How to care for a lemon tree at home. How to care for lemon at home - a cheat sheet for housewives

A lemon tree with bright fruits and rich dark foliage decorates the windowsill and lures you into the room. sunlight. Even without special care, this large evergreen plant will be covered with fragrant white flowers and at least one or two fruits. A lemon tree lives from 50 to 100-150 years, which means it can be passed on as a family heirloom. Proper care of a lemon in a pot at home will yield results - the tree will annually delight you with a harvest of tasty and healthy fruits.

Description of the crop and the best varieties

Lemon is a Mediterranean guest, but was born in India. From there the beautiful tree came to the countries of America and Africa. In the southern regions you can find entire groves of these picturesque trees everywhere. Not found in the wild. The pulp of citrina is rich in acids, vitamins and microelements:

citric acid is the main component of citrus;
pectins, flavonoids, phytoncides, essential oils– concentrated in the peel, as well as in the pulp;
vitamins C, B, D, PP;
ascorbic acid, tocopherol, riboflavin and others;
microelements - iron, boron, copper, fluorine, zinc, manganese and others.

Only specially bred plants are suitable for growing at home. dwarf varieties, well leafy and abundantly fruiting. To grow a real lemon tree on the windowsill, you can go in three ways:

Buy a seedling from an agricultural farm.
Plant the seed in the pot.
Root a cutting from another mature plant.

The easiest way is to go the first way, the more difficult is the second. But in any case, a grown lemon requires care.

For successful agricultural technology at home, you can choose one of the popular varieties.

Variety name	Description	Photo
Pavlovsky	Shade-tolerant. Maximum height – up to 2 meters. Flowering occurs in the third year after planting in mid-spring and in October. Yields up to 15 fruits with thin skin and a pleasant, not pungent taste
Meyer	Height – up to 1.5 m. Cold-resistant, productive, remontant. Blooms in spring, bears fruit all year round. Lemons are thin-skinned, orange pulp with sourness
Panderosa	Height up to one and a half meters. A hybrid of lemon, grapefruit and citron. Unpretentious. An adult plant has spines. Blooms often and profusely, 2-3 times a year. The fruits are large with thick skin
Lunario	Height 1-1.5 m. Blooms with short breaks all year round. The fruits are elongated, pointed in shape, thin skin, slightly acidic, aromatic taste. There may be no seeds at all. The branches are long, the plant needs trellises
Lisbon	Drought-resistant, cold-resistant. Demanding on lighting. The tree is large, heavily leafed. Fruits abundantly, up to 60 pieces per year. The shape of lemons is round or slightly elongated, the peel is thin, smooth, the taste is rich, aromatic, not very sour.

How to care for lemon

Taking care of the southern guest includes the usual set for any cultivated plant– lighting requirements, watering, replanting, fertilizing and treatment. Since lemon is a tree that grows indoors, it is necessary to trim off excess branches and form a crown.

Lighting and temperature

Lemon is a southern plant that loves brightness, but young trees do not tolerate direct sun. They need to be shaded or placed on the east window. In order for the crown to form beautifully and harmoniously, the plant must be turned towards the light different sides. Mature tree tolerates heat well. In the summer it is useful to place the pot with the plant on the loggia, in the fresh air, and in the winter to illuminate it with a phytolamp. Lack of lighting negatively affects the plant as a whole - the leaves lose their rich color and the fruits become sour.

Humidity and watering

The young plant does not like dry air, so it needs to be watered and sprayed in a timely manner. Overmoistening is unacceptable. Winter watering should not be frequent; it is enough to water the soil once a week with settled melt or just warm boiled water, preferably acidified. Between waterings, the soil should dry out by about one centimeter, but no more, otherwise the lemon will begin to dry out. For better water absorption, the soil must be carefully loosened, and to prevent it from hardening, mulch can be placed on top. In summer it is hot and bright on the windowsill, so the soil dries out quickly and the leaves become dehydrated. Starting from March, watering is required up to 3 times a week, but not abundantly - the roots may rot. A trickle of water should go along the perimeter of the pot, and not under the root.

Growing and caring for lemons should take place in conditions high humidity(60-70°C). To do this, you can put a bowl of water on the windowsill, but it’s better to buy special humidifier. For this subtropical plant, moist air is more important than watered roots.

