we must protect the plant from direct sunlight.

To make the crown grow evenly, turn the lemon tree in the direction of the sun 2 times a month. And we do not allow low light: in partial shade and shade, the leaf grows slowly, and the fruits are too sour.

Temperature regime

Homemade lemon care involves maintaining a certain air temperature.

• While the lemon grows and gains green mass, or blooms, we keep it in a room where the temperature is 17-20 degrees Celsius.
• When fruits appear and ripen, a temperature is needed a couple of degrees higher.
• In winter, during the dormant period, a temperature of no higher than 14 degrees is required, or 18 ° C, if the plant is not yet "sleeping" - in this case, we provide it with 12-hour daylight hours using phytolamps.

Do not keep lemon in a hot room and avoid sudden temperature changes.

In the summertime, you can take the tree outside - the main thing is to have time to bring it home before evening (if cool weather is expected).

Room lemon: home care

Moisture level for lemon

We figured out how to water a lemon: we will find out what level of humidity is suitable for growing it. He needs a fairly high humidity, especially in the hot season - in summer or during the heating season.

When it's hot, we spray the tree every day and give it a warm shower once a week.

To increase the level of humidity, we put a jar with a wide mouth filled with water near the lemon pot so that it evaporates, or we put the pot in a tray, placing the material evaporating moisture into it.

The third option: turn on a household humidifier next to the plant.

Top dressing lemon

Indoor lemon needs regular feeding: in the summer - every week, in the winter - every month (if there are fruits).

How to feed a lemon? With mineral and organic fertilizers, water the plant 2 hours before the procedure so as not to burn the roots.

• Fertilization with minerals... For feeding, you will need a ready-made product such as a "citrus mixture", in which the proportions N: P: K are 14:16:18. We dilute it in water according to the attached instructions and water the soil.
• Organic fertilization... We make an infusion by mixing 1 part of water and 1 part of mullein (horse manure) and, after waiting 7 days, dilute it with water: infusion of mullein - 1 to 15, infusion of horse balls - 1 to 10.

Twice a year we water the soil with a weak solution of potassium permanganate - to enrich and disinfect the soil.

Lemon transplant

Young lemon plants in a pot, how to care for which, we will learn today, need replanting 1 and 2 years after planting.

In the spring we buy soil for citrus fruits or make it ourselves from humus (1 part), earth from deciduous trees (4 parts), calcined sand (1 part) and wood ash (1 tbsp).

We simply transfer the plant, gently shaking off some of the old soil, into another pot of soil. The diameter of the new pot should be 4 cm larger than the diameter of the previous one.

Subsequently, we transplant the plant every two years, when the growing season begins. When transplanting, do not forget to put drainage (expanded clay + charcoal or a layer of sand) with a layer of 2 cm. Thanks to transshipment, you do not have to think about how to root a lemon. The main thing is not to transplant while the lemon is blooming or bearing fruit.

Crown formation

As the lemon grows, the crown should be trimmed - in the spring, on a low stem about 18 cm, before the green mass begins to build up. We cut off the shoots, leaving 5 leaves, so that the tree branches out by the beginning of fruiting.

A tree with a well-formed crown blooms in the second or third year.

Formation of the crown of indoor lemon

Lemon flowering on the windowsill and harvesting

While the lemon is blooming, you cannot leave all the flowers on the plant:

• At the first flowering, we cut off half of the flowers and leave no more than 4 fruits from the formed ovaries.
• At the second flowering, we leave only 6 fruits.
• At the third flowering, we leave 8 fruits, etc.

Flowering regulation is essential to maintain a strong and healthy lemon tree: excess buds will quickly deplete it. Each ovary should have at least 10 developed leaves.

The flowers do not need pollination and bloom for about 2 months.

Fruiting of lemons is possible up to 4 times a year: it depends on the variety. It takes about 6-8 weeks for the development of the fetus and the beginning of ripening. The rind of fully ripe lemons takes on a rich golden hue, which means it's time to harvest.

