How to grow a lemon - everything you need to know about a lemon tree

Citrus lovers have long found out how to grow a lemon at home. There are several ways how to implement the intended, most importantly, to observe the existing rules for planting and caring for seedlings, otherwise it will not be possible to get a citrus tree on your window sill.

What kind of lemon is better to grow in an apartment?

There are many species of this exotic plant that are suitable for domestic growing, but it is worth choosing low-growing varieties that yield a lot of harvest. Among the best and most popular one can distinguish such variants:

1. "Meyer" . If you are interested in how to grow a fruit-bearing lemon, then it is recommended to choose this plant for planting, which yields fruits early and in large quantities. In height, the tree reaches 1-1.5 m. Flowering is observed throughout the year. Fruits are not too acidic, but they are juicy.
2. "Novogruzinsky" . A strong tree that needs regular pruning and shaping of the crown. Fruits are oval and slightly elongated, but they are loved for their exquisite taste and powerful aroma. When growing, you can get a lot of fruits. The plant normally survives with dry air in winter.
3. "Panderosa" . The variety is not demanding to the growing conditions, therefore it became popular. It is worth noting the presence of huge fruits, so were recorded specimens weighing 1 kg. Their flesh is light green in color.

How to plant a lemon?

There are two ways that you can use to grow an exotic tree at home: with the help of bones and cuttings. Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages. Planting material can be obtained independently or bought in a shop. Finding out how to plant a lemon at home, it is worth noting that the best is planting seeds, as everyone can get it. In addition, the adult plant grown by this method will be much more viable, in comparison with the tree obtained from the cuttings.

How to plant a lemon from a stone?

For this option, prepare the seeds, which must be well-formed and free of defects. It is best to use several seeds from different citrus. Immediately after removing the seeds, soak them for several hours in water and you can proceed to planting:

1. To grow lemon from the stone at home, small-sized containers are used, filled with suitable soil, mixing part of the flower land and part of the peat. Do not forget about drainage .
2. Bones deeper by 1 cm so that the distance between them was 5 cm, and to the walls of the container 3 cm.
3. It is important to monitor the humidity of the earth, but it can not be flooded. Please note that a suitable temperature for germination is 18-22 ° C. To create conditions similar to the greenhouses can be covered with a film, glass or jar.
4. The pot must be in the light, but not under direct sunlight. Every day, be sure to ventilate, taking off the shelter.
5. If all the recommendations regarding how to properly grow a lemon of sunflower seeds are taken into account, then the shoots will appear in two weeks. Select among them the most viable, and the rest can be pulled out. After the appearance of real leaves, a dive into individual small containers. To transplant a plant it is necessary, when the height of the seedling will be up to 20 cm.

How to plant a seedling of lemon?

Grow will grow, so transplantation into a more comfortable and spacious pot can not be avoided. In the instruction on how to plant a lemon at home, it is indicated that it is necessary to take out the seedling along with the earthen lump, which will speed up its adaptation in a new place. If you get a seedling without it, then put it in a new pot and carefully distribute the roots so that they do not break down and get tangled. Be sure to pour the earth, slightly tightening it.

How to plant a lemon from a twig?

For the procedure, prepare the river sand, which is washed and burned in the oven to remove the bacteria. In addition, get a primer for citrus fruits. There is a certain scheme how to plant a room lemon with a handle:

1. Cut off shoots that should not be older than a year with a healthy and fruit-bearing tree. Branches should be about 10 cm long and have 3-4 developed kidneys. The cut below should be made closer to the kidney at a right angle, and from above - at an angle of 45 ° at a distance of 5 mm from the upper kidney. Leave the bottom plate completely, and cut the remaining half.
2. Cuttings should be soaked in the rooting agent solution for 10-12 hours. Then cut the cut into charcoal to protect the planting material from decay.
3. Slope the branches into wet sand to a depth of 1.5-2 cm. Then spray lightly with warm water. To make an impromptu greenhouse, cover the can with a jar. Place the container in a well-lit place, but avoid direct sunlight. Those who are interested in how to grow a lemon from a cut should know that it is important to keep sand always wet, and spraying should be done every day.
4. After 2-3 weeks, the first roots should appear. The new leaves will testify to successful rooting. Every day for several hours, remove the jar for "hardening". In two weeks it can be completely removed. After that, you can carry out a transplant.