It is necessary to spray the foliage warm water from a spray bottle. In winter, the air in apartments is very dry due to central heating, and in the summer the hot sun shines through the windows. To avoid sunburn Spraying should be done in the morning or evening so that the leaves have time to dry before the sun hits the window. It is very useful to arrange spa treatments for lemon once a week under warm shower. To avoid flooding the soil, it must be protected with film.

How to feed lemon?

Lemon can bloom and bear fruit in the 2-3rd year. Caring for indoor lemon is:

timely watering;
regular spraying;
competent feeding.

Once a month, after watering, add a dose of nitrogen fertilizer dissolved in water (urea or ammonium nitrate - 2 g per 1 liter of water) into the soil. This is especially true for soil poor in organic matter. Nitrogen gives strength to plants; during spring and summer, a powerful leaf apparatus is formed, with which the tree safely endures all the hardships of winter. You can water with diluted slurry of low concentration (1:30).

Under no circumstances should you fertilize with microelements. Unlike other plants, lemons do not have hairs on their roots. Their role is played by mycorrhizal fungi. They seem to stick to the roots of the lemon, and through them the whole plant is fed. Mycorrhizae themselves feed on organic matter, for example, humus. They decompose it, forming valuable substances, which they first feed on themselves, and then feed the lemon. Trace elements kill mycorrhiza, thus the tree is depleted and will soon die. Excessive nitrogen feeding is not good for lemons. The tree can grow with a powerful crown to the detriment of fruiting.

Transfer

The first can be done after purchasing a young seedling in a pot, but first it must be quarantined for a week away from other plants. During this time, you will make sure that the lemon is healthy and not infected. spider mite. When deciding whether a transplant is needed, inspect the soil to see if the roots are visible, if they are sticking out of the drainage hole, if the pot is visually small. If the issue of replanting is resolved positively, wet the soil, tilt the pot and, holding it by the stem, very carefully pull out the plant with a lump of earth. Inspect the lump - the roots should not stick out from it. If it smells rotten, carefully loosen the root system above the basin. Can be lowered into warm water and cleanse it from the earth.

Examine the roots, remove bad, blackened, rotten ones. Pour drainage into a slightly larger pot, then fill the soil mixture up to half, place the plant upright, spread out the roots and fill with soil, not reaching a couple of centimeters to the top. Water and place in partial shade without drafts, let the plant come to its senses and get used to the new place.

For the first 2-3 weeks after transplantation, keep it under a plastic bag with “ventilation” and gradually accustom it to air. If you place a seedling without covering it, it may die. Keep it away from sunlight to avoid sunburn. After the plant has become a little stronger and accustomed to the air, remove the plastic cover. Watering can already be combined with fertilizing.

During the first three years, the lemon is replanted annually. The size of the next pot should be 2-3 cm larger in diameter and depth compared to the previous one. Then you should transplant the tree into a container larger diameter once every five years.

Diseases and pests

Indoor lemon is susceptible to viral, bacterial, fungal infections, and pests also live on it.