If tightened with collection, the skin will become thicker, the slices will dry out and the juice will lose its characteristic acidity.

Now you know how to care for a lemon at home so that it grows strong and healthy, and gives a lot of fruit. Follow all the rules for keeping indoor lemon, and it will delight you with beautiful flowering and abundant fruiting all year round.

Evergreen citrus crops harmoniously fit into the interior of apartments and offices. Growing lemon attracts indoor flower lovers with its exoticism, combined with the ease of caring for the tree. Many have tried to plant a bone extracted from a sour fruit in a pot, but not everyone succeeded in achieving the desired result. In order for the plant at home to please with luxurious flowering, and fruits ripen on its branches, you will have to try. And the first step here is a careful study of the requirements of the culture for the conditions of detention.

Lighting and temperature

The subtropical origin of lemon makes it capricious in terms of temperature. The plant loves heat, but does not tolerate extreme heat, especially if the air is dry. At home, he will be most comfortable in a room where the air is warmed up to + 10- + 22 ° C. It is not easy to keep the lemon tree at a moderate temperature in the summer in the apartment. Many gardeners find a way out by placing a pot with a plant on the loggia.Owners of a private house can take it outside and leave it under a canopy until autumn. In winter, in the room where the indoor lemon grows, the temperature should not exceed + 14 ° C. But it is also impossible to allow it to fall below + 10 ° C.

All citrus fruits love light. But compared to its relatives, the lemon tree tolerates a lack of sunlight less painfully. You can even grow it at home on the northern windows, although it is better to choose the southeast side for the pot. An adult lemon is not afraid of direct rays of the sun. It can also be placed on a south-facing windowsill. If the plant is young, it will need shading care. The delicate leaves of the tree can suffer from sunburn.

In winter, when it gets dark early, indoor lemon needs additional lighting. It is organized using special phytolamps. Certain types of culture can easily tolerate short daylight hours and are able to do without additional care. These include the undersized Panderoza variety. If you add coolness to a short daylight hours (from +7 to + 14 ° C), the plant will plunge into a dormant period. A hibernating lemon tree is rarely watered. You don't need to light it up.

Soil and pot

To plant a plant correctly, you need to take into account the peculiarities of its root system. Citrus species have no root hairs. Soil mushrooms help lemon to absorb water and nutrients from the soil. They can be seen on its delicate roots. They look like threads forming bulges at their ends. The roots of the tree and the mushrooms interact closely with each other. In the scientific literature, their symbiosis is called mycorrhiza. She is very sensitive to external conditions and can die in an unfavorable environment:

• prolonged drought;
• lack of air;
• a sharp drop in temperature (below -7 ° C);
• extreme heat (if the thermometer rises above + 50 ° C).

From this follow the basic rules for growing lemon:

• do not allow the substrate to dry out in the pot;
• do not flood the tree.

The plant grows well in loose soil rich in nutrients. Its reaction should be neutral (with a pH in the range of 5.8-6.5). The easiest way is to purchase ready-made soil for citrus fruits in the store.

To prepare a nutritious substrate at home on your own, three components are mixed:

• sod land (3 parts);
• humus earth (1 part);
• sand (1 part).

Advice

If you need to plant an adult lemon, the volume of humus in the earth is doubled.

You can fill the pot with a composition of sod land, deciduous soil and dung.

All components are taken in equal proportions. River sand will give the resulting substrate looseness, and crushed charcoal will enrich it with mineral substances.

For planting lemon at home, it is best to use a clay pot. If the plant is large, it will thrive in a wooden tub. Natural materials will facilitate the penetration of air to the roots of the tree. At the bottom of the planting tank, drainage is poured with a layer of 2 cm.You can make it from broken brick. From above, the drainage layer is covered with sand, and then the pot is filled with a nutrient substrate.

