It has now become fashionable to present as a gift indoor citrus plants. Sometimes they are selected in flowering form or with rich fruits. Usually buyers pay attention to the appearance of the plant. In their opinion, the better it looks, the more time it will please its owners in the future. But often you may encounter the fact that after a while there is wilting of the leaves and falling of the ovaries. So how do you properly care for a plant? growing pavlovsk lemon did not cause any difficulties and brought joy to the owners?
Causes of falling leaves
For citrus fruits, it is important to be in the same place. If the situation in the house changes, then the citrus bush reacts sharply to this. Leaves begin to fall and branches dry up. Lemon acclimatization manifests itself in the form of a strong slowdown in the functioning of the root system, in connection with this, less water enters the tree than before. At the same time, evaporation from the surface of the leaves occurs at the same rate. This leads to the fact that gas exchange and thermoregulation are disturbed, as a result of which the foliage begins to fall off. The fruits receive the lion's share of all substances obtained by the roots. In addition, resources are used for flowering, fruit formation and the growth of new branches.
In order for a homemade lemon to feel good in the apartment after purchase, you must follow the rules for caring for it. Sometimes you may encounter a phenomenon when even the most healthy-looking leaves fall in large numbers. This usually happens if the plant has not been watered for a long time, and then the citrus was watered. Even a small amount of moisture after prolonged drying can lead to loss of foliage. Resuscitation of homemade lemon necessary if you water the citrus heavily, and then put it in a place blown by the winds. As a result, the plant is subjected to strong cooling.
What needs to be done before buying?
If citrus is bought in a large flower shop, then you should carefully inspect the bush for the presence of pests. On the plants in the store, you can encounter scale insects, spider mites and other enemies. If you purchase a diseased bush, then soon the pests can infect all the plants in your house.
After moving the plant from the store to your home, it is better to remove the already planted fruits so that it is easier for the plant to acclimatize For purchase, completely healthy specimens are chosen, on which there is a large amount of foliage. If there are no fruits on the bushes, then this is not so important. Soon, healthy citrus fruits will appear, delighting you with their beauty and originality.
Sometimes in stores there is a big discount on plants prone to various diseases. You should not buy them if you have no experience in treating flower ailments.
Where can you buy citrus?
Before purchasing a plant, many are wondering where is the best place to buy it. If you choose a large store with a large variety of flowers and other plants as your place of purchase, then you should be careful in your choice. Specialists of foreign nurseries, from where plants get to large chain stores, grow various varieties using hormonal preparations. Plants grow quickly, as ideal conditions are created for this. If a new batch of goods has appeared in the store chain, then you should observe them for several weeks. If the tree is still as healthy, then you can buy it.
If the citrus is sold by local amateur gardeners, then it is much easier to care for it, since the plant is adapted to our conditions. Lemon acclimatization also goes much faster.
Should the fruits be harvested?
So, you have purchased a new citrus or moved it to another room. What to do next? If there are fruits on the tree, then they must be removed, and then try restore lemon.
If there are a large number of leaves, flowers and ovaries, you should not get rid of them. The tree should be closely monitored. If the citrus begins to feel worse, which is immediately indicated by an unpresentable appearance, then the leaves, flowers and ovaries are removed.
If diseases begin to develop, as a result of which leaves fall and the appearance of citrus also leaves much to be desired, then restore lemon possible with high humidity. Under these conditions, the leaves do not evaporate water, and also they cannot fall off. It is worth putting the trees in greenhouses, upholstered transparent material. For small specimens, you can make resuscitation sites yourself using an old aquarium or a plastic bottle. If the trees have big size, then you can cover them with polyethylene material. If the tree after a while takes on a healthier appearance and new shoots begin to grow, then the polyethylene should be left in place. After a while, it is worth first removing the material for an hour or two, and then the ventilation period gradually increases.
When the lemon blooms, the room is filled with a subtle, sweet aroma. Transfer
Usually the sale of purchased plants takes place in small pots. Soon you may encounter the fact that the roots do not fit in the containers and climb through the holes made in the bottom. Therefore, the owners decide to transplant the plants into another container with a larger volume. But such a transplant is the strongest stress for the tree, so it is worthwhile to carry out the procedure after its acclimatization, which takes place within 2-3 weeks. In addition, for better survival, it is necessary to preserve an earthen ball during transplantation.
