Homemade citrus. Orange tree, home care, photo

Let's analyze the florist's letter:
“I bought a delicious lemon, and in a month it dropped all the fruits and leaves. There is one branched snag in a pot. In general, the snag turned out to be very decorative, I don’t drink my soul in it, water it and spray it, hung a light bulb over it, it burns around the clock It's hot at home, 28 degrees in winter, so the snag reminds me of African saxauls in some way. It's a very soulful plant. It kind of says to me: "I'd rather die, but I won't grow with you!". If so, I think, then now "I'll teach you politeness! - I tore the snag out of the ent's pot, didn't even shake off the peat from the roots, and transplanted it into a large bucket, made holes in it, poured half a pack of expanded clay on the bottom, and piled a special lemon soil around it. And what do you think? This the vile plant did not appreciate my care, there were no leaves, and there are none, even though I sprinkle it with top dressing every month and apply a special fertilizer, "Lemon" is called. Every day I spray it with water in the evening and water it in the morning. I came to the conclusion that it is completely shameless a creation of nature, and that in an amicable way with it it is impossible. From tomorrow I will begin to apply repressions to this snag: I will turn off the lamp and make a suggestion to it: if in a month it does not bear a single leaf, I will pull it out of the pot and throw it away. This is not a plant, but just an ungrateful bastard!"

Dear fellow gardeners, in no case do not make such mistakes!
I want to describe in detail the scheme for caring for citrus fruits so that you do not have problems with them. And I'll tell you about it on the example of the above letter.

** Consider the causes of leaf loss in citrus fruits:
1. If you put the plant on the window, then you do not need to periodically transfer it to another place; citrus fruits are "one stop" plants.
2. The most common mistake - the citrus pot should not be strongly "twisted" by 180 or 90 degrees. In this case, the leaves turn yellow and fall off - the tree dies. Every 10 days you need to turn the pot 10 degrees (no more), and better - counterclockwise.
3. When you get into an unusual climate, i.e. when moving from a store or greenhouse to an apartment, citrus fruits can also shed their leaves.
4. If there are drafts in the apartment, citrus leaves will definitely fall off.
5. If the soil is excessively moistened in winter time- it turns sour and, as a result, citrus leaves turn yellow and fall off.
6. If planted small plant immediately into a bucket, and even more so - into a tub, then in a week the leaves of the tree will turn yellow, and after another 1.5 weeks it will have "leaf fall";
7. Many do not know this, but, based on my many years of experience, I want to warn you: in no case should you put citrus fruits next to microwave oven. Otherwise, the leaves will not just fall off - the tree will die.
8. Citrus fruits lose their leaves and fruits due to improper feeding and transplanting.

If in winter the leaves of citrus fruits begin to curl, turn yellow, fall off, the shoots dry out, then the tree sheds unripe fruits. If a plant with fruits was bought in winter, then it will definitely shed the fruits (especially if the tree is imported), and then part of the leaves (or all the leaves). When buying citrus trees in winter, I recommend removing most of the fruits from them (and preferably all), removing the emerging flowers and trimming the fruiting shoots by 1/3.
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**Transfer

The root system of citrus plants has a peculiarity - it does not have root hairs, through which the absorption of water and minerals dissolved in it usually occurs. Their role is played by a symbiotic fungus that forms mycorrhiza of the roots. The death of mycorrhiza leads to the extinction of the plant itself. She is very sensitive to conditions, suffers under prolonged absence moisture, lack of air in heavy and dense soil, low and high temperatures, and especially when roots are exposed or damaged. Sometimes you can see outwardly normal roots in a dead plant - this is precisely due to the death of mycorrhiza. That is why citrus fruits do not tolerate transplantation well and can get sick for a long time after it. It is worth replanting citrus fruits only by the most accurate transshipment, in no case changing the soil and without washing the roots (with the exception of severe damage to the roots, when there is no other way out).
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**Substrates for growing citrus fruits.
There are several recipes for land mixtures for citrus fruits - they include peat, turf and leaf soil, sand, manure humus. It is important that the mixture is slightly acidic or neutral (pH 5.5 to 7.0). If your water is hard, then it is better to take a slightly acidic soil. However, preparing a mixture of all these components separately and adjusting the acidity is quite difficult. It's easier to take a ready-made citrus soil (usually called "Lemon"), and bring it to the desired condition. Before use, the substrate must be subjected to heat treatment in a water bath (to kill larvae, eggs and adult pests, pathogenic fungi and bacteria).

