How to plant a lemon at home

You can graft a lemon to stimulate flowering and get a bountiful harvest at home, with even minimal skills in caring for garden trees. In this process, the quality of the tools used, the optimal timing of the procedure, the correct preparation of the donor tree and the grafted seedling play an important role.

Goals and objectives of vaccination

Grafting home or garden trees is one of the ways to propagate and cultivate them. After a successful procedure, the lemon begins to bloom and bear fruit faster.

Properly carried out vaccination:

• stimulates flowering and growth;
• significantly approximates the time of the appearance of the first harvest;
• retains the characteristics of the variety;
• helps to get a strong, viable tree in a short time.

Do I need to graft a lemon grown from a stone

A strong, healthy, viable lemon can be grown at home from an ordinary seed. To do this, it is enough to place it in fertile soil, monitor timely watering, and occasionally apply complex fertilizers. The resulting tree is called a wild plant.

It is difficult to achieve a harvest from such a lemon. With careful care, the first color ovaries will appear on it no earlier than 5-6 years, and full-fledged fruits – 7-8 years after planting. In most cases, the wild begins to bloom only in the second ten years of life. At the same time, it gives a meager harvest of small, sour fruits.

To stimulate budding and produce large fruits, a bud or cutting of a fruit-bearing houseplant is grafted onto a lemon grown from a stone. After splicing, the young shoot receives all the nutrients from the donor tree, is part of it, but retains its varietal characteristics and taste.

A grafted lemon begins to actively bear fruit already in the 2nd – 3rd year of growth.

Vaccination methods

Lemon grafting methods at home differ in the methods of combining shoots of 2 different plants:

• scion – buds or cuttings of an indoor fruit-bearing tree;
• пspice – a young seedling selected for implantation of grafting material.

After their inspection at the preparatory stage, the most suitable technology is determined:

1. Budding – an easy and safe method for the tree, with a high survival rate, and low material consumption. The method is optimal in the presence of a dense, well-formed crown of the donor tree. For grafting, a young, strong bud of a varietal lemon is carefully placed under the rootstock bark. At the same time, damage to plants is minimal.
2. Copulation – a common, but more traumatic method for the rootstock. The cuttings of the scion and the mother tree are cut at an acute angle, combined, fixed. The diameter of the trunks should be approximately the same, so that there is as little bare wood as possible.
3. Cuttings for the bark or split – one of the effective, but more complex methods. The trunk of the donor tree must be thick enough to withstand damage and increased stress. At the same time, the tree should not be older than 2,5 – 3 years. The advantage of the method is in a large number of viable buds remaining on the scion. However, if the graft is rejected, the donor tree usually dies.

What can you plant a lemon on?

The key to success in grafting a lemon tree is the right choice of rootstock. The plant must be strong, viable, resistant to diseases, have good taste.

For the stock, you should choose young seedlings of dwarf varieties of orange, grapefruit or lemon, independently grown from the stone. It is important that the diameter of the stem of the sprout does not exceed 2 – 4 cm. The plant should not be older than 3 years, have a strong, developed root system.

If the mother tree is chosen correctly, young shoots grow actively. A year later, they are abundantly covered with flowers, and a year later, with proper care, they give the first harvest.

The optimal time for grafting a lemon

According to experienced growers, the optimal time for gardening is early spring. In March-early April, sap flow is intense, shoots and leaves are actively growing, seedlings are susceptible to agricultural technology.

The timing of lemon grafting at home depends on the chosen method of the procedure:

1. Budding – successfully takes place in April-early May, when the plant is actively starting to grow. It is permissible to graft a lemon in August, but at this time the tree is already “falling asleep”, the survival rate is reduced, the formation of cuttings is slow.
2. Copulation – carried out in winter or early spring before the first buds appear. Seedlings during this period are the most viable.
3. The best time for split grafting is March, when the lemon has many young and strong shoots.

To perform grafting work, it is worth choosing a rainy, overcast day with the highest humidity. So the plant will more easily endure manipulations, adapt faster.

An incorrectly chosen period can lead to rejection of the grafting material, rotting, drying out of the kidney or main stem.

Preparation of tools and material

For successful lemon grafting, you need to properly select and prepare garden tools, materials, scion and stock.

The set of necessary tools includes:

• secateurs to remove excess leaves and shoots;
• sharp knife or blade;
• special strapping material, electrical tape, narrow elastic or gauze bandage;
• garden pitch to protect the cut from infection and decay;
• disinfectant solution, wet wipes.

Tools must be carefully sharpened and disinfected. The trunk, cuttings and hands are treated with antiseptic wet wipes.

How to Graft a Lemon with a Cutting

On a wild game with a strong, developed root system, grafting a lemon with a cutting will be optimal. The method involves cutting off the donor stem and splicing it with a scion seedling of the same diameter. As a result, the young shoot replaces the old branch: a tree with a varietal crown grows in its place.

Where to get a cutting for grafting a lemon

The success of implantation and splicing of shoots depends on the quality of the grafted material.

It is best to take a scion cutting from a 1 – 2-year-old branch of a home fruit-bearing tree. For grafting, 10-12 cm are cut off from an even, elastic shoot, leaving 2-3 viable green buds.

A rootstock for grafting indoor lemons is grown from an ordinary seed. It is not easy to obtain varietal scion material. You can find quality cuttings:

• at specialized points of sale;
• in a professional online store;
• through the section of private announcements on the local Internet portal;
• on the forum of citrus growers.

The first option is the most reliable, guaranteeing the right kind of lemon for grafting. The choice of other options is associated with a certain risk, you can purchase a hybrid or infertile plant.