Name of disease/pest	Signs	Reasons	Treatment
Gomoz	Brown spots on the trunk and branches, then the bark dies. A golden sticky liquid emerges from the cracks and hardens in air.	Cortical injuries. Overwatering of soil, lack of potassium and phosphorus, excess nitrogen	Cut off all affected areas and branches, treat the wounds with a 3% solution of copper sulfate, cover with garden varnish
Root rot	Dropping leaves. No damage is visible visually. You need to get the plant out and inspect the roots		Remove diseased roots and plant in fresh soil. Place in the sun, stop watering for a week, just wipe the leaves with a damp sponge
Sooty fungus	Stems and leaves darken, black spots appear	The result of the appearance of a pest is scale insects. It secretes a sugary liquid on which a black fungus settles.	Soap solution (2 tablespoons of liquid soap per liter of water), wipe the entire plant. After an hour, rinse. Repeat after 2 days. Garlic broth, insecticide solution. Systematic rinsing of leaves clean cold water
Scab	Putrefactive spots on young foliage and branches. The plant drops its fruits	Fungus	Trimming all affected parts. Spraying the crown with 1% Bordeaux mixture
Anthracnose	Yellowing, falling leaves, drying out branches. Red spots on fruits	Fungus	Removing dead branches. Spraying the tree three times with Fitosporin or a 1% solution of Bordeaux mixture
Tristeza	Leaves fall, bark dies	The virus affects weak lemons that are not cared for	There is no treatment, the plant dies
Sheet mosaic	Dark or light stripes on the leaves. Then their deformation, stopping the development of the lemon		There is no treatment. You can reduce the manifestations with regular feeding
Citrus cancer	Brown spots various shapes on leaves and fruits. The fruits become distorted and the tree dies		It is impossible to cure. For prevention: spring treatment liquid copper fungicide
Root and common aphids	Foliage drying out, curling	Pest	Removing affected leaves. Spraying with a decoction of garlic peels and insecticides. Complex feeding. Transplantation into new soil
Spider mite	Curling leaves, cobwebs	Dry indoor air	1% solution boric acid. Requires up to 5 sprays
Melseko	The shoots dry out, the foliage falls off starting from the ends of the branches. The broken branch is painted red	Lack of lighting. In winter there was not enough light, the plant was not illuminated	There is no treatment, only observation. If no improvement is visible, the plant is destroyed.

Lemons- perennial evergreen subtropical plants from Southeast Asia. They are hardy, durable, but require enough attention.

Thanks to the shiny leathery leaves, they are very decorative even in a non-flowering state. And during flowering, the entire room will be filled with its delicate invigorating aroma.

The plant produces volatiles essential oils, which have a bactericidal effect, ozonize the air, improve mood, and give vitality.

Varieties of indoor lemons (with photos)

For growing The following lemon varieties are suitable:

Pavlovsky. Shade-tolerant, annually produces 6-15 tasty fruits weighing 200 g (up to 400 g) with thin skin. An old popular variety. Blooms in the 3rd year. There are several clones of the variety, with different shapes and fruit weight.

Lunario. Most unpretentious variety. The taste of the fruits is average, their weight is 120-180 g. It produces 8-16 fruits per year. They bloom for 2-3 years. Most common in Europe.

Ponderosa. The variety is up to 1 m high, unpretentious, but low-yielding (3-5 per year). The weight of delicious fruits is more than 300 g. They bloom for 1-2 years.

Lisbon. Unpretentious, resistant to heat. The branches are thorny. Delicious fruits weighing 180-200 g. Productivity 6-16 fruits. Seedlings bloom for 3 years. By properly forming the crown, you can reduce the height of the plant.

Meyer. The shortest (0.5-1 m), remontant, early ripening. Capricious, painful, requires lighting in winter. The weight of the fruit is 150-190 g. Their taste is average. It produces 6-15 fruits per year. Blooms for 1-2 years. Due to its size, it is the most common variety.

Suitable for growing in room conditions, But rare varieties lemon: variegated Eureka (with white veins on the leaves), Kursk and Genoa - both with very tasty fruits, Maikop (the most productive), Villafranca, Novogruzinsky.

Caring for a lemon houseplant

To get fragrant flowers and long-awaited fruits, you need to know how to care for indoor lemon.

Lighting

This is a plant short daylight hours. Long days enhance growth but delay fruiting. Needs bright diffuse light, so they place the lemon on the east window. Suitable and south windows, but with shading from direct summer sun.

For uniform growth of the crown once or twice a month, lightly twist the lemon in relation to the sun. Lack of lighting leads to slow leaf growth and sour taste of fruits.

Temperature

For height A, flowering The temperature needed is +17-20, for the development and ripening of fruits +21-22. In summer, the plant can be kept outdoors, but do not forget to monitor sudden temperature changes.

In winter, lemon is kept at +15-18, adding up to 12 hours of daylight, or at +7-14, while the plant “sleeps”. Excessive heat is very harmful, especially when air humidity is low.

It's better if soil temperature close to air temperature. The sharp fluctuations that occur when a lemon is kept outside and immediately brought into the room when it gets cold are undesirable.

