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04.21.2013 updated | 03/21/2011 |
Who among us in childhood did not bury an orange seed in a pot in the hope of growing an orange miracle? Today, citrus paradise on the windowsill is a very real thing. And although the fruits obtained at home are inferior in size to the brothers bought at the bazaar or in the store, you should not give up the pleasure of growing a lemon or tangerine tree. The observer of the www.interfax.by portal delved into the intricacies of the process.
We grow from the bone
Growing a tree from a small bone is an exercise for very patient botanists. If you followed certain rules in the process of planting and germination, then the plant, of course, will appear. But it will take years to wait for the first fruits. And it is not a fact that they will be tasty.
If difficulties do not scare you, then peel the most beautiful lemon (tangerine, orange) from the peel, eat the juicy pulp, and leave the seeds on a saucer with water so that they do not dry out. Some citrus growers pay special attention to the fact that no pulp should remain on the seeds intended for planting, otherwise the seed will simply rot in the ground. Then the bone is lowered 2 cm into a clay pot with earth, sprayed with water, and placed in a warm place (20-25 ° C). And within a month they wait for the first shoots, not forgetting about watering.
In most cases, lemon seeds will sprout without any problems. They will begin when the plant grows up: the leaves may dry out, the root may curl without pruning, and growth will slow down. Experienced gardeners can easily deal with these difficulties. For beginners, we recommend training on growing citrus fruits from seedlings.
We buy a seedling
If you don’t want to wait for the first fruit for eight whole years, don’t waste time germinating the seeds, just go to the capital's Botanical Garden, where you can buy a rooted cutting of lemon and tangerine trees for Br15-20 thousand.
Choose a stalk 8-19 cm long with 3-4 leaves. The roots should not be dry, but sprinkled with earth or wet sawdust so that mycorrhiza does not die.
It is best to start citrus breeding classes at home in late March - early May.
Choosing a pot and soil
Lemon (like tangerine) trees require careful pot selection. It should ideally fit the size of the plant, and as it grows, the lemon needs to be transplanted, each time picking up a pot 2-5 cm in diameter larger than the previous one. First you need a pot of 1-1.5 liters.
It is necessary to fill the pot, not reaching the edge of 1 cm, with a light, air-permeable and well-retaining water mixture of earth, sand, expanded clay and peat.
After six months, when you transplant the lemon into a larger pot, prepare a new soil mixture.
We put on the windowsill
Citruses love light (lemons need diffused light, tangerines and oranges are not so whimsical) and are afraid of drafts. So choose rooms for your future paradise tabernacles, where the sun comes in more often. But do not expose lemons in the very sun, give preference to windows facing east, west. In the northern direction, you may not wait for the fruit. Orange and tangerine trees can also be grown on the south side.
To protect the plant from sunburn, move it out into the room for the summer. 2-5 hours of direct sun per day will be enough for your window garden.
The plant will reach for the light, but it is not worth turning it or rearranging it from place to place: it will respond with a sharp drop of leaves and simply die.Remember the simple formula: one 10-degree turn every ten days. Thus, your tree, with your help, will make a painless revolution around its axis within a year.
From November to February, a fruitful tree will need additional lighting.
Another important point: the air in the room should not be dry. If the humidity is below 40%, the tree may die. Therefore, during the heating season, a container with water should be placed next to the pot.
Watering competently
When growing citruses, it is important to keep the soil from drying out. You need to monitor the condition of the soil daily (especially in summer) so that the entire earthen lump in the pot does not dry out from the high temperature and bright sun.
You need to water at least once a day, carefully, along the entire contour of the pot, so that all the roots are saturated with water.
And remember: lemons, oranges and tangerines are intolerant of bleach. Advanced citrus growers use rainwater and melt water. If you pour water from the tap, then do not forget to stand it at room temperature for at least a day. In winter, it is even better to warm up the water to 35 degrees.
We feed correctly
A citrus tree must not only be thoroughly watered, but also fed abundantly. Any fertilizer designed for indoor plants will do.
But your plant should not be treated with pesticides and other preparations containing chlorine compounds.
We provide the harvest
Your citrus tree can bloom a month after planting. But you will have to cut the buds mercilessly. Barren flowers will only weaken the plant.
