Content
Many people grow indoor and ornamental plants in their homes, on window sills and balconies - the lemon tree is no exception.
Recently, the cultivation of exotic and tropical plants has become more and more popular, while the plant on your windowsill can be not only beautiful, but also useful. For example, produce fruits like citrus fruits, in particular the lemon or tangerine tree.
You can get such an exotic plant in at least two ways:
- buy a lemon or tangerine tree in the store.
- grow a citrus tree from a seed (seeds) from a freshly eaten fruit.
The first option does not require special knowledge and is very boring, so I propose to grow the tree yourself, so you can observe the different stages of growth of your exotic pet and grow a lemon or tangerine tree completely adapted to home conditions.
If you want to grow citrus fruits at home, you need to know just a few tricks and be patient, then after a few years the citrus tree will delight you and you can pamper your friends with fragrant tea with lemons from your own lemon tree.
First, let's get acquainted with citrus fruits.
Citrus (Latin Citrinae) are flowering woody plants of the Rutaceae family.
The most famous representative of this group is the genus Citrus, some species of which (orange, grapefruit, lemon, mandarin and many others) are widely cultivated fruit trees on an industrial scale; their fruits (hesperidia) are valued for their food quality and are an important export commodity.
Any citrus tree can be grown from the seed, the planting method and general recommendations are practically the same.
1. For planting, you can choose any seed from lemon, lime (if you find seeds in them), orange, grapefruit, or tangerine, the main rule is that it must be fresh. The seeds must be taken large and fresh, just removed from the fruit - over time they quickly lose their germination. Better, of course, to take a few seeds, so there will be more chances to grow a beautiful lemon tree. Before planting, seeds can be treated with a special rooting agent (for example, root or heteroauxin - you can buy them in almost any flower department of large hypermarkets), this will accelerate seed germination and increase the chances of success. The bones are placed in separate containers, which can be used as ordinary plastic cups with drainage holes at the bottom. However, you still have to transplant the plant into a pot later.
2. To plant citrus seeds, you will need to prepare the ground. It should be loose and nutritious enough. You can take part of the sod and humus land, adding coal or peat there, you can use other combinations. Instead of self-compiling the primer, you can buy ready-made primer for citrus fruits at any flower shop, this will significantly save time and save you from possible mistakes.
3. The stone should be placed in the soil to a depth of 1-1.5 cm, but do not bury the stone too deep, while the ground should be moist.Your planting can be covered with foil (but not necessarily), so you will prevent the soil from drying out quickly and create favorable conditions for growth. It must be watered very carefully, since excessively moist soil can cause rotting of the planted seed and roots of emerging citrus fruits, which will negatively affect the growth of the plant. The best option is to periodically spray the planting. Light does not affect the formation and development of seedlings in any way, it will be required after the first shoots appear, and the minimum temperature required for the growth of a lemon should be at least 18 ° C., And preferably above 22-24 ° C. If you covered your future lemon or tangerine tree with a film, then do not forget to periodically remove the film for airing, so you will protect your howling planting from the possible development of mold and mildew.
4. Now you need patience. The first shoots can be surprised only after about 3 weeks. After the formation of the 2nd pair of leaves, remove the film and move the plant to a well-lit place. It is extremely important to maintain moderation when watering seedlings: both drying and excessive moisture can adversely affect them, the ground should be slightly damp, and not turn into a swamp. For watering, it is better to use slightly warm water, cold watering is strictly prohibited, this will lead to stress and slow down the growth of the plant.
5. As for further growth and fertilizing, there is no need for this for the first two or three months, all the necessary elements are in the nutrient soil. Further, you can use fertilizers, but not more often than once every two weeks - during the period of active growth - in spring and summer. It is very important not to overdo it with their quantity - an excess of fertilizers can lead to plant disease and death, just like their lack. Remember that a citrus tree is a very capricious creature, and even if you just want to move the pot to another place or just turn it more than 10 °, keep in mind that discarded leaves can be a reaction to such a sudden change. Lemon, tangerine and any citrus must be protected from the direct scorching sun and strong winds, and if the temperature has dropped significantly, try to return it to comfortable conditions as soon as possible. In autumn, watering is reduced - it is only necessary when the topsoil dries out. Top dressing should be carried out no more than once a month. The air temperature can be lowered to 15 ° C so that your plant would go into a dormant state, or you can additionally illuminate the planting with a lamp.
