- Type: Citrus
- Flowering Period: December, January, February, March
- Height: 50-1200cm
- Color: Orange, Yellow, White
- Perennial
- Winters
- Sun loving
- Loving
Bright lemon, orange and tangerine trees with their huge flowers and mouth-watering fruits always become the most important accents of any garden. But, unfortunately, they do not grow in the Russian climate under the open sky - only in greenhouses and at home. But then where do such trees come from in Russian gardens in the summer? Simply at home in the country or in the apartment it is quite possible to grow a beautiful citrus tree at least one and a half meters high! In the summer, put in the garden and enjoy the incredibly fragrant large flowers, for which modern landscape designers are ready to give a lot. You must admit that any garden consists of 90% plants, each of which has its own time. Yes, in the Russian climate, a citrus tree is a seasonal decoration of the garden, but what a thing!
How to grow a real tangerine tree?
In its development, a tangerine tree will not be particularly whimsical. The main thing is to provide him with plenty of sunlight, and all 12 hours a day all year round. Therefore, if you want to grow a natural beautiful tree, you will need additional intense illumination on winter evenings. Some professional secrets will also help.
Mandarin Variety Selection
And now let's figure out a little with the varieties:
- Unshiu is a frost-resistant and very productive variety. You will get a small tree, with a spreading crown of flexible thin branches, and with corrugated leaves. This mandarin grows quickly and gives good results. And if you still attach artificial lighting, things will go even better.
- Shiva-Mikan is a compact tangerine tree with large dark green foliage. It blooms and grows quickly.
- The honey variety is the rarest variety with very sweet tangerines.
- And the mandarin Kovane-vasse is the tallest, as for home use. For the garden - that’s it!
Look at what wonderful citrus trees grow with the right choice of variety:
Proper seed preparation
So, the first step is to get the seeds for the future tangerine tree. For this purpose, ripe fruits from the store are ideal: take at least 10 of these seeds. The more, the better: you probably know that any planting material does not sprout 100%.
Second step: give the bones a hatch. To do this, they need moisture. Wrap the bones in moist gauze and leave for several days. Gauze, in turn, will not allow moisture to evaporate quickly, and at the same time, the bones will “breathe”.
Now prepare the soil. The easiest way is to buy it at a flower shop, it is called "special for citrus fruits", or roll up your sleeves and make a nutritious basis on your own. Just connect the sheet turfy ground with compost or rotted humus in equal parts. The main thing is that there is no peat in your land.
In details:
Now you can plant the hacked bones in this land. But be patient: the first sprouts will appear from 3 weeks to a whole month, because mandarin grows slowly and from time to time also stops growing according to some biological laws unknown to us.
Plenty of moisture
A tangerine tree loves moisture, and in summer it must be watered (but not flooded). And in winter, the amount of moisture should be reduced, while ensuring that the soil does not dry out. After all, future fruits need to be "poured," as they say.
To compensate for the dryness of home air, it is advisable to spray mandarin leaves with clean boiled water (or filtered) every day.
Neat transplant
When the tangerine tree grows, move it to a larger pot. The ideal time is February-March. Such a plant should be transplanted by transshipment in order to preserve the earthen lump as much as possible and not damage the delicate root system.
A few weeks after the transplant, when the tree can get accustomed to a new place and it passes the so-called "housewarming syndrome", the root system will begin to grow actively. Moreover, over the entire spring-summer period, mandarin will have several points of active growth, in which it will need to be fed with organic and mineral fertilizers, once every 1-2 weeks. The tea leaves used will especially enjoy the tea leaves - just dig it into the soil.
As a result, thanks to your efforts, you will grow a good tree up to one and a half meters tall. Miniature, pretty and especially bright during fruiting. And during the flowering period, the tangerine tree is strewn with flowers so that it is impossible not to pay attention to it!
How to grow an early ripe lemon tree?
Lemon is a perennial evergreen tree, with thorns on branches and beautiful dark green leaves. Of particular value for landscape design are just the leaves of lemon, with its juicy colors and excellent decorative qualities. A real decoration for any garden!
When transplanted into open ground, the lemon quickly reaches a height of up to 5 meters. But, if you grow it only at home, and only leave it in the garden in the sun for the summer, then it will reach “only” 2 meters.
