Do you like lemon tea? But a lemon tree at home can also be grown and please yourself with citrus fruits annually. True, in order for a wild animal to turn into a fruit-bearing plant, it will take a lot of strength and knowledge.
But citrus fruits feel great in urban apartments, so the most difficult thing is to take the first step. You ask: "Where can I get a seedling?" There are two options: you can take a sprout from a nursery where lemons are sold, or you can grow it yourself from a stone. The second method is not only much longer, but also much more interesting. For those people who want to get the fruits of the lemon tree quickly, it is better to choose the first option. Specialists from the nursery will explain to you how to care for the seedling, they will tell you after how many years the lemon will begin to bear fruit. In this case, the plant is often already grafted, which means it is guaranteed to bear fruit. But attempts to grow a lemon from a seed are also successful in most cases. This citrus tree has excellent survival compared to its other "brothers" -oranges or tangerines. This explains the trend that the lemon tree at home can be found more and more often.
Conditions for growing a lemon tree at home
Your seedling, no matter how you purchased it, will need adequate sunlight and warmth. Keep in mind that citruses grow in humid climates, so try to replicate the same tropical conditions in the room where the lemon is located. For example, spraying the leaves has a very good effect on the growth and survival of the sprout.
But it is better not to put a young plant in the sun, hold it for several days in partial shade, allowing you to get used to the new sensations for it. Remember one more feature: the lemon tree does not like frequent movement around the house. Choose a place for him in the apartment where he can easily spread the crown, and try to disturb as little as possible, move carefully. Lemon grows in stages, especially actively - the first 5 years. During this period, it must be transplanted annually into a larger container. In the tub where your sprout grows, you need to pour drainage (fine gravel, expanded clay or a special drainage mixture that can be purchased at a flower shop), sand and humus in layers. A lemon tree at home needs fertilizing with fertilizers and a “wintering” period. It is expressed in moving the plant to a room with a lower temperature. But its drop should not be sharp - this will destroy the sprout. Do this gradually, lowering the temperature by 4 degrees each time.
Grafting lemons
Citrus grown from seed will bear fruit only after 6-10 years. And grafting a sprout from a cultivated fruit-bearing lemon will shorten this period to 2-3 years. There are 2 methods of grafting: split and T-shaped grafting. To graft a lemon tree, you must first purchase a cutting from the citrus variety you like. The leaves are cut on it, and the buds are left. When grafting into a split, cut the stem of your plant in two to a depth of about 5 cm. The scion (stalk of a varietal lemon) should also be sharpened with a knife so that a wedge is obtained. Now connect the cutting and split so that the layers match. Wrap the inoculation site tightly with film or polyethylene.
T-shaped budding is a smaller job that requires you to be careful. To graft a lemon tree at home in this way, you should carefully make a cut on the bark in the form of the letter "T" with the tip of a knife. Insert the bud from the scion into the resulting “pocket” and, just as in the first option, wrap the grafting site (the bud must not be closed at the same time).