Humidity

Humidity should be very high. The plant reacts negatively to its decrease, especially in the heat. In summer– daily spraying, in heating season spraying is also necessary. Periodically (every 7-10 days) the lemon is given a warm shower.

Humidity is increased, placing a wide container of water nearby for evaporation or placing the pot in a tray with moisture-evaporating material.

Watering

In the summer it should be abundant and regular (2 times a week). Do not overdry the soil! Water needs to be at room temperature, it should not contain chlorine, for which it is boiled or settled.

Winter watering is more rare (once a week). Avoid waterlogging land.

Top dressing

Fertilizers are very important for indoor lemons! IN summer period – weekly, in winter- once a month only in case of fruiting.

Use organic and mineral supplements. An hour or two before applying them, it is necessary to water the plants to avoid burning the roots.

Organic feeding: manure is mixed with water 1:1 and left to ferment for a week. Before watering, the solution is filtered and diluted: horse solution 1:10, cow solution 1:15. Fertilizing is combined with watering 2 times a year with a solution iron sulfate(3 g/l) and a pinkish solution of potassium permanganate.

Mineral feeding: produced with fertilizers for citrus fruits according to instructions, for example, “Citrus mixture” with an N:P:K ratio of 14:16:18 and a complex of microelements.

Transfer

Lemons up to 3 years transplanted annually in the spring. Replanting should be done carefully, without damaging the root system. It is better to use transshipment with partial removal of old soil.

Adult lemons replanted after 2-3 years at the beginning of the growing season. Replanting should not be carried out during flowering and fruiting.

Pot size no more than 10-15 cm. At the bottom, drainage (2-3 cm) of sand or expanded clay with charcoal is required.

Soil should be loose, nutritious, neutral reaction.
Compound:

4 parts leaf soil with the addition of turf;
1 part manure humus;
1 part sand;
1 tbsp ash.

If it is impossible to make a mixture, use a store-bought one, but you can only use special - for citrus fruits.

Trimming and shaping

Crown trimming It is better to plant indoor lemons in the spring, before growth begins. The crown is formed as a bush on a low (15-18 cm) trunk. The shoots are trimmed, leaving 4-5 leaves.

To begin fruit formation, the plant must be branched. Most varieties set fruit on branches of 4-5 orders, only Meyer lemon can form fruit on branches of 2-3 orders.

A lemon with a properly formed crown can please with flowers already for 2-3 years. Be sure to regulate the number of flowers, otherwise the entire plant may become exhausted. During the first flowering, half of the flowers are removed, and 3-4 fruits are left from the formed ovaries. In the second year you can leave 5-6 fruits, then 7-8.

Flowering and harvesting

Depending on the variety, lemons can bloom and bear fruit from 1 to 4 (Ponderosa lemon) once a year. Flowers bisexual, forming ovaries without cross-pollination.

Growth and bud development lasts about 5 weeks. Each flower blooms for about 2 months. From fruit set to the beginning of ripening, 180-230 days pass, depending on temperature and lighting.

Flowering and fruiting are allowed only if there is a sufficient number of leaves. For each fruit– at least 10 developed leaves.

Intense golden peel color fruit indicates their full ripening. They need to be removed at this moment, since after ripening they do not fall off and continue to grow. But their quality deteriorates, the peel becomes thicker, the pulp becomes drier, and the juice becomes less sour.

Subject to proper maintenance conditions, lemon can grow, bloom, bear fruit all year, at the same time the plant can have buds, flowers, and fruits.

Reproduction of indoor lemon

Grow indoor lemon is it possible as from the Semeyans, so vegetatively(cuttings, layering).

Propagation by seeds

More often used seeds from purchased lemons. They germinate easily, but they have to wait more than 10 years for flowering and fruiting.

Vegetative propagation

Cuttings produced in spring and summer. Semi-lignified cuttings with 2-3 buds (length 10 cm) are cut from fruit-bearing plants.

The lower cut is treated with stimulants (“Kornevin”). The cuttings are placed in water or a damp mixture of earth and sand, deepened by 2 cm. Covered with a transparent film on top to maintain moisture.

Rooting it takes 2-3 weeks, then the cutting is transplanted into a small pot and placed in a room with diffused lighting and a temperature of +20+25.

