It's nice to have evergreens on the windowsills that can please the eye even in winter. It is even more pleasant to watch them bloom and even get edible fruits. Why not get citrus fruits in this case?

Citrus fruits are one of the few subtropical trees that do well in the home. In the article we will consider different kinds of these exotic plants, we will give instructions to beginners and advice to those who are already confident in their abilities and want to try something new:

• How to get citrus fruits: where is it better to buy a tree and how to propagate it yourself?
• What varieties and types can be advised to a beginner, and which ones need a little more attention?
• Why do purchased citrus fruits die so often?
• What can you do to gain confidence in your abilities?
• How to keep the growth of a tree so that after 10 years it does not break through the ceiling?
• What are the subtleties in their cultivation and reproduction?

Shop purchase

It would seem, what could be easier than going to a flower shop and buying a lemon or a tangerine? But in fact, this path is fraught with many difficulties.

Those plants that are sold in stores get there from abroad, most often from Holland. They grew up there from birth. ideal conditions. Optimal temperatures, high humidity were maintained, additional lighting was provided from all sides, and growth stimulants were constantly introduced into the soil. As a result, up to several dozen fruits can hang on a dwarf tree by the time of sale.

After hitting the windowsill, such citrus fruits immediately face stressful conditions. Here, the illumination is ten times lower, the air is very dry compared to the greenhouse, and growth stimulants cease their action after a while.

In conditions of a severe shortage of resources, all the forces of a tree are spent on maintaining the fruits with which it is so abundantly strewn. As a result, in the vast majority of cases, the new occupant of the apartment dies.

In Europe, this is easier. There, similar trees are purchased as temporary decorations, like cut flowers in Russia.

What can be done to save purchased imported citrus?

1. cut off all the fruits so that the plant has the strength to recover;
2. when leaves fall, cover the entire crown with a bag;
3. use resuscitation drugs and growth stimulants (epin, amulet, etc.) immediately after purchase and again - if the condition worsens;
4. if the tree is not in a state of active growth, carefully remove it from the pot, shake off at least part of the soil and plant it back, adding high-quality garden or purchased soil;
5. if the windows face north, northeast or northwest, arrange additional lighting.

Of these measures best effect give the first three points. As for the soil, either loose, fertile, light soil from summer cottages, or purchased with a pH of 5-7, is suitable.

But that is not all! Imported citrus fruits are grafted onto trifoliate or her close relatives. Trifoliata is a deciduous citrus that requires a cold winter. This means that in winter, your plant's roots need temperatures of around 7-12 degrees Celsius to store energy for further growth.

With year-round storage of a plant at room temperature, there is a big risk that every year it will run out of steam, drop leaves in winter, stop growing or even degrade. In the end, it may simply die in a few years. Therefore, before going to the flower shop, ask yourself if you can provide your future pet with winter coolness.

But even that's not all! Coming out of such a sufferer, you will be surprised to find that the fresh growth is characterized by much larger leaves and long internodes (distances between buds).

What's the matter? This is explained by the fact that in conditions of powerful illumination, citrus fruits grow small leaves, and since there is no need to reach for the light, short stems with small internodes. Since there is much less light at home, soon dwarf and very decorative citrus loses its presentation and becomes like trees, originally grown on the windowsill.

Buying from citrus growers

This option is preferable because such trees are originally adapted to domestic conditions, therefore, most likely, once on a new window sill, they will not experience stress. In addition, amateurs propagate citrus fruits by cuttings or grafting on lemons, oranges, grapefruits, pomelo, and rarely on trifoliate.

• You will be interested:

Those that do not grow on trifoliate roots are less demanding on cold wintering, but it is still recommended to arrange it for them.

A compromise option for those who do not have a glazed balcony is cool window sills without drafts. In winter, temperatures there can drop to +14 ... +17. Of course, this is higher than the recommended ones (+7… +13), but better than nothing. This would not be enough for trifoliate, and own-rooted citrus fruits and grafted on lemons, oranges, etc. can put up with such a winter.

Disadvantages of buying from an amateur citrus grower: the possibility of deception with a variety or species, the risk of introducing pests along with a purchased plant (especially).

Self-cultivation

It should be remembered that a tree grown from a seed, even if conditions are as close as possible to the natural environment, can bloom only after a few decades if it is not grafted. Therefore, it is recommended to grow wild animals only for decorative purposes. They have only one advantage over other options: they are perfectly adapted to home conditions.

Cuttings of citrus

The easiest option for beginner citrus growers who want to get a varietal seedling is cutting rooting. But! It is important to know which species take root well and which do not form roots.

• Suitable to this method of reproduction lemons, limes, grapefruits, pomelo.
• Very rarely rooted tangerines, clementines, kumquats, Australian microcitruses, trifoliata.
• Intermediate position oranges are occupied, which can give roots, but this requires diligence and a certain amount of luck.

The cutting process is as follows. A fresh growth 7-18 cm long is cut off from an adult plant. No more than 3-4 leaves are left on it, and if the leaf blades are large, then they are shortened by half. If the upper part of the stem is too thin and sluggish, then it is also removed.

The cutting is placed in wet sand, preferably coarse-grained, covered with a plastic bag or a cut plastic bottle to create moisture inside, and stored at room temperature. You can even build such a mini-greenhouse from a bottle cut into two parts. About once a week it is advisable to air it by removing the top for a few seconds.

Roots will appear in 3-5 weeks. A rooted branch is transplanted into a pot with loose fertile soil, covered with a bag with a small hole for ventilation. Within 1-2 weeks, the hole gradually increases, and when it becomes quite large, the shelter is completely removed. This is necessary for the gradual accustoming of the young tree to dry room air, since with a sharp removal of the package, the leaves are likely to wither.

Reproduction by grafting

Vaccination is a more complicated way, which, nevertheless, often succeeds for beginners. Those who have ever grafted other trees and shrubs will not experience any difficulties.

In addition, poorly rooted cuttings of tangerines and other citrus fruits listed above are successfully grafted onto young plants grown from seeds. In fact, this is the only way for amateurs to breed such species.

It should only be remembered that good rootstocks are lemon, orange, grapefruit, pomelo, trifoliata, and tangerines and their relatives usually reject vaccinations, even tangerine cuttings and buds.

Beginning citrus growers in the presence of a game with a fairly thick stem it is recommended to start with budding or bud-in-butt vaccinations, because, firstly, in inexperienced citrus growers, the percentage of successful growths is higher than in other ways, and secondly, in case of failure, the wound overgrows over time, and the stock can be used again. With many other types of grafting, it is often necessary to remove the entire crown of the "savage", leaving only one stump, and in case of an unfavorable outcome, there is a risk of losing the tree.

It is interesting! More experienced flower growers can take an adult wild plant and graft several varieties or even species into its crown at once. Such an instance is called garden tree. Citrus looks especially amazing, on which lemons, tangerines, and, possibly, other species grow.

Types and varieties of indoor citrus

A novice citrus grower or a housewife who is not ready to devote a lot of time to a tree growing on a windowsill should choose those varieties and species that are easier to care for. If we talk about types, then for beginners a little preferably lemons, tangerines, trifoliata for one reason: their growth is easier to contain. Oranges, grapefruits and pomeloes have great growth potential, so after a couple of decades you can get a tree that is too bulky. And the previously named citruses are relatively short.

However, the size of any crop, including grapefruit and pomelo, can be very well contained due to a cramped pot. Really, the roots of your pets should always be a little crowded.

Important! Never transplant homemade citrus fruits into pots that are significantly larger than the previous ones.

Following this principle, even vigorously growing species can be kept within 1.5-2 meters in height even after 20-30 years!

Varieties of indoor lemons

Of all the varieties of lemon, the most unpretentious is Pavlovsky.. It grows well even on the northeast and northwest windows, is able to put up with relatively dry apartment air, and is tolerant of rare top dressing. In fact, in terms of tolerance to home conditions, it is similar to wild lemon.

• Read:

Almost as patient is variety Panderose only it needs more light. But Panderose suffers from a special syndrome that only she has: she gives out too many flowers and stubbornly refuses to build up a green mass. Accordingly, extra buds have to be constantly cut off, and if the tree is still quite small, then you need to remove them all! If there is time for this, then feel free to take it, because in other respects it is undemanding.

Slightly less common Lisbon varieties and Meyer, which, with insufficient care, grow slowly. However, for flower growers, even with little experience, their cultivation will not be any problem. All you need to do is put the pots on bright window sills, feed them from time to time and, if necessary, spray them.

There are other varieties, but most of them are derived from the above.

Varieties of tangerines and other citrus fruits

Of the tangerines, the most popular is variety Unshiu, and this is no accident, since compared to others it is relatively tolerant of low light, like Pavlovsky lemon.

Also close relatives of tangerines are kumquats and calamondins. Fans of not just citrus fruits, but exotics, can be advised to get them.

Speaking of exotics, we can mention. It differs in an extremely unusual type of fruit, resembling a fleshy hand. But there is no edible pulp inside. However, the fruit is so exotic that an inexperienced Internet user, seeing a photo of it, will decide that it is a photomontage.