Fertilization
Indoor lemon care involves the application of fertilizers. But you can not fertilize diseased trees, as well as those that have been transplanted. In such plants, poor functioning of the root system is observed due to poor absorption of fertilizers. Do not apply any fertilizer within six months after transplantation. But in rare cases, the use of foliar dressings is necessary.
Accommodation
Citrus fruits grow well and bear fruit abundantly in conditions of high light, heat and humidity, so trees are usually placed on the southeast or southwest side of the house or apartment. But the plant is absolutely not adapted to grow in hot conditions, therefore, after purchase, it is placed in places with a large shadow.
You should carefully monitor the optimum temperature. If the roots are in a draft, and the crown is in warm and dry conditions, then this is also unfavorable for the tree.
By following the recommendations for care, after a while it will be possible to get fruits from your citrus plant Resuscitation measures
Resuscitation of homemade lemon carried out after determining the reasons that led to this.
First, take a close look root system. Usually the tree is pulled out of the pot and inspected. If the roots are in good condition, then the plant is carefully placed back. If rot is found, it should be eliminated. The usual slight twitching can help in determining the condition of the roots. If the plant is creeping, then this indicates decay. When determining the complete decay of the roots, the tree is placed in water, in which special preparations are dissolved, for an hour and a half. Then the citrus is transplanted into a pot with light soil.
If not all the roots have rotted, then the rest is washed and planted in the ground. But frequent watering in this case is not needed.
One of the main causes of the detrimental state of citrus is often pests. They suck the sap from the plant, preventing it from getting all the nutrients it needs. Usually citrus can be attacked by red spider mite, scale insects or mealybugs. Indoor lemon care consists in the timely detection and elimination of these pests with the help of special preparations.
If you follow all the measures when caring for citrus fruits, then soon the plant will again delight you with beautiful appearance and excellent fruits.
Growing a lemon, like any other plant, in normal home conditions requires proper and complete care. If the lemon does not provide the necessary conditions for existence, the tree begins to get sick, drop leaves and flowers. It is due to improper care at home that the lemon leaves dry and fall off, and in this case it is necessary to accurately establish and eliminate the factors that led to the problem.
Why do indoor lemon leaves dry?
As a rule, most of the problems when growing lemons at home lie precisely in improper care, since the plant requires certain conditions. If the tree is drying in small numbers, especially on older specimens, this is not always a problem and most likely indicates natural seasonal foliage replacement. It is necessary to sound the alarm when the lemon not only leaves fall, but also the trunk and branches dry. In this case, the plant needs urgent help and identification of the exact causes.
Bad light
light for proper development lemon tree and its health plays one of the most important roles. It is the lack of light that is the most common cause the fact that the tips of the leaves and the entire leaf plate dry in a room lemon.
All citrus crops grown at home need to provide adequate lighting for 12 hours a day.
For this purpose, a lemon is usually placed near the windowsills of the southwestern and southern windows. In other places, lemons need lighting. However, the reason for the yellowing and drying of the leaves, as well as the fact that the trunk and branches dry on the lemon, can also be an excess of light.
Direct sunlight, especially through glass, can cause burns.
Place directly on window sills to avoid burns. lemon Tree Not recommended. It is best to place the pot on a table near a window with the most sunlight, shielding it from direct sun with a light transparent curtain.
Over and under watering
Lemon loves moisture very much, so its lack often leads to the fact that the leaves of the tree dry. Water the plant in summer time you need it daily, and on especially hot days - twice a day, but with a small amount of water and constantly monitoring the condition of the soil in the pot.
The reason that the trunk and branches dry on a tree can be not only a lack of moisture, but also its excess, as a result of which the root system begins to rot. In addition, the condition of the plant is affected by the quality of water, as well as its temperature.
It is impossible to water the plant with tap water, it must be boiled and defended. It is best to use purified filtered water. The trunk of a lemon often dries even with frequent watering. cold water. The plant does not tolerate cold temperatures and when watered with cold water, a shock occurs at the roots, which negatively affects the condition of the plant.