To receive layerings on a developed branch of a fruiting tree sharp knife remove the bark, making a ring 1-2 cm thick. The exposed wood is treated with rooting agents, covered with moistened sphagnum moss and wrapped in black polyethylene.

After 2-3 months, the branch with the formed roots is separated and planted in light soil.

Diseases of indoor lemon

May be caused by the following reasons:

Violation of agricultural technology

Dropping leaves indoor lemon in winter can be caused by high temperature in combination with insufficient lighting, watering with cold water, increased acidity soil, overflow.

Lack of nutrition

If not enough:

nitrogen: appear yellow spots on the leaves, then the leaf turns yellow completely and falls off;
phosphorus: the shine disappears from the leaves, their tips turn brown and dry out:
potassium: deformations appear between the veins in the form of pits and folds;
gland: the foliage becomes very pale, with dark green veins clearly visible on it;
manganese, boron: new ovaries do not form and those already formed fall off.

At overnutrition The edges of the leaves turn black and die.

Fungal, infectious, viral diseases

Let us briefly consider the main diseases that are characteristic of lemons and emergency treatment methods for plants.

Fungal diseases.
Late blight– the damaged area is cleaned and lubricated copper sulfate or special chemicals.
Root rot– the affected roots are cut off, disinfected, and the plant is planted in fresh soil.
Sooty fungus– just wash the leaves with soap.
Mold– spraying with Bordeaux mixture or other fungicides.

Infectious diseases.
Not always curable.
Gommosis (crack on browned bark with liquid escaping), malsecco (drying of shoots, incurable).

Viral diseases.
They are not curable and lead to the death of the plant.
These are xylopsorosis, tristeza, leaf mosaic, citrus canker.

Pests of indoor lemons

The most common: scale insect, aphid, whitefly, . It is necessary to mechanically remove insects, wash the plant with soap and water, use a brush, take a cold shower every 3 days, and, if necessary, treat with insecticides according to the instructions.

Prevention– regular washing of plants.

And for those who like to know more, we suggest you familiarize yourself with useful video, in which you will learn about caring for citrus trees and can decide whether you are ready to add these plants to your garden.

Lemons grown indoors will certainly delight you with juicy fruits when the time comes. In the meantime, they will grow for 3-4 years and delight you with green foliage. And they are already beneficial; lemon leaves, ripe, dense and dark green, already release volatile substances into the air - phytoncides, which are known to be present, for example, in garlic and .

The phytoncides contained in the leaves of the lemon tree have the same properties; they clean the air and disinfect it, killing the simplest pathogens. Even if you don’t tear a lemon leaf, just smell it, it emits a pleasant aroma. There is simply a cloud of phytoncides around the plant, so keeping a lemon tree will be useful in any living rooms and especially in the children's room. But we are waiting for the first lemon blossom.

After we have already become acquainted with the conditions for keeping lemons indoors and conducting them, it is time to find out how lemons bloom. Fruit trees in the garden they bloom once a year and only in the spring, but citrus fruits bloom and bear fruit throughout the year. If the tree has already been formed for 3-4 years and already has 4th order branches, flowering should be expected.

Particular attention should be paid to lemon seedlings grown from cuttings. On such plants, flowers may appear directly on the cuttings or on first-order branches. This is very bad and the owner’s desire and joy from the fact that the lemon bloomed so quickly to look at the fruits may be overshadowed. The fact is that a plant that shows flowers at this age will quickly become exhausted and stop growing. This often leads to the complete death of the lemon seedling. Therefore, with such abnormal flowering, the buds must be removed immediately after detection, without even allowing them to form.

Mass flowering homemade lemon begins in March or April and a second time in September-October. Lemon blossoms last about a month, snow-white large flowers decorate the tree and emit a pleasant aroma, similar to the aroma of blooming jasmine. The lemon flower has five petals and can reach 4cm in diameter, with numerous yellow stamens surrounding a long, powerful pistil with a stigma at the end. If the pistil is not developed it will be a barren flower. Many varieties of indoor lemons are self-pollinating, but some require artificial pollination to obtain the ovary.