Citron "Buddha's Hand"

Growing citrus crops indoors

I have recently started growing citrus crops. Rather, attempts to grow a lemon from a seed have been made several times before. But the experiments ended in failure. A tree with huge thorns waved up to the ceiling, and categorically refused to bloom and bear fruit. Even in old magazines household farm"I read that it is possible to grow lemons, oranges, tangerines grafted from a varietal plant in an apartment. But I have never met such a “miracle” with friends or relatives.

For the first time I saw a tangerine tree with fruits in a flower shop in the city of Tomsk while studying. There was a great desire to buy it as a gift for my wife, but what stopped me was that it was winter, and I had to get 700 km home with a bunch of transfers.

Only in 2012, in a flower shop in the city of Uyara, I bought a lemon and a tangerine already with fruits for my wife for the holiday. But then it turned out, when I began to figure it out a little, that this lemon was not a lemon, but limonella Volcano and the mandarin was not a mandarin at all, but calamondin, with sour fruits. These citrus fruits were originally from Holland, and as I later found out, they stuff plants with a lot of hormones for better flowering and compact crown. That is why citrus plants from stores are very sick and most of them die after a short time.

Fortunately, our plants did not die, as this topic touched me, and free time appeared. The question arose almost a month later, why are beautiful, colorful plants began to dry, turn yellow, lose foliage. And only then we began to study literature, the Internet. Although the study still had to be done before buying seedlings, there would be much fewer mistakes. Plants in Holland and in Europe are usually given as gifts for the holidays, and then, when they fade, they are simply thrown away. So, if you want to taste your fruits, buy unsightly grafted or rooted seedlings from a gardener you know.

From the Internet, I learned a lot about citrus crops. Information on the World Wide Web great amount sometimes the most controversial. But I was lucky, I accidentally stumbled upon a very good site dedicated to citrus and other exotic plants homecitrus.ru. And this warned me against further mistakes. And most importantly, I did not buy into cheap seedlings on the Avito website - there were scammers who were sending low-quality seedlings. But I almost ordered from them, but in time I read the reviews of deceived customers.

Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin himself said: "The variety decides the success of the business." And I was lucky with the varieties, as I found those people who are passionate about an interesting business, have been breeding and selling seedlings for several years and have only positive feedback. They live in Krasnoyarsk, Bratsk, Maykop, Nizhny Novgorod, Sochi. Their seedlings perfectly endured the slow shipment by the Russian Post and have been delighting me and my family with delicious, exotic fruits for our places for more than a year.

Everything happened like a growing lump. The more I learned about subtropical fruit plants, the more I wanted to try to grow overseas fruits: feijoa, figs, pomegranate, guava, akmena, muraya, peace, laurel. But, unfortunately, the four windows of the apartment are not unlimited, and the plants are getting taller and wider every year. Therefore, the assortment had to stop for now. Yes, and with the advent of the first results of my labors, relatives, friends, acquaintances began to ask for seedlings.

I tried to graft, it began to work out, and this also takes up a lot of space, so the question of a separate room for plants has ripened. There are plans to build a small winter garden adjacent to the house. After all, the winter in Siberia is long, and so you want at least a little summer in your apartment. Forgive me for the tautology, but in the summer you don’t see summer in the village - a garden, a vegetable garden - there is no time to rest. After all, my main goal is to test varieties of apple, pear and plum trees for our area, to test various agricultural practices in my area, to form various tree crowns. Only in winter there is free time for home fruit plants when there is a blizzard and a blizzard outside.

I want to warn beginner gardeners on citrus crops. Lemons, oranges, tangerines are not suitable for the role of indoor plants. There are many nuances and problems in their content. The most difficult thing is to organize a good wintering for them. If you are not ready to devote 10-15 minutes to plants every day, it is better to get less whimsical plants. Only those who have studied their biological characteristics and timely fulfill the requirements for feeding, watering, pruning, transplanting, they will delight with tasty and fragrant fruits. The following are general recommendations for indoor citrus growing.

Kinds

Based on my personal experience of 5 years of citrus keeping, I would like to recommend the following plants for the home garden:

Calamandin;

Lemon: Pavlovsky, Panderose and Yubileiny (the latter, like many gardeners, I still consider it a clone of Panderose, since the size of the crown, the shape of the leaves, flowers, fruits are completely the same, “two twin brothers”, although I purchased Panderose in Krasnoyarsk, and Yubileiny came parcel from Maykop);

Lemon Panderose

Mandarin: Unshiu and Kovana Vasya (again, the latter came from Maykop and does not correspond to varietal characteristics, the taste of the fruit is sour, closer to calamond than to mandarin, possibly regrading);

Mandarin Kovana Vasya

Mandarin Unshiu: bush

Mandarin Unshiu: ripe fruits

Orange: Washington Nevel, Moreau (in fairness, I want to note, although the latter brought delicious fragrant fruits, it did not live up to its name "Bloody"; perhaps the Siberian sun was not enough to color the fruits red);

Orange Washington Nevel

Limonella Volcano (limequat Eustis) aka lemon Volcano;

Kumkat (kinkan);

Lime Persian.

Other types of citrus fruits, although they bore fruit, but under the conditions of wintering in the house, with dry air and short daylight hours, had an unimportant, shabby appearance, with dried edges of foliage, some almost completely lost it, but in a short summer, they still recovered. Such plants overwinter for the last two years in a waiting room with a temperature of + 5-10 ° C and illumination with two HPS lamps for 10-12 hours. They are waiting for relocation to the winter garden, which I am attaching to the bathhouse.

Lighting

The most shade-tolerant are lemons; with good care, they can even be on the northern windows. But ideally, it is better for them to provide windows with eastern or western exposures, as well as southern ones behind a curtain, not on a windowsill, otherwise they will get burned in the bright sun.

Conversely, tangerines and oranges require good, bright lighting, with some direct sun rays, with obligatory shading in spring and summer from the midday, scorching sun.

From November to February, it is recommended to illuminate with fluorescent lamps so that the total daylight hours are 12 hours. But I do not have the opportunity to put a lamp near each plant. Therefore, I do not illuminate the citrus fruits that are in the apartment.

Watering and humidity

Watering citrus fruits must be approached very seriously. Both excess and lack of moisture greatly depresses, and sometimes leads to the death of the plant. I cannot give recommendations on the frequency of watering. Everything depends in each case on a number of reasons: the time of year, the size of the pot, the structure of the substrate, the condition of the plant, the temperature and humidity of the surrounding air, etc. But I’ll still give you general advice: make it a rule every day, and in the summer on a clear, hot day and twice, go around your wards with a bucket of water at room temperature + 20-30 ° C, and check the condition of the upper layer of the earth with your finger or by eye . As soon as the top layer is dry, then it's time. When watering, water enough to soak the entire earthen ball. In no case do not water a little every day, if the earth in the pot is constantly damp, the roots will begin to suffocate and die, and the plant may die.

Many gardeners recommend, in areas with hard water, when watering, add 3% table vinegar (not essence!) At the rate of 1-3 ml per 1 liter of water or citric acid 0.5 g per 3 liters. I get out of this situation much easier. I take water when cleaning from aquariums. It is there, thanks to microorganisms and dissolved organic substances, to become much softer and more beneficial for plants. This kills two birds with one stone - I clean the aquarium and water the plants.

In winter, when the air in the apartment is very dry, try to spray the crown with warm boiled water.

top dressing

Citrus fruits, unlike other indoor plants, are very demanding on nutrition, especially at the beginning of active growth and during fruit set. After all, these are trees, and their roots are limited to the size of a small pot. Where do they get their nutrients from? Good results are obtained by regular fertilizing with organic and mineral fertilizers. It is better to alternate them every 10-15 days from mid-February to October. Here it is better to follow the rule: it is better to underfeed than to overfeed. Do not feed at all during the winter months. As organic fertilizers recommend: pour fresh manure with water 1:1, leave for 10 days, dilute with water before use, mullein solution 1:10, bird droppings 1:20, weed infusion 1:10. But you can use such "fragrant" products only on the street. Therefore, I often use ready-made fertilizers from the store, strictly following the dosage written in the instructions.

For the prevention of chlorosis, 1-2 times a year I carry out top dressing and spraying with iron chelate. To do this, I buy iron sulfate in the garden store, and citric acid in the grocery store. We dilute 2.5 g in one liter of water citric acid, then add 4 g of ferrous sulfate, and the solution is ready.

All top dressing must be applied only to a moist substrate, after watering. Do not fertilize newly transplanted, diseased, dormant plants.

Temperature conditions

For the successful growth and development of citrus crops, their regular flowering and fruiting, a temperature of + 14-24 ° C is required. During wintering from November to February, the temperature should not be higher than +4-12°C. Here lies the main problem of the content of citrus fruits in winter period. Flaw sunlight, dry and hot air have a depressing effect on plants. There are two types of winter maintenance indoor citruses, in which they feel most comfortable: in a cool room or on the same windowsill, but with additional lighting and spraying. The first method is preferable: a winter garden, a cool terrace, a glazed balcony, where you can maintain a temperature of + 3-5 ° C, but not lower than 0 ° C, plants can withstand even a lack of light without any harm.