Soil depletion
The lack of nutrients in the soil also leads to the fact that the lemon throws off its leaves and its trunk dries. To plant the plant, it is necessary to use special soil mixtures designed for citrus plants, and every week the plant needs to be fed with liquid lemon fertilizer.
When the soil is depleted, the lemon can quickly shed its leaves, after which the trunk of the tree begins to dry, and if the necessary measures are not taken in time, the tree may die.
In the summer, during the active growing season, fertilizing is necessary every week, since lemons are very demanding on the composition of the soil and the amount of nutrients in it. In winter, the plant is fed once every 2 weeks, since most adult trees bear fruit throughout the year.
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Dryness and heat in the house
Lemons are very fond of moisture, so they need not only to be watered daily, but also to spray the crown several times a day. Most of all, the tree needs spraying in the summer, as well as in winter, as heating devices contribute to a strong drying of the air. When the air is very dry, the leaves of the lemon dry, curl up and fall off.
It is necessary to spray the plant at least 3 times a day.
To do this, you need to use clean warm water, but you should not carry out the procedure in the presence of a scorching sun, as this can cause burns on the leaves. To increase the humidity, it is recommended to place a container of water next to the pot.
Wrong temperature setting
If the lemon leaves dry at the edges and curl at the same time, this usually indicates the presence of frequent temperature changes in the room where the lemon tree is kept. Any representative of citrus loves heat very much and does not tolerate drafts and cold snaps.
Therefore, you should not place the plant near doors or vents. As well as next to heating appliances in winter time. Overheating of the tree itself or an earthy coma can lead to a complete loss of leaves, and to the fact that the trunk of the lemon begins to dry.
The room should be regularly ventilated, but so that air flows do not fall on the lemon tree. Any temperature differences, both up and down, are contraindicated for the plant.
The emergence of pests and diseases
Often, various diseases, as well as the appearance of pests, lead to the fact that a lemon sheds its leaves and its trunk and branches dry. For example, when a spider mite appears on a tree, the leaves actively dry, curl and fall off, while dryness spreads to the branches.
In this case, the pest must be immediately disposed of by treating the plant with an insecticide or a solution of laundry (tar) soap.
If the plant is affected by the scab, then characteristic growths form on the leaves, due to which the leaves dry and quickly fall off. The methods of struggle here will be practically the same as with the appearance of a spider mite.
Wrong feeding
Conducting proper and timely feeding in the care of homemade lemon is of particular importance. With a lack of nutrients, lemon leaves turn yellow and dry from the end, while the veins have a fairly healthy appearance.
If top dressing is carried out in excess quantities, then the tree sheds leaves without drying, but at the same time the trunk of the lemon dries.
Fertilizers must be applied once a week in the amount and concentration recommended on the package, and special formulations designed specifically for citrus fruits should be used. A variety of complex fertilizers for all kinds of fruit crops are not suitable for feeding lemons.
What to do if homemade lemon dries and sheds leaves
The sooner the reason why the trunk and leaves dry on a lemon is established, the more likely it is to save the plant from death. At the initial stage of the problem, when the tree itself actively resists the influence of negative factors or pests, it can be quickly and easily reanimated.
In fact, the treatment of such injuries is very similar to preventive measures preventing problems from occurring. With the exception of the appearance of pests, since very serious measures and application may be required here. chemicals. What to do if homemade lemon dries:
- If the problem is over watering and rotting of the roots, it is necessary to immediately transplant the lemon into fresh soil and a new pot, removing the damaged roots, and then carefully monitor the soil moisture;
- In the presence of burns on the leaves the tree should be rearranged in partial shade or shielded from the scorching sun with a light curtain. Many citrus growers in such situations block the sunlight with a screen, while providing the lemon with artificial lighting that does not cause burns;
- As a rule, damaged and dried leaves should be removed. It will not be possible to restore them, but new healthy leaves and young shoots can grow in their place, so you should make room for them.
- It is important to provide the lemon with the right habitat, maintaining optimal humidity and regularly spraying the plant with warm water. It is also necessary to bring the temperature in the room back to normal, maintaining it in the future within the range of 18 - 22 ° С.