Small plants should be transplanted shortly after purchase, as the peat soil dries out easily, and the densely braided roots are easily overheated and dried out. Then transplanted every year in the spring (if necessary). Older plants in the first year can not be touched, then transplanted every 3-4 years. Large-sized plants are not transplanted, but the topsoil is replaced annually.

If you have purchased a small plant that is usually planted in a peat substrate, in no case should it be changed or a denser soil added - roots will not be able to sprout into it. It is better to use a ready-made peat substrate for the first transplant, adding sand and a little soddy soil to it. With further transplants, the amount of soddy land in the mixture can be gradually increased.

Large specimens are usually already planted in the ground with the addition of sod land, therefore, in ready mix you can add sand and more sod or leafy soil.
It is better not to use manure humus in mixtures, but to replace it with an extract, which is added to irrigation water.

And do not abuse the loosening of the soil, in which it is easy to damage the roots.
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**Watering
For watering citrus fruits, water just taken from the tap of the water supply is completely unsuitable (it contains a large number of chlorine, which they don't like). It is better to water citrus fruits with settled water, to which vinegar is added (a few drops per liter of water); they respect it very much.

Citrus fruits need regular feeding. They need:
- nitrogen (provides rapid growth). Thanks to nitrogen, citrus leaves acquire a rich green color;
- phosphorus (thanks to phosphorus, the seedling begins to bear fruit faster). Phosphorus is also needed for the ripening of fruits and young wood;
- potassium (normal and timely ripening of young leaves, shoots, as well as fruits depends on potassium). With a lack of potassium, citrus fruits become ugly and often fall off before ripening. In addition, potassium supplements help increase resistance to various diseases.

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**Reproduction from seeds
Citrus seeds, freshly extracted from the fruit, germinate very well, usually within a month. Seedlings are actively developing and quite unpretentious. From them, you can form beautiful trees with the help of pruning, which will also enrich the atmosphere of the house with useful phytoncidal substances. But for fruiting, such seedlings must be grafted with cuttings of varietal plants.
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**Crown formation

Shaping is needed to give a beautiful and compact appearance of the crown. Best time for her comes at the end of the winter rest period, in early February. In summer, too long and fattening shoots should also be shortened. Different kinds and varieties of citrus fruits have their own growth pattern. So, a lemon does not branch very willingly, and it is rather difficult to form a compact beautiful tree from it. Orange grows powerfully upwards, requiring regular shortening. In mandarin, the crown thickens quickly, you have to cut out part of the shoots growing inside. Kumquat grows quite compactly, requiring little or no pruning. Calamondin does not have to be cut too much.

Young plants grown from rooted cuttings begin to form almost immediately, giving the tree beautiful view. Seedlings should begin to form at the age of one. If by this time they have reached at least 30 cm, the top of their head is stopped. However, even the correct formation of seedlings does not lead to long-awaited fruiting at home.
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** Top dressing.

Fertilize citrus fruits only in months active growth, from mid-February to mid-September, and in no case should you feed during the winter holidays. In preparation for the rest period and when leaving it, reduce the concentration of fertilizers by 2 times. Fertilize only on pre-moistened earth. For good absorption of mineral fertilizers from the soil, it is important to control the acidity of the soil. For the assimilation of organic fertilizers, be sure to maintain the beneficial microflora of the substrate by the systematic introduction of microbiological preparations (Vostok-EM1, Baikal, Vozrozhdenie). Plants respond well to foliar feeding.