For the summer, citrus crops can be put on the balcony, in the garden, vegetable garden, front garden. But this must be done gradually. First, it is better to put pots with plants in the shade behind buildings, a house, under the crown of trees. The procedure for returning plants to the windowsill at the end of summer is also important. One or two weeks before the onset of the first frost, they must be accustomed to room conditions: keep outdoors during the day, and bring them into the room and spray them at night.

crown formation

In order for citrus crops to develop successfully and bear fruit well, it is very important to properly form the crown. Crown care starts from a young plant and continues throughout their life.

In citrus fruits, 2-4 growth waves are observed during the year (depending on the variety). A new growth begins when the maturation of young leaves completely ends. When to prune the crown, the opinions of gardeners are divided. Some recommend doing this when the shoot has just begun to form and leave 2-3 leaves, and cut off the rest. Why waste strength, energy and nutrients, if then you still have to cut it off and throw it away. Others, on the contrary, recommend that the shoot mature, form, and then only cut off. This provokes stronger branching below the cut, awakening shoots from dormant buds. The cut off part of the branch can be put on cuttings for rooting or grafting. I stick to the golden mean. It all depends on the specific goal, what kind of crown you planned to form: a standard tree, a bush, a palmette. Sometimes it becomes necessary to break out completely, a shoot that has just hatched, if it crawled out in the wrong place, or the plants stubbornly do not want to branch and strive only upwards.

It is necessary to correctly form the skeleton of the crown, taking into account the order of branching of the shoots, since fruiting begins on the shoots of the fourth order. Until 2 years of age, break out flower shoots, not allowing bloom until the crown is fully formed, that is, until 20-30 dark green mature leaves grow. Very often one can see such flowering on freshly rooted cuttings of lemon (Panderose, Meer, Volcano) to the detriment of development. For the formation of one fruit, there must be at least 10-15 mature leaves, otherwise the tree is depleted.

Transfer

The best time for transplanting is mid-February, when the plant is just emerging from hibernation. Be sure to remember that citrus fruits are transplanted very carefully so as not to damage the delicate roots. No cutting is allowed. Therefore, the operation of transplanting citrus fruits is called transshipment, when they try to preserve the old earthen clod completely, without destruction, removing only the upper thin layer of the earth, to the first roots.

Be sure to lay drainage at the bottom of the pot with a layer of 1-3 cm. It can be crushed stone, broken brick, expanded clay, pebbles. I use charcoal most of the time, and for good reason. Try moving a 15-20 liter pot that has rocks at the bottom. Plus, charcoal absorbs water and other nutrients. If the plant will stand on the windowsills, then choose a pot white color, then it does not heat up so much in the sun. Or it will have to be wrapped in foil or white paper. This is very important, as the roots of citrus fruits do not tolerate high temperatures. A dark pot in the sun can heat up to + 50 ° C, and this is the certain death of your plant.

Each time, transplanting plants, you should choose a pot with a diameter of 3-5 cm larger than the previous one. Young plants are transplanted 1-2 times a year, and adults less often - once every 2-3 years. In no case do not plant a small plant immediately in a large pot. It will fatten, and you will not see fruit for a long time. It is also possible acidification of the soil from the fact that the seedling does not have time to master this volume.

There is a soil in the store special for citrus crops, but you can do it yourself. Composition: sod land, leaf land, manure humus, river sand in the ratio 1:1:1:1. If it is not possible to prepare the land in advance, they do it easier, dig in those places where nettles grow or moles dig. In extreme cases, well-fertilized garden or garden soil with the addition of river sand 4: 1 is suitable, if oily then 3: 1.

Diseases and pests

The most common pest of citrus fruits is the spider mite. They usually move to house plants from vegetables and flowers (especially from cucumbers, zucchini and roses). Ticks are very difficult to detect, as they are very small - 0.3-07 mm long, and are more often located on the underside of the leaf. Although the mites are tiny, but the harm from them is huge. Reproducing with incredible speed, they twine the young shoots with a web. If they are not destroyed in time, then all the leaves will turn yellow and curl, and then dry out and fall off. And the pests will move to other plants. There is only one way out - triple spraying with anti-tick preparations at intervals of 1 week. It is very important to change the preparations, as pests become addicted to them. Folk remedies are unlikely to help here. Processing with pesticides is carried out only on the street. Must use rubber gloves, goggles and a respirator.

About the reproduction of citrus crops, I want to talk separately. I will publish an article with photos, with step by step instructions. I know from my own experience that it is better to see once than to hear a hundred times. I thought for a very long time that this is an incredibly complex and difficult process. But in fact, everything turned out to be much simpler.

Evgeny Sionin , the village of Gromadsk, Uyarsky district, Krasnoyarsk Territory

28.02.17

Growing citrus crops indoors

Lemon, mandarin, bigardia (orange), pompelmus and other related species belong to the genus Citrus, the subfamily of orange, the family of rue. Their homeland is the tropics and subtropics of Asia - India, China, Burma and other nearby countries. Introduced into culture in ancient times, many of them even lost their wild ancestors. Often grown at home. The air in the rooms where they grow, due to the release of phytoncides, which are strong antibiotics, is always clean from pathogenic bacteria.

Citrus fruits, in room culture, are very decorative because of the abundant bright green shiny foliage, numerous very beautiful fragrant flowers and bright fruits. The corolla of the flowers is white, consists of five petals, with greenish-transparent points of ethereal glands. Stamens numerous (more than 25 pieces), large. The aroma is strong and delicate, specifically citrus. Indoor varieties usually bloom three times a year, in autumn, winter and spring, each time for a very long period. However, the fruits are usually tied only in spring and autumn, winter flowers are often barren (have an underdeveloped pistil). Ripe fruits - very bright, yellow in lemon, orange in tangerine, orange, kinkan and other types of citrus fruits, adorn the tree remarkably almost all year round.

They are very tasty and healthy, they contain vitamins - C, B1, B2, P, carotenoids, and other substances very necessary for the human body - organic acids, sugars, mineral salts. The peel of the fruit contains 2-2.5% essential oils. It has been established that for the normal development of one fruit, it is necessary that at least 10 leaves “work” for it. One indoor lemon plant of 5-7 years of age is able to produce, with normal care, 15-50 pcs. fruits per year, and sometimes more. Indoor citrus fruits ripen in 8 months in good light, and 12 months in bad light; not removed - can hang on a tree for about a year, becoming green again, and increasing in volume. But the consistency of the pulp and their taste, at the same time, deteriorate, the vitamin content drops, the skin thickens and coarsens. A fresh lemon grown in a room is incomparably more fragrant than a store-bought one ripened on a plantation. It is better to shoot them a little unripe, green, green-yellow (photo 1), then they contain maximum amount vitamins. In fully ripe, completely yellow fruits, the content of the latter decreases. This also applies to sold lemons, which should be considered when buying them. Completely yellow fruits are less useful, they are, in fact, already overripe, they are substandard. Manufacturers, when supplying lemons to Western Europe, such fruits are usually rejected and sent to Russia, where the population, unknowingly, prefers to buy them.

Often many lovers indoor floriculture growing citrus fruits from seeds. In this case, the seedling (photo 2) is usually varietal, since the fruits and seeds of lemons, tangerines and many other citrus species, in most cases, form parthenocarpically, i.e. without pollination. But such a lemon plant will begin to bear fruit late, at 12-18 years old, while in tangerine - at 3-4 years old. Therefore, growing the latter is much more profitable. Mandarin is cultivated, in room culture, rarely for one simple reason - most of its varieties have almost no seeds. In addition, it appeared in our country relatively recently - a little more than a century ago, and therefore has not received, so far, in indoor floriculture, such a wide distribution as lemon.

Citrus seeds have a very interesting property - they contain 2-3, or even more, germs. Therefore, there are several shoots from each seed. However, if weaker shoots are not separated and planted in a timely manner, then only one, the strongest, will survive. You can sow seeds all year round, but, nevertheless, it is best - in early spring. They are sown to a depth of approximately 1 cm. Dried seeds quickly lose their germination capacity, so it is advisable to sow them almost immediately after removing them from the fruit. For some time they can be stored on a refrigerator shelf, in a plastic bag, in wet sand, sphagnum or cotton wool. In fact, this will be stratification, although it is not necessary for citrus species. During storage, the seeds should be periodically checked to see if mold has appeared, whether they have begun to germinate.

For sowing, a mixture of equal parts of humus (or compost), soddy soil, leafy soil, and coarse well-washed sand (1: 1: 1: 1) is best suited. Shoots usually appear on the 20-27th day. After the appearance of two true leaves, they swoop down, pinching the tap root. Seed specimens adapt better to room conditions than seedlings from citrus plantations, but, as already mentioned, many species do not bear fruit for a very long time.