If you provide the lemon with everything the necessary conditions for a normal existence, he will very quickly restore his strength and build up a new healthy crown.
Preventive measures
As a rule, preventive measures in this case are called providing the lemon with the necessary living conditions for maintaining health, normal flowering and stable fruiting.
One of the important conditions is daily spraying 2-3 times a day.
This measure allows not only to maintain the required level of humidity and cleanliness of the leaf plates, but also protects the plant from the appearance of pests such as spider mites and scale insects. It is important that the tree receives plenty of bright but diffused light for 12 hours each day.
It is necessary to place a pot of lemon so that the direct rays of the sun do not fall on the tree, while it should not be exposed to drafts and overheating.
Lemon loves peace, so you should not rearrange it from place to place, trying to determine the most suitable conditions for existence. It is best to choose the optimal place immediately, since when rearranging the plant, it can drop all the leaves at once without any additional negative factors.
Indoor cultivation of citrus fruits requires responsibility on the part of the grower. If your care for them is limited to watering alone, then do not be surprised why the leaves fall off the lemon, although it seems to be an evergreen plant. However, do not be afraid, caring for it is simple, but the tree will immediately respond to caring for it with a beautiful appearance, flowering, and harvest.
A little about citrus
Citrus fruits, for the most part, come from the subtropics, with hot summers and mild winters. The summer growing season for lemons means plenty of sun and moisture. In autumn, with a natural reduction in daylight hours, the volume of watering and fertilizing decreases. The rest period for a lemon is expressed by a decrease in average temperatures.
Unfortunately, we are not always able to provide good conditions wintering lemon. Why he can shed part of the foliage, or almost completely lose the green mass. It’s not so scary if this happened, but in order not to bring our green pet to leaf fall, you need to know why the plant dropped its leaves. So, homemade lemon sheds leaves - what to do and how to prevent it?
Video about helping a lemon
Below are the main reasons:
- Bad light
- Over watering
- Insufficient watering
- Soil depletion
- Dryness and heat at home
- Cold in the room where the tree hibernates
Why lemon leaves fall and how to deal with it
Poor lighting includes a natural mechanism for reducing the amount of green mass, citrus fruits are susceptible to this, as conditionally deciduous plants. Only leaf fall for a lemon is more a reaction to stress than an annual process. It is necessary to increase the illumination of lemons in the autumn-winter time, since where they come from, there is no such sharp drop in illumination in winter.
For this:
- Place a tub of lemon at the south window
- Create additional lighting with reflective surfaces around the plant
- Additional illumination with fluorescent lamps.
Excessive watering leads to acidification of the soil, which makes it denser, less saturated with oxygen. Little air enters the root system, small capillary roots begin to die. Not being able to provide nutrition to the entire green mass, the lemon gets rid of some of it.
Insufficient watering leads to the drying of the earthy coma, the death of the roots, and the inability to absorb nutrients from the soil. Sap flow, as a result of this, slows down. It also turns on the process of saving fluid in the lemon tree and it gets rid of most of the foliage. Drying out an earthen clod is extremely harmful to a plant and can sometimes lead to its death, unless your lemon has already grown into a five-eight-year-old tree and the moisture reserve in the wood allows it to endure this torment for more than a month.
Sudden watering after a long period of drought is also harmful. This is akin to monsoon rain, when the soil abruptly changes from excessive dryness to excessive moisture. Lemon does not like this very much and responds to such stress adequately - sheds leaves.
To avoid yellowing and leaf fall in such cases, it is best not to let the soil dry out or fill the pot with water, turning it into a swamp. The soil should always be slightly damp. But if the earthen ball is still dry, you need to gradually moisten it. First, in small portions of watering with an interval of several hours, and then after a day or two, increase the doses of watering until the entire volume of the soil is saturated with moisture.
Soil depletion. During the summer growing season, the plant intensively consumes the mineral composition from the soil, and given that in the limited space of the pot it has nowhere to replenish it in addition to the artificial introduction of organic and mineral supplements, we should take care of this. There are three main top dressings: nitrogen, phosphates or superphosphates, potassium salts. But indoor flowers need even more trace elements such as zinc, cobalt, molybdenum, selenium, iron, etc. A significant drawback of one or more of them is expressed in sheet deformation, color change, and then falling off. This may be redness, the appearance of yellow spots, blanching, loss of sheet elasticity, drying out at the edges.