6. As your tree grows, it will need periodic replanting. If the earthen lump becomes entangled in roots, the tree must be immediately transplanted into a pot 3-5 cm larger than the previous one. The main thing is not to damage the roots. A young plant can be transplanted a maximum of 2 times a year, and an older one - once every 3-4 years. The best time to transplant is spring, just before the start of active plant growth.
I thought for a long time before tackling my first article. The question of choosing a topic tormented me until I analyzed the search queries. It turned out that a large number of people want to know how to grow citrus plants in the room - lemon, orange, tangerine, grapefruit, kinkan, lime, citron.
Where to begin
For a beginner, I recommend not chasing beauty and not buying citrus fruits in flower shops, covered with a centimeter layer of wax and grown somewhere in Dutch greenhouses. The most correct way for a beginner is to grow a citrus from a seed.
For sowing, you need to have:
- a few large, freshly picked seeds of a lemon or other citrus fruit;
- a pot made of unglazed baked clay with a diameter of up to 5 cm and a height of 5–7 cm with a sufficiently large drainage hole (up to 0.5–1 cm)
- a handful of expanded clay or finely broken red bricks for drainage
- a special earthy mixture for citrus fruits (available at the store)
- half a liter of water at room temperature (tap water must be defended for 2-3 days to remove chlorine)
Citron seedling
Take a pot, fill it 1/5 with drainage, then pour the soil mixture into the pot, without adding about 1.5 cm to the top. Slightly compact the soil. Place the pot on a stand (pallet) and spill the pot with water until a small amount appears in the pallet. Now place the seeds on a damp soil surface in the center of the pot. Pour the soil mixture into the pot (almost to the top) and place it on a light windowsill.
If watering is timely, and the ambient temperature (on the windowsill) is more than 15 ° C, seedlings will appear in 3-4 weeks.
Lemon or any other plant grown from seed is called seedling.
Seedling care
Further care for your "pet" will consist in periodic watering, loosening the top layer of soil, fertilizing and spraying (washing the leaves with water from dust). Also, plants must be transplanted and pruned in a timely manner.
Watering
Lemon is a moisture-loving breed; care must be taken to ensure that the soil in the pot is always moist. Watering should be done as needed: by touching the soil with your finger, determine its moisture content. Water for irrigation should be slightly warmer than the temperature of the soil (substrate) in the pot.
Loosening
As a result of watering and drying the top layer of the soil in the pot, crusting of the soil occurs. To avoid this, it is necessary to process the soil with a loosener (you can use an old fork as it). Loosening should be done carefully - to a depth of no more than 1 cm, so as not to damage the surface roots.
Top dressing
Plants should be fertilized from spring to autumn, every 7-10 days. In winter, if the temperature on the windowsill is more than 12 degrees - once a month. Use a liquid citrus fertilizer available at your flower shop for top dressing. To determine the dosage, use the instructions for the fertilizer.
Transfer
Young plants (up to 2 years old) are transplanted 1-2 times a year, by transferring (without destroying the earthen lump) into dishes with a diameter (and height) of 2-3 centimeters larger than the previous one. With each transplant, the density of the added soil mixture is slightly increased.
Pruning
The first year or two citrus seedlings are not pruned.
Spraying
Plants should be sprayed with clean, settled water at room temperature 1-2 times a week, during the heating season - at least 1 time a day. It is necessary to keep the leaves as clean as possible; for this, it is recommended to wash the crown with warm water (up to 30 degrees) at least 1 time per month. Use a cotton swab to wash. The upper side of the leaf blade should be washed. In no case should you rub the back of the sheet. - so as not to damage the stomata located on it. The purity of the leaves is the key to the health of your plant.
Illumination
To balance light seasonality, homemade lemon, as a shade-tolerant plant, is best kept in the northeast, northwest windows in summer and in the south, southeast and southwest windows in winter. If this is not possible, I recommend keeping the plants at some distance from the window (within the window sill) from March to September, and in winter - as close to the window panes as possible. For other citrus fruits (except lemon), the most illuminated windows (for all seasons) should be highlighted.
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate?
