Lemon propagation

To get a premium, fruit-bearing lemon, there is a simple and reliable way to make it from a cuttings. It is really quite simple, even a beginner can handle it, which cannot be said about methods such as grafting or breeding by branches.

Cutting method

Such reproduction can be done throughout the year, but it is still better to do it in March-April. You need to take cuttings from a lemon, which is already bearing fruit and the next cycle of its growth is over - the plant's growth activity is in cycles, 3-4 per year. They must be somewhat hardened, and at the same time quite flexible, with a green bark. Before cutting off the process, the knife must be disinfected, it can be ignited on fire, and it must be sharp. The knife is placed under the sheet and an oblique cut is made. The stalk should have 3-4 leaves, and its length is 8-10 cm. If the cut is upper, then it must be 1.5-2 cm higher than the bud.

For planting the cuttings, it is best to use a mixed soil of sphagnum moss and sand - the parts are taken equal. Such soil gives the process the necessary moisture in the right amount and evenly, and it keeps firmly in it. If there is no sphagnum, then high moor peat can perfectly replace it. But this is only a layer on top, and you also need a nutritious one.

The process of planting a lemon cutting is as follows: the bottom of a vessel, a box, a pot or a flowerpot is covered with a layer of drainage, here you can apply expanded clay, clay shards, porous vermoculite, etc.; then a layer of nutrient soil, this is a five-centimeter thick layer of identical parts of sod and forest soil with the addition of one-sixth of the sand; then mixed moss (or peat) and sand and then the cutting is planted.

If several shoots are planted in one container at once, then the distance between them should be 5-6 cm, this so that the leaves of the shoots do not shade each other. At the end of planting, lemon sprouts are sprayed with warm water, the soil should be moist during planting and placed in a greenhouse. It is very easy to make from wire and polyethylene. The wire frame is placed on top of a vessel in which the processes are planted, and covered with polyethylene, which allows light to pass through itself, that's all the wisdom.

Until the cutting takes root, it needs systematic spraying, twice a day with water, slightly warmed up. It is better to choose a light place for the appendix, but there should be no direct rays. For the rooting process to take place normally, a room temperature of 20-25 degrees is quite enough. The stalk takes 3-4 weeks to take root.

Next, a little lemon sapling needs to be accustomed to the air in the room. At first, open the homemade greenhouse only for an hour and gradually increase the time. One to one and a half weeks and you can open the pot completely. After another week, the rooted lemon sprout must be transplanted into a larger 9-10 cm pot with permanent nutrient soil.

The transplanting process is the same as for other indoor plants. It is important to remember that you cannot cover the root collar (the junction of the stem with the root) of the plant with earth. Such a transplant is more like a transshipment, here it is necessary to leave the ground on the roots. When a year passes and the lemon grows older, it needs to be transplanted into a flowerpot 1-2 cm larger than the previous one. The lemon (own-rooted) growing from the cuttings begins to bloom and then bear fruit after 3-4 years.

You can also propagate other citrus fruits. Only orange and tangerine are not very suitable here. Propagating them by cuttings is a little problematic. These fruits take much longer to take root (about six months), and it is not known whether they will take root or not.