Growing lemons from seeds at home. Growing lemon at home in a pot

Today you can buy lemons everywhere, the time has passed when citrus fruits were in short supply in Russia, and prices are no longer so high, but sometimes the housewife wants to have it in her indoor garden not only flowers and cacti... Is it possible to grow a lemon tree at home, as they say, on a windowsill?

Let's say right away - yes, almost any housewife can grow a lemon from a seed at home, even if the seed is peeled from a store-bought lemon and not purchased at a garden store. To successfully implement this idea, certain rules are required, to which this publication is dedicated; we will tell you how, when and what you need to grow a lemon tree at home.

It is possible that some of you have already tried to plant a lemon tree from a fresh seed, but the results were mixed... and all because you need to approach the issue of growing a tree from a lemon seed with patience and follow certain rules for the planting and care process, then the reward for this will be years in 5 years there will be a first harvest of your own lemons on your windowsill.

How to plant a lemon seed correctly?

To grow a lemon from a seed, start by choosing two absolutely healthy and beautiful lemon fruits. Cut the selected fruits in half and select only the largest full-fledged seed seeds, which must be soaked overnight in some kind of seed growth stimulator so that the seeds actively germinate and sprouts develop safely in the future. After the bones have been in the growth stimulant solution all night, they must be soaked in aqueous solution bioregulator (for example, regulators such as “Zircon” or “Epin Extra” in a concentration of 1 drop per glass of water) for 12 hours, which will help future seedlings successfully cope with the lack of lighting and humidity in indoor growing conditions.

At this point you need to prepare planting soil and containers. Soil mixture should be fertile and loose. You can prepare it yourself from equal shares turf soil and humus with the addition of peat, mixing thoroughly. It is much easier to purchase a certified sterile soil mixture in flower shops. Small flower pots or plastic glasses with bottom perforations are suitable as containers for planting lemon seeds at home.

To the bottom landing capacity It is necessary to place drainage material, vermiculite can be used, up to one and a half centimeters in height. Fill to the top with prepared moistened soil, where prepared lemon seeds are placed at a two-centimeter depth. Up to 10 seeds are placed in one container for planting, so that later the most viable specimens can be selected from those that hatch and sprout.

Air temperature in the room with containers for successful germination lemon seeds should not be lower than +18 degrees Celsius. If conditions do not allow creating such a temperature, then you can place each container in a transparent plastic bag and, tying it with a top knot, create the necessary microgreenhouse conditions, and place the whole facility in the warmest place of the home, excluding drafts.

Instead of plastic bags, you can use plastic bottles with a cut bottom as a greenhouse cover, but the cap must be screwed on. This will allow you to further ventilate the greenhouse cover to adapt the sprouts of the lemon tree. Lighting for seed germination does not matter until the sprouts hatch.

Since the lemon seeds are planted in moist soil, and the maintenance of the pot is entrusted to the greenhouse, there is no need for irrigation or watering in the first week. In the second week, moisten by spraying upper layer soil, and then spray twice a week until seedlings appear, avoiding cracks in the soil, when they appear, you should water only internal walls container.

The waiting period for the first shoots is related to the growing conditions: temperature and humidity of the room, but, as a rule, on average it is equal to the period: from 2 weeks to 1 month. With the emergence of seedlings, you can walk around the greenhouse, opening it briefly and closing it again. With the appearance of the fourth leaf, place the pots in a well-lit place and free them from greenhouse devices. Direct solar lighting It is not recommended for young leaves - the sprout may get burned and die. Especially in the first months of development of the lemon tree, it is important to follow the correct watering regime:

the temperature of the settled water should be room temperature;
It is optimal to water with rainwater and also with settled and non-cold water;
Dosage watering should be carried out as the surface of the pot’s soil dries.

IN autumn period The lemon tree needs minimal watering as rarely as possible, focusing only on the dried top layer of soil in the pot.

Lemon seedling feeding regime

Remember, in order to grow a lemon from a seed, the sprouted seedling must be fed, but competently and following the terms and rules:

do not feed anything during the first months of sprout development;
During the continuation of the development of the lemon seedling, minimal feeding is allowed in spring and summer once every two weeks, avoiding overdose - it is better to underfeed than to overfeed;
in the autumn, the minimum subcortex application is once a month.

We must not forget that the lemon tree is very demanding in terms of care regimen in all areas and will react to the slightest deviation from it (excess sun, uncomfortable temperature, air humidity, draft or strong wind), which can cause complete leaf fall.

prepare fertile soil or buy a soil mixture suitable for growing citrus fruits in a specialized store;
prepare pots suitable for the first year of growth with a diameter of 12 centimeters and the same height;
from the sprouted ones, select only strong sprouts with developed young leaves, but weakened ones, with thin stems and insufficient quantity remove the leaves mercilessly and do not even waste energy and hope on them;
viable seedlings must have a properly developing crown, with minimum distance between the buds on a developing shoot; there should be few needles, and as many strong leaves with even pigmentation as possible;
transplant into bigger pot a lemon seedling from the previous container must be preserved with a lump of soil and with the addition of vermicompost.

