At home, you can grow several types of citrus fruits. The most famous among them are lemon, orange and tangerine trees. They take root quite easily, grow well and look spectacular during flowering.

By observing minor rules, you can easily grow a flowering and fruiting plant at home, with which an article prepared by the editors of the website can help you.

Description and types of citrus

Citruses are evergreen trees or shrubs with thorns on the stems, strong leathery petiole leaves with glands containing essential oil, white or anthocyanin-colored flowers with five petals from the outside and an original berry-like fruit of a spherical, pointed-elongated or flattened-spherical shape, covered with a peel .

The fruit is divided into segments filled with sacs with delicious pulp. Citrus seeds are elongated or oval.

Types of citrus fruits for the home

There are a number of citrus plants that are most commonly grown indoors. The most famous:

• Citron (lemon).
• Mandarin.
• Golden orange (fortunella).
• A hybrid of Fortunella and Mandarin.
• Grapefruit.

These plants have an interesting feature - irregular growth.

Citrus fruits look brightest during the period of simultaneous fruiting and flowering, when small fruits and flowers grow on the tree. They are grown mainly in the winter garden, as tub trees or on the windowsill.

The period of active growth changes with dormancy: young shoots and leaves stop growing, and the wood begins to mature. Then again comes the turn of young leaves. Some indoor trees bloom and bear fruit several times a year.

Planting and breeding

There are a number of options for breeding these trees: from a grain, cuttings or a grafted bush.

From grain

The lemon, orange or grapefruit from which you want to remove the seed must be ripe and even somewhat overripe. Do not dry the kernels - they must be planted immediately after extraction from the fruit, otherwise they may dry out and not hatch. The conditions for planting any type of citrus are almost the same: a layer of drainage material must be placed on the bottom of a clay pot.

The soil for planting should be from a mixture of leafy soil, fertile soil and coarse sand. Planting depth - two to three centimeters (if planted deeper, the grain will rot, if smaller, it will dry out). Make a small greenhouse: cover the pot with a plastic wrap, put it on the windowsill so that the sun enters the plant most of the day. In the evening, open the bag, letting the earth "breathe".

Watering is necessary once every three days. In winter, shine a greenhouse for a month. Seedlings should emerge within two to four weeks, depending on the degree of light, the quality of the material selected for planting, and the temperature of the room.

cuttings

By this method, citruses reproduce best in domestic conditions. Cuttings should be pruned from mature plants after flowering. The length of the branch is about 10 centimeters, with two or three buds.

If grafting is performed in the spring, it is advisable to take the stalk from a branch of autumn growth, in case of summer grafting - from spring. Root cuttings in raw moss or nutrient solution.

Kustom

During the first year of life, citrus must be transplanted three times: in summer and spring - in early July and in the second half of August. At the same time, take care not to destroy the earthen ball and do not plant a tree with fruits and flowers.

Citrus care

Caring for citrus plants is very simple: they need good drainage, the absence of unnecessary drafts, the correct watering regimen, dense top dressing and a fairly low air temperature in winter.

The soil

For citrus plants, nutritious air and water permeable soils may be suitable. The mixture collected from equal parts of soddy, leafy soil, manure humus with the addition of coarse river sand 1:1:1:0.5 is best suited. The older the plant, the percentage of soddy soil in the mixture increases.

The soil is prepared in advance: the sod is removed from the meadows and piled into piles for decay, leafy humus is taken from under the lindens and birches, river sand must be well washed. The acidity of the soil should be from 5.5 to 7.0 pH, if less acidity can be added to the mixture of ash of deciduous tree species. Soil acidity can be determined using an acidity indicator or litmus test.

The “bath” is placed on the stove and warmed up, when the liquid boils, withstand the mixture for about 0.5 hours, shake out the soil and fill in a new portion. Sand before use can be calcined in the oven.

Watering

No less reverent citrus applies to dampness. In the summer months, it must be watered abundantly without flooding, while in winter the water supply must be reduced, periodically making sure that the soil does not dry out. In addition, it is necessary to spray the leaves every day, using filtered or boiled clean water for this purpose.

You can compensate for the dryness of the air if you place a small decorative indoor fountain near the citrus. As the tree grows, it needs to be repotted from time to time into larger and larger pots. It is best to move in early spring. In this case, a fresh pot should have a diameter of three to five centimeters higher than the previous one.

