Lemon is considered a subtropical plant, nevertheless, it is firmly entrenched in the homes of gardeners in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus. For the first time lemons were seen in East Asia, but over time, the geography of cultivated plantings of this plant has expanded all over the world. Oddly enough, today it is almost impossible to see a wild-growing lemon.
Now you can buy lemon fruit in any store or supermarket, and grow a miniature evergreen tree from a lemon seed. Homemade lemon is an ideal plant that not only smells pleasantly, thanks to the aroma of its flowers, but also releases phytoncide with leaves, which can relieve stress and tension. Of course, do not forget about vitamin C, which lemon fruits contain in excess.
As a result of centuries of plant breeding, many different varieties of lemon have appeared.
Popular varieties of lemon
Lemon Pavlovsky
This variety is especially popular in Russia. The plant is unpretentious, the tree reaches a height of about 1.5 m. Already in the third year of life, it begins to bear fruit - you can get up to 15 lemons in a year. On average, the weight of the fruit of the Pvlovsky lemon is about 200-300 grams.
Lunario Citrus limon
Four-season - the second name of the variety of this lemon. It has no special care requirements, and the plant itself is medium-sized. The fruit weighs only 170 grams, the taste is mild. However, it is quite popular in Europe.
Ponderosa Lemon (Canadian Lemon)
A low-growing plant (up to 1 meter), the fruits are small and not very juicy. The disadvantages of the variety include the fact that flowering occurs early and there are very few fruits - no more than 5 pieces. Lemon Skernevitsky is a clone of this variety. Their main differences are that the Skernevitsky variety has better germination and fewer seeds.
Lemon Lisbon
A fairly tall plant (1.5 meters), it has bright thorns and gives large tasty fruits. You can get up to 15 pieces per year. Begins to bloom from the age of three.
Lemon Jubilee
This variety is most suitable for keeping in an apartment. It feels great in dry air and does not need special care for its crown. It almost never happens above 1.5 meters, it has a good yield. Fruits are thick-skinned with a weak taste.
Maykop lemon
An adult lemon reaches 1.3 meters in height. It is widely distributed in the Krasnodar Territory due to its ease of care and fertility.
Lemon Meyer
Another variety name is Chinese Dwarf. The plant is obtained by crossing an orange and a lemon, hence the unusual taste.The yield is high, reaching a height of only 50-70 cm. The variety is popular, but weak and capricious in care, in autumn and winter it needs additional lighting.
Lemon Corsican (hand of Buddha)
Lemon is an exotic variety, its fruits are used to obtain candied fruits. It reaches a height of 1.5 meters, bears up to 10 fruits annually.
Growing and caring for lemon at home
Location
Lemon tolerates rearrangements very painfully, so the choice of location must be taken seriously. If it is constantly rearranged, then the plant will begin to shed its leaves, and if the tree is disturbed during the flowering period or when the fruits are forming, then you may not see the harvest at all.
Lighting
Any kind of lemon loves light, but it also treats shading well. Still, abundant lighting for the plant is not desirable, two hours will be enough for normal development. Otherwise, from an overabundance of light, the trunk of the plant will increase its growth, and this will slow down the process of flowering and the formation of fruits. So it is better to shade the windows on the south side.
The windows located on the north side are absolutely not suitable for a lemon. Lack of light will slow down the growth of the leaves, and the fruits will be acidic and the leaves will not grow well. For comfortable growth, windows on the east and west sides are perfect for lemon.
During the day, it is advisable to turn the pot several times - this is necessary for the even formation of the crown.
Temperature
Summer temperature 18-20 degrees is just ideal for the plant and its timely flowering. In spring and summer, the lemon can be placed on the balcony or taken out on the terrace. The temperature difference for the plant is destructive, so with the onset of autumn it must be taken back to the room. The temperature of the lemon content in winter is 15-18 degrees.
Watering and humidity
Lemon prefers moist air rather than water-filled soil. It is advisable to spray the plant all year round. The pot can be placed on a pallet that is filled with wet gravel.
All citrus fruits are good for moisture, but they really do not like it when water stagnates in the soil. Therefore, it is best to stick to the following watering schedule:
- Winter watering - once a week
- Summer - twice a week, but plentiful
Due to the dry soil, the leaves of the lemon will begin to curl.
The soil
To grow lemon, it is better to buy soil in a special store, where it contains enough organic and mineral substances. Can choose:
- Prepared soil for all citrus fruits.
- A flower soil mix on a universal basis.
- Soil with humus.
- A mixture of deciduous and sod land, humus, charcoal and calcined river sand.
The watering process is very important for the lemon. To prevent stagnation of water, the soil must be light and loose. Good drainage is desirable - this is a two-centimeter layer made of brick pieces and expanded clay. The pot must also be correctly sized. The ideal option is a container made of non-drenched clay, which can cope with an excess of moisture. In the event of rotting soil, all the land will have to be replaced.
Top dressing and fertilizers
Lemons are fed much more often than any other houseplant. In the summer, you need to fertilize the plant once a week. In all other seasons, it is sufficient to fertilize once a month, but not less often.
Pruning homemade lemon
When growing a lemon at home, it is important to achieve its miniature size, because the branches of the plant grow quite vigorously and reach a great length. If you do not follow the crown, this will have a bad effect on the yield, and such a lemon will take up a lot of space.
With the appearance of 6 leaves on the tree, you can start pruning. This will not only make the crown volume smaller, but also give the entire plant greater strength. It is best to carry out the pruning process before the flowering season, in the spring. The branches are completely removed right up to the fourth leaf.