It is impossible to feed a heavily crumbling plant - the causes of leaf fall are often not a lack of nutrition, and top dressing done at the wrong time will only bring harm. After buying or transplanting a plant, do not feed it for 1-2 months.

And you should always remember the rule that it is better to underfeed the plant than to overfeed. Lack of nutrition is easily eliminated by timely top dressing, and excess fertilizer leads to burns of the roots, improper development and often ends in the death of the plant. One of the signs of excess fertilizer is a dry border along the edge of the leaf and the beginning of leaf fall. An excess of one element often causes a deficiency of another, and it is quite difficult to diagnose this imbalance and determine the exact cause. But in order to avoid it, only special fertilizers for citrus fruits should be taken for top dressing, which must also include trace elements. Their application rates are calculated for the period of maximum growth. If the plants have insufficient light or other conditions of maintenance are not observed, the dose of fertilizers must be reduced.
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**Pests and diseases

The most common pests of cirus crops are mealybug, shield, false shield. Citrus fruits are also affected by aphids and spider mites.
White lumps in the sinuses, on branches and trunks - defeat by a mealybug.
Plaques that look like droplets of wax on leaves, branches and trunks, sweet discharge on the leaves - a lesion with a scab or a false scab.
Uneven small yellow dots on the leaves, powdery coating from the bottom of the leaf, sometimes cobweb - spider mite.
The accumulation of small green or black insects on young shoots, sweet discharge - aphids.
Small mobile light insects in the ground, jumping when watering - podura, or springtails. They start when waterlogged, do not cause harm to the plant. It is enough to reduce watering and shed Actara (1 g / 10 l).
Small black flies flying over the ground are mushroom mosquitoes. They also start from waterlogging. The larvae live in the soil, but do not cause harm to healthy roots. It is enough to adjust the watering, you can shed Aktara (1 g / 10 l).
Details - in the article Pests of indoor plants and measures to combat them.

Chinese sweet orange
Diseases of citrus fruits are caused by improper care and lesions by various pathogens (which is also often due to errors in the content).

Fungal diseases often affect citrus fruits in plantations or greenhouses. Drying and blackening of branches - malseko have a mushroom nature; gum disease - gummosis, when a wound forms on the trunk, from which a liquid resembling resin oozes; leaf spot and anthracosis, when weeping spots spread over the leaf and subsequently merge; powdery mildew when a white powdery coating forms on the leaves. The fight against fungal diseases is reduced to the establishment of care, to the removal and destruction of the affected parts of the plant, to the treatment with systemic and contact fungicides.

Sometimes a black coating forms on the leaves of citrus fruits, which can be easily removed with a damp swab - this is a soot fungus. It does not harm the plant, usually settles on the sugary secretions of pests. The cause of sugary discharge should be eliminated, the sooty coating should be removed with a swab dipped in soapy water, and washed well under a warm shower.
Diseases caused by viruses appear in the form of a marble color and cannot be treated.

Causes of yellowing leaves: chlorosis caused by a lack of iron, magnesium, sulfur, zinc, excess calcium; lack of nitrogen; lack or excess of light; spider mite damage.

Reasons for the appearance brown spots on the leaves: non-compliance with the irrigation regime (overdrying or waterlogging of the soil); sunburn; burn from a strong dose of fertilizer; imbalance in the batteries; fungal and bacterial diseases.

The cause of leaf fall in citrus fruits can be any severe stress: sudden temperature fluctuations, hypothermia, overheating, waterlogging of the substrate, overdrying of the substrate, improper transplantation, too much fertilizer dosage, prolonged lack of light.

Why is leaf fall dangerous? Depending on age, lemon leaves perform different functions, with aging they turn into a pantry. nutrients, ensuring the growth and development of young growths. The loss of these leaves leads to the depletion of the plant.
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**Physiological disorders associated with a lack or excess of nutrients

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** Flowering and fruits

Fruiting lemons, tangerines and other citrus fruits bloom profusely, which leads to a weakening of the tree. Therefore, flowers located nearby should be thinned out, leaving larger ones - those on which the ovary is better developed. Preference should be given to fruits sitting on short twigs - fruits. On long branches, the fruits grow more slowly.