We avoid this problem by feeding the soil with organic matter with minerals. Macronutrients are not given evenly throughout the year. So, in the spring, most of the nitrogen supplements are applied to the soil and organic fertilizers. In summer, evenly nitrogen, phosphorus, mineral and organic are introduced. In autumn, we increase the dose of potash fertilizers, exclude nitrogen and organic matter. We feed micronutrients monthly. This is best done in the form of liquid complex fertilizers.
Heat. The dry warm air of a room heated in winter resembles the microclimate of a salt desert. Even in the Sahara, the humidity is higher. Even for cacti that love dry but cool winter air, these conditions will not be comfortable. It is not surprising that the lemon is unable to cope with such stressful conditions - the leaves fall.
What to do if the air in the apartment is too dry:
- First, move the tree tub away from the battery.
- Hang the radiator with a thick blanket or cloth if there is no other way to control the room temperature.
- Regularly spray every week. Shower the plant periodically.
Low room temperature. Coolness is needed for a lemon for a successful winter, but you should know when to stop. It is better to keep the temperature in the room where the lemon tree is located above +10. Otherwise, the plant also includes the mechanism of leaf fall. The problem is relevant not only for winter gardens, greenhouses, where there may be too low air temperatures. Your citrus fruits should also be kept out of drafts so you don't wonder later why the lemon sheds its leaves despite all the measures taken. In winter, constant drafts lead to the fact that the plant long time tolerates extreme temperature fluctuations, experiences stress. We need to get rid of it. So take care of temperature regime, as well as the absence of drafts at home.
And separately it is worth mentioning the diseases and pests of citrus fruits, which can also lead to leaf fall.
Indoor lemon diseases
The spider mite most often develops in conditions of dry hot air, characteristic cobwebs appear at the bases of the leaves, the leaves themselves turn yellow, curl, and dry out. Fitoverm is well suited against ticks. You can, if the tree is small, dip its green part in hot water, above 60 °C.
A sign of aphid infection is deformation, yellowing of the leaves, drying out of entire branches. When there are many aphids, its colony is hard to miss, they focus on reverse side sheet. If there are few insects, then manually remove all the affected areas, if there are many, use Tanrek and the like.
It happens that for no reason, for no apparent reason, the lemon dropped its leaves. What to do in this case? Check for gommosis - the expiration of gum on the bark. Gommosis is often the result of other diseases that weaken the plant. It is necessary to fight with them. And, most often, exclusively drugs, folk methods are not very effective here. It is not always easy to determine which disease is in front of us, so it is best to use complex preparations, such as Antracol, Quadris and others.
Now it has become quite fashionable to give beautiful flowering or bright-fruited citrus fruits. And it often happens that having bought, at first glance, a healthy plant, after a week or two it begins to wither before our eyes. It seems that the care was good, and the place is bright, and the owner comes to him every 5 minutes to "blow off dust particles", but it's all to no avail - the leaves crumble, the ovaries fall off. Of course, not all purchased plants follow this plot, but since sometimes this happens, it is worth considering such cases.
Why are the leaves falling?
So, you probably already know that citrus fruits like constancy and react negatively to a change of scenery. Adaptation to new conditions is called acclimatization. Why problems might arise leaf fall and drying branches? My opinion is that during acclimatization, the work of the root system can sometimes be greatly slowed down. The tree begins to receive less moisture, but the leaves do not stop evaporating it at the same high speed, as a result of which gas exchange and thermoregulation are disturbed - and they fall off. The lion's share of resources goes to the fruits that have a high priority. Leaves, especially old ones, are containers in which citrus fruits store all the necessary substances that are used for new growths, flowering and fruiting - that's why each leaf is "worth its weight in gold."
Sometimes it happens that completely healthy-looking foliage is massively dumped. According to personal observations, this happens if, after drying, even not very strong, citrus is abundantly watered. Or after abundant watering, the pot falls into a draft and is very cool. In the first case, I recommend not to rush to pour in a lot of water at the sight of drooping leaves, and in the second, if there is a chance of root hypothermia, do not water abundantly.