How to form the crown of a homemade lemon tree

You need to form the crown of a lemon tree from a developing seedling. They begin by stimulating the growth of side shoots by pinching the upper buds of the shoots. Deformed or growing inward shoots must be removed with sharp and clean pruning shears. Considering the peculiarity of the growing season of this plant - a quick reaction to lighting, for a harmonious crown it should be used at least 10 times per period. daylight hours Turn the pot with the plant 1/4 turn. A uniformly formed crown of a lemon tree is a sure way to future full-fledged fruits.

If after a year the lemon tree has bloomed, then no matter how sorry you may be, be sure to eliminate the flowers by carefully pinching them. Otherwise, having spent prematurely its strength, the young plant may wither and die. You can allow a lemon tree to bloom only when correct proportion leaves and flowers: 1 flower should be per 15 leaves.

An annual transplant is added to the care of an adult lemon. young plant into a pot that is 2-3 centimeters larger in radius, and from the 4th year of the growing season - once every three years. All transplants are carried out using the transshipment method, that is, preserving the soil coma and adding fresh soil. fertile soil. Violation of the frequency of replanting leads to thickening and tangling of the root system, and this stops the growth and fruiting of the lemon tree. Transplant better in summer, in June, in winter - in February.

Complete care for fruiting lemon tree provides winter illumination using a phytolamp. It is rational to feed fruit-bearing lemons by alternating mineral and organic fertilizers only in aqueous solution, according to the instructions. Single dose mineral fertilizers for 1 pot of adult lemon should not exceed 2 grams so as not to get burned root system, and the interval of their application is at least 10 days.

How to speed up lemon fruiting at home

This technique involves grafting a homemade lemon tree onto other citrus fruits (such as grapefruit). Optimal timing its implementation is at the end of spring or summer. You can graft in a split or by budding; we can recommend the split technique - it gives the best results.

So, if you did everything correctly, then the result of your work will be not only a harvest of your fresh lemons, but also a lush, beautiful lemon tree, which will improve your home climate not only with its aesthetic appearance, but also with useful phytoncides that block the proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms and fill the room with fragrant air. Everything promises beauty and benefits!

Even if you have already tried to grow lemons from seeds at home before and failed, we hope that these tips will allow you to succeed and good harvest. An excellent reward for your work will be the freshest and most environmentally friendly lemon fruits right at your home!

Before you start growing lemon at home, you need to pay attention to the fact that the growing season speed, yield and appearance completely depend on the chosen lemon variety. There are many of them: from original to hybrid, attracting attention with their variegated colors and decorativeness.

You can grow lemon in a pot at home. However, it will take some effort

In an apartment, lemons grow best on the windowsill, where there is enough brightness, but no scorching sun. They don't like dirty air big amount carbon dioxide. Caring for lemons at home is not difficult, but it requires care.

Sufficient air humidity, regular spraying with settled or structured water.
Long sunny days, controlled by artificial lighting.
Regular fractional watering, preferably situational: if the soil has not had time to dry, which happens in winter time, then postpone watering until the next day.
Properly selected soil. Not good too light earth with a lot of peat, but black soil is hard for lemon.
Propagation by cuttings is best done in spring time when duration sunny day is growing.
Recommendations experienced gardeners relate to giving a crown to a lemon tree, the density of which determines its fruiting and productivity, as well as cutting off the thorns.

Varieties convenient for home cultivation

In order to grow a lemon tree from a seed at home, you can familiarize yourself with the most unpretentious representatives of this plant species.

Growing Pavlovsky lemon variety at home is not difficult. He is popular thanks to taste qualities ripe fruits. Its foliage is dark green. The amount of harvest directly depends on it: the thicker it is, the more harvest there will be. On an adult tree over 3 years old, flowers can bloom and fruits ripen at the same time.
At home, lemon bears fruit for 3–4 years, is one of the most productive, the foliage is less dense, light green.
“Novogruzinsky” is slightly taller than other lemongrass, grows up to two meters, the first harvest after 4 years, but is notable for the fact that there are practically no seeds in it.
“Lisbon” is one of the most unpretentious, there are a lot of thorns and they need to be removed, the foliage is dense, but if grown and cared for correctly, it can bear fruit twice a year.

One of the most unpretentious varieties of lemons for home grown is "Lisbon"

You should regularly fertilize your indoor lemon, but only after the soil has exhausted its nutritional capabilities.