Reproduction methods

Indoor lemon can be grown from seed, cuttings, or cuttings.

The easiest way to propagate a tree that is already bearing fruit is at home by cutting cuttings from it. Young lemon branches with not yet coarse and flexible wood are suitable for their harvesting. They must be one year old or slightly older.

A correct stalk has the following characteristics:

• length not less than 10 cm;
• 3-4 developed kidneys;
• at least 3 sheets.

The cut line from above should be at right angles at a distance of 7 mm from the kidney. 1 cm recede from the lower kidney. The cut is made at an angle of 45 °. From above, the wound is smeared with garden pitch. It will protect the cutting from infection.It is advisable to apply shallow grooves to the lower cut using a needle. This will improve root formation. You can plant cuttings at home in sand or in a nutritious substrate. Having made a small depression, they put a cut branch in it. You do not need to press it into the soil.

Advice

Before planting, the lower part of the cutting is dipped into a solution of a drug that stimulates root growth, where it is kept for 1-2 hours.

Cuttings will take root faster if the leaves on them are cut with scissors by ⅔. This way they will evaporate less moisture. The planted stalk is covered with a jar. Lemon roots form slowly. In a warm place (at a temperature of + 25 ° C) and with a constant humidity of the substrate, they will have to wait 2-3 months.

Caring for cuttings is simple. They need to provide a lot of light, but the direct rays of the sun should not fall on them. With the appearance of the first leaves, the process of adaptation of the cuttings to the air of the room begins. The jar is lifted and a chip or other support is placed under it so that a small gap is formed. The size of the hole is gradually increased. You can do it differently - daily ventilate the future tree. First, the jar is removed from the handle for a couple of minutes, the next day this time is doubled. For the sprout to get used to the climate at home, it will take 2 weeks of airing. Then the shelter can not be returned to its place.

Professionals almost never use the generative way of breeding lemon. It is not difficult to plant a seed in a pot, but the plant obtained from it is unlikely to bear fruit, even if it is provided with proper care. There is only one way out - to plant a tree. It will take 2-3 years, and it will be possible to pick fruits from its branches. For grafting, cuttings from a fruiting plant are most often used. A good result is given by budding with an eye.

Watering

Lemon prefers moderate watering. The soil in the pot is moistened with water at room temperature, which is pre-defended. You can add a little vinegar to it (2-3 drops per 1 liter). The liquid accumulated in the pan is drained, not allowing it to remain in it for more than 2-3 minutes. In the summer, at home, the procedure is carried out every day or every other day. The condition of the soil will help to determine when the next watering is needed: if the earthy lump has dried out, it's time to moisten it.

Lemon responds well to spraying treatments. They are carried out daily, regardless of the season. Spraying is especially important for wood in winter, when the air becomes dry due to the operation of heating devices. But you cannot overdo it with them, otherwise the plant can be affected by fungal diseases. Spray the leaves with warm water, occasionally you can do this with a weak solution of potassium permanganate to strengthen the health of the plant. With the onset of cold weather, watering is reduced, but not much - up to 2 times a week.

Problems with growing citrus at home are most often due to irregular or too much moisture. When under-watering, the leaves on the tree turn yellow, wither, and mycorrhiza dies. Excessive moisture will lead to acidification of the soil in the pot and rotting of the plant roots. It is important to carry out the procedure correctly by distributing water over the surface of the substrate. If you pour it in one place, the earthy ball will get wet unevenly, and the roots may suffer from leaching.

At home, lemon is periodically "bathed". Such care is carried out once a month. The soil is reliably protected with a film, and a warm shower is arranged for the leaves of the tree, thoroughly rinsing them from all sides. This is necessary to clean their surface from dust and other contaminants. When they accumulate on the leaves, they interfere with photosynthesis, which weakens the plant and can cause health problems.