Lemon is the only citrus species that reproduces well from cuttings, so it indoor varieties it is most rational to breed them. Unlike others tree species, the lemon has a stock nutrients is not in the stem, but in the leaves, therefore, when cutting, they should not be removed (except for the lowest one) or shortened. Fast-rooting cuttings are best obtained from semi-lignified shoots of six months of age: cuttings from shoots of the autumn growth period take root especially well in spring, and in spring - at the end of summer. It is better to root them not in pure sand, but in a mixture of it with peat (1: 1), or with coniferous soil (the top layer of soil from a coniferous forest, preferably pine). But you can also plant in a 5-centimeter layer of sand, poured on top of a nutrient soil mixture; before planting, it is desirable to steam it, or shed it with a pink solution of potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate). The rooting substrate should always be moderately moist. It should not be allowed to dry out or be excessively waterlogged. A lemon plant grown from a rooted cutting harvested from an adult fruit-bearing tree can begin to bloom and bear fruit very quickly, in the second or third year, or even earlier.

Other citrus fruits are very difficult to propagate from cuttings, even with the use of growth materials. True, once I witnessed how an orange stalk gave roots, and not in the sand, and not under the film, but simply in a glass of water. But this was an isolated case. In water, usually, even a lemon does not take root.

All citrus fruits can be bred by grafting on seedlings, and on any (lemon to orange or tangerine and vice versa); because they all have excellent compatibility. Inoculate them with the same in standard ways like apple trees, pears, and other fruit species: budding, splitting, copulation with a tongue, behind the bark, etc. After a successful grafting, and removal of the stock stem, shoots from sleeping buds located below should not be allowed to grow, otherwise they will drown out the scion, and he dies. The optimal stock is seedlings 2-3 years old. It is best to vaccinate during the period of active growth of the rootstock. Them in citrus fruits, depending on the conditions of detention, is from one to three; but the most favorable, and sometimes the only one, comes in April - May. Seedlings grafted in stages by adult cuttings, even having a crown poorly and incorrectly formed by the owners, successfully bloom and bear fruit already in the second year (photo 3).

All citrus fruits reproduce well by air layering. Moreover, in this way, even twigs bearing fruits can be rooted, which cannot be achieved by any other method.

Most often, lemon is grown indoors; it was brought to Europe in the 13th century. In Chinese, the phrase li-mung means medicinal fruit. In China, the indoor culture of lemon has been known for more than two thousand years.

The lemon has several varieties bred specifically for room culture: Pavlovsky, Kursky, Meyer, etc. In addition, sometimes some industrial varieties are cultivated in the house, Novogruzinsky and Novoafonsky grow best in room conditions. Mandarin, from seed, in the house, grows very well; He also has indoor varieties. Oranges and grapefruits are rarely grown at home, their trees are too large, they do not have indoor varieties. But kinkan (kumquat), although it also does not have such varieties, is very suitable for indoor maintenance. Therefore, despite the fact that it is still rarely grown on window sills (it is a relatively new crop), it obviously has great prospects to settle in our homes. This means that soon its indoor varieties will inevitably appear.

Industrial varieties of citrus fruits are photophilous and demanding for care, however, specially bred indoor ones are very unpretentious and hardy, put up with a lack of light. Nevertheless, windows for their placement, it is advisable to choose a southern exposure, and in winter the plants should be illuminated with lamps, better than daylight, 4-5 hours.

The optimum winter temperature for citrus plants should be lower, but not lower than 12ºС. They do not like permutations from place to place. Caring for them is easy. However, it should be remembered that good drainage is required for citrus fruits. They also do not tolerate drafts, they cannot stand both excess and lack of moisture in the soil. Watering, throughout the year, should be moderate. In winter, be careful, 1-2 times a week, so long as the soil does not dry out; in summer - more plentiful, 1-2 times a day, but plants cannot be flooded; they also love spraying. Fertilizers are applied from April to the end of August, every 10 days, in turn, organic and mineral, preferably in liquid form. An excess of nitrogen in the diet contributes to the transformation of citrus fruits into an ornamental deciduous plant, but negatively affects flowering and fruiting. In order for them to bear fruit better, enhanced nutrition with phosphorus (superphosphate) is necessary.

Citrus fruits should not be kept near window sills in winter, especially near heaters. The air in the room must be fresh. Although it is sometimes written in the literature that citrus fruits can be put outside in the summer - in the garden, on the balcony, etc., it is better not to do this. The fact is that with a sharp change in illumination, they can shed all the leaves. And although the crown will then recover, there will be no harvest next year. If you still want to take them out into the garden or onto the balcony, then you should accustom the plants to this very gradually, first put them in the shade, and only for a couple of hours, then gradually increasing the time spent on the street. And this high costs labor. Moreover, when putting citrus fruits on the street, it is advisable to protect them with a visor from the rain. In addition, plants, having become accustomed to excellent lighting in summer, have a hard time re-adjusting to its lack in indoor conditions in winter, aggravated by the short and ever-dwindling day length. So in the city of Pavlovo, indoor flower growers, on the contrary, have developed a technique to gradually move lemons 1-1.5 m from the window in spring and summer, and move them in autumn. Then the illumination of plants remains more uniform all year round. In this case, they feel much better.

Young plants are transplanted annually, adults - after 3-4 years, and old (kadochny) - once every 5-10 years. Transplant better in spring, in March - April. The optimal soil mixture for planting citrus fruits is humus (or compost), sod land, hardwood and sand (2: 2: 1: 1). Drainage in a pot is made 1-2 cm thick from brick chips or ceramics (broken pots), pebbles, and best of all from pieces of charcoal; a layer of coarse-grained sand is poured above, and even better, chopped sphagnum moss is placed. After that, the soil mixture is poured.

The formation of the crown of any tree is not an easy task, but it is very necessary. However, gardeners, for the most part, are afraid to prune, either they have a poor idea of ​​​​how to do it, or they “sorry” the tree. It's not worth regretting. You just need to clearly know what you want to get as a result of such an operation and whether it is possible. And, of course, you need at least minimal experience. And he comes in the process of work. Remember that flowers and fruits in citrus fruits are formed on branches of the fourth order. To make it clear to everyone, the largest and thickest branches extending from the trunk are branches of the first order. From them, respectively, the second; from those - the third, and from the last - the fourth. Only on them, plants of seed origin can form flowers and fruits, until such branches appear, do not wait for fruiting. Either the plant must be stagewise old, arising from a cutting taken from a fruit-bearing tree. It is pruning that can accelerate the emergence of branches of the fourth order. The same can be achieved by pinching - as soon as the young branch begins to stretch, shorten it, pinch it after the fourth unfolded leaf. Do not be afraid to do this, boldly remove the tip of the shoot. Citrus fruits usually have two to three periods of growth per year, so in two years you can easily form a crown up to branches of the fourth order. In addition, cut out all frail, as well as inward-growing crowns that thicken its branches. These are the most important rules for crown formation in citrus fruits. For their growth, as with all other plants, it is also important - the appropriate composition of the soil, optimal illumination, proper care, regular top dressing. Remember that citrus fruits do not tolerate overdrying of the soil, but they also cannot be flooded, especially in winter.

In room conditions for keeping citrus fruits, the most convenient form of a bush is with a short trunk of 8-20 cm, and 4-6 main branches of the first order. To do this, in a young plant growing in one stem, the top is cut off in early spring, leaving four leaves with buds (in grafted plants - necessarily varietal), from which branches of the first order will arise. When they become woody, they are also cut into four buds, and so on. However, instead of trimming, it is more rational to apply tweezing, i.e. pinching, also over the fourth opening leaf. Pinching of shoots can be carried out at any time of the year, and intensive pruning is more desirable in spring. When branches of the fourth order appear, the crown can be considered formed. But you can also grow tall specimens, especially for winter gardens, with stems of 80-100 cm and even higher; pots and flowerpots with such trees are placed on the floor.

The maximum dimensions for a room lemon are 175 cm in height and 150 cm in diameter. Larger specimens, above two meters, are difficult to keep even in the winter garden. When caring for the crown, all thickening, too thin branches growing inside the crown, as well as fatty shoots, are cut out; the latter because they are not able to bloom and bear fruit, but consume, for their development, a lot of nutrients. Thorns on trunks and branches, which can injure a person carelessly approaching a tree, and prevent them from caring for it, should preferably be removed. It's completely harmless. Adults and hard - cut with secateurs, young and tender - you can just pluck.

Citrus fruits are sometimes quite severely damaged by pests, they are attacked by: aphids, scale insects, spider mites, worms. Control measures are standard for indoor plants. Of the diseases, there are: homosis (gum disease) - caused by fungi and bacteria, which usually appears in spring and autumn. Affected areas of the bark dry up and fall off. The wounds that have arisen on the wood do not heal and do not overgrow with bark. The disease usually begins with the upper branches and gradually descends. Very contagious, its development is facilitated by too rich soil and deep planting. When the first signs (resinous drops) are found, the affected area of ​​the cortex should be cut out to a healthy place, the wound should be disinfected with a 2% formalin solution and covered with garden pitch. In addition, root rot can occur on the roots - caused by a pathogenic fungus and covering the root system with a layer of white mold. A severely affected plant may die. When a disease is detected, the root system is removed from the pot, the earth is shaken off, the diseased parts of the roots are cut off, the sections are disinfected, and the plant is planted in new, good soil. Yellowing and falling of leaves can be caused by a variety of reasons: both excess and lack of water, soil depletion, lack of magnesium, a sharp change in temperature and light, it happens that pests are also to blame.