Another value of lemon tree for landscape design is that it can bloom several times during the year - in spring, summer and winter. Its flowers are especially beautiful: snow-white, with a wax color and with a delicate aroma. And it is also surprising that at the same time on one tree there can be fragrant flowers, and green ovaries, and even ripe fruits. Moreover, lemongrasses can easily hang on the parental branches for up to 2 years, periodically becoming green or yellow again.
And to grow this miracle of nature is not difficult:
Choose a good variety
First of all, starting to grow a lemon tree for your garden, you need to choose a variety - and there are about 900 of them! Among the species of this evergreen citrus plant there are those that grow exclusively in the tropics and subtropics, and there are those that feel great in a closed conservatory. And it's important to guess!
- Pavlovsky lemon grows up to 2 meters high. And just need to root the cuttings under glass jars, and then transplant into pots. Moreover, this lemon is most adapted to life at home or in the winter greenhouse, and it blooms in the second or third year and then begins to bear fruit.
- Meyer's lemon will bloom year-round, although it will remain dwarf. But its beautiful round crown is remarkably amenable to formation. True, there are many thorns on the branches of this lemon.
- Novogruzinsky lemon is obtained with a stronger tall crown and an impressive amount of thorns. It will bloom a little later than Pavlovsky lemon, but it will be distinguished by a stable harvest.
- But the lemon Lisbon is different in that it tolerates high air temperature without any problems.
Here's how wonderful varietal lemon trees grow:
Preparation for landing
As soon as you get the seeds out of the lemon, immediately start planting, otherwise the similarity will be lost every hour. Then do everything according to this instruction:
- Step 1. First, rinse the seeds well under running water and dry on a windowsill on a sheet of paper.
- Step 2. Next, lay them on a layer of moist cotton so that the seeds swell. Moreover, the cotton wool will also need to be moistened periodically.
- Step 3. Take a plastic bottle and cut off the neck. Make a couple of holes in the bottom.
- Step 4. Fill the plastic bottle with soil, pour a little and plant the seeds to a depth of 2 to 4 centimeters.
- Step 5. Now, once every two days, pour fresh water.
- Step 6. When the lemon tree reaches a height of 10-15 centimeters, transplant it into a pot with the same soil. It is important that the root system is not constrained in it.
In more detail you will see the process at the master class:
But, unfortunately, the lemon that you have grown from seed will begin to bear fruit only for 12-15 years of life. That is why it makes sense to get a stalk or buds already from the fruiting tree, and plant them on your plant. And your lemon will be ready for vaccination when the thickness of its trunk reaches 80 millimeters.
All this is perfectly shown in the video:
Importance of proper soil
Unfortunately, a situation is not uncommon when seedlings are bought even in a well-known company store, and after a week the lemon dies. That is why it is so important to pick the right soil first.
Soil for lemon tree you need balanced in structure and rich in nutrients. The recipe is the same as for the tangerine tree. But take care of the temperature: at -5-6 ° the leaves die off at the lemon, at -7-8 ° the crown is damaged, and at minus -8-9 ° the tree is already dying. Therefore, to winter your lemon tree, you need a temperature within + 15-18 ° degrees of heat.
When taking your citrus fruit to the garden in summer, place it under the crown of a larger brother: apple trees or sea buckthorn, and relative to the same cardinal points. Indeed, a lemon tree cannot be placed in an open sunny place - the leaves will burn.
Here is a good illustration of the proper care of a growing lemon tree:
The correct watering temperature
You can also easily grow a lemon tree from the cuttings, which begins to bloom in the third year after planting:
- Step 1. In early spring, take cuttings with four to five leaves.
- Step 2. Hold such a stalk in a weak solution of potassium permanganate and cover the cut with crushed charcoal.
- Step 3. Remove the bottom leaves, leaving only the top three.
- Step 4. Next, plant the stalk in wet river sand.
- Step 5. Cover with a jar or bag and place in a dark place.
Here's how:
The main thing is to ensure that the soil is moist. If droplets of water appear on the walls of the can, then the roots are released by the stalk. And as soon as the plant takes root (check this by pulling the stalk easily), take it to the light and remove the jar.
In winter, you need to water the lemon tree only once or twice a week, and in the summer - every day, but just a little. Moreover, warm water, 2-3 degrees above air temperature. If you pour it colder or warmer, the plant will not like it. Indeed, this is the capriciousness of the lemon tree, which does not like both the lack of moisture and its excess. Experienced gardeners know one tricky secret: tap a pot with a wooden object. If the blows are sonorous, the earth is already dry, and if deaf, there is still moisture.