Caring for lemons during the flowering period

During the flowering period of lemons in the room optimal temperature should be 16-18 degrees. During this period, maintaining the temperature regime is especially important; if the room is cold or hot, the flowers may fall off. A lack or excess of moisture in the soil can cause flowers to fall off; even watering with cold water can cause flowers to fall off.

Of course, the tree can shed some of the flowers after the petals fall, and even part of the ovary when it reaches the size of a hazelnut, and this will have a positive effect on the growth and development of the remaining fruits. In addition to spontaneous regulation of the load, it is necessary to control the amount of ovary on the lemon and not allow it to be overloaded. Especially if the lemon blooms for the first time at the age of three or four.

A large number of lemon ovaries can please you, but the tree will suffer greatly, may become depressed and even disappear. Therefore, you should not overload it, especially in the first year of fruiting. When a lemon tree becomes mature, it can produce up to 30-40 fruits indoors. Moreover, at the same time there will still be ripe lemons on it and flowers will appear for the new harvest.

In the meantime, we need to observe the ratio of the green mass of lemon in the house and the number of flowers. To prevent the tree from becoming depleted, you need to leave one flower per 1.5-2.0 dozen mature leaves. Tear off the rest at the bud stage. The later the flowers are picked, the more nutrients they will take away from the remaining flowers and later the ovaries. But the supply of nutrients is limited by the size of the pot with soil.

To top up nutrients in the soil, twice a week starting in April, that is, from the moment of flowering until September, lightly fertilize the lemon, alternating fertilizing mineral fertilizers with organic fertilizers.

Lemon photo

A subtropical climate is ideal for the capricious lemon, but we can often see it on the windowsills of cozy houses. There are many different varieties, which bloom and bear fruit all year round, but not every owner manages to achieve this from his own “sunny guest”. How to care for lemon at home to achieve good harvest? Let's try to figure this out.

What are the best varieties of lemons to choose for your home?

For growing at home, there are specially bred varieties that do not grow to large sizes, but at the same time, they are capable of producing an excellent harvest. When choosing your ideal tree, you can look at the varieties. There are many propagation methods, so if you have chosen which variety you want to grow at home, do not rush to buy seedlings. You can grow a lemon from a seed or a prepared cutting, which is described in detail in the previous article.

Citro-fortunella Vulcan

A dwarf lemon with small, but very tender and tasty fruits that can stay on the branches for months. Flowers and fruits appear on a tree of this type all year round, sometimes at the same time.

Lemon Pavlovsky

This is a fruit that requires minimal care at home, but it blooms almost all year round. The yield of an adult tree is up to 40 large and very tasty fruits per year.

Meyer

One of the easiest lemons to grow, which is popularly called the Chinese Dwarf. It tolerates extreme heat remarkably well and produces small fruits with juicy, slightly acidic pulp and a pleasant bitterness.

Novogruzinsky

Lemon, which grows up to 3 meters in height indoors. With proper care, the tree will give you 150-200 fruits 2-3 times a year. Tender and aromatic pulp - distinguishing feature of this variety.

Anniversary

High-yielding and completely unpretentious lemon. The tree adapts to low humidity and pleases gardeners with large and juicy fruits even when there is a lack of moisture in the soil.

Low-growing varieties of lemon trees do not bring too rich a harvest, but they will certainly create a special atmosphere and decorate the interior.

Tall trees, on the contrary, produce larger and tastier fruits, but caring for them takes much more time and effort, because in addition to the usual activities, they need to trim, shape and tie up the crown.

Optimal conditions for good growth of lemons

Lemon, like any other culture, is very important to comfort. If your home has windows facing southeast, it is excellent, because during the day there is always a lot of light on them, which benefits citrus fruits. But what should those who have only the south or north side do?

On northern windows, lemons will acutely feel the lack of sunlight, which means you will have to use additional lamps daylight to ensure a normal daily cycle for them. This is especially true in winter period.

There is always plenty of light on the southern sides of buildings, which is also not very good for lemons. This means that citrus should be shaded, saving it from burns, which can appear quite quickly under the influence of direct sunlight.

Do not be surprised that lemon is so demanding of lighting and thermal conditions - such whims are forgivable for a native inhabitant of the tropics.