So, it's been 2 years. You have a seedling 40-50 cm high with a stem thickness of up to 1 cm, growing in a pot with a volume of up to 1 liter. What's next? Then it's up to you to decide. Lemon grown from seed, with proper care, begins to bear fruit at 15-25, orange and tangerine - at 10-15, grapefruit - at 3-5.In order for your seedling to begin bearing fruit in the 2nd to 4th year, it is necessary to inoculate with a bud or cuttings from a cultivated fruiting plant. But if you compare the whimsicality of your "Spartan" grown from a seed, and a grafted plant, there is a huge difference. The oculant (grafted seedling) is more demanding on the conditions of detention than your "wild". I sometimes give my customers the following example: take a homeless dog - he sleeps where he has to, eats from time to time, snow, rain, wind - everything is for nothing, alive and alive and happy to be happy. And now let's take a pure-blooded Doberman for comparison and put him for a short time in the conditions of an unfortunate stray dog - the animal will die. So in our case, any varietal plant is more whimsical than a wild one (grown from a seed).
If the previous paragraph did not affect the person who wants to have a varietal lemon, I continue to "intimidate". Usually I ask the question: "Do you want to get yourself a baby?" Indoor varietal lemon is very whimsical. The only thing that makes him different from a baby is that he does not scream at night. If this did not frighten my listener, then I turn to the explanations. The most common varieties of lemon for home cultivation are Pavlovsky, Novogruzinsky, Udarnik, Maikop, Lisbon, Kabo, Panderoza, Meyer ("Chinese dwarf"). Orange: Pavlovsky, Washington Navell. Mandarin: Pavlovsky, Unshiu, Kalamandin. Of the citrus fruits, lemon is the most demanding in terms of growing conditions: it does not tolerate drafts, changes in temperature, irrigation with cold and unsettled water, is picky about watering and air humidity (at least 50%), painfully tolerates rearrangement from place to place and unfolding by 180 degrees. Lemon is picky about purity, top dressing, replanting, to the composition of the earthen mixture, etc. In other words, in my opinion, in order to grow indoor varietal citrus, one must love it. Only with a great desire, patience and acquiring skills (I will help you with them), you can grow a fruiting indoor citrus tree.
A few words about other citrus fruits. Their exactingness to the conditions of maintenance and care is somewhat lower than that of a lemon, but they require more light. For example, for more than ten years I have been successfully growing Pavlovsky orange and Unshiu tangerine, but I have been able to cope with lemon only in recent years.
So, you just have to decide: you leave the unpretentious and dear wild, or you go a faster, but dangerous way (vaccination). In the first case, further care of the seedling is necessary with the use of correct pruning and crown formation, as well as transshipment every spring into more spacious dishes. In the second case, you need to "cultivate" your seedling. To do this, you must purchase a twig from a fruiting plant with multiple buds. It should be healthy, intact and as fresh as possible. Then you need to inoculate your wild boar with a bud or graft (the grafting technique is the same as in regular gardening).
I will write about the care of grafted and rooted citrus plants in my subsequent articles.
Wishes for beginners
- Determine if your desires to grow or purchase citrus match with the ability to provide it with attention and proper care.
- Do not buy plants grown in greenhouses, conservatories, conservatories or outdoors - they will not be able to live in the conditions in which you place them. An indoor, houseplant is a plant grown indoors. For example, you have successfully grown an indoor lemon and, while going on vacation, decided to give it to a neighbor in a greenhouse, greenhouse or winter garden for a while. Plants, like people, get used to good things very quickly. In greenhouses, greenhouses and conservatories, conditions are sometimes better than in the homeland of the plant. A few days will be enough for the plant to "spoil", and then, upon returning to the previous conditions, it will suffer greatly. In the case of lemon, this can lead to the death of the plant.
From personal experience, I was convinced that starting my hobby for an indoor garden with a lemon is a rather difficult task. I would strongly recommend starting with figs, pomegranates and laurel - these plants are much easier to grow and get fruit from, and once you have mastered the skills in caring for less whimsical breeds, you can start "His Majesty Citrus".