Lighting

The number one task is to provide the plants with sufficient lighting, since they are very photophilous (they should only be protected from the midday summer sun).

The best thing is to place the exotics on the southeast or southwest windows, and in the summer - in the garden, directly under the light shade of the trees. In winter, it is desirable to provide “pets” with additional enhanced lighting so that the daylight hours are at least twelve hours. If there is not enough light, the plant, alas, will not be able to fully develop.

Temperature

The best temperature for keeping citrus plants in summer is + 18 + 26 C, in winter a cool wintering is required + 12 + 16 C. Unfavorable temperatures can be detrimental to the plant. Excessively low temperature, as well as too high, adversely affects the full development of citrus plants - it delays their growth.

Both the crown and the root share of the tree should be in similar conditions, so avoid warm floors, and be extremely careful about the location of citrus trees on the windowsill, where the pot can cool sharply in the cold season, and heat up very quickly in summer. This can stress the plant and cause leaf fall.

In the same way, sharp daily changes in temperature regimes (7-10 degrees Celsius) are also stressful for the plant.

Like most houseplants, citrus trees are pretty good to place on the balcony or on the street in the spring-summer-autumn stage, when there are no strong temperature fluctuations, but be sure to shade the plant from direct sunlight.

top dressing

Since citrus fruits are the inhabitants of the tropics, they quickly deplete the soil, making reserves of minerals and elements. When active vegetation begins (from the end of winter - the start of spring), it is imperative to start feeding the plant. Can be used as organic, similarly liquid mineral fertilizers. Feeding is required until the fall.

Of the special organic fertilizers, flower growers often use beer to feed citrus fruits. They sometimes spray or lightly wipe the leaves. According to rumors, they sparkle from this. It seems to me that if this “feeding” is taken into service, then it is better to choose non-alcoholic beer.

In addition, they are fed with used tea leaves. However, the main thing here is not to overdo it so that insects do not start in the ground.

pruning

Pruning lemon, tangerine, grapefruit must be done in the spring to form the crown of a bush or tree. It is better to form citrus fruits as a small tree with a low stem (lower stem), the stem level should not exceed 20 centimeters.

In order for the tree to grow evenly in different directions, it must be turned once a year.

Transfer

Young seedlings of lemon, orange, tangerine and other citrus fruits (up to three years) should be planted once a year in fresh soil, by transshipment into a larger pot.

Mature citrus plants are transplanted once every three years, if the pot is large and such a plant is difficult to transplant, then replace the top layer (5 centimeters) of soil with fresh nutrient soil.

Pests

The most famous pests of citrus crops are the mealybug, scale insect, false scale insect. Citrus fruits are also affected by spider mites and aphids:

• Milk lumps in the sinuses, on trunks and branches - defeat by a mealybug.
• Plaques that look like particles of wax on leaves, trunks and branches, sweet discharge on leaves - a defeat by a false shield or shield.
• Uneven small yellow dots on the leaves, powdery coating at the bottom of the leaf, sometimes a cobweb - a spider mite.
• Accumulation of small green or black insects on young shoots, sweet discharge - aphids.
• Small mobile light insects in the soil, jumping when watering - podura, or springtails. They start when waterlogged, do not cause damage to the plant. It is enough to reduce watering and shed Actara (1 g / 10 liters).

• Small black flies flying over the soil are mushroom mosquitoes. Start similarly from waterlogging. The larvae live in the soil, but do not harm healthy roots. It is enough to adjust the watering, you can shed Aktara (1 g / 10 liters).

Diseases

Citrus diseases appear due to improper care and damage by various pathogens (which is also often due to errors in the content).

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

From time to time, a black coating appears 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. It is necessary to eliminate the cause of the sugary compartments, remove the soot deposits with a swab soaked in soapy water, rinse well under a warm shower.

Diseases caused by viruses appear in the form of a marble color and are not subject to treatment.

Conclusion

Cultivation of citrus trees at home will not be difficult if the plant is provided with comfortable conditions and proper care.

For growing at home, it is advised to choose decorative types of citrus fruits, which are distinguished by their small stature and unpretentiousness.

