Growing lemon trees in your garden or apartment is a fascinating activity that is simply fruitful. In Europe, lemons have been cultivated in rooms and greenhouses since the Renaissance era. To make this plant enjoy itself and produce a bountiful harvest for many years, you need to know a few secrets. You will learn more about How to Grow and Care Lemon Trees at Home by Bubgo's article.
The most frequent failures are related to the heating season. When humidity, temperature and light conditions are compromised, the lemon drops its leaves, buds, flowers and ovaries.
1. Lemons need 70-80% humidity and 59-77 °F (15-25°C) temperature to grow and develop properly.
2. To create optimum humidity, especially during the heating season, spray plants with room temperature water at least 3 times a day and place containers of water between plants. Separate the plants from the radiator with aluminum foil.
3. Lemons like light, especially during the flowering period, but they can also tolerate half-life.
4. The lighting time should be 12 hours.
5. The best place to grow lemons is on a glassed and insulated balcony, terrace, wooden porch - with a temperature of at least 32 °F (0 °C) or more and a lighted windowsill inside the house.
With the arrival of warm weather - at night when the temperature does not fall below 50 °F (10 °C) - the lemons can be taken out to get some fresh air. It is important to avoid direct sunlight and wrap the container in aluminum foil to prevent the roots from overheating.
The substrate for lemon trees should be of medium mechanical composition in a ratio of 3:2:1
1. turf soil.
2. ground cover.
3. sand.
Or in a ratio of 2:1:1:1
1. turf soil.
2. leafy soil.
3. mulch.
4. peat.
Various containers are suitable (clay pots, plastic pots, galvanized buckets, wooden pots, plastic bags). Clay pots dry out more easily, so water more frequently.
Gradually increase the size of the container: 1 and 6 year old plants are 6-20 inch (15-50 cm) in height and from 4 inch (10 cm) to 15-23 inch (40-60 cm) in diameter, respectively.
Repotting is best done in early spring or late fall, during the dormant period.
1. The surface of the substrate should be 0.6-2 inch (1.5-2.5 cm) below the edge of the container, with the root neck level with the substrate.
2. The day before transplanting, the plants should be watered heavily.
3. There should be a hole in the bottom of the container. Drainage (crushed bricks, pebbles) is placed at the bottom, and then coarse sand is poured in. The drainage layer should be between 1 inch (2.5 cm) for small containers and between 2 inch (5 cm) for large containers.
When replanting, check the roots and remove any blackened roots. It is best to keep the root ball undisturbed.
Four to five waves of growth can be observed in indoor lemons. There are three types of shoots that develop in the canopy.
1. asexual (vertical growth), from which skeletal branches are formed (usually reaching the 4th order of branching); they can grow up to 40 inch (1 meter) in one year.
2. Fertile - characterized by vigorous growth to the detriment of other shoots, large leaves and large spines; grows to 60 inch (1.5 m).
3. Fruit - slender, shortened, usually horizontal; grows on higher order branches.
To promote fruiting and create a beautiful, compact canopy with many fruiting branches, shoots of annual lemons should be pruned to 10-12 inch (25-30 cm) tall. 3-4 weeks later, when the shoots are mature, prune them finally to the bottom 4 buds. All other shoots formed in the canopy will be formed in the same way.
1. Nail and prune systematically until the 4th order buds start to form fruiting branches.
2. When pruning, the top two buds should point toward the periphery of the canopy - not outward (they produce drooping, unsightly buds) and not inward (they thicken the canopy).
3. If 3-4 buds grow from the top bud, leave 2-3 medium sized buds, and strong, herbaceous, upright (either inward or downward) buds should be pruned off.
4. Under indoor conditions, a crown can be formed in 1.5 to 2 years if winters are kept warm, and in 2.5 to 3 years if winters are kept cold.
During the formation process, flowering and fruiting are strictly prohibited. Early flowers should be removed because flowering and fruiting shoots will stop growing and the canopy will form poorly and slowly.
The lemon tree's canopy should be constantly cared for.