Before reading this wonderful article, better than which I have not yet met on the Internet, I want to tell you a little about its author. This is an artist from Ivanovo, Irina Konstantinovna Maksimova, a collector of rare indoor plants and a master of indoor floriculture. Since I have never seriously dealt with citrus fruits, and I have not grown lemons and tangerines at all, she helped fill this gap, for which I am very grateful to her. This article turned out to be the first in the search on the day of its appearance, and continues to be No. 1 to this day, because all the information given in it is copyrighted, not copied from anywhere. I often get calls after reading this article asking for help with planting material. Alas, I can’t help you! Irina Konstantinovna does not grow citrus fruits for sale.
Respectfully yours, G.R. Popova.
I grow lemons and tangerines at home.
My friendship with citrus fruits began in the eighties, when I worked in the engraving shop of the Ivanovo cotton mill named after F.N. Samoilov.
My working room was wonderful, just for the fascination with plants: new, spacious, very bright, from early morning until late evening lit by fluorescent lamps hanging from a 6-meter ceiling, four huge windows to the west and north, wide window sills. And here the plants could be under my supervision all day. There are no such conditions at home! And I did my favorite hobby without interruption from work, growing indoor plants.
And I was not the only one, because in such industries, plants are simply necessary to improve environmental conditions. The workers in the workshop willingly engaged in flower cultivation; between the machines stood huge monsters and hibiscus, planted in 200 liter plastic barrels sawn in half. Without exception, all the windowsills in front of the workbenches were filled with flowers. There were Kalanchoe blooming all summer, whole collections of pelargonias and begonias, clivias, cissus, plectranthus, duranta, eucharis, cyperus, dracaena and many other plants. There was also a composition of cacti and stones, with a small artificial reservoir and a small figure of an Indian, next to which it seemed just a huge cactus - the state of Colorado and not otherwise! And the main decoration of the workshop was a large aquarium.
It was here that I brought an adult wild lemon thrown into the street by someone, which came out and formed into a pretty tree, which later became the object of my experiments. I really wanted to see flowers and fruits. How can this be achieved without vaccination?
And then I came across an ad in the magazine "Household Economy" about the sale of cuttings of indoor lemon by one of the state farms near Moscow. Buying a grafted stalk to grow a real fruit-bearing tree - what could be better? But they were only sold in bulk. The solution was found instantly. The next day, I was already campaigning for my colleagues to buy cuttings. And after a while we received 43 sturdy rooted cuttings of Meyer lemon by mail.
(Family: rue (Rytaceae). Genus: citrus (Citrus). Kind: lemon (Limon). Variety: “Meyer” (Mejer).
And the history of this variety is as follows: In 1908, the American researcher Franz Meyer discovered a lemon tree near Beijing, where it was grown in cramped pots. Lemon received the name of its discoverer, and its exact origin is controversial. According to some scientists, this is a natural hybrid of an ordinary lemon and an orange, while others consider it to be the result of folk selection (perhaps this variety is a variety or hybrid of the Cantonese lemon).
Of course, I began to grow my three cuttings at work, which my partner did too. Thus, we had a whole "lemonarium" in our room, which delighted everyone, and then delegations from all over the country came to us to exchange experience. In winter, our windows looked especially impressive - a whole garden of exotic trees with bright, fragrant fruits. Now I have another job, and the plants have moved to my home.
My indoor garden.
While I had little experience of my own, I was looking for various useful information about growing citrus fruits. The book by VV Dadykin "The Citrus Garden in the Room" became my tabletop. I won't say that I followed all his instructions, but the lemon trees grew successfully. Then they gave me a tangerine tree, which is now over twenty years old.
Taking care of citrus fruits was not difficult for me. Honestly, I don't walk around my pets with a spray, and I don't use a humidifier. I believe that a large number of plants themselves create the necessary microclimate in the room and increase the humidity in a natural way. Home-grown citruses are not as capricious as their Dutch counterparts, pampered by ideal greenhouse maintenance, and accustomed to fertilizers and stimulants. During the year, my citrus trees give three powerful waves of growth, and between them there is a process of ripening of young leaves.
The flowers of lemon and tangerine are white, very fragrant, solitary or arranged in clusters of 2-6 per inflorescence, appear on young shoots in early spring and summer. The flowering tree smells fragrant, and its leaves release phytoncides, improving and disinfecting the atmosphere in the room.