Lemon grafting by copulation

Copulation is a method of grafting a lemon by precisely combining sections of cuttings from a rootstock and scion. For successful engraftment, their diameter must be the same.

Procedure:

1. A seedling no longer than 5 cm long is cut from the mother plant. The crown is removed from the cutting chosen as a stock.
2. Selected shoots are treated with antiseptic agents.
3. On cuttings at an acute angle, elongated oblique cuts are made of approximately the same size (3–4 cm).
4. They are combined with each other, tightly fixed with a strapping material.

Improved lemon copulation involves an additional vertical cut-step for better splicing of shoots.

The result of the procedure can be assessed after about 3 weeks. After this period, the bandage is removed, the regrown side shoots and shoots below the vaccination site are removed.

Grafting a lemon into a split

Split grafting is convenient when it is necessary to splice cuttings of different diameters.

Algorithm of actions:

1. The trunk of the donor tree is freed from leaves, growths, small shoots.
2. Wipe with an antiseptic composition, cut off at a height of 5 – 10 cm from the soil surface.
3. In the remaining part, with a sharp knife, go with a scalpel to a depth of 2,5 – 3 cm, make a vertical incision, carefully split it into 2 halves.
4. In the lower part of the scion, cuts are made at an acute angle on both sides.
5. The resulting wedge is carefully inserted into the split until it stops, the borders of the bark are combined.
6. Bare areas of wood are smeared with garden pitch – to protect against infection and decay.
7. The trunk is pulled together with a dressing.

As a scion, 2 cuttings can be used at the same time. The chances of survival in this case are higher.

The key to successful grafting is smooth, perfectly aligned cuts. Making them is easy with a special pruner purchased at a garden supply store.

The tool has a set of nozzles suitable for any method of grafting. This ensures the safety and ease of the procedure, rapid adaptation and healing of shoots.

How to graft a lemon with a kidney to bear fruit

Grafting a lemon with a bud is called budding or “eye grafting”. The process is the transfer of a bud and part of the bark from a lemon cutting into a depression on the main trunk or branch of a donor plant. This method is one of the safest and easiest to perform.

Before the procedure, it is worth carefully preparing the grafting material:

1. On a varietal lemon, a young, large viable kidney is chosen.
2. Cut it off along with the leaf petiole and part of the bark (shield).

   

3. The leaf is removed completely or ¼ of the total area is left for nutrition.
4. The scion is immersed in cool, preferably filtered or settled water, so that the kidney does not dry out.

For the stock, a young (about 3 years old), strong plant with strong bark and active sap flow is chosen. The barrel must be wiped with a damp antiseptic wipe or treated with alcohol.

Algorithm of actions for inoculating a lemon with a kidney:

1. On the trunk of a donor tree, at a height of about 10 – 12 cm from the ground, a transverse incision 1 cm long is made. Its depth should be such that the bark is easily separated from the wood, but the core remains intact.

   

2. Another incision is made perpendicular to it, 2,5 – 3,5 cm long. A T-shaped notch is obtained.
3. The bark is slightly bent back so that there is access to the inner wood.
4. A prepared shield with a cultivated lemon bud is inserted into the resulting recess.

   

5. The trunk at the grafting site is tightly wrapped with a bandage, elastic or gauze bandage, polyethylene or electrical tape. It is important to ensure that the “peephole” remains outside, a bandage is not applied to it.
6. For tightness, a garden var is applied over the strapping.

To increase the chances of getting a varietal lemon, you can double graft – implant 2 buds on opposite sides of the trunk. You need to be sure of the strength and viability of the mother tree: the load on its root system will be increased, a double amount of nutrients will be required.

The result of the procedure can be assessed in 15 to 25 days.

If the stalk turned yellow and fell off, the lemon grafting was successful. Soon a young shoot will appear and actively grow.

A month after germination, the strapping is removed, the trunk of the donor tree is cut off, stepping back 10-15 cm from the place of implantation, I cut the saw cut with garden pitch.

If the varietal bud has darkened, dried up, does not fall off when touched, the grafting has failed. The old cutting must be carefully removed, the cut must be disinfected, and the procedure repeated on another part of the bark.

How to grow a lemon grafted at home

After vaccination, the lemon needs careful care and a complex of restorative, healing and stimulating measures:

1. Greenhouse conditions are created for the plant: they are covered with a glass jar, a plastic bottle, polyethylene.
2. The resulting greenhouse is ventilated at least 2 times a day, slightly opening the film for 3 to 5 minutes.
3. A pot of lemon is placed on a sunny, warm windowsill, providing enough light for growth and development.
4. On the donor shoot, all leaves and lateral processes are removed.
5. In a makeshift greenhouse, a high level of humidity is maintained: a richly moistened napkin or a small container of water is placed under the film, and timely watering is provided. In addition, experienced flower growers recommend mulching the soil with sawdust to avoid drying out.
6. After 2-3 weeks, the condition of the scion is assessed. If the leaf cuttings turn black, the procedure was not successful; if they dried up and fell off, the operation was a success.
7. After successful implantation of the varietal material, the donor trunk is cut off at a height of 10-15 cm from the grafting site, the cut is treated with garden pitch.
8. Carefully monitor the condition of a young lemon.

Careful attitude and careful care of the grafted shoot will help you get an excellent harvest of lemons 1 to 2 years after the procedure.

Conclusion

To plant a lemon at home, you need to carefully study the methods for carrying out such a procedure, choose a strong donor tree, and find high-quality grafting material. For beginners, it is better to use a special secateurs that provide even, even cuts. For professionals, grafting a lemon is a creative, exciting process that helps to achieve an excellent varietal crop in a short time.