1. break up herbaceous shoots growing inside the canopy.
2. Break up fat shoots within the canopy in time for their formation (or later cut out into rings).
3. Cut out weak, short, leafless, and withered shoots.
4. Rejuvenate old plants by pruning: by shortening weak shoots and growing new shoots from dormant shoots, these new shoots replace weak shoots.
5. Excessive flowering can deplete the plant. Therefore, remove excessive and weak buds, flowers, or entire flowering branches.
The lemon tree in your house is in great need of nutrients in the room. In case of deficiency, shriveling (yellowish-white spots on the leaves) will occur, leaves, flowers, and ovaries will fall off and bud growth will stop. Excess potassium and phosphorus can also lead to stunted plants.
1. A mild compound fertilizer solution is recommended for fertilization; chlorine-based fertilizers should not be used.
2. Plants should be watered the day before feeding.
3. Fertilize every 12-14 days, including in winter (if plants stay warm).
4. Do not fertilize during cold winter months 33-48 °F (1-9 °C).
5. Micronutrients are added twice a year as a foliar fertilizer or with essential (macro) elements.
Do not apply all fertilizers at once: lemons do not tolerate too much fertilizer.
1. Mineral fertilizers can be replaced by slurry (once every 15 days): pour fresh manure into water (1:1), digest it for 7 days, then dilute it 10 times.
2. Prepare chicken manure in the same way and dilute it 20 times.
3. Prepare green manure (made from nettle leaves and grass) for 2-3 days: pour grass and water (1:4).
4. Add decalcified manure, compost, or biomethane to the pot every 2 months.
Lemon is a water-loving plant, but it does not tolerate standing water.
1. The signal for watering is when the substrate dries out to a depth of 0.4-0.6 inches (1-1.5 cm).
2. Water overwintering plants 33-48 °F (1-9°C) once a month with room temperature water.
3. Gently loosen the substrate to a depth of no more than 1 inch (2.5 cm).
The above-mentioned plants need watering, so where to buy watering cans? In our bubgo store, you can find watering cans and gardening supplies at a variety of price points.
Lemons can be propagated indoors by seeds (i.e. from seedpods) and cuttings.
The easiest way to propagate lemons, literally "lying on the ground", is to propagate from seeds.
1. Seeds sown under indoor conditions will germinate after 30-40 days.
2. Seedlings should be picked when they grow 4-5 leaves.
3. 2 weeks before picking, prune the taproot of the plant. This is done without taking the seedlings out of the soil.
However, seed propagation is only recommended for breeding purposes. The kernels themselves germinate fairly quickly, but plants are grown from seed bear later (after 8-12 years) and do not retain their varietal characteristics.
When propagating lemons from cuttings, seedlings can emerge at any time of the year. If the crown part of a rooted tree dies, the surviving above-ground parts and the root system can produce new shoots that exactly replicate the variety of the parent plant. Cuttings do not develop a strong root system within the first 2 years.
1. The best time to take cuttings is from April to June.
2. Cuttings can be taken from any part of the canopy and from shoots that have just finished growing.
3. Cut the shoots into plugs at right angles to the longitudinal axis, below the buds (near the nodes), or between the buds. In the first case, the roots will start from and develop around the bud, while in the second case, the roots will develop along the entire length of the internode. The rooting rate of semi-woody plugs can be up to 65%, while the rooting rate of woody plugs can be up to 44%.
4. When taking cuttings about 6 inches (15 cm), keep 3 healthy leaves per root; this will increase the rooting rate to 83%.
5. The substrate is a pile of at least 2 inches (5 cm) of sand on top of fertile soil (a mixture of sand, peat, and mulch).
6. Before planting, the substrate was watered, the plugs were buried 2 inches (5 cm) deep, covered with cling film, and watered regularly.
7. The temperature for root formation is 64-77 °F (18-25°C).
For a small number of cuttings, cover with a glass jar; for a large number, use a summer plastic trellis (transplant the cuttings into pots and bring them indoors in the fall).
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