Suitable soil for lemon tree

The earth should be of medium density. At the beginning of gardening practice, it is better to use a ready-made purchased mixture. For the lemon suitable for home special mixture“For citrus” or “Lemon”.
How to properly mix the soil yourself: 2 parts turf, 1 part leaf soil, 1 part horse manure, 1 part sand.
Adjust the amount of mixture according to the size of the pot.

Required components for self-made soil:

You can buy turf in a store. It consists of rotted grass, tree leaves, small sawdust, some moss and peat. Is light soil, if it does not contain clay. Rich in useful microelements, especially important when growing lemons in greenhouse conditions.
Leaf soil is labor-intensive to prepare; for this it is better to purchase it ready-made. Composition of rotted leaves fruit trees, linden and maple will provide indoor lemon with thermal insulation of the root system and prevent moisture stagnation.
Horse or cow manure. The product is easy to buy in online stores. It is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and calcium, without which lemon will grow poorly and not bear fruit at home.
Sand is used as drainage and is also a natural silica chemical composition, provides the soil with looseness and prevents it from clumping into lumps through which water cannot seep.

Sand is used as drainage. Gives the soil looseness and prevents it from becoming clods.

The best example of it is root, it will help germinate the seeds and make growing lemons an easier task.

The seeds must first be washed in warm water, put them in a ceramic container and completely fill them with biostimulant. Leave in a warm place for an hour or two. Take them out and dry them, after which they need to be planted within the same day. A higher percentage of seed germination is observed in a small greenhouse placed on a window.

How to Plant Lemon Seeds

After the seeds are “awakened”, they can be planted in special peat pots, or ordinary plastic ones for seedlings, having previously placed a layer of drainage on their bottom - pebbles or special expanded clay.
The layer of soil covering the seed should be no thicker than two centimeters. The soil needs to be moistened, but not made into a “porridge”; for this it will be enough to irrigate it from a sprayer. For these purposes, you can prepare a decoction (not strong) of nettle or calendula.
Lemon embryos will develop faster if they are provided with greenhouse conditions on the windowsill. To do this, you need to put a bag on each individual glass. It should hermetically protect the top layer of earth from contact with air; you can spray it from the inside with water for a better effect.

It is advisable to water once every two days. Monitoring condensation on the inner surface package, if it begins to dry out, then you can carry out drip irrigation. Considering the type of plant chosen, the absence of temperature differences, type of soil and lighting, it depends on how long it will take until the first shoots appear.

Grown in favorable conditions new plants will develop greater resistance to unfavorable factors. That is why most gardeners prefer the method of home cultivation from seeds to growing by cuttings.

Conditions for seedlings

The temperature is not lower than 18–20 °C without drafts.
Water in small portions, only when necessary. You can alternate with herbal infusions that have disinfectant properties.
Germinated seedlings are gradually accustomed to room temperature.

There are some other recommendations that make growing lemons in a greenhouse easier. If the seeds are planted in the cold season and the temperature in the place where they are grown is low, you can use heat-reflecting film, which is sold in gardening stores. It will better protect not only from the cold, but also in bright sunshine, if the seedlings standing on the windowsill were not removed in time.

When lemons with well-developed branches appear among the greenhouse seedlings, they can be transplanted into a permanent pot.

Its diameter should not exceed 15 cm, otherwise the lemon will grow for a long time. Before growing a lemon tree, it is important to ensure that its location is inaccessible to pets. Need to give it to him permanent place

on the windowsill and do not move until the tree gets used to the new care, different from the greenhouse one. Timely feeding will help to grow lemon at home.

Methods of feeding at home
Horse or cow manure. Feeding using this method is carried out once every 6 months. You can do it additionally at the beginning of flowering or if ripening fruits appear on the lemon. Lemon fertilized with biological products grows faster and resists diseases better.
Wood ash mixed with used ground coffee powder, sprinkled under a lemon sprout. The mixture will perform two functions at once: it will drive away insects if they appear and disinfect the soil. Ash will help prevent old leaves and buds from falling off.
An excellent material for stimulating the growth of mature trees is water from an aquarium. Preference is given to liquid in which the fish have been for no more than a week, otherwise the soil may smell like silt.

It is important to remember that fertilizers obtained from the processing of waste products can both improve the cultivation of lemon at home in a pot, and destroy the plant if used frequently. It is necessary to observe measures when breeding and alternate the type of feeding.

After the first ovary has appeared, you need to be patient, because the lemon ripens slowly. A period of lighting longer than 10 hours a day helps fruits to ripen. For this you can use table lamp, even a 25 W light bulb will do.