It takes several months for the fruit to ripen. There are so many ovaries that there is an active discharge of young ovaries and fruits that have not yet filled with juice. The fruit fall is so strong that the soil under the trees is completely covered with small fruits. That's why
it is recommended to regulate fruiting. Immediately after flowering, cut off a number of young ovaries. I do not recommend buying trees with fruits in the store. It is better if you buy only a flowering tree. But if, nevertheless, a tree with fruits comes home to you, then proceed as follows:
1. try to find out how old the tree is;
2. Pick off all the fruits (do not spare them);
3. Cut the branches on which the fruits were in half;
4. Spray the plant more often;
5. The soil must always be moist.

And now - advice for everyone: do not expect the impossible from a citrus tree! In winter, citrus fruits most often do not bloom at home. Be patient and do everything according to the instructions. If you do everything right, your citrus pets will delight appearance and harvests. Good luck!

Consider causes of citrus leaf loss:
1. If you put the plant on the window, then you do not need to periodically transfer it to another place; citrus fruits are "one stop" plants.
2. The most common mistake - the citrus pot should not be strongly "twisted" by 180 or 90 degrees. In this case, the leaves turn yellow and fall off - the tree dies. Every 10 days you need to turn the pot 10 degrees (no more), and better - counterclockwise.
3. When you get into an unusual climate, i.e. when moving from a store or greenhouse to an apartment, citrus fruits can also shed their leaves.
4. If there are drafts in the apartment, citrus leaves will definitely fall off.
5. If the soil is excessively moistened in winter, it turns sour and, as a result, citrus leaves turn yellow and fall off.
6. If you plant a small plant immediately in a bucket, and even more so in a tub, then in a week the leaves of the tree will turn yellow, and after another 1.5 weeks it will have "leaf fall";
7. Many do not know this, but based on my many years of experience, I want to warn you: in no case should citrus fruits be placed next to a microwave oven. Otherwise, the leaves will not just fall off - the tree will die.
8. Citrus fruits lose their leaves and fruits due to improper feeding and transplanting.

Before transplanting your pet, make sure it is needed right now. transfer. Roots that come out of the drainage are not a reason for a transplant. Gently push back the top layer of soil. If you see that an earthen ball is wrapped around with many roots on top, do not rush in this case either. Pass the stem of the tree between the index and middle finger, tilt the pot a little and try to pull out the earth ball by lightly tapping on the bottom. If an earthen ball heavily entwined with roots is easily pulled out, and if it is autumn in the yard, do not replant the tree until mid-February.
If spring comes, then you can transplant a citrus tree into a container slightly larger than the previous one.
If the earthen lump is not strongly entwined with roots, a transplant will only be needed next spring(regardless of the current season).
Teach: citrus fruits do not like transplantation, but transshipment!

I do not recommend replanting citrus fruits in winter or autumn: the tree does not have time to adapt, and winter has already come. So it begins to wither and get sick in winter - especially if there are mistakes in care. For the "resuscitation" of citrus fruits in winter, it is necessary to pour over old soil(with a layer of 2-3 cm) previously prepared soil from under the oak - the tree quickly "comes to life".
As a drainage, expanded clay should be poured at the bottom of the pot with a thickness of 1.5-2 cm.

Now oh soil. The most best land- from under the oak. Oak has great energy power; the soil must be taken carefully, without damaging root system tree. Use part of the soil taken from under the oak for transshipment of citrus fruits, and leave the remaining soil "in reserve" - in case the citrus foliage begins to curl, turn yellow, fall off (especially if this happens in winter). After all, it is difficult to get this soil in winter: the ground in the forest is frozen, and, in addition, knee-deep snow. This is where "in reserve" will help out.

