Lemon Growing Tips, Ideas, Secrets, and Techniques
Hello gardeners, we are back with a new and helpful topic today and the topic is all about lemon growing tips, ideas, secrets, and techniques. Do you want to know all the basic tips and tricks for growing a lemon plant? Well and then you will need to follow this complete article to know all the tips, ideas, secrets, and techniques for growing lemon plants.
Introduction to Lemon Plant
The lemon may be a species of a little evergreen tree within the angiosperm Rutaceae, native to South Asia, primarily Northeast India. The plant is ellipsoidal yellow fruit is employed for culinary and even non-culinary purposes throughout the planet, primarily for its juice, which has both culinary and cleaning uses.
Lemon trees are fairly easy to stay alive, albeit you don’t sleep in a warm climate. Establish the simplest environment for them by learning when to bring those potted trees indoors, and provides them ample water so that they don’t dry out. Once your tree is 2 to three years old, you ought to be ready to harvest anywhere from 10 to 30 lemons per annum. Now let us get into the details of lemon growing tips.
A guide to Lemon Growing Tips, Ideas, Secrets, and Techniques
The Overview Table of Lemon Plant is Given Below
| Botanical Name | Citrus limon (Rutaceae)​ |
| Common Name | Lemon tree |
| Plant Type | Broadleaf evergreen |
| Mature Size | 20 feet tall and even 15 feet wide |
| Sun Exposure | Full sun |
| Soil Type | Well-drained fertile soil |
| Soil pH | Slightly acidic and even low insoluble salts |
| Bloom Time | Spring |
| Flower Colour | White |
Growing Stages of Lemon Plant
Soil Preparation Tips for Growing a Lemon Plant
Use well-draining and composted soil to hide the bulb of the tree. You need to pick sandy or loamy soil for an option that drains well. Better to avoid using soil made with clay or that has heavy alkaline levels. Cover the bulbed a part of the tree (the roots and therefore the dirt attached to the roots), but stop once you get to the bottom of the roots.
Lemon trees are pretty hardy and may grow in many various sorts of soil, though loamy soil is that the preferred type. If you would like to check the pH level, then aim for a reading between 5.5 and 6.5 for optimal growth.
If the soil is just too acidic, then you’ll add a base like compost or manure to the soil.
If the soil is not acidic enough, then add a compound made from powdered limestone.
Ideas for Growing Lemon Plant in Containers
1. Selecting a lemon plant
Select a very good quality and high yield plant from the nursery. A grafted lemon plant usually works well and best as it will start yielding fruit in the same year. A plant grown from seed will take nearly about 5 years to start fruiting. Better to choose a plant with a couple of fruits and a few blooms, so you know that it is a fruiting grafted variety. You can ask your nursery people for more information. We would usually recommend making a trip to the nursery and not ordering this online.
2. Selecting a pot for the lemon plant
While you are at the nursery, then pick up a 14 inches pot – plastic pot works well because it retains the heat which a lemon plant usually loves. If you prefer terracotta, then that is fine too. You need to make sure the pot has a good number of holes for the proper drainage system.
3. The all-important soil mix for lemon plants
Lemon plant or any other citrus plant needs well-draining light soil. A compacted mass of soil in the pot will not easily help the growth of the feeder roots of the plant from the taproot system. A regular potting mix is equal parts garden soil, coco peat, and even compost. For lemon, you need to instead of 1 part of garden soil, then dilute the garden soil with 50% sand for faster draining and lighter soil. You can buy sand from any garden or construction store.
So ideal potting mix to prepare for a lemon tree is:
- 30% compost
- 30% coco peat
- 20% garden soil
- 20% sand
4. Mulching
Most of the experts usually recommend keeping the top layer of the plant covered with mulch, just to avoid the weeds which the lemon plant hates.
5. Position of the lemon plant
When it comes to a lemon plant, it is all about location. Keep your newly potted plant in semi-shade and not full sun, so that it will get adjusted to its new home. Once you see new leaves cropping up, then it is time to move it to full sun, where the plant gets at least 5 hours of good sunlight. South-facing is the most ideal and optimum position for the plant. If you are growing the lemon plant in a pot on the balcony, then better to keep note of the direction of maximum sunlight and place it accordingly.
6. Watering the lemon plant
A newly potted lemon plant needs to be watered well every alternate day – deep watering is more essential so that the root ball gets the necessary hydration. Once the plant is somewhat established, watering can be tapered twice a week and then once a week or even so. A very good test is to poke the soil with your finger. If more than one inch of the soil is dry, then it is better to give the lemon plant watering. Summers may need more watering so you need to keep an eye on how dry the soil is. A lemon plant in a pot needs more careful watering than that in the ground as the roots cannot spread outside of the pot in search of water.
