How to grow lemon at home on a windowsill

Lemon is not only a healthy sour fruit, but also a beautiful tree. It has bright green glossy leaves and blooms with delicate small cream-colored flowers. Both leaves and flowers of lemon have a subtle citrus aroma. The plant looks decorative even during the fruiting period.

Lemon is grown as a houseplant. At home, the tree has a compact size, small leaves and miniature fruits. It looks beautiful all year round and the small sour fruit is edible. Read on to learn how to grow lemons at home on a windowsill.

Suitable lemon varieties for growing on a windowsill

Before you grow lemon at home on the windowsill, you should decide on the variety. For cultivation in an apartment, the following are best suited:

• Genoa;
• Maykovsky;
• Meyer;
• Pavlovsky.

It is possible to choose the desired variety of lemon only if the plant is grown from cuttingspurchased in a specialty store or from professional gardeners at the market. Seeds are usually not sold.

If grown lemon from seeds, collected from fruits purchased at the grocery store, a wild one will grow up. Such trees in a pot look decorative, but the fruits are small and have a sour, tart taste.

Advice. If you grow a lemon from a seed and graft a varietal scion onto it, such a branch will produce cultivated fruits.

Ways to grow lemon

When growing a lemon tree in a pot, seeds or seedlings are used as planting material. Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages.

When planting a seedling, the first harvest is obtained within 3-4 years. Moreover, the next year the tree has an attractive appearance. Flowering occurs faster. Plants grown from seedlings grow more slowly, have reduced endurance and have a less harmonious appearance.

A tree grown from seeds develops faster and more evenly and has increased resistance to negative environmental factors. However, a wildflower grows from a seed, and the first fruits appear after 4-7 years.

From the seed

Lemon seeds are collected from the fruit, which is sold in grocery stores. The fruit should be as regular in shape as possible, bright yellow in color, free of rot, signs of disease and green spots. Select light seeds without damage or dark areas, hard and smooth to the touch.

They are prepared before planting. For this planting material:

1. Soak for half an hour in warm water and wash off the pulp.
2. For 30 min. immerse in a light pink solution of potassium permanganate or hydrogen peroxide. Sometimes biological products are used for disinfection, for example, Fitosporin.
3. Soak for a day in a growth stimulator (“Solution”, “Epin”, etc.).

Not all seeds will sprout. It is recommended to plant more seeds than required. At this stage, lemons are grown in one common container (boxes, cut-off bottles) with drainage holes in the bottom. Before planting, containers are disinfected by soaking in a solution of copper sulfate or a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate.

To plant lemon seeds, use universal soil or humus, peat and garden soil taken in equal proportions.A layer of drainage (expanded clay, ground ceramics, small crushed stone) is poured into the bottom of the container. Both the soil and drainage are pre-disinfected.

Seeds are buried 1.5-2 cm into the soil. The distance between them should be at least 5 cm. After planting the seeds, water the soil with warm water, cover it with film and put it in a place protected from direct sunlight.

Every day the soil is moistened with a spray bottle, and the film is opened for 5-10 minutes. When shoots appear, the box is moved to the windowsill, and the duration of ventilation is gradually increased to a day, after which the film is removed.

After 3-4 true leaves appear, the seedlings are transplanted into individual pots with a diameter of 6-8 cm. The containers are filled first with a centimeter layer of drainage and then with soil. When transplanting, the root collar of lemons is not buried.

After transplantation, the plants are watered. For the first 2 weeks they should not be exposed to direct sunlight.

From a cutting

Lemon cuttings are bought in specialized stores, markets, or independently separated from an adult plant. It is important to choose the right planting material:

• length – from 8 to 15 cm;
• the presence of 3-5 developed buds;
• presence of at least 2 sheets;
• the age of the maternal shoot is about a year;
• dark, hard, but elastic bark.

To independently obtain cuttings, choose a one-year-old shoot. 10-15 cm are retreated from the top part and a cut is made at an angle of 45°. The lower leaves are removed, leaving 2-4 upper leaves. If they are large, they are cut in half.

Important! If you take a shoot that is too young to take a cutting, the seedling will not take root.

The cuttings are prepared for planting. First, the cut is dipped into a solution of potassium permanganate for 60 minutes, and then soaked for a day in Kornevin.

To root a seedling, use a universal soil mixture mixed 1:1 with sand, or a mixture of humus, peat, garden soil and sand. To enrich the soil, add 1 tbsp. ash, 25 g of superphosphate and 15 g of potassium fertilizer. The soil is disinfected by calcining it in the oven or watering it with a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate.

It is convenient to use a cut bottle to root a seedling.. Drainage holes are made in the bottom of the container, then a centimeter layer of drainage is filled in, and the rest of the volume is filled with earth.

The cutting is planted in the ground so that it stands level and without support. The soil is watered abundantly. The top of the bottle is placed over the container to create a greenhouse effect. The soil is moistened daily, and the seedling is sprayed with warm, settled water. The lemon is ventilated by removing it for 30-60 minutes. top of the bottle.

After 2 months, when the seedling takes root and adapts, it is transplanted into a pot with a diameter of 8-10 cm. It is better to use a clay or ceramic container with drainage holes. It is filled with drainage and soil. The seedling is buried in such a way that the trunk is also 1 cm above the border of the roots.

The planted lemon is watered with warm, settled water and sprayed daily.