What should be done before buying?
In large flower shops, pests are very often present, which are difficult to control due to the huge number of plants. So first of all, before buying any plant, it needs to be very examine carefully for scale insects, spider mites and other enemies, because because of one such new thing, then you can fight pests all your life, which will quickly get used to your entire collection. Plants should only be bought when fully healthy with lots of leaves, not fruit, although they won't look as decorative. Sick citrus fruits should be bought only at a large markdown and if there is experience in resuscitation.
Where to buy?
In large stores and a huge selection of citrus fruits. Mostly they are brought from Holland and Portugal. Such plants also need to be approached with caution, because now they have learned in nurseries with the help of various hormones and ideal conditions to grow various varieties very quickly. You should not "rush" to a new batch of citrus fruits, it is better to watch the intended tree for a month and, if everything is fine, then buy it. When buying citrus fruits from local gardeners, the risk is much less, since the mother plants are already accustomed to our conditions and the cuttings taken from them are much easier to acclimatize.
Should the fruits be harvested?
And so, what to do after acquiring a new citrus or a sharp change of scenery for the "old-timer"? Of course, if there are fruits on it that are ripening or have already ripened, then they must be removed immediately in order to direct the energy in the right direction. If the tree has a lot of leaves, blooms and there are small ovaries, then they can be left under supervision and, in case of deterioration of the plant, also immediately removed.
Is it worth transplanting?
Very often, purchased plants are sold in too small pots, in which the roots no longer fit and climb through the drainage holes. Changing the conditions of detention is a stress for the plant. Transplantation is also a lot of stress. Therefore, if there is a desire, you can immediately produce only transshipment with the preservation of an earthen coma. If the soil in which the plant is located is suspicious, then a transplant can also be made, but not before the tree has acclimatized. The acclimatization period may vary, but usually it is one to two weeks.
Can you fertilize?
I want beginners to take this point very seriously and remember: diseased plants, as well as citrus fruits after transplantation in no case can't fertilize! If the root does not work well, then the fertilizer is not absorbed and the elements go into forms inaccessible to the roots for consumption, which causes large nutritional imbalances and huge problems. After planting in a new soil for at least half a year, you should forget about fertilizers. An exception, perhaps, can only be foliar feeding.
Where to place?
Citrus fruits are light, warm, and moisture-loving plants that should be placed on the southeast or southwest window sills, if we are talking about a permanent place in the apartment. But when buying in the summer, you should not expose the tree to the heat. It is better to place it in the acclimatization period shaded place. In the same way, you should not allow the pot to be very cool from drafts in the cold season, while the crown is surrounded by warm and dry room air.
How to revive?
This question concerns not only new, but also old citrus fruits, which may even have given more than one excellent harvest. There can be many reasons for the deterioration of the condition, and in order to know what measures to take, you need to think about what the problems are.
rotten roots
Basically, my practice shows that the main causes of problems should be looked for in the roots. To check them, you need to carefully pull the tree out of the pot and inspect it. If the roots are good and braided with a lump, then such a procedure will not hurt and the tree can be put just as carefully back. If there are rotten roots, then they need to be removed. To determine the state of the root, you can lightly pull it. If he slipped like a stocking, it means rotten. If almost the entire root has rotted due to poor-quality soil or fertilizer poisoning, then you need to place the root in water with the addition of preparations that improve rooting (if any) and soak for an hour. After that, transfer to light ground, can be peat. This, of course, is an extreme measure and should be resorted to if the situation is completely deplorable.
If there are not many rotten roots, then after trimming them and updating the part of the soil that has fallen off, you can do it, which definitely does not harm. But watering often is not worth it. I know from my own experience that at the sight of an oppressed plant, there is always an irresistible desire to water it, which leads to bays with very negative consequences.
Pests
The reason for the poor condition of your favorite citrus tree can be pests sucking juice, such as, or. If they are detected, urgent measures must be taken to combat and try to ensure Better conditions recovery.