There are usually many more flowers than needed. Therefore, the number of fruits must be regulated by plucking out the extra flowers, because the extra buds and fruits will still crumble, and why weaken the plant? It is believed that for each developing fruit there should be 10-15 mature leaves, so the amount of fruit left in a lemon or tangerine depends on the size and condition of the tree.
Meyer's lemon fruits are wonderful - bright yellow, fragrant, rounded, practically without a nipple, weighing 80-120 grams. They are very tasty and juicy, slightly bitter, with thin skin and tender pulp. I assure you that there is nothing in common with those that are sold in stores. After all, they go a long way to the counter, and here is fresh, fresh from the branch! And what is very important - you do not need to remove the zest, it is edible, not processed, like imported ones, with various non-harmless substances for better storage.
Homemade lemons ripen for a long time, from the moment of flowering to maturity it can take 8-9 months. This often happens in winter, just in time for the New Year.
Mandarin also regularly pampers me with its delicious fruits. It blooms twice a year, so you can see both orange ripe fruits and small green young fruits on it at the same time. It's so elegant that it's a pity to pick ripe ones!
And I leave them on the branch, and when I finally take them off, the fruit is already soft and tasteless. With lemon, things are very different. If it hangs on a branch for a long time, the quality and taste of the fruit does not change, but the color of the fruit changes from yellow back to green and back to yellow. These are such strange metamorphoses!
Temperature conditions.
All summer, my citruses stand on a glassed-in loggia, but when they were not so large, I planted them right in a pot in the garden, in a place protected from the bright sun. In winter, they stand next to the window, since they no longer fit on the window sill. At this time, it is desirable to lower the temperature, but, as I found, fruiting does not depend on this. My citrus fruits had different winter conditions, and cool, 12-15 degrees, and warm, 20-22 degrees, but I did not notice a big difference in their well-being.
Location
I read and now know from experience that the warmer the content, the better the lighting should be.For citrus fruits, the primary task in winter is to preserve the green mass, because if a large number of leaves are lost, the plant may die. A small leaf fall inevitably happens when we change location, when from a bright place where the lemon has been all summer, we bring it into a room with less lighting, but it’s not even desirable to turn it, all for the same reason. Even because of this, it is advised not to take citrus fruits out into the fresh air. For example, V.V. Dadykin recommends in the summer to move the lemon farther from the window, and in the winter, on the contrary, to move it closer to the window, thereby creating uniform lighting throughout the year. In winter, due to a lack of light, large leaf plates appear in citruses, for more intense photosynthesis, while in summer, in bright light, smaller leaves grow.
Many budding citrus growers excitedly ask me: "What if the plant loses its leaves?" I answer: "First of all, you need to calm down and analyze everything." The reason for the behavior of a citrus can only be understood by its owner, and for this he needs to remember whether the plant had a change of location, check whether there is enough lighting where the plant is now, whether there are drafts there.
They still need fresh air. If the room is cool, this is only good for citrus, but you must make sure that there is no big temperature difference between the earthy coma and the water for irrigation. The plant should be provided with uniform watering, but not flooded at the same time. Another reason for leaf fall can be an excess of fertilizer concentration.
If the plant was bought recently, additional difficulties always arise, because we do not know how it was grown, whether growth stimulants or other hormonal preparations were used. It happens that citrus is grafted onto a deciduous stock, then leaf fall is quite a natural phenomenon.
Watering citrus fruits from the beginning of active growth until autumn moderate and regular. Watering should be done after the topsoil has dried, but the soil inside the pot is still moist. Water just enough so that the water appears in the pan. If after 15 minutes it has not been absorbed, you need to drain it from the pallet. In no case should the earthen coma dry out and the leaves wither, since citrus fruits can immediately throw them off. In winter, when the plant is resting, you need to water a little. If fruits ripen at this time, watering is necessary as needed.
For irrigation, I use settled, or filtered water. But the collection of plants is so large that sometimes there is not enough water supply. Then I use tap water.
Fixing salt - sodium thiosulfate, 10% solution (10 grams of thiosulfate per half a glass of water) helps me to remove chlorine. It is stored in a dark bottle for more than a year. It is enough to add one drop from this bottle to 1 liter of tap water, mix thoroughly, and chlorine is gone.