It is believed that spraying with insecticides, if the dosage is properly observed, does not negative influence on plants. Usually outwardly this is so, but what happens inside the body of the latter - for the most part known rather poorly. For example, here is a spontaneous experiment I had with lemon seedlings, which were budded with the eyes of the Pavlovsky indoor variety. Most of the buddings took root or were in the stage of taking root, and had already formed callus - connective tissue, when, due to an oversight, spider mites were introduced to the plants. To get rid of them, the lemons were treated with an imported synthetic pyrethroid "Kra". As a result, the mites were destroyed, the rootstocks, outwardly, did not suffer, but the vaccinations, all as one, even starting to grow, died. When the strapping was removed, it was found that a layer of corked cells had formed between the stock and the scion. Moreover, some of the grafted plants in the adjacent room served as an involuntary control. They were not infected with spider mites, they were not processed, and all vaccinations took root there. Of course, one and a half dozen dead vaccinations are not enough to draw final conclusions, but even from these very preliminary data it is clear that there is such a problem. Especially since the story had a sequel. Two years later, one of the grafted control plants was treated against the scale insects that appeared on it with karbofos, as a result of which the entire upper part of the plant (already overgrown scion) died. While the stock remained alive, and from sleeping buds on the trunk began to restore branches and foliage. This case once again confirms the correctness of the guess about the negative impact of insecticides (at least some) on the place of fusion. Let us assume that if the leaves were burned and died when using the preparation of an increased concentration (which was not), then the restoration of the crown should have come from dormant buds on the branches, i.e. - scion, because they are located higher than the rootstock. But that did not happen. Therefore, we have one more confirmation of the negative impact of chemical preparations on the vaccination site. It would be interesting to check what is the effect of various insecticides on such vaccinations performed on fruit trees: apple, pear and other species. It is possible that some cases of their mass death described in the literature are associated precisely with the treatment of young plants with insecticides and fungicides. In any case, gardeners should, if possible, avoid the use of chemicals during the period of engraftment of the cuttings, and even for several years after that. Scientific institutions that create insecticides and other preparations for treating plants need to check the possibility of their negative impact on the survival rate of cuttings, and if such is found, give appropriate restrictions in the annotations.

Most often, from citrus fruits, in our country, at home, they grow Pavlovsky lemon, the most ancient of our indoor varieties. According to one of the legends, seedlings of this lemon were brought to the city of Pavlov by the merchant I.S. Karachistov back in the 19th century, from Turkey. And according to another, lemon seeds got there a hundred years earlier, with a caravan of gifts from the Persian Shah to Catherine II, “grabbed” (along with the fruits), and then planted by one of the loaders. It is possible that both legends are true. Pavlovsky lemon - an old indoor variety, due to a very long period of cultivation in indoor culture, as a result of bud mutations (sports deviations), it was divided into several forms that differ significantly in their properties, in fact - independent varieties, with one or another as positive so, sometimes, and negative properties. Therefore, cuttings for its replication should always be taken from the best, and not from the worst plants. His life expectancy is over 45 years; Plants reach maximum yields at 15-20. Pavlovsky lemon is usually formed in a bushy form, up to 1.5-2 meters in height. Its crown is round, up to 1 m in diameter. The bark of the branches is olive-gray, longitudinally fissured, the shoots are green, shiny, smooth. On the branches there are thorns up to 2 cm long, but sometimes there are also thornless forms. Depending on the cultivation technology, the Pavlovsk lemon can have from one to four growth periods; usually from the end of March to the end of May, from the middle of June to the middle of July, and from the middle of September to the end of October. The total growth per year can reach 50-70 cm. Its leaves are large, dark green, glossy, up to 15 cm long and 8 cm wide. Their shape is from oval to oval-oblong and broadly lanceolate; the petiole is short, up to 1 cm. The more leaves on the plant, the better it grows and bears fruit. When growing a variety, one should be very careful, with dry air and soil, the plant can quickly shed almost all of them. Pavlovsky lemon is remontant, the first time it blooms in April - May, the second (not always) - in October, and the third (occasionally) - in January - February. The flowers are large, up to 3 cm in diameter, white, waxy, sometimes with an underdeveloped pistil, self-pollinating, collected in inflorescences of 3-8 pieces. On flowering plants, especially young ones, it is advisable to normalize the ovaries. On one plant often there are flowers at the same time, as well as young and mature fruits. The latter ripen for about 180-200 days, their length is 7-9, and their diameter is 5-6 cm. The thickness of the skin varies, depending on the form, from 2 to 8 mm, but is usually 4-5 mm. The number of slices is 8-12 (on average 10), their flesh has a delicate greenish-yellow color. Seeds about 1 cm long. Chemical composition of fruits: water - up to 92%; dry substances - 8, sugars - 2, organic acids from 4 to 8%. The amount of vitamin C in the pulp is 25-57 mg /%, in the peel - 52-117 mg /%.

Meyer lemon - a very productive variety, exported from China, begins to bear fruit in the second year. The fruits are large or medium, round-oval, yellow-orange in color. The pulp is canary-yellow, juicy, sweeter than other varieties of lemon (sweet-sour), the aroma resembles an orange. Seeds almost does not form.

In addition, sometimes lovers of indoor floriculture can be found, unfortunately, not yet sufficiently common variety Kursky.

Lemon Novoafonsky - an industrial grade of an open ground, is productive, fruits of the average size with a nipple on top, very juicy, sour and fragrant. It can be grown in room culture, but it is less suitable for this than varieties specially bred for indoor floriculture. The same can be said about the Novogruzinsky variety; other varieties of open ground, for growing in the house, are less suitable.

Other citrus fruits, except for mandarin, do not yet have indoor varieties, but this does not mean that all of them are unsuitable for indoor culture. Somewhat less due to the size of its crown, as well as fruits, grapefruits and oranges are suitable for this. But they, if there are enough large room grow well indoors. Even better, for these purposes, citron is suitable, growing in the form of a tall bush up to 1.4 m tall, and blooming almost all year round. Its leaves are leathery, up to 8 cm long. Flowers are white, fragrant. Fruits with a diameter of 2.5-4, sometimes up to 9 cm, bitter-sour, but still pleasant to the taste; adorn the tree throughout the year. And all other citrus fruits, both mentioned and not mentioned, grow quite well in room conditions.

Citrus fruits are very interesting and grateful indoor crops. But historically it so happened that the majority of indoor plant lovers grow mainly lemons in their apartments. Meanwhile, the lemon is far from the most suitable species for this. It is large, specimens grown from seeds enter the fruiting period very late (most ordinary amateurs breed them, usually, just like that). They grow, they grow, but they do not bear fruit. And so it can go on for 12-15, or even 18 years. There is something to think about. One thing is good - since the fruits of lemons are usually tied parthenocarpically (without pollination), the plants grown from seeds completely repeat the mother tree, therefore, they are varietal. Lemons also have other disadvantages: although the fruits are large, their color is rather pale - yellow-green, while in other citrus fruits it is much brighter - orange. The fruit is too acidic to compare with the taste of most other citrus species.

Orange and grapefruit are much less common in room culture than lemon, although the first of them has been known in European fruit growing since the 14th century. They are only occasionally grown from seed. They do not have specially bred "home" varieties. For room conditions, they are not very suitable - they are too tall, even larger than a lemon. In small rooms they can be placed only with great difficulty. Yes, and their fruits are too large, do not harmonize with the size of the premises. Therefore, in room conditions, these views do not look good, halls are another matter. But, nevertheless, some attention is also paid to their breeding in indoor floriculture. Their seed specimens, like those of a lemon, enter fruiting time rather late. Therefore, when growing them, they also use the grafting of cuttings taken from fruit-bearing trees. Since orange and grapefruit have not yet been bred indoor varieties similar to lemon, their seedlings are grafted with cuttings taken from fruit-bearing plants of ordinary fruit varieties of open ground. Such a grafted indoor tree, with proper pruning and care, begins to bear fruit in the third or fourth year, and sometimes even earlier.

But the trouble is, most gardeners do not know how to plant, and among lovers of indoor floriculture, this is almost a universal phenomenon. Many people want to have citrus fruits at home. There are two ways out of this situation: either learn to plant, or sow seeds at home on the window, but not lemon, but tangerine. The latter, unlike other citrus fruits, even grown from a seed, blooms in the third year. Moreover, it has a number of advantages over lemon, orange and other related species. In addition to a very early entry into the fruiting period, it is usually more miniature, therefore, it takes up less space, bears fruit abundantly, and its fruits are, perhaps, still more beautiful and tastier. However, it is rarely cultivated. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, tangerines are in our country, even in open ground, in culture, on the Black Sea coast, they began to breed much later than lemons and oranges; only at the end of the 19th century. Naturally, this was also reflected in its later introduction into indoor floriculture. Another difficulty is that it is painfully rare to find seeds in its fruits. The fact is that even more often than lemons, they are tied parthenocarpically, and very rarely form seeds in such fruits. But still, sometimes they are found, and in some foreign varieties - sometimes even often. Therefore, when you find seeds, immediately sow them in a pot, otherwise they will dry out and die.