Each subsequent growth of new leaves will begin only when the first ones are fully germinated. The first wave of growth occurs from the end of March to June, the second from the second half of June to 20 July, and the third from mid-September to the end of October. When the plant reaches the first key 20 cm mark, trim off the crown of the plant, leaving a few buds intact. From these buds, shoots of the first order are formed. When they are ripe and germinated, the plant will again need pruning.
Lemon begins to bear fruit only on the branches of the fourth-fifth order. The ovary will appear on a bud with a thick pistil with a stigma at the end. From flowering to fruit ripening, it takes from 5 to 12 months, depending on the variety.
The optimum temperature for flowering is 16-18 ° C; at higher or lower temperatures, the flowers will simply fall off. Moisture also matters during flowering.
You will have to count the leaves even when the first ovaries appear. It takes 10-15 mature leaves to grow one delicious lemon. With a smaller amount, the ovary will not develop.
With proper care, a lemon, tangerine or orange tree can live in your room for up to 70 years, providing constant aroma prophylaxis in your apartment and guaranteeing a regular supply of tasty and healthy fruits to your table.
Love plants and they will love you!
Yanina Savitskaya
Why do you think oranges and tangerines do not grow in our gardens? Agroclimatologists and experienced gardeners will answer that neither heat nor sun will be enough for them to grow, and besides, they will also freeze out in our cold winters.
When planting fruit crops, first of all, their frost resistance is taken into account, and then all other parameters. For vegetables, low winter temperatures are irrelevant - we do not leave tomatoes or peppers in the open field.
Novice summer residents buy up everything, prescribe seeds by mail, bring seedlings from Ukraine and Moldova. At the same time, of course, they hope that the plants will bloom and bear fruit. But, alas ... Joy is often replaced by disappointment. And then a tree or a bush, behind which there are so many
hunted (if only to find!), ruthlessly destroy, so as not to literally occupy a place under the sun.
Prudent gardeners, before starting a particular crop (fruit, ornamental or vegetable), will definitely learn everything about it, including the amount of biologically active temperatures (BAT) that it needs for normal growth.
What is BAP? Only a professional can understand it. Therefore, I addressed my question to the head of the department of agrometeorological forecasts of the Republican Center for Hydrometeorology, Control of Radioactive Contamination and Environmental Monitoring, Nadezhda Melchakova.
- The sum of active temperatures is an indicator that characterizes the plant's need for heat for the entire growing season.
The name "active temperatures" comes from the Latin word activus, which means the active air temperature necessary for the development and vegetation of agricultural and ornamental crops. And it is calculated as the sum of the average daily values for those days when the air warmed up above plus 10 degrees Celsius.
Knowing the BAP of your region and the minimum BAP for growing a particular crop, you can draw preliminary conclusions about the advisability of planting and growing it (see table 1). Or decide on the choice of varieties - early, middle or late.
- Why exactly plus 10 degrees?
- Each culture has its own thermal minimum. Most field plants begin and end their growing season at an average daily air temperature of plus 5 degrees. This is not enough for the most thermophilic crops. For example, tomato seedlings are best planted when the air warms up above plus 15 degrees. At lower values, the tomatoes will not bloom at all. And the grapes begin to grow already at plus 10. Therefore, we take plus 10 degrees as a basis, when the active vegetation of most crops begins.
Naturally, in different climatic zones, the active growth of the same plants will begin at different times. And even in the same place (depending on the weather), a breakdown in terms of several weeks is possible.
- Is it possible to determine the BAP yourself and how to do it?
- In order to determine the BAP, it is necessary to summarize all the average daily temperatures above plus 10 degrees from the moment they were established and until the thermometer drops below plus 10. In Belarus, this period usually lasts from April - May to October.
This is how the BAP of each region is calculated (see table 2). Last year, the highest sum of biologically active temperatures was in Bragin, Gomel region - 3001 units, and the lowest in Lyntupy, Vitebsk region - 2201.
- Most reference books say that in Belarus the growing season usually lasts 185-200 days. But the climate is getting warmer every year. Probably, the sum of active temperatures also increases?
- Experts estimate the climate in our country as moderately continental with frequent Atlantic cyclones: mild winters with long thaws and moderately warm summers. But there are also record temperatures. For example, in 1940 in Tolochin it was minus 42 degrees, and in 2010 in Gomel the thermometer stopped at around plus 38.9 degrees.