Usually citrus seeds, along with the peel, we throw in the trash. Most of us are sure that only "savages" will grow out of them, which, with any care, will never bloom and bear fruit, and at best - in 20-25 years. Is it really?

Science and life // Illustrations

A lemon tree can be decorated with white fragrant flowers and fruits at the same time - both ripe golden and green. If the ripened fruit is not cut from the branch, then its color will turn green again. Such a lemon will turn yellow in 8-10 months.

Any dishes for seedlings are suitable, including a ceramic cup, as long as there is drainage and a hole in the bottom for water to drain.

For the appearance of side shoots, sometimes it is enough to bend the stem of the plant in the form of a wheel or bend the top.

Moroccan mandarin grown from seed. The plant is 1.5 years old. The seedling was selected on the basis of the proximity of the buds, later such a plant will bush even without shaping.

To speed up the fruiting of a growing plant, the branches are given a horizontal position. Make sure that the crown does not thicken too much; for this, do not allow branches to grow inside it.

Most buds and fragrant flowers appear on citrus fruits in March - May. In the photo: orange blossom. To ensure the ripening of one fruit, the plant must have 15-20 elastic, dense, dark green leaves.

With additional lighting in the autumn-winter months, the fruits of oranges ripen sweet.

Different types of citrus fruits are easily distinguishable by a number of features, including the shape of leaf petioles, which are equipped with "lionfish" developed to varying degrees.

After 8-9 months, rather large fruits grow on a tangerine tree from small ovaries.

Under natural conditions - in the countries of Southeast Asia and in the subtropics of Italy, Spain - any citrus trees grown from seeds begin to bear fruit already in the 5-7th year. Therefore, in some states of India, many of them are usually propagated by seeds, and by grafting - only when it is important to fully preserve all the varietal characteristics of the plant.

However, the natural conditions of the fertile subtropics and those on our windowsill are not at all the same. In the first case, they are ideal for the development of citrus fruits, and in the second, they are incomparably tougher.

HOW TO ACCELERATE FRUITTING

All citrus trees grown from seeds are original in their own way, especially during flowering, when they are completely covered with white fragrant flowers, although each species is specific and has its own characteristics: oranges have the most beautiful crown with dark leaves, tangerines have bright appetizing fruits , grapefruits have very large fruits, however, the tree itself is often bulky and is more suitable for winter gardens and offices. The most practical for growing are lemons, which delight with fruits all year round, usually noticeably larger, brighter and more fragrant than purchased ones.

Citrus seedlings are able to give the first fruits already in the 4-5th year using certain techniques. But it all starts with the selection of seeds and their sowing.

The largest seeds are selected from any fruit and immediately sown in small pots or cups, always with a drainage hole in the bottom. It is more expedient to pre-treat the seeds with one of the preparations from the group of biological natural stimulants. For example, at night I dip the seeds in a solution of Sakhalin sodium humate (not darker than beer) - later this has a positive effect on the development of the root system, and then for another 8-12 hours - in water, to which I add zircon and epin-extra, one drop of the drug in a glass of water, this accelerates the development of seedlings, and most importantly, it helps them to endure insufficient lighting and dry air in the room.

It is advisable to sow a dozen or two plants at once, which will be required in the future to select the best, potentially early-growing ones. The seeds are placed in loose fertile soil to a depth of 1-2 cm, and when the seedlings grow up, at the age of 3-5 months, they are carefully transplanted, rather they are transferred, completely preserving the earthen clod, into a larger container and a handful of biohumus (compost, processed earthworms), which contributes to the accelerated development of plants.

Growing seedlings are selected according to the following external signs:

Initially stocky crown (this is evidenced by the minimum distance between the buds on the stems); such plants, even without shaping, tend to bush in the future;

The minimum number of short needles (or the complete absence of them) and thin shoots;

The maximum number of leaves that rarely fall.

Inevitably, quickly exposed plants with few leaves and thin stretching shoots are rejected.

It is very important to prevent the single-stem development of the seedling in the form of a rod. Already in the first months of life, it is necessary to cause its lateral branching. To do this, pinch the tender top of the growing shoot each time with a fingernail or tweezers during the next “wave” of growth (citruses do not grow constantly, but in periods, “waves” - no more than 4-5 times a year, with interruptions one to three months). If after that only the top without side shoots grows, then it is removed again.