You can also use the following soil composition for citrus fruits:

1-2 parts of rotted leaf ground from under the oak;
- 1 part of rotted manure (horse);
- 1 part of sod land from meadows where clover grows;
- 1 part coarse river sand;
- 0.5 parts wood ash hardwood;
- 4 parts of lake silt.

In fresh, nutritious soil, citrus fruits develop a good root system.

For glaze citrus fruits are completely unsuitable for water just taken from the tap of the water supply (it contains a large amount of chlorine, which they do not like). It is better to water citrus fruits with settled water, to which vinegar is added (a few drops per liter of water); they respect it very much.

Citrus fruits need regular top dressing. They need:
- nitrogen(provides rapid growth). Thanks to nitrogen, citrus leaves acquire a rich green color;
- phosphorus(thanks to phosphorus, the seedling begins to bear fruit faster). Phosphorus is also needed for the ripening of fruits and young wood;
- potassium(Normal and timely ripening of young leaves, shoots, as well as fruits depends on potassium). With a lack of potassium, citrus fruits become ugly and often fall off before ripening. In addition, potassium supplements help increase resistance to various diseases.

Top dressing of citrus fruits should be carried out according to the following scheme:

Menu plan for the summer months (apply from May to October inclusive):
- 1st and 15th - manure (100 g of manure per liter of water; use a two-week infusion);
- 8th - egg shell (two-week infusion in water);
- 20th - blood from meat, poultry, fish (dilute in half with water and pour; then pour plain water on top);
- 23rd - ash; the best ash from the tops of potatoes, sunflowers or straw (1 tablespoon per liter of water for irrigation);
- 27th - pond silt (150-200 g per liter of water).

Menu plan for winter period:
- 1, 10, 20, numbers- natural fertilizer"Ideal" for top dressing from November to May (2 caps per 1.5 liters of water);
- 5th - egg shell (two-week infusion in water);
- 15th - blood from meat, poultry, fish (dilute in half with water and pour; then pour plain water on top);
- 25th - ash (1 tbsp per liter of water for irrigation).

I advise the author of the above letter:
1. Carefully read all the recommendations and correct your mistakes.
2. Since you have planted a tree in a large bowl, do not transplant it now for three years.
3. Feed the plant according to the above scheme.
4. Be careful with the soil - do not overmoisten it.
5. For the summer, take the citrus tree to the balcony and continue to spray.
6. In the spring (somewhere in early March), sprinkle 2 generous handfuls of manure on top;
7. Turn on the backlight only at night, not for the whole day.

Fruiting lemons, tangerines and other citrus fruits abundantly bloom, which leads to a weakening of the tree. Therefore, flowers located nearby should be thinned out, leaving larger ones - those on which the ovary is better developed. Preference should be given to fruits sitting on short twigs - fruits. On long branches, the fruits grow more slowly.

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Citrus fruits belong to the rue family. Lemon, orange, tangerine, grapefruit, kinkan and other citrus fruits are grown at home. Although it must be said right away that attempts to grow a fruit-bearing citrus tree at home often break off when more than a meter tall evergreen trees never bear fruit. Although with an annual cold wintering (+ 5-8 ° C), citrus fruits can bloom and bear fruit in 2-3 years (rooted cuttings).

If you decide to grow citrus fruits from seeds for their fruits, then even if you achieve fruiting, the taste of the fruits will most likely disappoint you, as it will be too sour and bitter. It is easier to buy an already fruiting citrus tree, in which case you will not have to take care of the graft and wait for years for it to bear fruit.

In general, at home, trees obtained from grafted or rooted cuttings will more likely bear fruit, and wild animals grown from seed do not bloom for a very long time - decades, but in their natural habitat, somewhere in the open spaces of Spain, trees begin to bear fruit at the age of 6 -7 years. For some, it will be a pleasure to grow a tree from a seed, and it doesn’t matter if it bears fruit or not. Be that as it may, in order to citrus well developed, it is important to know the conditions in which it needs, and something about the formation of the crown.