In the process of transplanting, the roots should also be pruned.If this is not done, then the root system will lose its normal development, the plant itself will stop growing, and the foliage will turn pale.
Lemon transplant
A young lemon requires an annual transplant, because already in the first years of life, the roots of the plant are completely entwined with an earthen ball in a pot. Young lemon roots are very vulnerable, they need to be handled very carefully when transplanting, which should be handled carefully. Already at the age of five, the plant is transplanted only once every three years, usually in the spring.
Lemon propagation
There are three classic ways to propagate a lemon at home: cuttings, seeds (seeds) and layering.
Propagation of lemon by cuttings
If you want to get a crop as quickly as possible, this breeding method is ideal. This is done in several stages with the onset of spring:
- In a plant with a high yield, 10 cm of a semi-freshened cutting 5 mm thick is cut, on which there are 2-3 living buds (the cut is performed above and below the bud).
- The stalk should be treated with a growth stimulant for the root system.
- To form the roots, the stalk must be placed in water or deepened by 2-3 cm into moistened soil.
- To prevent drying out, the cutting is covered with polyethylene.
- After about 2 weeks, the roots will appear. Next, the stalk is carefully moved into a small pot, which is installed where there is diffused light and a temperature within +20 degrees.
- At this stage, the plant requires daily spraying, since the root system is still poorly developed.
- After 2 months, the final rooting will take place and only then can the lemon be rearranged to a permanent place.
Propagation of lemon by seeds (seeds)
This method is considered quite simple. The ease in obtaining material for planting is very attractive to novice gardeners in growing lemon. For such reproduction, the main thing is to choose the right lemon fruit: good ripeness with an even surface, yellow in color, without any dents and dark spots.
Step-by-step process of growing lemon from seed:
- Prepare the soil: small long pots with drainage and a mixture of peat and flower soil. The seeds should be planted as soon as they are removed from the fruit pulp.
- Choose good seeds: intact and well-formed (it is better to take seeds from several lemons at the same time, and then leave the most viable ones).
- The seeds are planted at a distance of 3 cm from the walls of the pot and 1 cm deep. The distance between the seeds should be at least 5 cm.
- To preserve soil moisture, the container is covered with polyethylene until the first shoots appear, and is placed where the air temperature constantly reaches 20 degrees.
- After two weeks, the strongest and healthiest sprouts are selected and grown - they need to be covered with jars, so it will be possible to create the desired microclimate.
- The seedlings are placed where there is sufficient light. Ventilation should be performed once a day.
- As soon as the first lemon leaves appear, it is advisable to plant the plants in separate pots.
- When the seedlings grow up to 20 cm, they will need more space - it is better to transplant them into larger pots.
Details on how to grow a lemon from a seed
Propagation of lemon by layering and grafting
This method is almost never used at home. The process is quite complicated and unproductive. With this reproduction, seedlings will begin to bloom only in the fourth or even fifth year.
Lemon Blossom
Any florist, having citrus fruits in his collection, is looking forward to the appearance of flowers in them. Moreover, they smell amazingly in lemon. But in order to get an excellent harvest in addition to beautiful flowers, you need to try to follow three rules:
- During the entire flowering period, in no case should you disturb the lemon and change its location.
- Pollinate lemon on your own - for this you need to take a cotton swab and carefully transfer the pollen to the stamens.
- Get rid of excess flowers in a timely manner.
Excess flowers can drain the plant. In the first lemon bloom, it will be possible to get a good harvest if half of all the buds are removed, and from the formed ovary, only 4 should be selected on different branches. Ideal when there are at least 10-15 leaves per fruit.
Diseases and pests
Although lemon is unpretentious in its content, it is predisposed to all kinds of diseases.
Infectious diseases
Gommoz - with this disease, the trunk of the plant in the lower part is covered with cracks, the bark loses its elasticity and a sticky liquid of dark color begins to appear. After a while, the lemon begins to fade, and rotting appears on the damaged parts of the trunk. In this case, you need to immediately transplant the plant into a new container with clean soil. Before that, you should clean the roots and damaged areas, then treat them with copper sulfate. Such treatment rarely helps, most often the lemon tree dies.
Root rot - here the entire root system is massively affected. The main symptom of the disease is the unreasonable dumping of foliage. Here it is also necessary to completely change the soil, examine the roots of the plant and remove the damaged ones, then treat them with a growth stimulator. During this period, the plant needs good lighting and moisture in the leaves, wiping with a napkin slightly moistened with water. Watering should be reduced to a minimum.
Viral diseases
Tristeza - the bark dies off on the trunk of the plant. It is impossible to cure, but lemon hybrids do not lend themselves to such a disease.
Sheet mosaic - peculiar patterns appear on the lemon leaves. There is no cure for this disease, but with good care, the disease becomes less severe.
Cancer - dark brown spots appear on the lemon leaves. The plant becomes infectious, dies quickly and cannot be treated.
Pests
In addition to these diseases, insects also threaten the health of lemon. This is well-known spider mite, aphid and scabbard... If such pests have settled on a plant, then its leaves begin to curl and a small cobweb forms over the entire surface. You can deal with such unpleasant moments with the help of a warm shower and the obligatory spraying of the leaves in hot weather.
If you take care of a lemon properly, then it is able to bring joy to its owner for long 40-45 years. in the open ground of a garden plot, an adult lemon can grow up to 3 meters high, and the number of fruits can exceed a hundred.