Spring is a special period for indoor lemons. At this time, their buds are set, and in order to prevent them from drying out or slowing down this process, it is important to maintain the temperature within 14-16°. At any other time of the year, a temperature of 26° will be considered comfortable.

For the summer it is better to move the tree to glass balcony- away from drafts, where at the same time there is required quantity fresh air. This will benefit the tree, and will make caring for it much easier for you.

How to properly water indoor lemon?

Growing lemon trees requires the presence wet soil in flowerpots. During hot periods, it is advisable to water it up to 3 times a week, while in winter even once will be enough. At the same time, it is necessary to maintain good level humidity (about 60%) by spraying the air, even if your lemon is far from heating devices.

For watering, settled water at room temperature is ideal, which should be poured evenly over all the soil in the pot. Follow these simple rules, and the tree will certainly thank you for your care with beautiful green leaves and large fruits.

Indoor lemon care at home. Important points

Lemon trees are very demanding environment, and even the slightest temperature fluctuations or changes in normal humidity cause leaves and buds to fall off. If appropriate measures are not taken in time, all of the above may even lead to the death of the lemon.

Insufficient watering and drying out of the soil

If the citrus tree dries out, its foliage turns yellow-brown. But, even if you notice such signs, you should not irrigate the soil in the pot abundantly, as this leads to the death of the plant’s root system.

To help the lemon gain strength for further growth, try to pour a small amount of water under the root and generously spray the crown of the tree. It is also helpful to briefly wrap the barrel in damp gauze.

Excess moisture

If, on the contrary, you overdid it with watering, falling leaves will let you know about it. As soon as you notice this kind of leaf fall on your windowsill, you will need to immediately dry the roots and replant the citrus tree in fresh, barely moistened soil.

How to care for a lemon if it is frozen?

Saving frozen citrus is very difficult, because the sharp cold is the root cause of the cessation of its vital activity. When the plant freezes, the leaves also fall off, and sometimes the trunk even turns black.

For the so-called “reanimation” of the tree, try to move it to a warmer room as soon as possible, and using lighting fixtures extend daylight hours. It won't hurt to transplant it into another pot either. Do not forget to carefully inspect the rhizome and remove dead parts from it.

The next danger is overheating of the plant

When a citrus tree appears on the leaves brown spot, remember that it was quite likely that this contributed to high temperature air. Experienced gardeners In the hot season, it is recommended to move plants away from windows and into the interior of the room. No additional measures in the form of cooling or watering are required.

A healthy plant is the best gift for a caring owner

In order for your citrus to look as excellent as the lemon whose photo is in front of you, you should not forget that you cannot change its environment and habitual habitat too often. Such stress will not benefit the indigenous inhabitants of the tropics. It is very important to pay due attention to disease prevention, timely replanting of plants and pruning damaged areas. To prevent depletion, during flowering it is worth removing excess buds, limiting yourself to a small number.

Each room has its own special microclimate, which, unfortunately, is not always suitable for citrus trees. Therefore, main task Every gardener and owner is to provide their green friends with the necessary comfort and gradually adapt it to the existing environment.

Bottom line

The process of caring for lemon trees at home is often compared to caring for small children, who constantly require attention and increased responsibility.

Everything may seem complicated at first, but soon you will see how beautiful plants surrounded by care grow, more than rewarding the owner for all his efforts.

The agricultural technology for growing citrus fruits indoors is complex. You should start with lemon; growing and caring for it at home is easier than other sissies. A young bush can be bought, or it can be grown, starting from sowing a seed or rooting a cutting. Under all favorable conditions, you can get a harvest from a plant from a seed in 20 years, from a cutting in 7-8. But a lemon from a seed at home will be more adaptable, healthier, and beautiful with its dark shiny foliage. You can graft a shoot from a fruiting lemon onto it, which will speed up flowering. The choice is up to the amateur.

What care does indoor lemon require at home?

Lemon is a tree; it also tends to grow in indoor conditions. There are several varieties that breeders have trained to be kept indoors. But they rebel if the care is not correct. Before you plant 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 their rapid entry into fruiting and high productivity when caring for lemons at home. When purchasing a ready-made varietal seedling, flowering should be expected after two or three years.