Every 7-10 days, along with watering, I apply fertilizers that are intended for citrus fruits. I do not indulge my trees with a variety of top dressing, I use fertilizers as needed, when the plant “tells” me about its desires by its appearance, but I advise beginner citrus growers to use tables and diagrams that are published in care books. Citrus fruits respond best to organic fertilizers, which include trace elements. I prefer to use the Garden of Miracles liquid complex fertilizer for citrus fruits, but I also used mullein infusion with the addition of urea. When the leaves turned yellow, I used Emerald or urea, making foliar dressing. Sometimes, when the leaves turn yellow, spraying with boric solution (1 g per 1 liter of water) is recommended.
You don't need to fertilize citrus fruits in winter. Since the activity of photosynthesis decreases, the roots stop absorbing substances from the soil in the same way.Fertilizers will begin to accumulate, and at the beginning of growth, their concentration in the soil will exceed the permissible limits, which can adversely affect the condition of the tree. There is no need to fertilize them after transplanting, because in the ready-made earthen mixture there are enough nutrients for a month and a half.
Transfer or reloading?
Transplanting lemons is painful, so I recommend replacing it with transshipment. While the plants were small, I did the transshipment every year, and now I do it less often, once every five years, focusing on the state of the root system. I use ready-made soil mixture for citrus fruits "Garden of Miracles" for growing cuttings and transplanting. Keep citrus pots tight. I use regular plastic pots that are shaped so that I can easily pull out the plant later, so pots that taper towards the top are not suitable. I use expanded clay as drainage, filling in a layer that exceeds the depth of the pallet.
Reproduction
I propagate lemons and tangerines by cuttings. You can do this from spring to autumn. It is generally believed that tangerine is very difficult to cut by cuttings, and one of my acquaintances, a citrus grower, once said that cultivation of tangerine by cuttings is practically impossible. Why I do it so easily, I don't know. For the cutting, I find a ripe branch with small leaves and cut it obliquely directly under the bud or through it so that the length of the cut branch is about 15 cm long. A stalk ready for planting should have 3-5 leaves and be 8-12 centimeters in length, so we cut off the excess five millimeters above the bud that will become the upper one. , dip in root and plant. I prepare the pot in a certain way - I make a hole in the center of the pot in the ground and fill it with sand. The stalk takes root in the sand and immediately grows into the ground, so there is no need for subsequent transplantation into the substrate, as is usually done.
To preserve moisture, I cover the stalk with a jar after planting. I watch the cuttings and spray if necessary. After the emergence of young shoots, I gradually accustom the cutting to natural conditions. I take off the jar for five minutes, and then every day I gradually increase the "walk" time until the stalk is able to live without greenhouse conditions. Many gardeners now have lemons and tangerines grown from these cuttings in their house, but I still have the very first trees, Meyer lemon and tangerine, from which my hobby began.
Growing wild animals from seeds is not interesting to me. If they are not vaccinated, it will take a very long time to wait for the fruit. It is possible to raise a fruit-bearing tree from a seed, but this will take a lot of time and skill for the correct formation of the crown, because the fruits will appear only on branches of the 5-6th order. And the height of the crown should be such that the tree does not rest against the ceiling! Sometimes you have to wait 10-15 years for the citrus to bloom. It is easier to graft it when still young, but for this you will need at least a bud from a cultivated plant or a cutting.
What happened to me with that first wild lemon? I tried to make it bloom at last. I tried ringing, this is such a technique in citrus growing, when a skeletal branch is pulled together with a soft wire, forcing the tree to bloom. This did not help and I had to do several grafts in the crown with buds taken from a fruiting lemon. The result was, but not at all what I expected. Instead of twigs from grafted buds, flowers appeared and gave the first harvest - a huge long-awaited fruit weighing 350 grams! Naturally, they had to inoculate again, but the lemon stubbornly, not wanting to grow cultivated branches, bore fruit ...
Pests and diseases.