Indeed, over the past almost 30 years, the climate has become milder and noticeably warmer. The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century witnessed the longest warming cycle for the entire almost 130-year period of instrumental meteorological observations.
The peculiarity of the current warming is not only in its unprecedented duration, but also in the higher air temperature. Of the 20 warmest years since the post-war period (1945), 19 were in 1989 - 2015.
If in the same Lyntupy in 2004 the BAP was equal to 1854 units, then over the past 5 years this indicator did not fall below 2200. We have an additional 346 units of biologically active temperatures.
The increase in temperature is most pronounced in the winter and early spring months. In general, the whole growing season became warmer.Every year, early spring is becoming more and more familiar. But at the same time, the climate is becoming more extreme: maximum air temperatures are growing, the number of hot days is increasing, and there are more droughts and arid phenomena.
- What can you say about the past year?
- 2015 turned out to be extremely warm. The average annual air temperature was plus 8.5 degrees, which is 2.7 degrees higher than the climatic norm. This is the first place for the entire observation period. The years 1989 and 2008 were previously noted as the hottest in Belarus, but before the record in 2015 they were 0.5 degrees short of each.
Winter was also abnormally warm: the average temperature was plus 4. In January, February, March and December, positive deviations from the climatic norm reached 4.8 - 5.7 degrees.
And last summer turned out to be extremely dry: on average, less than half of the precipitation fell in Belarus during the season. And in August there was 11 mm of precipitation at all, or only 14% of the norm. And such a dry August was observed in Belarus for the first time. Usually during the summer there are no more than 6 days, when the thermometer rises to plus 30 degrees and above. And here - 24 days.
- But climate warming is a blessing: so many new southern crops can be planted.
- By and large, it is. Since the greatest increase in temperature occurs in the winter and spring periods, the snow is less than usual, and the soil does not freeze so deeply. The number of frosts also decreases, especially in spring. All this allows you to start sowing earlier and harvest at lower costs. More time is left to prepare the soil for winter.
But the warming has its drawbacks, one of which is more frequent droughts, especially in the south of the country. And along with them, the extremeness of other hydrometeorological phenomena (abnormally high air and soil temperatures, rainstorms akin to tropical rainfall), which can be detrimental to garden crops, also increases.
Despite the general warming of the climate, Belarus still remains a zone of rather risky agriculture. No matter how warm the first spring months are, frosts are still observed in May almost every year. And it was May that the temperature changes affected least of all. And the winters, although in general, have noticeably warmed up, but no, no, and frosts will hit 20 degrees and below. So this January reminded me that it can be frosty, like a real jelly, and snowy.
In general, winters have become shorter, which, of course, favorably affects the wintering of fruit trees and shrubs. But at the same time, problems associated with the weakening of the hardening of plants and an increase in the likelihood of damage from temperature extremes (return of cold weather), as well as various diseases, the growth of which provoke warm winters, are not excluded.
Spring begins earlier in some years by almost a month. Accordingly, the growing season and perennial crops begin earlier, the dates for spring sowing and planting of garden plants are shifted. But, given the current situation with temperature fluctuations in April-May, when thinking about early sowing (especially of heat-loving crops), you still need to take into account the likelihood of frost.
Agroclimatic zones: before and now
- It seems to me that the summer months have also become warmer.
- Yes, but they are not as warmer as the winter ones. Nevertheless, BAP has significantly increased during the warming period in Belarus. On average, the growing season has become 10 - 15 days longer. But this tendency of temperature rise is not favorable for all garden crops.
Potatoes, cabbage and beets, for example, have high summer temperatures and an increase in the dry period only to the detriment.
- Thanks to climate change, we now have not three, but four agroclimatic zones.
- It really is. According to the sum of active temperatures before the warming period (late 80s - early 90s of the last century) Belarus was divided into three zones.Northern - humid and cool (2000 - 2200 degrees), central - moderately humid and moderately warm (2200 - 2400) and southern - unstable humid and warm (2400 - 2600).
Today, the boundaries of agro-climatic regions have changed, shifting from south to north. The northern zone has practically disappeared, but in the south of the Gomel and Brest regions, the fourth agroclimatic region is being formed with the sum of annual temperatures of more than 2600 degrees.
Now it is possible to grow heat-loving crops 100-120 km further north than before. Today, you will not surprise anyone with grapes, watermelons or melons that bear fruit in the open field.
