Growing lemon from seed at home

Lemons ... this tropical miracle can be grown at home even on a windowsill. To successfully plant a lemon at home from a stone, you need to know the peculiarities of planting. The article will inform you what, when and how you need to do so that the lemon tree from the seed grows healthy and bears fruit abundantly.

Landing

When asked how to plant a lemon from a stone, and even achieve active fruiting, many gardeners shrug their shoulders. However, it is not. If you adhere to all the rules, planting and care techniques, then in 4-5 years you can start harvesting.

The main key to success is the right seeds and the planting process itself. Start by choosing a couple of ripe, undeformed and undamaged lemons. Wash them, cut them in half and select the largest seeds. It is advisable that the seeds must be moist when planting. Dry seeds will not germinate well, or even remain in the ground altogether.

Treat them with a natural stimulant by placing them in the solution overnight. It is necessary to use biological stimulants in order for the lemon roots to actively grow and develop in the future. In the morning, you should prepare a solution of one of the bioregulators, for example "Epin-Extra" or "Zircon". To do this, add a drop of the drug to a glass of water and immerse the seeds there for 12 hours. Such treatment will help the seedlings to cope with the lack of lighting and dry air in the room.

In order to plant a lemon from a seed, prepare shallow and small containers. You can get them ready-made in a specialty store, or made from scrap materials, such as yogurt cups, or you can cut plastic bottles to the desired size. Before planting, make drainage holes in the bottom of the prepared dish. Lay drainage at the bottom of the pot (vermoculite can be used) with a layer of 1.5 cm. It is recommended to plant several dozen seeds at once. This will help you choose the best and healthiest seedlings over time. After all, not all will sprout.

Before planting a pitted lemon, you need to prepare a fertile and loose soil. The land is perfect for planting citrus fruits, which are sold in flower shops. And you can prepare a fertile mixture yourself. Take equal amounts of turf and humus, mix as thoroughly as possible and add peat. The mixture is slightly moistened and placed in a prepared shallow container. The seeds are placed at a depth of approximately 2 cm.

In the room where the lemon from the seed will be planted, the air temperature should be +18 degrees and not less, otherwise the seed will not germinate. And how to plant a lemon from a stone if your place is slightly cool? In order to successfully grow a lemon tree from a seed, it is necessary to create greenhouse conditions (in the photo - one of the ways in which cut plastic bottles are put on cups). To do this, the pot is carefully covered with foil and placed in the warmest and draft-free corner in an apartment or house. The abundance of light or lack of it does not affect the growth of seedlings.

But with watering you need to be careful. It is advised not to water the pot with planted seeds at all, so that moisture does not contribute to the death of the emerging roots. It is advisable to spray 2 times a week. And water when the ground begins to crack.

Growing

The sprouting time depends on the temperature in the apartment. This usually takes from 2 weeks to 1 month.As soon as 4 or more leaves appear on the sprout, you can remove the film if you made a greenhouse, and place the pot with sprouts in a well-lit place. It is important that young leaves are not exposed to direct sunlight, otherwise the young sprout will die. Watch the watering regime. Water the soil as it dries. The water must first settle and be at room temperature. It is recommended to use rainwater for irrigation, but make sure that such water is not cold.

Do not feed the lemon sprout in the first months. In spring and summer, a little fertilizer can be applied every 14 days. But only a little, assume that it is better to feed less than overfeed. Remember, the lemon tree is demanding and capricious. The slightest disturbance in the care and changes in the environment will affect the tree very unfavorably. Excessive sun, high winds and drafts can cause your plant to lose its foliage. Failure to comply with the temperature regime is also undesirable for the sprout.

With the arrival of autumn, watering is carried out as rarely as possible. Landmark - the state of the top layer of the earth. Top dressing is needed only once every 30 days.

It is worth starting to form the crown on time, this must be done already in the first year of a young seedling's life. All weak, inward growing and misshapen branches should be removed.

As soon as the seedlings germinate, the strongest should be selected and transplanted into a larger pot.

In order to choose the right seedlings for transplanting, you should pay attention to the following criteria:

• crown. We must look at its density. To determine this, pay attention to the distances that go between the buds on the lemon sapling - they should be minimal.
• needles. Their number on the trunk should be minimal.
• leaves. The more, the better. It is good if they are strong and do not fall off from the minimum breeze.

All seedlings that are weakened, have thin shoots and an insufficient number of leaves must be discarded immediately.

Care

The transplant should be carried out together with the earthen lump in which the seedlings grew. Add vermicompost to a pot with fertile soil. The diameter of the new "residence" should be about 7 cm larger than the old one. It is at this moment that a seedling can be formed. To induce the growth of lateral shoots, pinch the top of the lemon seedling. For uniform development of the crown of a tree, it should be turned over by a quarter of a turn once every 10 days. Due to a properly formed trunk, high-quality fruits can be obtained in the future.

Further care for an adult tree is carried out according to the above rules. Correct watering, sufficient lighting (in winter, do not forget to use phytolamps) and appropriate feeding. Use both mineral and organic fertilizers, alternating between them. Stick to no more than 10 days between feedings. Use only liquid fertilizer. The permissible dose of mineral fertilizer will be 2 g. If you add more, you can burn the root system of the plant.

If the tree has already begun to bloom in the first year, be sure to remove all the buds, although you will be very sorry to do this. If this is not done, the young seedling, spending all its energy on the flowering process, will begin to wither. According to the rules, flowering should take place when there are at least 15 leaves per flower.

Be aware that a young tree should be replanted once every two years. And an adult lemon tree needs replanting less often - once every 3 years. These time intervals must be adhered to so that the root system of the tree does not lack discomfort in the pot and does not get tangled. If this happens, the lemon tree will stop growing. When replanting, be careful not to damage the roots. Each time you change the pot, the new one should be larger in diameter, usually by 4-6 cm.The optimal time to transplant in the summer is June, and in the winter it is February.

In order for homemade lemon to begin bearing fruit as early as possible, it must be grafted into citrus fruits (for example, grapefruit). The best time for this agrotechnical event is summer or late spring. Grafting can be done in two ways: budding or splitting. Grafting into cleavage is considered the most successful and optimal.

The evergreen lemon tree is not only beautiful but also healthy. Even before the fruit comes, it will benefit you and your home. This is because its leaves are able to secrete active biological substances - phytoncides. They prevent bacteria and various pathogens from multiplying in the air. After reading this article, you learned how to plant a lemon from a seed so that it grows and turns into a beautiful tree. Even if you have had unsuccessful attempts before, try again. After all, now you already know exactly how to grow a lemon tree from a seed in order to enjoy the exotic fruits of your own harvest.

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