I also had difficulties, because there are more than enough pests in plants! In dry air, plants are attacked by a spider mite, it is easy to distinguish it on citrus by the cobweb.At the beginning of the infection, sometimes a plentiful spraying is enough, and the spider mite disappears, but if it is already in large quantities, which cannot be allowed, the intervention of chemicals is already needed. The scabbard also does not bypass lemons and tangerines, sometimes rubbing the leaves with alcohol helps, and the best remedy now is aktara, after watering it, the scabbard itself crumbles from the leaves after a while, already completely dry. What a pity that it does not work on the tick! More recently, I learned that Meyer's lemon has a fungal disease called Greasy Spot Infection on the leaves, which is caused by the microscopic fungus Mycosphaerella citri, which belongs to the very extensive genus Mycosphaerella. Faint and small lightened yellowish spots first appear on the leaves of infected plants. Then, on the underside of the leaf in the area of these spots, small convex bubbles become noticeable. Later, the bubbles burst, and in their place are formed vague brown or black spots, reminiscent of spots from engine oil or grease. This disease causes leaf loss in citrus trees during autumn and winter. There are no means to combat this disease in our country, only in America they know how to treat it and use aerosols from special oils "spray oil".
I did not know about this before, although I have been growing Meyer for more than 20 years. I noticed such a phenomenon, but attributed everything to a lack of lighting, because it was at this time that the plant moved into the room from the fresh air. In the spring, conditions get better and the leaves on the lemon grow back.
Acquisition planting material.
Now citrus growing has become available to everyone. Many sites on the Internet offer seedlings by mail. Many new varieties have appeared, along with the well-known Pavlovsky, Novogruzinsky, Panderoza, Yubilein, you cannot list everything. And what a variety! There are oranges and pomelos, limes, kumquats and citrons, and also wonderful, very decorative calamondins. I also want to buy some more new citrus, try to grow other varieties of lemon. If I coped with Meyer, who is considered a sissy, then, I hope, I can cope with another. Recently I saw an ad for the sale of an adult lemon Panderosa. I think that I will not resist and buy it, because indoor citrus growing is a fascinating activity! A little more time will pass and the most pleasant time of the year will come - New Year and Christmas. There is snow outside the window, a blizzard, and at home it smells of pies, tangerines, juicy fragrant fruits ripened on the trees, and we are so warm and cozy for a pleasant conversation and tea with lemons!
How, you don't have your own citrus in the house yet?
This is the full author's version of IK Maksimova's article "I really wanted fruits", published in the Flower Club magazine, No. 12, 2011.
You can chat with the author in our group "Rare indoor plants and phytodesign" in My World on Mail.Ru
Citrus indoor plants are not only a wonderful decoration of the home, but also useful plants, the fruits of which are rich in vitamins and excellent taste. Growing these southern treats in the home, however, requires special conditions that differ for each type of fruit. In this article, we will look at how to grow citrus fruits in a pot in a city apartment.
Features of growing citrus fruits
Growing citrus fruits at home involves adhering to the basic rules of caring for southern crops.
First of all, indoor citrus fruits need a properly selected soil. For the base, you can take the soil "flower" or "lemon", diluting it one part at a time with foliage, sand and humus and three parts of turf. In structure, such a soil will be low-acid, lumpy and loose, which will provide free access of oxygen and moisture to the plant's root system.
It is better to plant the plant in clay pots, which, due to their properties, are excellent conductors of heat. In addition, these pots "breathe", which will allow excess moisture to evaporate without lingering in the soil.
Citrus fruits in pots need to maintain an optimal moisture level - at least 65%. The fruits grown in humid air will turn out to be juicy and tasty, however, with an excess of humidity, they are threatened with decay and abscission. Citrus houses need to be watered as the soil dries up: in winter this happens once a month, in summer - once every 1-2 weeks. On hot days and during the heating season, the plant needs regular spraying.
In an apartment, most often citrus fruits stand on the windowsill, since it is there that the plant will be provided with sufficient access to light and heat. If there is not enough lighting (for example, on the north or north-west side of the apartment), then it is necessary to provide citrus with additional lighting using ordinary lamps with good heat transfer. The temperature during the entire period of development should not fall below +8 degrees. In winter, the temperature regime should be maintained in the region of + 12-15 degrees, and with the onset of spring - not lower than +18. Thanks to warm temperatures and high-quality lighting, the plant will begin to release buds, the flowering of which will mark the proximity of fruiting.
Reproduction of citrus fruits is carried out at the end of summer by separating the growing shoot from the main cutting. Such a shoot is carefully trimmed and cleaned from the bark below, after which it is lowered into a pre-prepared pot with nutrient soil, which is fertilized with moss, manure and a small amount of peat. The pot must have holes in the bottom, which are necessary for the outflow of excess water.