- Nadezhda Vitalievna, is it possible to somehow increase the sum of active temperatures if it is too small?
- Sure! Firstly, plants (and especially heat-loving plants) should be tempered even “in infancy”. Especially seedlings. Here's an additional 300 units. Secondly, plant "exotics" at the southern (warmest) wall of the house or fence. This is another plus a couple of hundred degrees. Thirdly, when planting, try to line up the plants, as they say, according to their growth in order to maximize the use of the sun's heat. On the south side - the lowest, on the north - the highest crops.
Much also depends on the location of the site: if it is in a high, dry place, sheltered from the north, then boldly add about 200 more units to the average BAP. The upper and middle parts of the hillocks, southern slopes, floodplains and river valleys, the banks of water bodies also add from 50 to 200 units. If the site is in a lowland, ravine or peat bog, subtract up to 300.
Is the spring cold and lingering? Reduce the sum of active temperatures again. This is tantamount to if the culture moved a hundred kilometers to the north. And vice versa: a warm spring adds to the total heat. Year after year is not necessary. If the temperature outside the window changes, then the BAP for a particular plant is a constant value.
Help "SB"
Increases BAP:
Growing heat-loving crops through seedlings - 200 - 300 units.
Filling the earth with manure or humus followed by mulching - 150 - 200 units.
Planting seedlings under film or using temporary shelters and wings - 200 - 300 units.
Soviet Belarus № 51 (24933). Saturday, 19 March 2016
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Almost every gardener dreams of having a tangerine on his site, but most refuse to grow, mistakenly believing that in moderate climatic conditions the plant will not bear fruit, or even will not take root at all. However, many summer residents already know how to grow tangerine, who are not afraid of experiments, and this knowledge bears fruit in the form of a stable harvest of fragrant citrus fruits for the New Year.
Preparing material for planting
The best way to grow tangerines is from seed. The fact is that not always the seedlings that are sold on the markets have sufficient vitality, and after all, its survival and the possibility of fruiting depend on how strong the tree will be at the time of planting in the ground. Therefore, you should plant several seeds to provide yourself with several seedlings. It is better to take seeds from dwarf varieties, for example, from the Abkhazian "Mix" grafted onto figs. Robinson is a great variety.
The best way to grow tangerines is from seed.
For the first three years, the seedling is aged at home - it is regularly watered, fertilized, supplemented and wiped from dust. Such "greenhouse" conditions in the process of initial growth and development give not only a powerful root system, but also an equally strong trunk.
In the last year before planting, the tree is hardened - in the warm season with a small daily temperature fluctuation (within 7 ... 10 degrees), the tangerine is exposed on the balcony, on the remaining days it "lives" under an open window until long freezing.But when hardening, there is a risk of death of the plant, so you will have to regularly monitor its "well-being" - with hypothermia, the foliage of the seedling will begin to fade slightly, fade. A sign that the hardening was successful is the juicy color of the foliage, its pronounced shape and texture.
The plant spends the last winter before planting in the ground in a cool, but not cold place - this will be the final stage of hardening.
Preparing to disembark
When it comes to how to grow a tangerine in the garden, choosing the right place for planting trees should be considered the key to success. It should be:
- on the sunny side;
- sheltered from all sides from the winds, especially from the north;
- located away from waterlogged places.
The key to success should be considered the correct choice of a place for planting a tree.
It is most convenient to use the trench method for planting a tangerine. To do this, a trench with a depth of ~ 1000mm and a width of 1500mm is dug in the ground. Further, the entire bottom must be covered with fertile soil with nitrogen and potash fertilizers to a height of 200-300mm. Then, holes 400 mm deep and 500 mm in diameter are dug at the bottom of the trench with a step of 4000 mm, which are filled with a mixture of humus, manure and earth in a ratio of 5/1/5, for each "liter" of the mixture a third of a glass of ash is added. The walls of the trench are reinforced with boards.
Video about how to grow a tangerine
On top of the trench, a gable frame with a height of 1000-1200 mm is being built, on which the film and covering material will then be stretched. The frame must have an opening for the entrance, since proper care is needed for the tangerine in the conditions of our latitudes. The film and the covering material are applied in such a way that the covering material comes first, and only then the film. This is necessary to maintain the temperature regime and prevent excessive waterlogging.