Citrus Fertilizer

Fertilizers are used in the first half of summer. This increases the sugar content of the fruit and reduces the bitter taste that is characteristic of citrus fruits at room culture. The plant needs more fertilizer, the older it is and the longer it stays in one dish. Fertilizers are applied with water for irrigation, but only healthy, not weakened plants can be fed. With additional artificial lighting citrus fruits in winter they also need to be fertilized, but not more often than once a month.

If citrus fruits were transplanted into fresh ground in spring, then after 1-1.5 months you can start feeding with fertilizers for flowering plants. If the plants have not been transplanted, then you need to start feeding with the introduction of organic matter: 2-3 times with an interval of two weeks, it can be an extract from dry horse manure, well-lying humus, ready-made vermicompost from the store. It is very important not to overfeed citrus fruits with organic matter and check the acidity of the soil. After two feedings nitrogen fertilizers, you can already feed with complex fertilizers for indoor flowering plants (for example, luxury fert).

By the way

Sometimes on sale you can see citrus fruits with a stalk - a small twig with a couple of leaves, mostly Chinese tangerines, passed off as Abkhazian ones. They taste good, but most importantly, if the branches are not frozen and have not had time to dry, you can try to carefully separate and graft them.

By the way

Light shading of citrus fruits from the scorching rays of the sun promotes the formation of healthy, dark green foliage. When placed in direct sunlight, the leaves of the plants acquire a pale green color, and after a gloomy winter, burns may appear in the spring. On the contrary, in a dark room, citrus fruits gradually shed their leaves, and new leaves, if they appear, are small and deformed.

Therefore, it is recommended to keep the plants in the summer on a window facing the northwest or southeast (these windows are less sunny, but also less hot), and in the winter to the south and southwest, so throughout the year there will be uniform lighting for the plant. But, of course, such permutations are possible in apartments and houses where the windows are on opposite sides.

You can also move the plants back into the room in summer, and in winter, on the contrary, move the plants as close to the window as possible.

The fruits of orange and lemon with a lack of light are different hyperacidity. However, in the summer, plants should be shaded from the sun in the afternoon.

Citrus pests

Scale insects: this pest is not difficult to detect, scale insects are clearly visible on citrus fruits, but they cause significant harm - spreading throughout the tree, their brown shields stick around stems, petioles, leaves. If you run a fingernail over the shield, a damp spot remains. Under a microscope, these pests are similar in shape, sorry for the comparison, to fascist helmets, furry from the inside, and just as nasty: they suck out cell sap, leaves lose color, dry and fall off.

Control measures: if your citrus tree is small, it is better to take it to the bathroom and wash the stems and leaves with a soapy sponge. If a large tree is in a bucket or tub, wipe all accessible places with a cotton pad dipped in alcohol.

Now we need the insecticide Aktara (or confidor), it is effective against any worms, including scale insects. It is necessary to dilute the drug according to the instructions and pour a lemon or orange under the root, and then spray carefully over the leaves. Repeat treatment after a week.

Other insecticides are also produced against scale insects and other insect pests: actellik, fitoverm, karbofos, decis and others. But they are more smelly, toxic and it is highly undesirable to use them at home.

The spider mite is one of the nastiest and most common pests on citrus fruits. Ticks are dangerous because:

multiply and grow rapidly
it is extremely difficult to wash them off - they hide in the axils of the leaves, in the buds, in the upper layers of the soil
conventional insecticides are not effective against them, but only special preparations- acaricides
after two treatments, resistance is formed in ticks - the new generation is more resistant to the active substance of the drug.

Signs of mites on citrus fruits

yellowish or whitish spots on the leaves without clear boundaries
strokes and dots are gray or silvery, especially noticeable on young leaves
deformed flower petals, young leaves, shriveled buds
on reverse side leaves small grains, crumbs, husks - the pests themselves and skins from molting
with a strong increase (with a magnifying glass, in a microscope), the thinnest cobweb is visible.