In the future, the grown side shoots with two or three leaves are pinched (do this as early as possible), then the branches will grow as short as possible. And subsequently they follow the same principle, trying to give the tree bushiness and proportionality of the crown. From time to time, the plant pots turn slightly - but not abruptly - no more than a quarter of a turn.

It is equally important to ensure that separate vertically growing branches (“tops”) do not appear inside the emerging crown. When branches appear, until flexibility is lost, they are tilted and tied with a ribbon or twine to a stem or a pencil stuck into the soil.

As the trees grow, they also make sure that the crown does not thicken too much, for this they strive to prevent the growth of branches inside it.

And one more important technique that brings fruiting closer is ringing. It is carried out as follows. The stem or one or two skeletal branches at the very base are tightly pulled (“ringed”) with copper wire so that it is slightly pressed into the bark. At this place, an influx is formed very quickly and deformation occurs, causing the accumulation of such substances inside the plant organism that stimulate the formation of fruit buds. After six months or a year, in order to avoid excessive constriction of the branches and the threat of breakage, the ring is carefully removed, and the operation site is covered with garden pitch or bandaged with a strip of elastic polyethylene.

CITRUS HABITS

The flowering and fruiting of citrus plants will be even closer by the regular inclusion of an artificial "sun" above them in the form of special phytolamps or fluorescent lamps (daylight), humidification of room air with the help of electric humidifiers or fountains and regular - once or twice a year, in February and June , - transplanting plants into containers, which each time are 3 - 5 cm larger than before. A soil mixture is suitable, sifted through a fine-mesh sieve and consisting of equal parts of completely rotted foliage (it is easy to collect it in a finished form in a park or in a forest under old maples and lindens), soddy soil (it is enough to shake out the sod layers cut in a meadow with a good herbage) and compost with manure. In extreme cases, you can use ordinary loose soil from the garden, adding 1/3-1/4 of the volume of horse manure to it.

But even with such regular transplants, nutrients in fresh soil are only enough for three to five months, while citrus trees need good nutrition from late February to September. In this case, complex fertilizers help out, including all the necessary substances with trace elements. And it is better not in the form of dry mixtures, but in a liquid form. Fertilize with a solution highly diluted with water (no more than 1-2 g of the drug per 1 liter), otherwise it is easy to “burn” the roots of citrus fruits.

It is good to alternate fertilizing with “mineral water” with watering ready-made, commercially available infusions and organic concentrates.

INSTEAD OF CONCLUSION

Most often, all efforts are rewarded, and after a few years, citrus trees grown from seeds bloom and give the first fruits. Moreover, plants grown from seeds turn out to be much more hardy and more adapted to room conditions than citrus fruits of any variety that can be purchased at the store: they do not require ideal lighting or optimal air humidity. In other words, with more or less good care, they feel in the room no worse than an unpretentious geranium or ficus. And all because initially these fruit trees appeared in the house, which became their own.

Having grown fruit-bearing trees from seedlings, you can subsequently propagate the best, promising plants in another simple way - by rooting short cuttings cut from them in a mini-greenhouse - a pot of wet sand under a glass jar. Seedlings grown from cuttings bear fruit already in the third year without losing their main advantage - unpretentiousness.

Literature

Dadykin VV Citrus garden at your window. - M.: AST-Press Book, 2006.

Dadykin V. V. // Science and Life, 2006, No. 12.

Dadykin V. V. // Science and Life, 2004, No. 12.

Flower grower - note

If tap water contains a lot of lime, rotted needles collected from under old fir trees will help save the earth in a pot from alkalization. Add it when planting in the soil mixture (ratio 1:6), but even better cover the top layer of earth in a pot with such needles.

The lack of macro- and microelements is easy to determine by the appearance of citrus plants. With a nitrogen deficiency, growth decreases, the leaves turn yellow, especially the lower ones and at the base of the shoots. With a deficiency of phosphorus, the plant blooms weakly and many flowers fall off. With a deficiency of potassium, the edge of the leaf turns brown, becomes wrinkled and twists down. With iron deficiency, the leaves turn yellow and turn pale. With a deficiency of boron, the apical points of growth die off and the ovaries are deformed. With a deficiency of copper, sticky dark brown spots appear on the fruits.