Mandarin (photo 4), in our country, for the most part, is bred by seed, and even then rarely, although it is only in him, of all citrus fruits, except lemon, that indoor varieties are bred, propagated by grafting.

Of these, the most famous variety from Vietnam, whose name, in translation, sounds like "New Year's". At home, it is specially grown and put in New Year on the table instead of a Christmas tree. The appearance of the plant is very decorative. Its plants are much lower and smaller than those of industrial varieties of mandarins, in fact it is a dwarf, rarely grows above a meter. In addition, it is well adapted to room conditions - relatively shade-tolerant, puts up with a lack of light. Its crown is usually strewn with a mass of white fragrant flowers and beautiful bright orange fruits at the same time. Imagine how pleasant it is to pick (especially for children) a fragrant tangerine right from such an impromptu "Christmas tree" and eat it. True, its fruits are somewhat smaller and sourer in taste than those of open ground varieties, but there are quite a few of them. "New Year", in our country, is still rare, and it is not so easy to get its cuttings. But such varietal trees can already be bought in some specialized stores. However, when buying, you must carefully monitor that the purchased plants are not infected. dangerous pests and diseases. Of the pests, this variety is often affected by aphids, spider mites, false shields; the latter is especially dangerous because it is very difficult to fight. In the summer, "New Year's" can be put on the balcony.

If you cannot or do not want to purchase such a varietal mandarin, you can grow, at home, a rather similar plant from a seed. The latter, brought up in room conditions from childhood, will be better adapted to them than grafted with an industrial grade cutting. It is very original and beautiful when on the New Year's holiday, instead of New Year's toys, numerous orange fruits will hang on your tangerine. And if you know how to graft, then it is quite possible to graft a mandarin on a lemon or orange stock, including the New Year's variety. Moreover, part of the rootstock branches can be ennobled with lemon cuttings, and the rest with mandarin, or other citrus fruits, in the first place, such as kinkan and citron. Orange, and even more so grapefruit, as already mentioned, are too large (both the tree itself and the fruit), so they are less suitable for indoor conditions, although they can be grafted if desired. Then yellow and orange, large and small, round and oblong fruits of several crops will ripen on one tree. Very original, beautiful and unusual.

Fans of indoor floriculture know the lemon well. But such a close relative as kinkan, a wonderful and very promising form of citrus for indoor cultivation, is known only to individual, especially enthusiastic amateur flower growers. Meanwhile, growing it indoors is much more promising, and in many ways easier than the crops listed above. It is especially suitable for bonsai-style shaping. And the insufficient distribution of its species in room culture is the result of a still too short historical period of their cultivation, not only in the southern fruit growing of our country, but also in subtropical horticulture throughout the world.

The first mention of the kinkan was made in 1646, but it really became known relatively recently. So it was brought to Europe (to England) only in 1846, and it came to Russia only at the very end of the 19th century. But the real botanical description of its species was made much later, a little over a hundred years ago, by the Algerian botanist Trabu, in 1912. The most common of them is oval kinkan, its other names are kumquat, golden orange, fortunella (Fortunella margarita Swingle). His homeland is Southeast China (Guangzhou), known only in culture. Despite the fact that it is an evergreen plant, it has a real deep winter dormancy, and the highest winter hardiness among citrus fruits. This is a dwarf evergreen branched tree; in horticultural culture up to two or three meters in height, the shoots are trihedral, with thorns (in some varieties without them). The leaves are shiny, green, up to 10 cm long and 3 cm wide, like all citrus fruits, with essential oil glands. There are variegated forms. The flowers are axillary, collected in 1-3 pieces, white, typical for citrus fruits. Blooms in spring and summer. The fruits are small, ovoid or oval, 3-4.5 cm long and 2-2.5 cm wide, golden yellow or yellow-orange, weighing about 25 g. They look like a plum. Edible. The peel is thick, dense, smooth, fragrant, rich in essential oils, sweetish-spicy; very good for the production of candied fruits.

The pulp is sour or sweet and sour, pleasant to the taste, slices 4-7 (usually 5). Fruits are eaten fresh, whole, with peel. They taste like tangerines, but are somewhat sour and more spicy due to the essential oil. After eating, the taste of zest remains in the mouth for a long time. They make jam, produce the best varieties of marmalade and jelly, candied, make drinks and other processed products. The fruits ripen in late autumn, and can hang on a tree for almost a whole year, which greatly decorates the tree if it is grown for decorative purposes. Each fruit contains 2-5 pieces of full-grained seeds, outwardly very similar to tangerines. They are 5-8 mm long and 4-6 mm wide, in addition, the fruits often additionally contain a significant amount of feeble, underdeveloped and empty seeds. In addition to food, kinkan also has a medicinal value; in oriental medicine it is used as an anti-inflammatory, tonic, anti-alcohol, disinfectant and aid in the treatment of colds. Kinkan is bred in room culture, for the most part, by seed. And since its fruits are on sale, those flower growers who really want to start this plant can quite simply grow it from seeds. This is also advisable for the reason that plants grown from seeds are easier to adapt to room conditions. Fruiting, with proper care, kinkan begins in the third year after sowing. There are also cultivated varieties for open ground, propagated vegetatively: Margarita, Nagami, Oval Kumquat, Crustifolia, Meiwa, which are quite widely grown in China, Japan, Korea, Australia, the USA and other countries. Kinkan is very beautiful, in addition, although its fruits have no taste advantages over those of other citrus fruits, the plant itself has very important advantages - higher winter hardiness, low, almost dwarf growth, and unpretentiousness. Therefore, it is bred in these countries in gardens not only as fruit, but also as ornamental plant, used to create hedges. And its cut branches, with fruits, are used as original bouquets.

In addition to kinkan margarita, Japanese kinkan or marumi (Fortunella japonica) is often cultivated. It is an evergreen tree of two to three meters in height, with a dense crown, thorny shoots, white flowers and orange fruits 3 cm in diameter with a sweet skin and sour pulp. And thick-leaved kinkan (Fortunella crassifolia), with fruits that have sweet pulp. The last two species can also be grown as houseplants. Their appearance and cultivation technology are similar to those of the kinkan margarita. In addition to those listed, there are three more types of kinkan in the world, but they are quite rare, so their acquisition is unlikely.

Although kinkans are still very few in room culture, it is clear from the above that they are very promising for this, however, their cultivation at home has not yet been developed in detail. It is assumed that the basis for their cultivation in the house, you can take the technology of growing other citrus crops. However, at the same time, their own peculiarities inherent only to them may come to light, therefore the experience of those lovers of indoor floriculture who will take up the cultivation of this new and very promising indoor culture will be very valuable and interesting. Kinkans hybridize well with poncirus, lemon, mandarin and other types of citrus. Therefore, their selection can also turn out to be a very interesting and promising field of activity for gardeners and flower growers to develop new hybrids and varieties of these breeds.

Care

Pavlovsky lemon.
Pavlovsky is one of the most attractive varieties of this type of citrus grown in the room. This is a small compact bush from 1 to 1.5 meters in height, rarely reaching 2 m. Usually it has 2-4 stems. Its crown is rounded, up to 1 m in diameter, or up to 1.5 m if formed in a fan, with branches hanging down. The bark on old branches is olive-gray, with longitudinal cracks, on young branches it is green. Spines on branches up to 1-2 cm long, pointed at the ends. Young spines are green, then they turn brown.

Lemon leaves are light green, 13-15 cm long, 5-8 cm wide. Leaf blades vary in shape - from oval to oblong. But there are specimens with ovoid leaves and broadly lanceolate. Fledging on petioles, as a rule, is not found, with rare exceptions. The serration at the ends of the leaves is also varied, usually the denticles are located in the upper part of the leaf. The surface of the leaves is glossy, shiny. Leaves live 2-3 years.

Pavlovsk lemon is a self-pollinating plant. Cross-pollination is done artificially. Flower buds are laid and develop throughout the year. Often you can see on the same specimen both young ovaries, flowers, and mature fruits.

But Pavlovsky lemon blooms profusely in March and April, and in autumn - in September-October. Flowering of each flower lasts 7-10 days. The flowers are fragrant, solitary 2-3 cm in diameter, but sometimes they are collected in small inflorescences.

Pavlovsky lemon has several periods of growth. The first period starts from the end of February and lasts until June. Then comes a short rest. From July 15-20, the second wave of growth begins. And the third - from about September 15 and ends at the end of October. During this period, shoots can increase by 50-70 cm.
Fruits are first formed in the third or fourth year after the rooting of weakly lignified green cuttings. High yields in tubs give 15-20-year-old plants - several dozen fruits.
After flowering, the growth of the ovary and fruit ripening lasts 8-9 months.