7. Lemon plant feeding
Lemon plants usually demand in terms of very good nutrition, so you need to make sure that you feed it adequate well-rotted compost every two months, apart from any other nutrients that it may specifically need, such as potassium and magnesium, etc. When you are growing lemon plants in a pot, each of these problems can be addressed separately.
5 Secrets for Growing Lemon Plants
In case if you miss this: How To Grow Strawberries In Greenhouse.
1. Climate
Lemon plants usually grow best in tropical regions. So if you live in a place that the temperature drops below 10°C, then you should plant your plant in a very large pot and then keep it in your house somewhere that has a lot of light, just like a sunroom or next to a window.
2. Sunlight
Some plants are capable of doing very well with very little sunlight. However, lemon plants are not one of those plants. They need lots of sunlight that means seven to eight hours every day to survive and give you the best yield possible.
3. Watering
We know this may seem like a no-brainer. Everyone knows plants need water to live, but we are talking about a lot of water. You don’t need to water all the time, but when you do you need to give it a good long soaking.
Lemon plants don’t tend to respond well to frequent shallow soakings, but once a week giving it about two gallons has done wonders for my lemon tree.
4. Pruning
Pruning the plant is when you cut off what’s not necessary so all of the plant’s energy goes into the branches producing the lemons. You need to prune dead branches or branches that never flower. This will help with getting a very higher quality of lemons.
If you live in a very warm climate, then you have a lot more leeway on when to prune. You should not do it when it’s roasting hot. February through April is the best pruning months for lemon. However, you can prune any time the plant is producing flowers.
5. Soil
This is the most important thing. Sandy soil is very great because it has great drainage which lemon plants usually love.
A soil with very high clay content can stunt the growth of your tree. An easy fix is to mix in a little sand or even gravel to improve the drainage. There is also plant food specifically for lemon plants to give you your best chance at a high-yielding tree.
Lemon Plant Propagation Ideas
- How to Grow Lemon plant from Seed?
The first step in propagating lemon seeds is to pick a good-tasting, juicy lemon. Remove the seeds from the pulp and wash them to get rid of any clinging flesh and sugar which will foster fungal disease, which can exterminate your seed, by the way. You would like to use only fresh seeds and plant them immediately; letting them dry out will decrease the prospect that they’re going to germinate.
Fill a little pot with pasteurized soil mix or a mixture of half sphagnum and half perlite or sand and pasteurize it yourself. Pasteurization also will aid in removing any harmful pathogens which will kill your seedling. Plant many lemon seeds about ½ inch or 1 cm. deep just to extend the prospect for lemon plant seed propagation. Moisten the soil lightly and canopy the highest of the pot with wrapping to assist in water retention. Keep the soil moist, but not soggy.
Keep your growing lemon seeds in a neighbourhood that’s around 21°C; the highest of the fridge is right. Once the seedlings emerge, then better to move the container into brighter light and take away the plastic. When the seedlings have several sets of leaves, transplant them to larger, 4 to six inches or 10 to fifteen cm. pots crammed with sterile potting medium. You need to fertilize them with a water-soluble fertilizer high in potassium every two to four weeks and keep the soil moist.
The propagated lemon seedlings should have a minimum of four hours of direct sun with temps between 15 to 21°C. Because the tree gets larger, prune it within the early spring and re-pot as required to encourage new growth and fruiting. Cease fertilizing and reduce water within the winter and keep the tree in a draft-free area.
There you’ve got it; a lemon from seed. Remember though, it’s going to take as long as 15 years before you’re squeezing those lemons for lemonade.
Watering Tricks for Growing Lemon plants
- How often should lemon trees be watered?
With ground-planted citrus trees, watering should happen about once every week, whether from rainfall or manually. Make certain the world has excellent drainage which you soak the bottom deeply at each watering. If the drainage is poor, the tree will get an excessive amount of water.
- How are you able to tell if lemon is overwatered?
Signs of Overwatering
If you notice that water is puddling, you’ll be irritating too often. One of the most signs of overwatering is that if your Meyer lemon has yellow leaves or drops leaves. When a tree gets an excessive amount of water, the roots may become unable to function properly, leading to injury to the tree.