To reduce water loss, cover the ground in a pot with a circle of thick polyethylene or plastic, after making a slot for the stem. But you can put a layer of sphagnum moss on top - it acts both as a sponge filled with water, and as an additional acidifier, and as a source of nitrogen.

Flowers and young, tender shoots of citrus fruits are a good addition to ordinary tea brewing, they give the drink a peculiar aroma and enrich it with vitamins.

Nothing slows down the development of any citrus fruit so much as an attack by hordes of pests - spider mites, false shields, aphids. Therefore, regularly, twice a month, wash the leaves under a strong stream of shower, and in the summer take the plant outside for treatment with proven means - a solution of FAS tablets (2 tablets per bucket of water), actars (5 g of the drug per bucket of water) or fitoverma (1 teaspoon spoon per 1 liter of water). It is much more effective, easier and safer for your own health not to spray the plants from a spray bottle, but to immerse their crown for one or two minutes in a bucket with a solution of the listed insecticides.

The introduction of marganized superphosphate or manganese into the soil as part of complex fertilizers helps.

Iron (Fe)

The lack of iron in citrus fruits is primarily manifested on the upper young leaves, their color becomes pale green, even yellow. Then it can literally fade and become white. On the left is an iron deficient plant.

For example, on the left is a plant with a lack of iron, on the right with young leaves

Zinc (Zn)

Participates in many metabolic reactions at the cellular level of the plant.
Chaotic bronze or gray-brown spots appear on the leaves of a lemon or tangerine, while the leaves are smaller than normal. Yellow speckles may appear on young leaves of the plant or be completely yellow. The edge of the sheet plate can be twisted up.

Mandarin leaves for zinc deficiency

The use of complex fertilizers containing zinc helps.

Copper (Cu)

Its compounds are required for the process of photosynthesis, as well as for plant immunity to the fungus.
A sign on a citrus leaf that it lacks copper is the curling and general wilting of the plant. Violation of the process of photosynthesis in the leaves, characterized by the appearance of chlorosis spots. In new leaves, you can observe larger sizes than usual and a lighter color.

Twisting a lemon leaf with a lack of copper

If there is an excess of copper in the plant, then brown spots appear on the lower leaves.

When applying mineral fertilizers, possible chemical reactions between elements should be taken into account. and introduce them either as part of ready-made complexes, or separately with a pause between the introduction of various groups of substances.

General reminder on the signs of a lack of trace elements in lemon and tangerine

I hope that in this article we answered the questions: How to feed and?

Bitter orange (bigaradia, orange)
Fresh fruits have a too bitter taste, which is why they cannot be consumed fresh, but are highly valued for making marmalade, seasonings, liqueurs. Leaves, flowers and fruits are the best source of bigaradium oil used in perfumery.
The orange originated from Southeast Asia. Unknown in the wild. It was brought to the Mediterranean by the Arabs in the 11th century, five centuries before the appearance of the sweet orange. Widely grown in tropical and subtropical countries, it is the main rootstock for citrus fruits. Orange trees are tall, leaf petioles are broad-winged, flowers are large, fragrant. The fruits are almost round, the peel is thick with a rough surface, fragrant, orange-red. The pulp is very sour and bitter, the seeds are numerous, polyembryonic. This orange has hybrids: citradium (bigaradia and trifoliata) - a powerful, cold-resistant stock.

Orange varieties include:
- Pomeranian is a medicinal plant. The photo shows a mitroleaf orange (C. myrtifolia), a small bush with thick leaves growing on top of each other. Small flowers, white, odorless and self-pollinating. They produce yellow-red fruits. This species, due to its natural proportions, is excellent for bonsai.


- Bergamot is a small tree that has fruits with sour pulp.

kumquat care

Kinkan (kumquat, fortunella)
The genus consists of 4 species, of which only one - Hong Kong Fortunella - is found in the wild. These miniature citrus fruits are also called Japanese oranges. Kinkan blooms unlike other citrus fruits in autumn, the fruits ripen in February - March. It is a small shrub, reaching 50 - 60 cm in height in apartments. The flowers are small, white, collected in brushes, with a pleasant, delicate aroma. The fruits are bright orange, small - from 2 to 5 cm. They are delicious fresh, but especially jams and jams made from them.
Care is similar to other citrus fruits.