A lemon is ripe when its peel has become characteristic yellow color or the color suggested by the variety, this process will take at least 6-7 months.

And everyone has already acquired their favorite varieties; these are the ones we prefer among the many others widely represented in our stores. Is it possible to grow a lemon from a seed at home?

There are also admirers of this wonderful plant; they selflessly grow lemon trees in their apartments; even varieties of fruit-bearing indoor lemons have been bred and grown successfully.

Preparatory activities

How to choose the right place?

How to grow at home?

Here we will try to figure out how to (seed) at home, whether it is possible and what methods there are.

From the seed

Variety selection

Homemade lemons are much easier to grow from seed than from cuttings. When propagated by seeds, the plant grows faster, gets sick less, is unpretentious, and more easily adapts to unfavorable conditions. In order to grow a full-fledged tree at home, it is important to choose the appropriate variety. The following varieties are best suited for home growing:

Pavlovsky. It has huge fruits weighing up to 500 grams, the taste is sweet, the tree grows over 2 meters, the leaves of the tree exude a wonderful aroma.
Meyer. This is a hybrid weighing up to 150 grams, the taste is sweet and sour, and it produces a rich harvest.
Anniversary. This is a variety that gives bountiful harvest. It differs from other varieties in that the skin of the fruit is thick.
Genoa. Most unpretentious variety, which has an aromatic taste, produces a harvest relatively early - in the 4th - 5th year of life.
Ponderosa. It is a hybrid of grapefruit and lemon with a rather bitter taste; this variety differs from others in that it constantly blooms.

Choose the most suitable fruit, in your opinion, the way you would like to see your harvest, or even better, just in case, a couple, to be on the safe side.

Seed preparation

The most important thing is that you should not use seeds that have been removed long ago and have had time to dry. You need to take fresh, always ripe lemons, carefully remove the seeds from them, wash them with warm water and plant them, and to make the seed germinate faster, you can sharp knife Carefully remove the hard surface of the pit. If we do not remove the shell, then you need to immerse the seeds in a solution of a growth stimulator for several hours. The seeds should not be allowed to dry out; they should be planted moist.

Instructions

To germinate a lemon from a seed (seed), you need to plant it in a small container, to a depth of 3 centimeters, cover it with film and place it in a warm place.

Sprouted young plants up to 15-20 centimeters can develop in containers for sowing, but as they grow, they need to be moved to individual pots. When the lemon reaches 30 centimeters in height, the top must be cut to 20 centimeters, this will activate the growth of side shoots.

IMPORTANT! Watch for their uniform growth. It is necessary to form a lemon before shoots of the 5th and 6th order appear; pinching is best done in the spring.

Read about the rules for forming a lemon crown and the secrets of pruning a tree at home.

Plants from seeds have enviable health, but, like all plants obtained from seeds, they begin to bear fruit later than those that were grafted with a varietal bud onto a seedling.

Watch a video on how to plant a lemon seed correctly:

From a cutting

Cutting lemons at home is a propagation method in which the qualities of the mother plant are copied, and you will know exactly what kind of fruits will appear on your plant.

On the handle there should be several leaves and 2 or 3 buds on both sides, the length of the cutting is about 10 centimeters.

Need cuttings place in a solution of Heteroauxin or Kornevit, these are root growth stimulants, and then, within the period specified in the instructions for the drug, plant in a pot with soil.

Do not forget to arrange drainage at the bottom of the pot; fragments of ceramic pots, broken red bricks are good for this.

Water the cuttings cover glass jar , and leave for rooting. The jar will prevent excessive evaporation; films and bags are not very stable, you may not notice the loss of moisture and drying out of the soil.

Rooting is determined by the appearance of growth. Cuttings are also a great way to propagate lemons at home.

Care

Gardeners note that lemon is a capricious plant. Plant development is highly dependent on the composition of the soil. The following composition is approximately recommended: 1 part sand, 1 part manure, 3 parts leaf soil and 2 parts loam. It is advisable to choose a pot made of baked clay.

You will find more information about caring for indoor lemons in.

Watering

Too good is also not good, we can say about excessive moisture; a plant regularly exposed to overwatering will die due to rotting of the root system. It is necessary to water the lemon as the soil dries out., it is important not to forget about timely loosening, which is not for nothing called dry watering - the evaporation of moisture after loosening is significantly reduced.

Subtropical plants love spraying, air humidity during heating season easy to adjust using a container of water. By evaporating, it maintains the microclimate of the room.

NOTE! Watering and fertilizing in winter should not be excessive, the plant is resting.

Water the plant abundantly with settled water. In winter it is advisable to heat the water. IN summer time Water 2-4 times a week, in the afternoon. In winter, water once in the morning.

You will find more tips on caring for homemade lemons in winter in, and we talked about the features of caring for a tree in the fall.