Top dressing

In order for the lemon to grow quickly at home and not lose its decorative effect, it will need regular feeding. It will not work to do with one drug. Fertilizers should be different and should be changed periodically. If you use the same nutrient for a long time, the reaction of the soil will change.It will become too acidic for lemon or alkaline. From such soil, the plant will not be able to receive the elements necessary for its development.

At home, they begin to feed the lemon in March. Until October, it is fed once every 2-3 weeks with either organic or mineral compositions. If the plant is young, fertilize it less often - once every 1.5 months. In the summer, top dressing is combined with watering. In spring and autumn, fertilizers are applied to the already moistened soil. At least 2 hours should pass from the moment of watering. Lemon suffers from an excess of nutrients in the soil even more than from a lack of them. Therefore, you cannot overfeed him.

From the middle of autumn, fertilization is started less often. A hibernating plant no longer needs feeding. If it hibernates in warmth and with good lighting, they are carried out every 1.5 months. Complex mineral compositions are suitable for lemon. Of organic fertilizers, it reacts well only to some types:

• wood ash hood;
• infusion of birch leaves or quinoa (filling the jar with chopped green mass by ½, add water; 2-3 days, and the natural fertilizer will be ready);
• weak (diluted 5-6 times) infusion of fresh manure.

Advice

If the leaves are actively growing on the lemon, and flowering is delayed, it is worth changing the fertilizer. Nitrogen-rich formulations are eliminated by feeding citrus with preparations with a high phosphorus content.

Pruning

You cannot do without crown formation when caring for lemon at home. Regular pruning has a decorative and sanitary function. Its scheme is determined by the purpose of growing the tree. Decorative lemons do not need a large crown, they are given a compact shape. In a fruiting citrus, the main branches must be balanced by the growing shoots. The formation of the crown is carried out by pinching. First, a skeleton of a tree is created, cutting off the side branches so that they do not outweigh each other and do not interfere with the development of neighboring ones.

When the lemon is 1 year old, the main shoot is shortened to 30 cm. Then the buds located on its sides will sprout, forming lateral branches. When they develop well, they are pinched, leaving 3-4 leaves on the shoot. Such care is necessary for a lemon, otherwise its branches will grow very long and bring a meager harvest, which will take a long time to wait. The tree is allowed to bear fruit after its crown is formed. If it blooms earlier, the buds are cut off. Otherwise, the plant will greatly weaken and may even die.

Old branches that interfere with the development of the lemon and will dry out sooner or later, it is better to cut them off so that they do not draw strength from the tree. They also remove weak, growing inside the crown or interfering with neighboring shoots. Pruning is usually done in March, but it can also be done after harvest. For a fruiting lemon, care is required in the form of removing excess buds. The plant blooms profusely, but the ovaries are normalized by the number of leaves. For each fruit, there must be at least 10 of them, otherwise the depleted lemon will not please the next harvest soon.

During the ripening of the fruit, the tree requires increased attention. They handle it very carefully, trying to completely eliminate factors that can lead to shedding of the ovaries:

• lack of nutrients;
• drafts;
• dry air;
• lack of light;
• disease.

Transfer

Novice growers often make a mistake that negates all their efforts to grow a lemon tree at home. It consists in trying to plant a young citrus immediately in a large pot. As a result, the growth of the tree is greatly slowed down, its roots rot, and the lemon dies. The planting capacity should be commensurate with the plant's root system. When it develops and fills the entire pot, the lemon is transferred to another container, the volume of which is slightly larger. It is better to do this in spring, when the tree begins a period of active growth.

The bottom of the container is covered with a drainage layer.On top of it they put a lemon extracted from an old pot along with an earthen lump. The voids on the sides are filled with fresh substrate, prepared at home or purchased from the store. The plant is watered abundantly. After moistening, the soil will settle, then more earth is added. Lemon roots must "breathe". If the pot is firmly on a pallet, it is advisable to place small stones or chips between them to improve air circulation.