The plant is light and moisture-loving. He needs a sunny location, in summer it is advisable to take the plant out into the open air. In winter, they are kept in a cool, bright room at a temperature of 4-6C. If it is impossible to reduce the temperature, then additional lighting is necessary for the normal development of the plant. Watering is plentiful in summer, moderate in winter, avoiding waterlogging or drying of the substrate, and only with warm water. As with other citrus fruits, watering with cold water causes leaf drop. It is necessary to regularly spray the plant, especially in dry air in the heat and with steam heating, often wipe the leaves.

For fruiting, regular top dressing, a temperature of about 20 ° C and the correct formation of the crown are necessary. All side shoots are pruned in spring, leaving no more than 3-4 young shoots on each side branch. Propagated by cuttings at a temperature of 25-28C, grafting and seeds. With vegetative propagation, already in the 2nd year, plants can be harvested
In room culture, most often grownkinkan japanese (Fortunella Japonica, Marumi kumquat). It is a low-growing tree up to 1.5 m tall, often having a bushy shape. Shoots flattened, trihedral, with short spines. The leaves are dark green, shiny, up to 8 cm long, with essential oil glands.

The flowers are axillary, white, with a strong pleasant aroma.

It can bloom even at a tender age.
The fruits are round, the smallest among citrus fruits (up to 2.5 cm in diameter), bright orange in color with a thin peel, usually with 4-7 slices. The pulp is sour, the peel is sweet. This species is winter-hardy, therefore it grows well in open ground on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus and in the Crimea.
At kinakana oval (Fortunella Mrgarita, Nagami kumquat) shoots without thorns, smaller leaves, oval fruits, golden or orange.

The peel of the fruit is smooth, fragrant, sweetish-spicy. The pulp is juicy, with a sour taste. The fruits are edible, they are eaten fresh with the peel, and are also used to make candied fruits, jams, jellies, are used to decorate desserts, to improve the taste of fish and poultry dishes.
At kinkana fukushi (Fortunella Obovata) fruits are larger (up to 5 cm in diameter) than other kinkans, oval or pear-shaped, orange in color. The peel of the fruit is smooth, fragrant, very sweet. The pulp is juicy, sweet and sour dessert taste. There are no seeds in the fruit.

Obovata blooms several times a year. At the same time, flowers, ovaries and ripe fruits can be seen on the branches.


Kinkan is often attracted to hybridization, its natural and artificial intergeneric and interspecific hybrids with lemon, mandarin and other citruses are known:
calamondin (hybrid mandarin with kumquat)

variegated calamondin

limequat(lime and kumquat)

orangequat (orange and kumquat)

The appearance and taste of the fruits of hybrids differs from the original ones.

Hybrid care

In addition, there are hybrids:
- tangor (orange and tangerine), such as Satsuma tangerine, King orange,

- citrange (orange and trifoliata),
- citranjquat (orange and trifoliata) + kumquat,
- citrangell (orange and trifoliata) + desert lime,
- lemonade (lemon and orange),
- limolaime (lemon and lime),
- Limandarins (lemon and mandarin) these include Red and White lemons from China,
- citrandarine (tangerine and trifoliata),
- citradium (bigardia and trifoliata),
- tangelo (tangerine and grapefruit)

- maniola (tangerine and grapefruit) planted from a seed this year, while it is like this

You have heard many names, you have tasted many of them, and I am sure that many hybrids grow from seeds and may already bear fruit.

lime care

Lime
Real lime, or Mexican lime - C. aurantifolia lime.
The lime is native to the Malay Peninsula. Lime occupies one of the last places in terms of resistance to low temperatures, it is damaged at minus 1-2 degrees C, it is well adapted to the conditions of a humid tropical climate in which lemon does not bear fruit well, therefore lime is the main "sour citrus" in the tropics.
Millions of lime trees are cultivated in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Myanmar, Brazil, Venezuela, West African countries. A small evergreen tree or shrub in nature with a height of 1.5 to 4.5 meters.
The crown is dense, the branches are covered with short spines up to 2 cm long with smooth oval leaves 6 cm long and 4 cm wide with small petioles and rounded lionfish. Inflorescences axillary with 1-7 flowers small white flowers up to 2 cm in diameter. Remontant flowering.