Therefore, if you have mites at least once, you will have to observe and observe and periodically, at least once a month, carefully inspect the entire plant

Control measures. First, wash or wipe off the pests by hand. To do this, you will either have to take the pot to the bathroom or shower, put the pot on its side so that the leaves are in weight, and water with a powerful pressure of a hot shower; or wash each leaf by hand - take and wipe on both sides.

The problem is that there are no systemic drugs against ticks - so that you water it - and the ticks die. Only enteric-contact: sprayed, got a tick. Where the solution does not get - ticks will survive and continue to multiply.

Against ticks, it is worth trying such remedies as apallo, vermitec, oberon, etc.

Read more about pests of indoor plants in the section "pests"

TO How to take care of indoor citrus plants?
Citrus plants such as lemon, orange, grapefruit, mandarin, kinkak are often grown in room conditions. Citrus trees will bear fruit only if they are grafted, although most often they are grown not at all because of the fruit. Someone is just wondering if it will be possible to grow a Mediterranean tree from a seed, but someone is happy delicate fragrance that the leaves exude.

In any case, in order for a citrus plant to look good, it is necessary to know and observe some conditions for its maintenance, given that caring for citrus fruits indoor plants varies depending on the time of year.

Lighting and air temperature

Citrus crops come from South-East Asia where it is warm and humid weather and lots of sunshine. Therefore, when growing citrus plants indoors, you need to select well-lit places for them. The exception is the lemon, which feels great in a shaded room.

If the citrus plant is kept at very low or very high temperature environment, then it cannot develop normally. IN summer period the optimum temperature will be from +18 to +27 ° C, in winter it should be cooler - no higher than +12 ° C. Compliance temperature regime serves as a prerequisite for obtaining fruit.

In the spring, when frosts stop, potted plants are put outside, but not planted in the ground, in order to prevent hypothermia of the roots.

During growth, citrus fruits need to be sprayed every day. warm water.

How to water citrus fruits?

Trees are watered 1-2 times a week with warm water, watering should be plentiful in summer, and moderate in winter.

Since the growth cycle slows down in winter, the plant needs less water. So that the tree does not die from an excess of moisture, watering is reduced from October. But overdrying of an earthy coma should not be allowed, so that leaves and fruits do not fall off.

There is one more important point to which attention should be paid in winter months: The ground temperature must be at least +18°C. To prevent a drop in temperature, watering must be carried out only with warm water.

Citrus transplant

Young trees need to be transplanted only by transshipment. Moreover, the transplant must be carried out in a timely manner, because due to a lack of nutrients, the plant will not be able to develop normally.

If the roots of the tree did not have time to cover the entire earthen lump, transshipment is not necessary, it will be enough to replace the drainage and the topsoil.

Before transshipment, be sure to treat the pot with a solution of potassium permanganate or scald it with boiling water.

Trees that are already bearing fruit are transplanted every 2-3 years, and only before the start of growth. After a period of growth, it is better not to touch the plant. It is also not necessary to transplant a plant with flowers or fruits, as this will lead to their fall.

For citrus young plants, the mixture is made light: one part of leafy soil, sand and humus from cow dung and two parts of sod land. For adult plants, a heavier mixture is needed: one part of leafy soil, sand and humus, three parts of soddy soil and a little low-fat clay.

How to fertilize citrus fruits?

Thanks to fertilizers, the sugar content of fruits increases and their bitter taste decreases.

Fertilize citrus fruits only when they are actively growing: from February to September. During preparation for the rest period and during the exit from it, the concentration of fertilizers should be halved. Best to use organic fertilizers (bird droppings, cow dung slurry), combined mineral fertilizers, or fertilizers designed specifically for citrus crops.

It is very important to know that it is better to underfeed a plant than to overfeed it. With a lack of nutrition, timely top dressing can be carried out, while an overabundance of fertilizers leads to a burn of the roots and even to the death of the plant. The most important sign of an excess of fertilizers is the appearance of a dry border along the edge of the leaves and their fall.

If the foliage crumbles heavily, then it is impossible to feed the tree, since untimely feeding can bring him a lot of harm.