Water your lemon every 10 to 14 days. Water the tree while slowly counting to twenty. Stop once you notice water beginning to begin of rock bottom of the pot; if after 20 seconds you continue to don’t see water beginning of the pot, continue counting and watering for a further 10 seconds. If your climate is especially dry, keep an eye fixed on the soil and therefore the leaves of the tree. If the soil is dry to the touch or even if the leaves are drooping, water the tree. In the most well-liked months, you’ll get to water it once or twice every week.
Don’t water the tree until a minimum of the highest 2 inches or 5.1 cm of the soil is dry.
Lemon Plant Pruning Tips
You may also check this: How To Grow Organic Leafy Vegetables.
You can prune your lemon plant from March to May so it stays healthy. The simplest time to prune your tree is after most of the lemons are harvested but before the new buds begin to bloom. Counting on your climate, prune sometime between late winter and early spring.
Pruning is important to keeping the tree healthy and promoting new growth.
Use clean shears to trim each new shoot right down to half its original length. Cut the branch at a 45-degree angle and never cut it back to the most trunks. Specialize in pruning the longest and gangliest of the branches and leave the thicker, skilled branches alone. Reduce all low-hanging, downward-facing branches that are reaching toward the soil.
Also, take time to pluck away dead leaves from the branches and take away fallen ones from the soil whenever you notice them.
Fertilizing Techniques for Growing a Lemon Plant
You need to fertilize the soil surface only so you don’t disturb the roots of the tree. Fertilize the tree every 1 to 2 months during the spring and summer and each 2 to three months during the autumn and winter. Use a citrus-specific fertilizer, and only apply it to the highest of the soil; don’t mix it in with the remainder of the soil.
Spring and even summer are the active-growing months and fall and winter are the dormant months.
Pest and Diseases Controlling Tips in Growing a Lemon Plant
- Anthracnose
If the disease is damaging then appropriate fungicides should be applied to the entire tree.
- Armillaria plant disease
The disease is difficult to regulate once it becomes established in an orchard; affected trees showing signs of decline should be removed alongside the maximum amount of the roots system as possible; a neighbourhood where the infected tree was shouldn’t be replanted with healthy citrus for a minimum of one year; fumigating soil can help to scale back soil inoculum but isn’t always completely effective.
- Black root rot
You need to keep glasshouses well lit and even warm during winter to encourage vigorous root growth; use good quality potting soil which provides good aeration.
- Mal secco
Spread of the disease into new areas are often prevented through the utilization of unpolluted planting material; if trees become infected, diseased shoots and branches should be pruned out as soon as possible; avoid overhead irrigation; trees are often shielded from the disease by spraying with copper fungicides.
- Bacterial canker
In areas where the disease is severe, copper fungicides should be applied in the fall and winter before the primary rains.
- Citrus canker
If the disease is introduced to a neighbourhood, then all infected plants need to be removed and destroyed; in areas where the disease is endemic, windbreaks can help to scale back disease severity; cultural control of the disease should specialize in controlling leaf miner populations, utilizing windbreaks and applications of copper sprays.
- Tristeza disease
Quarantine procedures are wont to control Tristeza and stop the pathogen from entering areas that are currently freed from the disease.
- Aphids
Aphid numbers tend to naturally decline as leaves harden off but are often a drag on young trees or varieties that continually produce flushes of the latest growth; pesticides aren’t generally recommended thanks to resistance and trees can withstand a high degree of leaf curling.
- Citrus leaf miner
Insecticide application is never warranted in mature orchards as yields are unaffected; young trees should be treated with appropriate insecticides to stop retarded growth; cultural control methods include removal of water sprouts from trees and refraining from pruning live branches quite once a year to encourage uniform growth flushes which are short.
- Soft scales
Organically acceptable methods of control include the appliance of horticultural oils and therefore the preservation of natural enemies.
- Thrips
Insecticide application is never required as healthy trees can withstand heavy feeding damage; insecticides can promote thrips populations by stimulating reproduction.
Harvesting Ideas for Growing a Lemon Plant
Pick lemons once they’re firm and a couple of to three inches or 5.1 to 7.6 cm in size. Pick very green lemons if you favour a more sour fruit; the yellower it gets, the sweeter it’ll be. Lemons will still ripen even after they’ve been plucked from the tree.
The lemons should be green once they reach the right size, and this is often okay. The dimensions are more important than the shade of the fruit.
A squishy lemon has been left on the branch of the plant for too long.
Just twist the fruit gently until it breaks off of the branch. Just grab the lemon firmly in one hand and then twist it around on the branch. It should break fairly easily. If you favour, you’ll also use a clean pair of gardening shears to chop the lemon from the tree.
Avoid pulling the lemon off, as this might damage the branch or maybe detach it completely from the tree.