The last stage of maturation is 30-35 days. If the plants are poorly lit, then the duration of ripening increases to 11-12 months. If a ripe lemon is not removed from the branch, then its growth continues. The fruits acquire a green color, grow, increase in volume.
Pavlovsk lemons can ripen from 8 months to a year or more. Moreover, a partially yellowed lemon begins to turn green again and increase in size. Then, within a few months, it turns yellow completely. Sometimes a "full cycle" takes about a year and a half. A fully ripe pavlova lemon is pure yellow in color.
Pavlovsky lemon is large-fruited. On young, well-leafed bushes, fruits weighing 300-540 g are formed. The surface of the fruit can be smooth, shiny or rough to varying degrees and even slightly bumpy.

The amount of vitamin C in the pulp varies from 25 to 57 milligrams per 100 grams of the substance, and in the peel it is 1.5-2 times more. The acidity ranges from 4 to 7 percent, its ratio with sugar and aromatic substances is in most cases favorable. Average the thickness of the peel is 4 - 5 millimeters. Often the fruits are seedless. But also often there are fruits with 5-10 seeds and multi-seeded (10-20). Seeds with high viability. Their germination rate ranges from 80 to 90%. The fruits are in no way inferior to the best southern varieties. The amount of vitamin C in the pulp varies from 25 to 57 milligrams per 100 grams of the substance, and in the peel it is 1.5-2 times more. The acidity ranges from 4 to 7 percent, its ratio with sugar and aromatic substances is in most cases favorable. Medium peel thickness 4 - 5 millimeters.

Room conditions, not characteristic of the nature of citrus fruits, contributed to the appearance of deviant forms, which were fixed vegetatively (by cuttings). As a result, many different forms were formed, differing in the strength of growth, the shape of the leaves, and especially in the shape, size, color, internal structure and taste of the fruits. Both high-quality forms and low-value forms are formed. But most of them are of high quality. There is an active artificial selection.
Pavlovsky lemon grows better on east-facing windows; on south-facing windows it often burns from direct sunlight. Easily propagated by green cuttings.

Panderose (Ponderose)
A room culture variety belonging to a natural hybrid between lemon and pompelmus or citron, at room conditions it is a small compact bush with a beautiful decorative shape, it is very resistant to high temperature and dry air, it begins to bear fruit in the 2nd year. The branches are strong, the leaves are dark green, smooth, hard, rounded.

It blooms profusely, the flowers are large, white-cream in color, often collected in an inflorescence,

but few fruits are set. True, they are larger in size than the previous varieties, often grow in weight up to one kilogram.

The pulp is pleasant, lemon taste, characteristic citric acid in the fruit is almost not felt. The peel is thick, bumpy on top. The variety has proven itself well in indoor culture, due to the small volume of the crown and abundant flowering. Easily propagated by cuttings. Sometimes it begins to bloom already at the rooted cutting stage, which interferes with growth.

anniversary lemon
Mysterious variety. Here is what you can read about this variety on the Internet.
“Obtained in Uzbekistan by grafting Tashkent variety lemon onto Novogruzinsky variety. At the same time, one of the branches began to grow rapidly and give giant fruits weighing up to one kilogram or more. This is a rare phenomenon of gigantism among plants. The Yubileiny variety turned out to be sterile in relation to any other varieties, although it pollinates them itself. The endurance and productivity of this variety is even higher than that of Tashkent. Anniversary lemon deserves the attention of specialists and amateurs for its shade tolerance, productivity, unique ability to reproduce, grow, and almost 100% fruit set in conditions of low air and soil moisture.
This statement may be true, but it is alarming that this variety is very similar to Panderose in many ways. It is possible that he is a Panderose hybrid or a clone.
The tree is medium-sized: the height of an adult plant is not more than 1.5 m. It tolerates the dry air of the room well, it rarely needs to form a crown. The variety is high-yielding, the fruits are large with a thick skin, resistant to high temperatures and dry air, it begins to bear fruit in the 2nd year (in the picture, Yubileiny lemon at the age of two years), but sometimes the fruits are tied for 1 year of life. It is very difficult to achieve growth from a tree, instead of new branches, bouquet branches with buds constantly appear, there are a lot of them on the tree - several such branches appear from each leaf axil, from each sleeping bud.


It blooms profusely, large flowers are collected in inflorescences of 10-15 pieces. When flowering, the tree turns into a white ball. (Yubileyny blooms in this picture, 1 flower is left on each bouquet branch).

The branches are strong, but droop under the weight of the fruit. The leaves are large, dark green, smooth, hard, round or oval.

meyer lemon
Often found among lovers and this variety of lemon, the origin is as mysterious as that of the Jubilee lemon.

According to some sources, "Meyer" is considered the result of a long-standing natural hybridization of lemon and orange, according to others, it is a variety or hybrid of the Cantonese lemon, which has an orange-red peel. The lemon owes its name to the researcher Franz Meyer, who discovered it in Beijing, the inhabitants of the city grew lemon in pots. From China, lemon came to the United States, and in the early 1930s it was introduced from the United States to the southern regions of the Soviet Union.

The variety is widely distributed in the open ground of the subtropics. Black Sea coast where it is grown on a trifoliate rootstock. The tree is medium-sized, 1-1.5 m high, with a rounded, compact, well-leafed and easily shaped crown, with a small number of thorns. The leaves are dark green, shiny, dense, thick, ovate, serrated. It stands out among other varieties for abundant fruiting and not very sour taste of fruits. Fruit weight 70-150 g. Remontant, early maturity, good fruiting of this variety make it promising for room culture, where it is grown on its own roots. Blooms earlier than other varieties, usually in March-April. Buds are formed only on the shoots of the current year.

The flowers are white, very fragrant, smaller in size than other varieties (3-4 cm in diameter), solitary or arranged in clusters of 2-6 in the inflorescence.

The fruits are rounded, practically without a nipple, with a thin peel of bright yellow or orange, ripen 8-9 months after the ovary.
Meyer lemon fruits are harvested unripe, similar in color to the limequat fruit.

The pulp consists of 6-10 slices, tender, juicy, slightly bitter, containing 5% sugar. about 40% vitamin C and more than 20% vitamin P.

The plant easily tolerates the warm, dry air of living quarters when moistened in winter time. Needs good lighting, prefers south-facing windows. Easily propagated by cuttings, and grown from the stone begins to bloom in the fifth year.

Novogruzinsky (Novo-Afonsky) lemon
Selected by the breeder of the Sukhumi experimental station VIR N.M.Murri. On the plantations of Georgia, it is considered the best in terms of yield and quality of fruits. The trees are vigorous with a spreading beautiful, well-leafed crown, reaching 1.5-2 m in height in a room and with a large number of thorns. The leaves are light green, elongated with a pointed tip, average size 12 x 5 cm, very fragrant.

Remontant variety. The flowers are large, the outer side of the petals with a purple tint. Novogruzinsky lemon blooms at 4-5 years of age, being a powerful tree.

The fruits are almost without seeds, they look very impressive on the tree. The shape of the fruit is elongated-oval, with a wide blunt nipple, the peel is smooth, glossy up to 5 mm thick.

Average weight fruit - 120 grams. Juicy and tender fine-grained pulp consists of 9-10 slices, satisfies the most refined taste, has a pleasant acidity and a very strong aroma. The chemical composition of the pulp: sugar - 1.7%, acid - 6%, vitamin C - more than 58 milligrams per 100 grams of substance. It begins to bear fruit later than the Pavlovsky lemon, for 4-5 years.

Lemon Maykop
Variety of national selection. Bred by seed propagation in the selection of the best seedlings. Thus, over a period of more than a century, gradually, from the mass of grown seedlings, individual plants were selected and formed, which then began to bear fruit, yielding fruits of better quality than the original forms.
Currently, among the Maykop lemons, several forms or types have been identified that differ markedly from each other in a number of ways, here are two of them:
1st type. The trees are well formed almost without a trunk, giving a large, loose, well-leafed crown with an abundance of thin twigs-fruits. The twigs are flexible, without thorns, located mostly horizontally, and partly hanging down. The leaves are dark green, smooth with a waxy coating and almost smooth edges. Flowers and ovary are collected in brushes of 3-5 pieces. The fruits are round-elongated, not deformed, the nipple is medium, almost without a rim. The peel of the fruit is rough, thin. The aroma of the fruit is strong. The average weight of the fruit is 130-140 g. The trees are unpretentious, adapted to the usual housing conditions.
2nd type. Trees are formed with a symmetrical crown, having strong, stable twigs without thorns, located semi-vertically. Leaves with smooth edges and noticeable veins. Fruit branches are located singly. The fruits are oblong, with a slight thickening upwards, slightly noticeable ribbing, not deformed, the nipple is small without a rim. The peel of the fruit is thin, as if polished, with small dimples. The aroma of the fruit is good. The average weight of the fruit is 125-140 g. The trees are adapted for wintering in room conditions, but they winter better in cold rooms.
Here is what breeder V.M. Zinkovsky writes about this variety: “Maikop is famous for its indoor lemons, bred in tubs. 100-300 fruits are harvested from a tree annually, and there were cases when the harvest from a 30-year-old tree reached 750 fruits. The height of Maikop lemons in the rooms reaches 1.5-2 meters.