The transplanted tree is returned strictly to its original place, without changing its orientation. Lemon reacts sensitively even to minor turns, responding to them with stress and loss of decorativeness. The leaves of the tree follow the sun. To prevent its crown from being one-sided, you need to slightly rotate the pot around its axis. This is done every 10 days, very carefully, deviating from the previous position by a maximum of 10 °.

Lemon will take pride of place among the plants on the windowsill. But in order for it to become a real decoration of the room and a source of pride, you will have to pay attention to it. Taking care of a lemon tree is easy. His agricultural technique consists of procedures familiar to all lovers of indoor flowers. Only they must be carried out strictly in accordance with the requirements of the plant, because the lemon will not tolerate neglect. If you provide the tree with comfortable conditions, it will please the eye all year round, either with its glossy leaves, or with an abundance of unusual flowers, or with bright shades of ripening fruits.

If desired, anyone can grow a lemon tree at home. Home care is not particularly difficult, but, of course, there are certain points. If everything is done correctly, then in the 5th or 7th year you can wait for the fruits from your own plant.

Fragrant, tasty, healthy citrus is familiar to everyone; we see its bright yellow fruits on store shelves all year round. Lemon is good as a fruit, applicable as a preventive drug, tasty as candied candied fruits, but simply beautiful, like an exotic indoor tree. However, even dark green leathery lemon leaves look beautiful, and at the same time have a beneficial effect on the human body. The leaves of the evergreen lemon tree emit phytoncides, refresh the air of the room, and exude a delicate unobtrusive aroma.

Lemon tree, photo:

Depending on the variety, the lemon tree can be of different sizes. If the goal is precisely to obtain fruits, and not just a decorative function, then the result can be obtained in two ways. A lemon tree grown from cuttings will begin to bear fruit earlier (with proper care), but a seed plant will be healthier and more actively developing.

If you do not want to bother yourself with the germination / cultivation process, then you can purchase ready-made lemon bushes-seedlings in specialized departments, stores. You can buy a lemon tree from an online store that belongs to a botanical garden, for example, or from hobbyist breeders. If you are not looking for easy ways, you are interested in the process of birth of a plant itself, then you will find information on how to grow a lemon tree from a seed in another article. The planting method itself is not very different from the technology for growing other citrus crops.

↑ back to contents ↑ Lemon tree care?

An important stage of care is proper lighting at home. The lemon's permanent location should be well lit, but direct sunlight should still be avoided. How to care for a lemon tree? Try to decide in advance on the permanent place of residence of the plant, as it does not like when it is moved. In order for the crown to develop evenly, it is allowed to gently turn the lemon towards the light. This process should be done slowly and gradually.

For harmonious growth and development, the lemon tree at home should be transplanted annually.Each time, the capacity should be larger, during transplantation, the roots and soil are carefully moved into a new pot, the missing amount of earth is added to the required volume. The soil for indoor lemon should be similar in composition to the previous soil.

When the plant reaches a certain size, and the pot will hold 10 liters, then the transplants can be stopped. Now you only have to periodically renew the upper soil layer (twice a year), feed the plant with fertilizers ("Vermisol", "Humisol", "Biohumus" - for citrus crops).

At first, caring for a young tree at home does not include feeding, however, with the onset of summer time, you can add a little fertilizer to the water for irrigation. The lemon tree is very moody and requires a delicate approach to ambient temperature and moisture. There should be no sudden changes - there is a little something wrong - the plant will react with the loss of leaves.

How to prune a lemon tree? Pruning forms the crown, does not allow it to grow to a large size, which is very important if you have a small apartment. Crown care should be started from a young age, when the plant reaches 20-30 cm in height. Thus, the top of the tree is cut off, the lateral shoots are cut off at the level of the 5th leaf, the lower branches (those that are located close to the soil) are also removed - this makes it possible to fully develop the trunk.