Lighting

The pot with the plant should be placed so that the sun's rays fall on it less than 3 hours a day.

Top dressing

The ideal option for feeding lemon is alternating organic and mineral species fertilizers In winter, it is necessary to reduce the amount of fertilizers, low temperatures provide negative impact for absorption.

Important: Do not water dry soil with fertilizer, the lemon will burn the root system.

Read about how and what to feed indoor lemons at home.

Growing

As you grow every spring in a pot 5 centimeters larger than before, there is no need to plant it in a pot for growth.

There is also no need to replant a grown lemon; every spring the top layer of soil in the container where your tree lives is replaced with humus or fertile garden soil with the addition of humus, and that is enough for it.

Also developed and widely used complex fertilizer Hello for citrus fruits, it contains the entire complex of macro and microelements necessary for plant growth and fruiting.

Grown lemon can be placed in the garden for the summer, the place must be protected from winds and other possible adversities; a sudden change in lighting can have a bad effect, be careful.

Now you know how to grow lemons at home, and most importantly, how to do it correctly. Now let's look at the main diseases and pests of lemon to protect our crop.

Useful video on how to properly transplant seedlings into separate pots:

Pests and diseases

Your lemongrass may be interested in aphids, scale insects, scale insects or spider mites; if there are few pests, shake them into a special container so that they do not run away, from the trunk with a soft toothbrush, and from the leaves with a cotton swab, and treat the plant soap solution Anabasine sulfate.

ATTENTION! If there are a lot of pests, spray the plant drugs Actellik, Ditox or any other insecticide for indoor plants.

Sores that appear on the bark must be cleaned and treated copper sulfate, mold, wherever it settles, just needs to be removed with a damp cloth.

It also happens that the leaves of indoor lemons fall off, curl or change color. We talked about the reasons for this phenomenon, as well as ways to combat it in.

Will there be fruits?

If you propagate an indoor lemon with seeds, it will begin to bear fruit in 7-9 years, if by cuttings - in 3-4 years, by layering - in 1-2 years.

To speed up fruiting, there are the following methods:

Cleavage. Make an incision on the seedling and attach a cutting from a fruit-bearing tree, wrap it with electrical tape, cover the top with plastic film, and once it is grafted, remove the film.
Budding We cut the seedling to 10 cm and graft a fruit-bearing cutting onto it. Both methods significantly speed up fruiting. The plant may not bloom if the cutting was selected from a tree that has not previously bear fruit.

Lemon fruits have both beneficial and healing properties, and harmful properties. You can read about them at.

If the temperature regime is not observed, there is insufficient lighting, irregular pruning and disease damage, the plant will not bear fruit.

You can make a lemon bloom using cross pollination during the flowering period within the same variety.

Conclusion

Paying much attention to the question of how to grow a lemon tree at home from a seed, we forget that it is beautiful plant with glossy, dark green leaves fills the room in which it grows, light lemon aroma. Essential oils lemon is phytoncidal, they cleanse the air of bacteria, and aromatherapists consider it a source of vigor and good mood.

Therefore, growing lemon in a pot can be not only for the sake of the fruits, but also as a wonderful decoration for your interior, the main thing is to observe.

Fish or chicken flavored with sour juice, numerous desserts and compotes - all these are dishes for the preparation of which we will need the fruits of the lemon tree. We are used to buying overseas fruits at the market, the smell of citrus gives a feeling of triumph, home comfort, lifts the mood. But not everyone knows that you can grow a yellow miracle on your windowsill. The popularity of “useful” houseplants has grown greatly today: instead of violets, onions and spices, many citrus fruits and even bananas. But the fruits of the lemon tree are especially loved. Today we will talk about how to grow this guest from the subtropics at home.

Primary requirements

Let's start with the fact that the fruits of the lemon tree are not difficult to obtain; these plants are not too capricious and do not require much attention. It is especially good if you live in an apartment whose windows face west. This means that the plant will have enough heat and light; all that remains is to ensure the optimal level of humidity. In a private house with stove heating growth may be slow as temperatures fluctuate day and night. The decorative effect of an evergreen citrus tree directly depends on correctly selected conditions. This is a very interesting crop, since at the same time you can observe the change of all seasons on its branches. While one branch is blooming, buds are forming on the second, a green harvest is developing on the third, and the fourth is already giving you the yellow fruits of the lemon tree. This feature allows the plant not only to provide you with vitamins all year round, but also adds zest to the interior.

Homemade lemon, like all representatives coniferous species, is able to disinfect indoor air. This happens thanks to special substances contained in the leaves - phytoncides. Therefore, you need to try to prevent the leaves from falling off due to improper care. Next, we will consider in detail how to grow a lemon tree from a seed at home.