The trench is dug in with drainage ditches.
Transfer to a trench
The tangerine should be transplanted to the dacha in the spring, but this should be done only when the soil warms up enough and the temperature is stably positive, that is, in mid-late May. A tree is placed in the prepared hole, carefully removed from the pot. When disembarking, you should pay attention to the roots - if any of them are damaged, then they must immediately be covered with a mud bandage. For this, earth is applied from a pot to a piece of clean gauze bandage, then it is abundantly moistened with water, after which the damaged root is wrapped in a bandage (1-2 turns).
After planting, the plant is watered abundantly with warm water.
It is worth lowering a small twine from the frame, which covers the tree in the middle of the trunk. When covering, you should be extremely careful, since even a small damage to the bark can cause premature death of the plant.
After planting, the plant is watered abundantly with warm water.
Tangerine care
Caring for tangerines in the garden is quite painstaking:
- Fertilizers are not applied in the first year, starting from the second two additional dressings are made - during the beginning of flowering and the second - in late autumn.
- Since the tree is thermophilic, you will have to monitor the temperature regime inside the trench: At temperatures above +25 degrees, the covering material and the film are removed. At temperatures from +15 to +25, only covering material is used. At temperatures less than +15 degrees and cloudy weather, both a film and a covering material are used.
- Watering. Watering is quite acceptable at intervals of 2-8 times a month (depending on the moisture content of the soil in the trench), the leaves should be sprayed more often - 1-2 times a week. Used for irrigation and spraying only clean water at ambient temperature or higher by 1-2 degrees. From October until the end of April, the plant is not watered.
- Skeletonization. Forming consists in pruning the shoots when they reach the frame, as well as thinning the stem shoots, leaving only the strongest ones.
- Harvesting is carried out from November to December, even if the fruits are not yet ripe enough
Harvesting takes place from November to December
Wintering plants
Mandarin hibernates under a multilayer shelter: first, the trunk and crown are covered with rags, then spruce branches and then again with rags. Around the tree, along the contour of the crown, a trench is dug a third of a shovel's bayonet, into which a mixture of manure and humus is laid in a ratio of 1 to 1. On top of the frame film, burlap is laid in 2-3 layers, which is then covered with wooden shields. In winters with little snow, the frame should be covered with snow.
Mandarin cultivation video
Airing an impromptu greenhouse in winter should be 1-3 times when thaws come. In the period from late January to mid-February, the greenhouse must not be opened even for ventilation.
12/07/2016. Views: 1451
Mandarins are traditionally present on the New Year's table. Getting them today is not a problem. However, there are people who manage to grow orange balls at home. And just in time for the universally loved holiday.
– It's easy to grow a tangerine tree - speaks Ilya Ivenko from Grodno and willingly shares secrets. - The technology is available to anyone. The first thing you need to do is purchase land from a flower shop. But only without peat, because tangerines do not like sour, dry environment. You can prepare the soil yourself. The recipe is two parts of humus, the same amount of forest land and one part of sand. Soak the bones from the tangerine bought in the store, put them in a damp cloth and put them in a warm place. The fabric should not dry out. When the seeds swell and sprouts appear from them, we plant them in a three-liter pot to a depth of about 4 cm.
Mandarin is a thermophilic plant, therefore it should be kept at a temperature not lower than 20 ° C. A grown tangerine tree should be constantly sprayed with water, but not poured, wipe the leaves from dust. It will grow for many years, but requires an annual transplant into a larger pot.
Of course, the presence of fruits on the tree is the most desirable, but, alas, they will not appear without inoculation. A beautiful tree with a fragrant citrus scent grows from the seed, but its fruits are green and very sour. Therefore, those who wish to enjoy the taste of tangerines grown with their own hands should purchase a cut of a varietal fruit on the market. It is grafted onto a young tree as thick as a pencil. Then it is advisable to cover the plant with at least a cut plastic bottle, building a mini-greenhouse out of it. In about a month, a new branch will begin to grow. We remove the greenhouse and the safety bandage, cut the wild over the graft and cover it with garden var.
By the way, in addition to tangerines, limes and pomegranates also grow at Ilya Ivenko's house. And he advises not to rush to part with the seeds of exotic fruits. There is an opportunity to taste the fruits of your labors.
Photo by the author
Vladimir SIVERIN