In cases of any diseases, in order to preserve the leaves and speedy recovery, first of all, it is necessary to provide high humidity, at which the leaves practically do not evaporate water and do not fall off. To do this, small plants are placed in transparent greenhouses, which can be easily made with your own hands from an old aquarium or even plastic bottle. With larger instances of problems, the crown has to be placed under a plastic bag. It doesn’t matter what device you come up with - the main thing is that there would be almost 100% humidity!
If your favorite tree is on the mend, it has begun to shoot, then in no case do you need to immediately remove the package. This will again lead to a sharp change in conditions and acclimatization, so it is necessary to adapt citrus fruits gradually, increasing the duration of ventilation every day.
I wish all your plants a trouble-free acclimatization and never have to take resuscitation measures!
When growing indoor lemon, in some cases there are problems associated with improper care and maintenance of this whimsical plant. By eliminating the cause of the tree, you can regularly get a rich harvest of fruits. Failure to follow the recommendations for care can lead to the death of citrus.
Why do lemon leaves turn yellow, fall off and curl up
Often, gardeners are faced with the fact that lemon leaves turn yellow. There may be several reasons why a lemon turns yellow. Possible reasons could be a lack of light or nutrients, as nutrition is very important for citrus crops. For the full development, growth and fruit setting, elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, potassium, magnesium, sulfur, calcium are necessary. Nitrogen contributes to healthy leaf color. Calcium is responsible for the development of the root system. Phosphorus is involved in the construction of plant cells, improves the quality of fruits, increases their content of sugar, vitamins and trace elements. promotes better absorption of nitrogen, accelerates the ripening of lignified shoots and ripening of fruits, increases the resistance of lemon to diseases. Timely application of fertilizers containing the above elements in its composition will help prevent yellowing, wilting and leaf fall. At the same time, the taste of the fruit will increase significantly.
Lighting plays an important role in the formation of a healthy tree. Citrus, like any other plant in the tropics, needs 12 hours of daylight, so the lemon is placed on the south, southwest and southeast windows. If necessary, use additional lighting.
Another reason why lemon leaves turn yellow is an excess of light. When direct sunlight hits the plant, or its prolonged exposure to the sun leads to the formation of leaf plates yellow spots- miniature burns that the tree is able to cope with on its own if it is placed in a shaded or semi-shaded place. If this is not done, the lemon will completely shed its foliage and die.
This culture is moisture-loving. Needs regular, abundant watering and high humidity (70-90%). In extreme heat or excessively dry indoor air, the edges of citrus leaves begin to turn yellow. To prevent this, you need to spray the tree daily with a spray bottle, and also use a humidifier. You can put a container filled with water next to the lemon.
Dry air is often the reason why lemon leaves curl.
In some cases, the leaves turn yellow at the base, after which they fall off. This can be facilitated by moisture accumulating in the soil and negatively affecting the root system. With prolonged stagnation of moisture, the roots begin to rot, and the earth acquires an unpleasant odor. In this case, it is necessary to transplant the plant into another container filled with fresh soil. Pebbles or expanded clay are preliminarily laid at the bottom, which will provide good drainage. Before transplanting, the roots that have undergone decay are removed. Then the root system is treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate to destroy putrefactive bacteria. After that, the lemon is planted in fresh soil.
Sometimes lemon leaves turn yellow at the edges and curl with sudden changes in room temperature. In the same way, citrus reacts to drafts, so a pot of lemon should not be placed near a window or door.
Turning on heaters can also lead to yellowing of lemon leaves.
Why does a lemon shed its leaves
At different times of the year, citrus sheds leaves, but more often this can be observed in the autumn-winter period. The reasons why lemon leaves fall are usually associated with unfavorable tree conditions.
With a lack of light, the plant is depleted and begins to lose foliage. Quite often this happens in winter. In this case, additional illumination with special lamps is required.
Other reasons why a lemon sheds leaves are dry indoor air, lack of nutrition, insufficient watering, a cramped pot, hypothermia of the roots, acidification of the soil, a sudden change in location, premature flowering. To eliminate this problem, you need to provide the plant with regular watering and timely fertilization. If the pot has become cramped, the tree is transplanted into a container bigger size. To prevent hypothermia of the root system, you should water the citrus with water at room temperature or a little warmer. Do not keep it on a cold windowsill. It is important to regularly monitor the condition of the soil and its moisture content. With an excess of moisture, the roots begin to rot, which leads to the shedding of leaves.