Requirements for growth conditions

It’s not enough to plant a lemon correctly. It is important to provide it with optimal conditions for growth:

1. Lighting. Lemon is a short-day plant. In spring and summer it does not need additional lighting. The tree feels uncomfortable in direct sunlight. It is recommended to grow it on a western or eastern window. If you place a lemon on a southern windowsill, during the day you will have to shade it with a translucent curtain or remove it from the windowsill. From the north side the light will not be enough.In this case, you will need lighting with a phytolamp. In winter, it is not necessary to illuminate the lemon; during this period it is dormant.
2. Humidity. The lemon tree loves high humidity. At the germination and rooting stage, optimal conditions will be created by a greenhouse made of film or transparent plastic. It is enough to spray adult plants in the summer. Some gardeners pour water into the tray in which the pot stands. In winter, especially if the plant is located near a radiator, be sure to install air humidifiers or containers with water.
3. Temperature. The optimal temperature for growing lemon is considered to be +18…+21°C. During flowering, it should not rise above +19°C, otherwise the inflorescences will fall off. The plant can survive cold spells down to +10°C. At rest (in winter) he is comfortable at +12°C. During the period of seed germination and rooting of seedlings, the room should not be colder than +26°C.

It is recommended to rotate the lemon in relation to the window a few degrees weekly. This is done so that the tree forms a uniform crown.

Note! Reddened leaves indicate too much sunlight or too high a temperature.

Basic rules of care

Lemon care is easy. The main thing is to follow the basic rules:

1. Watering. During the growing season (spring, summer and autumn), the lemon is watered daily and sprayed 2 times a day. In winter, 2 waterings per week are sufficient. Use settled water with a temperature of at least +20°C.
2. Loosening. It is recommended to loosen the soil in the pot at least 2 times a week to break up the earthen crust and prevent water stagnation. It is convenient to use a fork for this.
3. Cleaning. Once a week, wipe the lemon leaves with a damp cloth.Once a month the wood is washed in the shower.
4. Transfer. For the first 3 years, the lemon is transferred annually: removed from the pot, moved along with the soil into a larger container, and the free space is covered with soil. Older trees are replanted once every 2-3 years. To do this, the roots are cleared of most of the soil, removing damaged and dry roots. Then they are planted in new soil. After transplanting, the plants must be watered.
5. Bloom. If the lemon blooms in the first or second year after planting, the inflorescences are cut off. Otherwise, the plant will devote all its energy to flowering and die. From the third year, the inflorescences are left, pollinated artificially using a soft brush or cotton swab.
6. Fruiting. When the first ovaries appear, only one of them is left. Next year – 3-4. Further, the ovaries are not cut off.

Feeding

An integral part of care is fertilizing. In poor soil, the lemon will not bloom or bear fruit, and the leaves will begin to fall off.

Fertilizers are applied 1-2 times a week during the growing season. In winter and late autumn, the tree is given a break from fertilizing.

Use special fertilizers for citrus fruits or home remedies. Some of them:

1. Manure. Horse, cow manure or chicken manure is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. The resulting product is watered over the plants.
2. Mineral fertilizer. To prepare it, add 15 g of superphosphate and 5 g of nitrate to 5 liters of water.
3. Herbal decoction. For 1 liter of water take 3 tbsp. l. nettle, horsetail or other herbs. The raw materials are brewed with boiling water and allowed to brew for 6 hours.
4. Tea coffee. It is useful to pour tea or coffee over lemon.
5. Food waste. Fruit and vegetable peelings are infused in warm water for a week, then filtered and used for irrigation.

Formation

You can’t do without proper formation. The plant’s appearance, health and productivity depend on this procedure.

Pruning is carried out in spring or autumn. They operate according to the following scheme:

1. After the tree reaches the desired height, its growth is limited by cutting off the top. This procedure stimulates the formation of side shoots.
2. When the shoots of the first row are formed, choose 3-4 strong branches directed in different directions. The remaining shoots are cut off. Each branch is pruned, leaving 5 to 7 leaves.
3. When new shoots of the second order grow from the buds of the first-order branches, they are pruned according to the same principle, leaving 3-4 of the strongest ones.
4. The procedure specified in the previous 2 paragraphs is carried out until branches of the 4th order are formed. Most varieties begin to bear fruit from this moment.
5. All weak shoots are removed. The same applies to dry and diseased branches.

The cut areas must be treated with garden varnish. After the procedure, lemon must be handled especially carefully, as it will be weakened.

Reference. The crown is given the desired shape using a haircut.

Diseases and pests

Even at home, lemon is subject to attack by pests (aphids, mites, scale insects) and diseases (rot, gommosis, fungal infections). The following signs indicate that the plant is unhealthy:

1. Withered, yellow leaves. Sluggish or dry shoots. Leaves and inflorescences fall off.
2. Spots and formations of different shapes and colors. Plaque on leaves and shoots is possible.
3. Slow growth and lack of new shoots.
4. Cobwebs on leaves and shoots or film formations on branches.
5. The presence of small insects in the soil or on the plant.
6. Cracks on the branches.

If such symptoms are detected, the plant is treated with a soap solution.After a few days, wash it thoroughly in the shower with warm water.

Lemon is sprayed with copper sulfate and Bordeaux mixture. Parts of the tree that remain damaged are removed. Cracks in the bark are covered with garden varnish. If this does not help, the lemon is sprayed with fungicides.

Conclusion

It is possible to grow an indoor lemon in a pot even from a fruit seed purchased in a supermarket. You just need to select the planting material and plant it, following the instructions. The same applies to cuttings.

If you want the tree on the windowsill to bloom and bear fruit, it is important to pay enough attention to caring for it. Of course, you can get by with just watering and occasional transplants, but then you shouldn’t expect a harvest.