Description of a tropical tree

In nature, lemon trees are real giants, reaching 3 meters in height and growing for 100 years or more. Houseplants are dwarf perennial hybrids. Their leaves are rich green in color with a glossy surface, and the fruits are ordinary yellow lemons. A plant grown from the seed of such a fruit will have to be artificially shaped in order to obtain a neat bush that decorates the interior. The fruits, however, will differ from those that we are used to buying in stores, but the beneficial properties will remain unchanged.

There are special varieties that are adapted for growing at home. A homemade lemon tree can accommodate at least 20 fruits at a time. You can collect them as soon as they begin to turn yellow. At the same time, you should not tear them off with your hands - take a pruner or scissors. As a rule, the finished fruits reach a diameter of 5-7 cm. You should not overexpose ripe lemons on the tree - this impairs their beneficial properties and also negatively affects the formation of growth.

Various growing methods

Surely readers are already interested in how to grow a lemon tree from a seed at home. Please note that this is a long process. It can take 5-8 years for a small seed to grow into a tree with leaves and lemons. All this time, the plant needs to be provided with good conditions: sufficient lighting without direct sunlight, warmth and humidity. Seeds can be purchased at the store, best results give indoor varieties Genoa, Maykop and Eureka." They can be grown on the windowsill. If the size of the room allows you to have a large outdoor plant, then it is better to take a Pavlovsky, Meyer, or Novogruzinsky lemon. You can get the seeds directly from the fruit. More quick option propagation of this plant is by cuttings or purchasing seedlings. If you have an ornamental plant nursery in your city, then you probably have such options for sale.

Lemon tree at home

We will consider the simplest option; you do not need to look in the store or order seeds by mail. All you need is to buy a beautiful ripe lemon for tea. As the lemon is eaten, collect all the seeds. It is better to plant more seeds to choose the most beautiful and strong plant. You will need a pot (any pot will do, because our task now is to prepare the seedlings). Fill it with substrate in advance and leave it in a warm place. A store-bought mixture for ornamental plants is suitable as a soil, but you can prepare it at home. To do this, you will need to take 2 cups of garden soil and add one cup each of sand, humus and wood ash.

Before laying out the soil, make sure there is a good drainage layer. It can be expanded clay, brick or pebbles. Now you can fill the pot with soil and start planting. The optimal depth to which the seed should be immersed is from 1.5 to 2 cm. To make sprouts appear faster, after planting you need to cover the pot with glass or a bag to achieve a greenhouse effect.

Minimal planting care is required. The main thing is to water and ventilate the pot on time. In addition, it is very important to maintain optimal temperature regime. A lemon tree at home will take a very long time to grow, so to speed up the results, the seedling can be grafted. Water the pot with germinating seeds very carefully, preferably using a spray bottle that will evenly moisten the soil. The air temperature should not be too high, best option- from +18 to +20 degrees. Ventilation can be provided along with watering. Such care will guarantee the appearance of friendly shoots approximately two weeks after sowing.

And here in front of you is the future lemon tree. But it is too early to open the film or glass. Continue to ventilate your crops, and only when the second pair of leaves has formed can the pot be fully opened and moved to a well-lit place, but not in direct sunlight.

Varietal seeds and grafting

It should be noted that a lemon tree grown from a seed turns out wild, with huge thorns, and bears fruit very reluctantly. It can be an excellent rootstock for grafting cultural cuttings. If in a nursery or in a store that sells ornamental plants, you managed to find such a branch, then you can begin a complex procedure. To do this, you need to trim the central branch of the rootstock (your wild tree) and split it in the middle with a knife. Now make a cut of the bark on the cultivated cutting and insert it into the split. Their diameter may not be the same, but then leave the cutting not in the middle, but on the side, along the bark growth line. All that remains is to wrap the cut with electrical tape and cover it with garden varnish. Now leave 3-4 buds on the cuttings, cut off the rest, and also treat the cut with varnish. To make the graft grow better, place a plastic bag on the branch. When the first leaves appear on the cuttings, it can be removed.

Growing cuttings

There is nothing complicated about this. The whole problem is to purchase a varietal, rooted and preferably grafted cutting. Then your home lemon tree will grow much faster. But, as in the case of sprouting a regular seed, you often get wild plant, which in 5-8 years will make you happy with a couple of thick-skinned lemons. Therefore, it is advisable to purchase cuttings from trusted nurseries. If you started indoor growing citrus fruits from planting seeds from ripe fruit and already have mature tree, then it’s worth looking for a twig cultivated plant. Grafting will help make your tree actively bear fruit.