When transplanting a tree into a larger pot, acidification of the soil may occur. To avoid this, the new pot should be 2-4 cm larger in diameter than the previous one. Often, the leaves fall off immediately after transplantation, so lemons are initially planted in spacious containers.
Since the lemon quickly gets used to its permanent place, it reacts negatively to the rearrangement and hardly gets used to new conditions, as a result of which it can lose foliage.
Citrus leaves can fall off under the influence of pathogens and, for example, or. In order to timely identify and eliminate pests, it is recommended to periodically inspect the tree.
What to do if a lemon dropped its leaves? In some cases, the plant recovers on its own. However, it is necessary to exclude all possible causes: prevent drafts, ensure timely watering, optimal air humidity. Fertilizer is applied only if the plant is healthy. If the tree was moved to another place, you need to return it to its original location.
Why homemade lemon does not bloom
Sometimes it happens that citrus does not bloom for a very long time. In this case, the tree can be pushed to bloom by grafting with a cultivated cutting. After that, the flowers will appear in 2-3 years. The reason why homemade lemon does not bloom may be the lack of a cool wintering (at a temperature of 12-15 ° C), when flower buds are laid in the plant. In a warm room, without a dormant period, citrus may not bloom. In addition, the tree may lack trace elements.
Very rarely, lemons grown from the stone bloom and bear fruit. To achieve flowering, it is necessary to graft a branch of a fruiting plant. Flowering will come in 3-4 years.
When planting a lemon, you should be aware that some varieties bloom annually, while others once every 4-5 years.
Why Lemon Doesn't Fruit
It happens that the tree blooms, but does not bear fruit. Why doesn't a lemon bear fruit? There may be several reasons for this. The most common of these are lack of nutrients, low humidity, lack of light.
With insufficient feeding, the ovary, which has developed to a size walnut, crumbles. Sometimes, with poor feeding, the ovary ripens, but the fruits remain small.
The lack of fruiting may be due to poor pollination. In this case, you need to pollinate the flowers with a cotton swab, transferring pollen from one flower to another.
To get a rich harvest of lemons, you need to create all the necessary conditions for the tree and provide proper care. So, for example, in the absence of a dormant state, the development of a plant is disrupted, which directly affects its fruiting.
Why do the ovaries and fruits of lemons fall
It happens that citrus blossomed, but the ovaries crumbled. Why do lemon ovaries fall off? Most often this happens due to dry air, in the presence of drafts, excess moisture, as well as a lack of nutrients. Falling of the ovary can cause scale insects and spider mites.
Why do lemon fruits fall off? During fruiting, citrus reacts painfully to even a slight lack of nutrients, as a result of which its yield decreases.
To get a good harvest, potash fertilizers are applied to the soil in the autumn. You can prepare a solution of water (1 liter) and wood ash (2-3 tablespoons).
It is also worth bearing in mind that a tree drops its ovary when it feels that it is not ready to bear fruit. It is believed that each fruit should have 10 leaves. If there are fewer of them, after flowering, the excess ovary is removed.
It is important to correctly form the load of future fruits. Remove excess flowers, leaving 1-2 flowers on the side branches.
Subject to all the rules of care, the question "why lemons fall" will no longer arise.
Why the lemon dries up and the branches dry
Often, gardeners ask themselves the question “why does a lemon dry up?” This situation occurs when there is a lack of moisture, excessively dry air, stagnant water in the soil, or poor lighting. Should be eliminated possible cause and after a while the tree will be restored.
Why do lemon branches dry? This may be due to a lack or excess of moisture. Often, dried branches indicate an invasion of a spider mite.
It happens that the branches dry up in winter. In most cases, this indicates that the plant is acclimatizing. In this case in early spring dried shoots are removed, new ones will appear in their place.
Another reason why the lemon dries is the lack of trace elements. It is recommended to alternate fertilizing with nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium or use a balanced fertilizer containing micro and macro elements necessary for the plant. Citrus responds well to feeding "Root feeder". As a result of its use, the tree pleases with a healthy appearance and a rich harvest.