You still need to turn the lemon tree on the windowsill, so that the sellers do not tell you there. All this in order to make a beautiful crown, otherwise there will be light and shadow leaves that will no longer fit into the landscape design of your summer garden.
The color of the leaves of a lemon tree is also affected by top dressing. So, from March to September, once every 1-2 weeks, feed your plant with manure or droppings. During the fruiting period, do this every 10 days, and this time give preference to a complex of mineral fertilizers.
The formation of a beautiful crown
The next interesting secret: to form the future crown of a lemon is easy on its roots. After all, the root system is a mirror image of the crown. Therefore, put the lemon in a pot of the shape that you want to see its crown.
In the spring of a young plant 20 centimeters high, you need to trim the top, and leave 5-6 packs so that they give lateral shoots. And in March-April, prune this tree, removing old dry and diseased shoots, as well as those that are trying to grow into the crown, and not from it.
And one more important point. From time to time, the lemon tree becomes cramped: usually every 2-3 years. At this time, it gives its small signal, rising above the soil level and bringing roots to the drainage hole. So, it’s time to transplant the tree into a more spacious pot. It is advisable to do this until mid-February, while new shoots have not yet begun to grow. And keep in mind that an adult lemon tree already feels better not in light soil, but in heavy, loose soil. You can get it yourself by mixing one part of leafy soil, one part of sand and one part of humus, additionally adding some clay to such soil.
Pollination assistance
Another secret to getting a really beautiful lemon tree is that you have to pollinate it! Yes, it is a self-pollinated plant, but it still has male flowers with only pollen. Collect such pollen with a cotton swab and bring it to the pestle, which is large and noticeable.
In summer, be sure to take the lemon into the garden, and it will become a wonderful attribute of landscape design. And in winter, organize additional illumination: a fluorescent lamp or Reflax lamps, at a distance of 10 centimeters from the upper leaves of the tree.
How to grow an orange tree with a beautiful crown?
Orange tree is a real find for landscape design of any garden. It is neat, with glossy leaf skin and beautiful fruits.
Proper seed planting
You can grow this tree from an ordinary seed:
- rinse out the seeds in warm water;
- soak for 12 hours;
- dig the hatching seeds into the ground, to a depth of 1 centimeter under the film.
This can be done in late winter or early spring:
When caring for a growing plant, do not forget that orange trees are residents of the subtropical zone. They do not like drafts, but they love the abundance of indirect sunlight and are capricious of humidity of air and soil.
And about the selection of soil for an orange, we suggest you watch the video:
The abundance of light and heat
An orange must receive a lot of light and heat - this is the main requirement. If you properly care for the orange tree, it grows quickly and pleases with a beautiful crown. But, if you want your beautiful tree to bear fruit over time, pay attention to the green spikes on the trunk: if they are solid already at the age of one, you come across a wild plant whose fruits are worthless. Then you should carry out the usual vaccination.
At home, the cultivated orange tree will begin to bear fruit 6 years after seed germination. What can be accelerated if you make the winter an orange at a temperature of +2 to +5 degrees, limiting watering and top dressing.
Proper feeding and watering
For seedlings, a pot with a diameter of about 10 centimeters is well suited. The main thing is not to allow the humidity in the room to be below 40% - otherwise the plant will drop its leaves. And you can’t water an orange tree with running water with chlorine - only distilled, heated to 25-30 degrees Celsius.
Feed an orange tree diluted in 10 liters of water with 20 grams of ammonium nitrate, 25 grams of superphosphate and 15 grams of potassium salts. Four times a year, iron sulfate will also need to be added to its top dressing, and once a month, water the orange tree with a solution of potassium permanganate - so that the leaves have a saturated color.
It is necessary to transplant a grown plant by the method of transshipment, with a solid earthen lump. At the beginning of a warm summer, take your tree to the garden, while protecting it well from the scorching sun.
More oxygen!
All citrus trees are a little moody in their care, and everyone loves when their root system is enriched with oxygen. Therefore, for growing an orange tree, we recommend that you use large wooden blocks or pottery pots.And so that in no case does mold appear, be sure to treat their inner surface with a blowtorch.
Also, all citrus trees need good drainage, and therefore always put small pebbles on the bottom of your tree, but without sharp edges. Indeed, citrus fruits have very delicate roots.
As you can see, all citrus trees are propagated by seeds, and then grafted or cut. Can't you handle it? Yes easily! And in the summer quiet evenings your garden will be delighted with real exotic citrus trees!