How to grow a lemon at home?

In order to see the fruit on the tree, it is important to look after it properly. Experienced gardeners give some practical advice on how to grow a lemon at home:

1. In late autumn, to help the plant adapt to the approaching colds, gradually lower the temperature to 15 ° C. It is important at the same time to increase the light day, otherwise the citrus will discard the foliage.
2. Growing a lemon at home means wrapping a blanket in winter with a blanket to protect the roots from hypothermia.
3. After every 5-6 watering it is recommended to loosen the soil so that the roots are supplied with oxygen.
4. A simple way to make a lemon fruit is to pull the side shoot near the barrel with a wire. When the branch blossoms, then the dressing should be removed.

Growing a lemon home - the soil

Citrus belongs to unpretentious plants and it can be rooted in any land. You can use a mixture that includes soddy land, river sand and humus. In addition, gardeners recommend incorporating into the soil mixture wood ash, which will feed the sprouts. Growing a lemon at home in a pot can be done using soils designed for indoor plants, but they need to add a little peat. When planting the cuttings on top of the ground, fill a layer of sand, which will help to release the roots faster.

To grow a healthy bush, at the bottom of the pot necessarily fill the drainage layer, as it will prevent stagnation of moisture, which is fatal to the plant. For him, you can use small stones or pebbles, shredded polystyrene, coarse sand or expanded clay. Specialists give advice - in order to provide the plant with a nutrient medium, on top of the drainage place a layer of peat or dry manure. Its height should not be more than 2 cm.

Care for a room lemon in a pot - watering

In order to soak the soil well, it is recommended to add water in 3-4 meals with small breaks. When we start to drip out of the drainage hole, it means that we need to finish watering. Carrying out at home lemon care at home, it is important to consider that irrigation is carried out only with warm water and in the morning. In winter, watering 2-3 times a week. If the room temperature is + 10 ° C, then apply water 1-2 times a month.

Care for a room lemon - top dressing

For citrus culture, fertilizers are of great importance. With a lack of minerals, wilting leaves and poor flowering are observed. To understand how to grow a lemon properly, observe the following tips:

1. During flowering and fruiting, fertilizers must be applied every 14 days. It is best to use organic, for example, "Gumi-Omi Kuznetsova Lemon." 1 liter of water is taken 1 tbsp. a spoon. Under small shrubs are introduced at 0.5 st., And for large volumes, increase the dose.
2. Caring for a lemon at home in the winter, implies a reduction in dressing up to 1 time per month.
3. To grow a healthy plant, it is useful to spray the back side of the leaves with a solution of fertilizers.
4. After the transplant, carry out the fertilizing in a month. Immediately before placing the bush in a new pot, it is recommended to water it with Cornesil to restore the root system.

Care for lemon at home - pruning

It is recommended to conduct the procedure in the spring before the beginning of the period of growth. The crown is best formed on a low stem (15-18 cm). In the first year of life, cut the trunk at a height of about 20 cm. When growing lemon from a bone or cut, remember that the shoots are cut so that there are 4-5 leaves left. It should be borne in mind that in most varieties fruits are tied on branches of 4-5 orders, therefore the plant must be branched.

How to propagate a homemade lemon?

To increase the number of citrus shrubs, you can use several methods. About how to grow a lemon from a cut and seeds, it was told above, but there is one more option - the use of leashes.

1. The rootstock must be grown for 1.5-2 years. The lemon stalk should be 6-7 cm long.
2. On the root, make a cleavage and put a stalk in it, and then carefully wrap the place of inoculation with a film to create a greenhouse effect.
3. The vaccine will survive after about 45-60 days, and then remove the film.

Growing lemon - diseases and pests

If you do not follow the advice given above, the bush can hit the disease:

1. Fungal diseases, for example, root rot, late blight and so on. Remove affected areas, and then disinfect - spraying with chemical insecticides .
2. If improperly conducted care, lemon infects diseases and pests, so infectious diseases are serious. They struggle with them by special means.
3. It is not excluded the emergence of viral diseases, and then the plant must be disposed of.
4. Understanding how to grow a lemon, it is worth noting that the main pests are aphids, scabies, spider mite and whitefly. Insects clean and wash the stems and leaves with a soap solution. Specialists recommend twice a week to cold wash the bush.