Choosing a place for your future plant

Even before you grow a lemon tree, you need to determine the place where it will stand. In principle, this guest from the subtropics is not demanding on lighting; it will grow on any windowsill. The main rule is to avoid placing it near a heating system, because lemon does not like dry air and needs a certain level of humidity. Second point: indoor lemon should be kept away from windows that you often open. Most of all the plant is afraid of drafts.

The best option would be to place a pot of lemon near a window facing west. Direct sunlight is undesirable for it. In general, the plant does well even in partial shade, but fruiting can be seriously affected. And one more thing: if your tree is located on a windowsill, then you need to make sure that it does not freeze in winter. Hypothermia of the root system leads to disruption of the normal functioning of metabolic processes, as a result of which the plant may simply die.

Watering

We have already looked at how to grow a lemon tree from a seed, now let's move on to the actual important point- watering. This tropical inhabitant is very picky about soil and air moisture, so you will need to not only water, but also cover the ground with wet moss. This is the only way you will always be happy with your lemon tree. Home care comes down to daily soil testing. It should be slightly sticky and not crumble. This is how the optimal humidity level is determined. Water only around the rim of the pot and only with warm water. You need to pour until the liquid comes out in the pan. In this case, a good drainage system, since stagnation of water greatly affects plants: their growth stops, leaves fall off.

Feeding

This point is important for those who already have a lemon tree growing at home. Caring for it at home includes regular spraying and fertilizing, since poor soil is not conducive to flowering and fruiting. Winter period- this is a time of relative peace, so you need to start such procedures in the spring. It is important to use preparations containing nitrogen, copper, and zinc. This is especially true for young trees that are in the phase active growth. However, you must strictly follow the dosage indicated on the package with the drug, since excess fertilizer can lead to loss of leaves.

Transfer

Are you planning to grow a lemon tree from a seed? Then prepare yourself in advance for frequent pot changes. About once a year the plant needs to be transplanted into a new container, a little bigger size. The soil mixture must be new each time. It is best to carry out this procedure at the end of winter, when the plant is preparing for the active growth phase. Often, beginners who take up growing indoor lemons for the first time are faced with the problem that the leaves turn yellow and begin to fall off. This may indicate poor drainage and stagnation of water in the pot; temperature changes in the room are also often the cause of such troubles.

Let's sum it up

Breeding home citrus fruits is exciting activity, which will interest any plant grower. Children will really enjoy growing a lemon from a seed, as such a wonderful transformation will take place before their eyes. The lemon tree is very decorative and can decorate any interior. But the most important thing is that you can pluck fragrant fruits all year round. And this is a real storehouse of vitamins that will allow you to survive the autumn-spring period without traditional acute respiratory infections and acute respiratory viral infections. The plant itself also acts as a kind of disinfectant, disinfecting the air with the help of phytoncides. Now you know all the benefits of growing a homemade lemon tree. It's worth trying for such pleasure.

Lemon is a very aromatic and healthy fruit. Home-grown lemons cannot compare with store-bought ones either in taste or in taste. aroma properties. Its uses are limitless: baking, teas, salads, jam and much more. Lemon is also widely used in folk medicine, because in it a large number of vitamins And the tree itself purifies the air. It is very pleasing to the eye when there is snow outside the window, and a yellow lemon ripening on the windowsill among the green foliage.

Growing lemongrass at home is a lot of work, and it won’t always work out the first time. I will share my experience of growing this wonderful tree.

Growing lemon from cuttings

A lemon can be grown from a seed; it will be more resilient than one grown from a cutting, but it can only produce fruit after 15-20 years. If you want to see fruits on this tree earlier, you need to get a graft from a fruit-bearing plant. But I will tell you how to grow a beautiful tree from a cutting from a fruit-bearing tree.

First we need a cutting from a fruit-bearing tree. Its length should be 8-12 cm, and it itself should be slightly woody; it is advisable to cut the branch from the tree in March. And it is very important that there are 3-4 leaves on the branch.

You will also need soil, you can use a universal one for citrus fruits, or you can prepare it yourself. The composition of the soil is washed river sand and humus in equal parts. There is also a belief from experienced lemon gardeners that the lemon tree grows well in soil collected in the place where nettles grow well.
We will also need the root formation stimulator Kornevin, a container for growing lemongrass (I use plastic cups, without forgetting to do it first drainage hole at the bottom of the cup), a plastic bottle to create a greenhouse.

The cuttings need to be soaked in Kornevin’s solution for a day. Prepare a solution - 1 g of the drug per 1 liter of water.
The next day, we cut the leaves to half so that the plant does not waste energy on feeding the leaves, but uses all its vitality on root formation.

Sprinkle the bottom cut with Kornevin.