You can propagate by seeds and grafting, but for this it is better to familiarize yourself with the varietal characteristics of the plant, since even fertile trees during reproduction can become inedible.
Pruning citrus fruits is essential not only to maintain the health of the plant, but also to form a beautiful round shape that can be created after the second year of the plant's life. If the aesthetic side requires pruning too long shoots, then the vegetative one - too thick. Shoots that grow inside the crown and hinder the free development of buds due to their large numbers should also be removed. Pruning is done in the spring, all cuts are made at an angle.
If you are interested in how to grow a citrus tree on your own, then there are two options - cuttings or from a stone at home. The apartment is ideal for this, since it is possible to create conditions in it that are as close as possible to those of a greenhouse. Growing from cuttings is recognized as the best method, since this method will provide you with fruits in the coming years, while plants obtained from seeds begin to bear fruit, at best, no earlier than 10 years later.
Consider the varieties of citrus trees for an apartment in more detail.
Lemon Tree
The lemon tree is an unpretentious and persistent citrus fruit that shows good fruiting and hardiness results. In addition, lemon gets along well in low light and moisture conditions. Keep in mind, however, that the lemon tree needs regular pruning and fertilization, as a well-groomed tree will provide you with delicious and aromatic fruits.
Lemon is planted from seeds or cuttings. As already mentioned, plants from seeds will begin to bear fruit only after 10-15 years. For development, planting material is used of the varieties Pavlovsky, Maikop, Novogruzinsky - these are varieties specially created for home conditions.
Lemon care is simple: regular watering, bait, crown pruning. The only thing that can be difficult is the need to replant the lemon tree in a larger pot every year.
Indoor tangerines
Mandarin, like lemon, requires regular transplanting in the spring. In addition, it is more thermophilic and picky about the level of humidity. It is better not to keep home tangerine at temperatures below +20 degrees, otherwise the plant will quickly die. However, a clear advantage of the species is its faster period of entry into fruiting - within 5–6 years, the development of fruits is possible.
Mandarin, in addition to the requirements for lighting and moisture, also needs regular feeding and treatment from pests. Unfortunately, these plants are very susceptible to aphids, spider mites and mealybugs. Also, the problem of mandarin is the complexity of the flowering process, which often needs stimulation.
Orange
The orange tree in the apartment is not only a supplier of sweet fruits throughout the year, but also a source of wonderful aroma. However, the problem with the orange is its poor tolerance to low temperatures, which will require constant temperature maintenance at 18-24 degrees. In addition, an orange requires direct sunlight for at least 2 hours a day, but no more than 3 hours, which is difficult when choosing a growing location, since, with all this, the tree does not like anxiety and rearrangements.
This type of citrus fruit needs regular watering and spraying, which should be carried out at least 2 times a week. The best varieties of homemade oranges are Gamlin, Pear-shaped Korolek, Washington Navel and Adjarian.
Calamondin
Calamondin is a citrus plant with a mandarin-like fruit appearance. However, unlike the latter, calamondin is less whimsical to light and moisture, moreover, it is very frost-resistant for a tropical plant. The tree reaches a height of 90 cm, and bears fruit all year round.
Calamondin is best grown from cuttings or store-bought annuals. Such a tree will begin to bear fruit as early as 2-3 years.
Despite the resistance to cold weather, the optimal growing temperature in summer is 21-25 degrees with a humidity of 70%, and in winter - 10-16 degrees with a humidity of 50%. This regime will provide the plant with healthy and abundant fruiting.
Grapefruit
Homemade grapefruit can be obtained from Duncan and Marsh varieties. This variety of citrus fruits resembles a lemon in terms of keeping conditions. However, the grapefruit needs more abundant and frequent watering and the maximum amount of sunlight.
Citron
Citron is a plant with very large yellow fruits (from 15 cm in length) and thick skin. For home cultivation, the varieties Pavlovsky, Buddha's Hand and Mir are suitable. It should be remembered that the size of the fruit requires a tall tree (1.5 m), which should provide an abundance of sunlight and warm temperatures throughout the year.
Video "Growing citrus at home"
From this video you will learn how to grow and care for lemon, tangerine, lime at home.