Seeds in the best varieties are few from 0 to 4.
The fruit resembles a small lemon in shape and size, outwardly differing from it only in its dark green skin.

at full maturity very thin, the flesh is greenish, yellowish-green, juicy, very sour. Lime juice is used to make citric acid. The oil is used as a flavoring agent in the production of soft drinks. As for the healing properties of lime, it is truly a “champion” among citrus fruits. Lime is richer than others in vitamin C (6-8%) and contains B vitamins, potassium and zinc.
Propagated by layering. Many people think that lime cuttings will not root well, but this fact needs to be checked - I put several cuttings on rooting, if they take root, I will definitely let you know.
I report: lime cuttings take root almost 100%.

There are several types of lime, such as the Italian lime (C. limetta) or C. hystrix.

Mandarin care

Mandarin
Unlike lemon, it is the most frost-resistant of all types of citrus fruits: the critical temperature is 8-10 degrees. below zero (skeletal branches freeze), then, with its further decrease, the whole plant dies.
Mandarin is a small branched evergreen tree with leathery lanceolate leaves on petioles with small wings. The life span of each leaf is up to 4 years. The flowers are small, white, fragrant, collected in small inflorescences-brushes. The fruits are medium-sized, oval-flattened, sweet-sour with a bright orange peel. Unlike other citrus fruits, the peel is easily separated from the pulp.

A light-loving plant, but it needs to be shaded from the hot midday sun. The plant has three periods of growth during the year: in April-May, August-September and November-December. Mandarin blossoms in May, and the fruits ripen in late October. The plant bears fruit with good care annually, starting to bear fruit at 3-4 years of age.
Like all subtropical crops, mandarin needs a cool content in winter (8-12C), especially with a lack of light, since under short daylight conditions the plant forms thin, weak shoots that need to be removed.

Water the plant regularly throughout the year, but moderately when the topsoil dries slightly. Excessive watering leads to the death of the plant, and a lack of moisture leads to twisting and falling of the leaves. Mandarin does not like drafts, therefore, when taken out into the air in summer, it must be placed in a place protected from the wind. In addition, the plant needs a constant supply of fresh air, which must be taken into account when kept indoors, and spraying with water at room temperature.

Be sure to regularly feed the plant every 10-15 days from the beginning of February to November. With additional lighting, top dressing is not stopped even in winter, but with half-concentration fertilizer. Mandarin is propagated by air layering, grafting, sometimes cuttings and seeds. Cuttings are taken from shoots with a diameter of 4 mm, which have already completed growth. Thicker cuttings are very difficult to root, thinner ones give weak growth or die. The cuttings take root within a month, it is rather difficult, therefore they are preliminarily kept in a heteroauxin solution. Necessary conditions for rooting - the temperature of the substrate is not lower than 21-22C, air temperature - 20C, humidity - 90%. It is best to graft mandarin in April-May on seedlings of orange, lemon or orange, which have reached a thickness of 8-10 mm.
The best varieties for an indoor garden:
Unshiu broadleaf
A tree up to 2 m tall without thorns, with a spreading crown and corrugated leaves.

High-yielding, fast-growing and shade-tolerant mandarin variety, which belongs to the Japanese group of varieties - Satsuma. It begins to bear fruit for 3-4 years, in June there is a massive discharge of the ovary. The fruits are round or pear-shaped, almost devoid of seeds of medium size (68 - 70 g) are distinguished by juiciness, high sugar content (7.6%), moderate acidity (1.07%), significant presence of vitamin C (30 mg), juice yield - 71.5%...
Kovano-Vase
A variety of dwarf tangerines (mountain tangerine) in nature up to 1.5 meters high, in an apartment up to 1 m. The leaves are small, lighter and thinner than those of the Unshiu tangerine. Flowers small, mostly solitary. The main flowering takes place in the spring, but throughout the year a small number of flowers can be seen on the tree. Begins to bear fruit in the 2nd year. From a tree up to 100 fruits, good taste, the size of the fruits of the Gamlin orange variety. The plant is photophilous. This group includes the following varieties of mandarins:

To be continued.. Article written Alex