Lemon Genoa

Weak tree without thorns. A very productive variety: in the fourth or fifth year of life it produces about 50 fruits, from an adult tree 120-180 fruits are harvested. The fruits are oblong-oval in shape, with a small sharp nipple at the top. The quality of the fruit is higher than that of other varieties, the pulp is very tender, juicy, sour, with a pleasant taste, the peel of the fruit is edible. Needs sufficient lighting (south, southeast window, loggia.)

To be continued... Article written Alex

A special place among indoor plants is occupied by fruit crops, and the most common among them are numerous representatives of the genus Citrus. They are better than most fruit crops adapted to room conditions: grow quickly, form well, bloom profusely and bear fruit.

A citrus plant looks especially impressive, on which flowers and fruits are simultaneously present in varying degrees of ripening.

The birthplace of citruses is China, Japan, East India, Australia, where they are represented by evergreen trees (from 3 to 12 m high) or shrubs with thorns and dense leaves rich in essential oil.

citrus flowers

Citruses bloom twice a year with medium-sized, but fragrant white or pink flowers. From citrus flowers, fruits of various shapes, colors and tastes, rich in vitamins and microelements, are formed.

Types of citrus houseplants

Citron (Citrus medica Citron)- is, along with two other ancient species, mandarin and pomelo, the progenitor of modern citrus.

Currently, in room culture, you can find very interesting variety"Buddha's Hand" Citron fruits have a lot of zest and very little pulp.

Mandarin, or mesh citrus, unshiu (Citrus reticulate var. Unshiu)- the most precocious species with abundant fruiting. In tub culture grows up to 1.5 m.

This type of citrus houseplant has a spherical crown with slightly drooping branches without thorns, dark green leaves of an oval-elongated shape; white, very fragrant flowers located in pairs or small groups in the axils of the leaves. The fruits are medium-sized, pear-shaped, orange or orange-red, with an easily detached peel and juicy sweet pulp without seeds.

All types of indoor citrus plants are grown in the winter garden or as tub plants. Miniature citrofortunella will feel great on a sunny windowsill.

Fortunella, or kumquat, "golden orange"(Fortunella margarita)- looks like a miniature orange. Fruits of the extended form with a sweetish skin. Variety 'Variegata' has striped green-white or green-yellow leaves.

Calamondin or Citrofortunella (Calamondin)- a hybrid of mandarin and fortune. This type of indoor citrus is more of an ornamental than an edible plant.

It has compact dimensions (up to 1 m tall), glossy dark green oval-pointed leaves and numerous small (up to 4 cm in diameter), round, yellow-orange fruits, bitter in taste and with a large number of seeds.

Photo of homemade lemon flowers

homemade lemon (citrus lemon)- the most common species in room culture. This is an evergreen, undersized (up to 1.5 m), sprawling tree with thin but strong gray or reddish-purple shoots, long spines (there are varieties without spines) and large emerald leaves, wide oval with a pointed end. Each leaf lives for about 3 years.

The development of not only the plant itself, but also individual fruits, directly depends on their quantity and condition, since at least 10 healthy, actively functioning leaves are necessary for the ripening of one lemon.

Homemade lemon flowers, as seen in the photo, are medium-sized, white or cream, arranged singly, in pairs or in small brushes.

They may not be visible behind the abundant foliage, but the characteristic gentle and quite intense aroma will not allow you to miss this wonderful period. Indoor lemons can bloom 2-3 times a year, and fruit ripening lasts several months, so on the same plant you can often see both fragrant flowers and fruits in varying degrees of ripeness - from bright green to sunny yellow.

There are quite a few varieties bred specifically for room culture, including domestic selection.

Our photo gallery contains photos of homemade lemon flowers of the most common varieties:

Lemon "Ponderosa"- unpretentious, but large variety with tasty, very large fruits with a bumpy yellow skin; there are few fruits, but the plant can bloom up to 4 times a year, bears fruit from 6-7 years;

Lemon "Pavlovsky"- one of the oldest Russian varieties, medium-sized with large tasty fruits, bears fruit in the third year;

Lemon variety "Meyer"- compact and productive, fruits are very juicy, slightly bitter, with a thin orange-yellow skin, begins to bear fruit in the third year.

Care for indoor citrus fruits at home

The secret of successful citrus cultivation is to provide them with relative rest in winter (in a bright, well-ventilated room at a temperature of +4.+8 ° C with moderate watering) and maximum illumination in summer (it is better to take it out into the open air, sunny, protected from drafts).

Heat-loving oranges need a higher winter temperature (+13…+ 18 °C). Watering in the summer is also moderate, without overdrying the earthy coma and without stagnant water. To form a beautiful crown of citrus fruits, when leaving at home, pruning and pinching are performed - after the appearance of 3-4 leaves, pinch the growth point. The same method will also contribute to the acceleration of fruiting throughout the year.

During the period of active growth, plants are fed once every two weeks, if possible, alternating mineral fertilizers with organic ones. Transplantation is carried out by transshipment in the spring: young plants - annually, at the age of 4-5 years - once every 2 years, older than five years - once every 3 years. Citruses reproduce well both by semi-lignified cuttings and seeds. With the seed method of reproduction, fruiting occurs later than with cuttings.

With over 1,000 potted plants, the amazing greenhouse in the gardens of Versailles is the world's most famous indoor and outdoor display of citrus trees. But you don’t need to be Louis XIV or have a similar area at all, you can harvest citrus fruits in ordinary home conditions.

Like the plants in the gardens of Versailles, your orange, lemon or lime can grow in a container, growing indoors during the cold winter months and outdoors in the spring and summer.

Most suitable option for growing indoors - a dwarf variety, a plant that is grafted onto a stock, this prevents the tree from growing too high. Many citrus trees can be grown as dwarfs, including Meyer lemon, kaffir lime, calamondin, which are adapted to grow indoors.

Pretty soon, you'll be able to harvest your own oranges for jam, make a Meyer lemon dessert, or pluck the leaves from a kaffir lime for a Thai curry.

Purchase
Choose a plant that will immediately bloom and bear fruit, give preference to a two to three year old bonsai. For beginners, calamondin is suitable, which is highly resistant to indoor growing conditions. Only buy plants from reputable greenhouses to avoid buying plants with diseases.

Planting in a pot
Planting requires a container with good drainage. Prefer clay, ceramic or plastic pots that are slightly larger than the root ball. Drainage holes are required at the bottom of the pot. For better air circulation, place stones on the bottom of the pot.

A well-drained soil is very important for the plant. Use a slightly acidic (pH 6-7), clay potting mix. It is best to use a potting mix specially formulated for citrus trees.

Accommodation
Most citrus trees need eight to twelve hours of sunlight daily. When growing citrus fruits indoors, place them near a south-facing window to ensure good air circulation. If necessary, during the dark winter months, install additional lighting using special lamps.

The best temperature for dwarf citrus trees is 13-29°C, with an average temperature of 18°C ​​considered ideal. Citrus fruits do not like sudden temperature changes, so make sure the plants are protected from cool drafts and heaters. Keep citrus fruits away from front doors, heaters, fireplaces, and ovens.

With the advent of spring, citrus trees can spend more time outside, they can be brought indoors only in case of cold weather. Once the threat of frost has passed, gradually acclimatize the citrus trees to outdoor conditions by first placing them outdoors in a sheltered area for a few days, then slowly bringing them out into the sun. It is very important to do this slowly and slowly to avoid burning the foliage and stressing the plant. Choose a sheltered spot in the sun with good airflow. Suitable places for accommodation are veranda, balcony and terrace. moving citrus tree indoors for the winter - this is the same gradual, but already the reverse process, which lasts until the threat of the first frost.

Care
The key is regular watering. Adding a decorative mulch (such as pebbles or moss) helps to reduce evaporation and retain moisture in the root zone. But remember that the potting mix should be in contact with the dry side of the mulch, especially in winter, to avoid fungal infestation and root rot. To measure the humidity level, use special water meters (you can buy them in greenhouses and garden centers). Citrus love wet air. Place the plant near a humidifier or regularly spray the leaves of the trees with water, and then the foliage will shine even with dry air in winter.

In spring and summer, every three weeks, feed your citrus tree with a high-nitrogen fertilizer formulated specifically for citrus fruits. In winter and autumn, the frequency of feeding should be halved.

Citrus trees are vulnerable to infestation by scale insects, spider mites, mealybugs and aphids. Carefully inspect the trees to notice signs of infection in time: twisted, spotted or yellowing leaves, sticky spots, cobwebs between branches. Use non-toxic pesticides, such as insecticidal soap or margose seed oil.

The time from flowering to harvest depends on the variety of citrus tree. In general, most lemon and lime trees take six to nine months to mature; orange trees take about a year to be ready for harvest. Citrus fruits only ripen on the tree, and when the fruits are ripe, many varieties of citrus fruits can be harvested from the tree for weeks or even months. When the fruit has become a characteristic color for this variety, check it for maturity by gently pressing the peel. If the fruit is slightly soft, it is ready for harvest.