After this, stick the cutting into moist soil. After the cutting is planted, it needs to be watered with settled water at room temperature. Then the cutting needs to be covered with transparent plastic bottle, cut off with the top half. Then our greenhouse needs to be placed on the very sunny place, but it should be remembered that direct sunlight is dangerous for the cuttings. The cuttings need to be watered regularly, but not overwatered or allowed to dry out the earthen coma.

In about 3-4 weeks, the first roots should begin to appear, you can open the greenhouse and lightly try to pull the cutting out of the ground: if we encounter an obstacle, it means we are on the right track, the roots have started to grow. Now we need to adapt our lemon to room conditions. For two weeks, starting from 5-10 min. and gradually increasing the time daily, we open the cap on the bottle, accustoming the lemon to room conditions. After two weeks, the shelter is removed.

After the cutting sprouts new young leaves, it is kept as mature plant. When the roots entwine in the glass earthen lump, can be transplanted into a permanent pot using the transfer method, increasing the diameter of the cup by two finger thicknesses.

If a young lemon has sprouted buds, then they need to be torn off before about 3-5 years of the plant’s life, since early fruit set can damage the tree and deplete it.
U homemade lemon you need to form a crown. Otherwise it will bear fruit poorly. First, cut off the lower shoots, then the upper ones. For good development The crown of the tree needs to be turned around its axis, but a little at a time, so that the flower makes a full rotation around its axis within a year, otherwise, with a sharp turn, the lemon may throw off its leaves.

Conditions for bearing lemon and combating its diseases

Watering

Lemon loves moderate humidity and does not tolerate either drought or heavy moisture. But it loves the scent very much when it is sprayed or bathed in the bathroom under the shower, using a spray bottle: spray the leaves with water 3-4 times a week. An excess of moisture leads to rotting of the roots, and a lack of moisture leads to an attack by mites.

Top dressing

Lemon is very demanding when it comes to feeding. You need to apply fertilizer once a month, a complex fertilizer, better for citrus fruits. If the leaves begin to turn yellow, you need to apply fertilizer with a high magnesium content.

Slurry can be used as fertilizer, sawdust and ash, as well mineral supplements, which contain nitrogen. You can add a couple of grams of zinc or copper.

Flowering and fruiting

Lemon blooms from spring to autumn. It blooms most profusely in March. To speed up flowering, you need to pinch the plant. When new shoots grow, they need to be pinched or trimmed so that there are 3-5 leaves on the shoot. With this method of growing, the lemon will look compact and the leaves will be larger. There are two types of flowers, barren flowers and with lemon. Flowers that have a large pistil mean that this flower will produce a lemon. Experienced lemon growers believe that each fruit is nourished by 9-10 leaves. Depending on the number of leaves, the crop should be left.

You need to leave 3-4 set lemons on the lemon, the rest of the buds need to be picked, otherwise the flower will throw off the set lemons, and you won’t have the strength to set new ones. I collect and dry the collected flowers and buds, then add them to tea, the aroma of the tea cannot be conveyed, you just have to try it.

The fruits ripen from 6 to 10 months, depending on the type of lemon. The weight of a lemon can be from 50 g to 600 g. But the long wait is worth it.

Diseases, pests and ways to combat them

As a result of errors in care, insects introduced from outside with new plants, the weakened plant is affected by diseases and pests.
Homemade lemons can be affected by scale insects and spider mites; these are the most common diseases.
Disease prevention is regular spraying with water.
If you notice on back side leaves with brown plaques and smudges, then this is a scale insect.

It needs to be treated with acaricides. Can also be processed folk remedies. Use a damp cotton swab to collect scale insects and treat with a solution of soap and kerosene (40 grams of soap and 5 drops of kerosene per 1 liter of water). Or lubricate the leaves with onion and garlic pulp (1 teaspoon per glass of water), thus preventing pests from drinking the plant juice.

Lemon leaves can also be damaged by spider mites. If thin white threads are noticed on the branches and on the underside of the leaves, then this is a spider mite. Spider mite does not tolerate moisture, the plant needs to be washed in the shower and the leaves treated laundry soap, put a plastic bag on top and create greenhouse-humid conditions. You can treat the leaves with a daily mixture of grated onion and garlic, one teaspoon per 1 liter of water. Spraying should be carried out three times with an interval of 7-10 days.

Transfer

Replanting should be done at the end of winter, at the beginning of spring. Before the first fruits appear, the plant is replanted every year, increasing the volume of the pot by 2 cm. Then replanting is carried out every 4-5 years, and between replantings do not forget to change the top layer of soil.

This is my experience in growing lemons; I grow two varieties of lemons - Panderosa and Meyer. The first has very large fruits, the lemon is thick-skinned, the latter has small fruits with a thin skin.

Have a successful growing experience and enjoy your tea with delicious lemons grown with your own hands.