If you see a "bust" of the splendor of the crown on one of the sides, then carefully cut off the excess, give the tree the desired shape. Branch pruning is always done just above the leaf, the lower branches should be longer than the upper ones. Pruning should only be done when it is really needed (stimulation of new branches, rejuvenation of the old tree), frequent pruning of branches can weaken the plant.

Should the lemon tree be pruned according to the season? There are several approaches to this process: the best time for pruning is spring (best of all, March), often pruning is done during the flowering of the lemon, the budding. Winter pruning is also used: if the lemon tree is already bearing fruit, then it must be done after removing the fruits.

The lemon blooms very profusely and emits a truly magical scent. The indoor plant, the lemon tree, has bisexual flowers, so fruit setting happens by itself. If you want to increase yields, then you can apply the technique of artificial pollination. To do this, the flowers must be ripe, using a soft brush, collect the pollen from the stamens and carefully transfer it to the pistil (on the sticky top). This is a rather monotonous process, but very powerful. Additionally, you can insure yourself with fruit-forming stimulants and plant growth regulators - fertilizers Ovary and Bud (spraying).

The ideal temperature for the growth of foliage and branches is + 16..18ºC, for the harmonious development of fruits - 22..23ºC. Sudden jumps in temperature, very high, as well as too low, have an extremely negative effect on the general condition of the lemon tree.

The soil temperature at home should be about the same as the air temperature. Sometimes the lemon is taken out to "ventilate" (or taken out for the summer), for example, on the balcony, and then brought into the room - this is undesirable. Such changes are stressful for the lemon, it reacts by shedding leaves, because cold ground and warm room air create an unfavorable temperature difference.

↑ back to contents ↑ How to water a lemon tree at home?

The most vigilant lemon care extends from autumn to spring (October-March). In winter, batteries and heating devices that dry the air are actively working at home.For this reason, the lemon tree should be placed away from sources of active heat; sometimes, cover the batteries with a damp cloth and irrigate the crown with water every day. Such care also requires observance of measures, because excessive hydration of the lemon threatens the development of fungus. You can also place containers with water next to the pots - moisture evaporation has a beneficial effect on the plant. With the onset of summer heat, it is recommended to wipe the lemon leaves with a damp cloth.

How often to water a lemon tree at home? Here you need to adhere to the golden mean - do not allow the soil to dry out and do not overfill it. Boiled water at room temperature is suitable for irrigation, twice a week will be enough. If it happened that you overdid it with watering (the soil began to rot), then it is necessary to change the soil in the pot as soon as possible. Clay pots are ideal containers for growing lemons at home, they evaporate excess moisture well and allow the soil to "breathe".

↑ back to contents ↑ If the lemon dries

Sometimes on horticultural forums you can see requests for help: "the lemon tree is drying, what should I do ?!" - often this situation arises again from a lack of moisture and dry air in the room. Improper care: lack of lighting, stagnation of water in the ground are secondary causes of lemon drying. Sometimes such unfavorable changes can occur due to the attack of a pest - a spider mite.

If we know how to cope with a lack of moisture, then more radical measures are needed to combat the tick. Treating the lemon tree with insecticides will put an end to harvesting, since after it it will not be possible to eat the fruits. But there is a way out - ultraviolet light (UV lamp) kills the spider mite in 2-3 minutes and such a short "irradiation" of the plant at home will be enough.

Seasonal acclimatization of the lemon tree can also cause drying out. You will have to cut off the dried branches. And in the spring, new shoots will appear in their place. The lack of micro- and macroelements is also expressed in the form of drying, the introduction of the necessary dressing and balanced fertilizers solves this problem. Nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium supplements or fertilizer "Root" (KP-5) will help the tree revive and get all the missing nutrients.

Pavlovsky lemon

As we can see, a lemon requires careful care and adherence to the rules of cultivation, but the result from such efforts cannot but rejoice. A beautiful tree with vitamin fruits is a worthy gift that a lemon tree gives us, caring for which at home is not so difficult if you know all the nuances.