Indoor lemon at good care lives up to 30 years. After setting, the lemon takes 9 months to pour, but even after that it continues to increase in size, but becomes tasteless and thick-skinned.

It is important not to allow the flower to weaken and to pick off the buds until the bush has 20 leaves. Scientists believe that each fruit feeds 9-10 mature leaves. Depending on the number of leaves, the crop should be left. For the same reason, you need to protect the leaves from shedding, which the plant protests when it is uncomfortable. At the same time, it is necessary to trim the tops of branches 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 while on permanent place, the tree does not like to be moved. And for uniform development, it is turned a few degrees every 10 days, so that a full rotation is achieved in a year:

There must be at least two meters from the stand to the ceiling.
Lemon cannot tolerate dry air. Optimally 70% humidity. This means keeping the plant away from the radiator, having a humidifier or aquarium, equipping the humidity zone with any in an accessible way and frequently spray the leaves with a fine spray.
In summer, it is useful for lemon to stay under 2 hours sun rays, but not longer. Therefore, the morning sun on the eastern window is just right for him. In winter, when growing lemons and caring for them at home, lighting should be provided for 5-6 hours.
The temperature for lemon should be from 14 to 27 degrees. During the flowering period, lemon needs coolness.
The watering schedule in the summer is very busy. The pot is watered twice a day, morning and evening, soaking the lump of earth completely. Due to good drainage, water stagnation does not occur. A tray should be installed below to collect water. Soft, settled water is used for irrigation.

The temperature should not change suddenly. If a plant is brought from a cold veranda into warm room, it will shed its leaves. The soil in the barrel is cold, but the leaves are warm! In winter, you need to find the coldest corner in your home for the lemon. Without a full dormant period, flowering in the future will be sparse.

Of great importance in caring for a lemon is its formation, maintaining its growth with systematic pruning and pinching of the green cone. The deepest pruning is carried out in the spring. 5-6 live leaves are left on the branches, the rest are removed, and material for propagating lemons by cuttings is obtained from them.

Diseases and pests of lemon

When caring for lemons at home and growing them, you need to know the signs of diseases in order to quickly correct mistakes. Often the plant needs moisture, which can be determined by:

the earth is gray from above, the lump crumbles in your hands;
the pot makes a ringing sound when tapped;
the leaves curled up and the tips drooped.

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

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

If the plant has not been replanted for a long time and the soil has not been changed, fertilizing watering may not save it. The earth has become compacted, irrigation water has made passages in the thickness and is drained 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 diseases of citrus fruits are specific, they are called:

xylopsorosis and trystera are incurable viruses;
gommosis - infectious when the tree trunk is affected;
malseco – infectious, begins with reddening of the leaves, the tree dies;
root rot - fungal disease, it is necessary to remove the damaged parts and replant them in new soil.

The cause of any disease is improper care behind 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 container for the plant and substrate is of great importance. The container must have good drainage holes. Root system The lemon plant is compact; the young plant responds well to annual replanting, so it is not worth creating conditions for the soil to become acidic in a large pot. For older plants, the soil is changed less frequently, 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.

Place a layer on the bottom charcoal mixed with expanded clay, add vermiculite to the substrate for looseness. Plants are transplanted after the grown lemon roots have entwined a lump of earth, using the transshipment method.

When pruning a lemon tree, there is a lot left planting material, twigs. They will make cuttings if you pinch off a couple of leaves from below and place the green twig in water. Next, the cutting takes root in the substrate in a small volume. How to care for a lemon obtained from a cutting? After the cutting has produced leaf shoots, it is kept as mature plant. At a height of 25 cm, the top of the plant is pinched, limiting growth. The resulting central and lateral shoots in the amount of 4 pieces are left, the rest are cut off into a ring.

The side shoots are grown 25 cm and pinched again, repeating the operations as the first time. The bush is shaped twice more, as a result, enough leaves are obtained on the 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 growing fruits.

Lemon propagation by seeds is a long process. The resulting seedling must be grafted in order to obtain a fruit-bearing tree. The wildflower will take a long time to develop, bloom little and the quality of the resulting lemons will be poor. Therefore, the grown plant must be grafted by budding or splitting to obtain a cultivated tree.

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

Oct 23, 2016 Sergey