How would you like to have lemons growing on your balcony?
Well, it's possible and easy!
I give you a tutorial to grow lemon trees from a simple seed.
The cool thing is that these trees can grow in pots indoors and set fruit!
Especially since the lemon has lots of benefits and its flowers are beautiful and smell too good.
A nurseryman gave me his tip for planting lemon seeds.
The result is amazing:I managed to get them all up!
Here's how to grow a lemon tree at home quickly . Watch:
- the pips of a lemon
- seedling soil
- absorbent paper
- plastic bag
- a 30 cm high pot
- a water spray bottle
1. Put the potting soil in the pot.
2. Moisten the soil (without drowning it).
3. Collect the seeds of a lemon and suck them to remove the pulp.
4. Dampen the paper towel.
5. Place the pips on top and fold the paper to cover them.
6. Make sure the paper is damp.
7. Then, place everything in a plastic bag that you close with a knot.
8. Put the sachet in a dark, well-heated place for 10 days.
9. After 10 days, open the sachet. You will discover sprouted seeds.
10. Plant the seeds in the soil 2 cm deep.
11. Space them out or use multiple pots.
12. Spray some water on the earth.
13. Put the pot in a warm place (eg behind a south-facing window).
14. The young shoot appears after about twenty days. It must spend the day in full light (at least 8 hours).
15. Make sure the soil stays moist without being soaked.
16. If several seeds have emerged at the same time, separate them after two months. Put them each in a jar.
17. When the baby lemon tree outgrows its pot, change it to a slightly larger pot.
And There you go ! Now you know how to grow a lemon tree from a seed :-)
Easy, fast and efficient, right?
And above all, it costs nothing to plant the kernels.
Consider planting your seeds in late winter or early spring.
In addition, this DIY tutorial works with all citrus fruits:
Orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime, yuzu, bergamot and even caviar lemon.
Another method is to put the seeds in an airtight box for a week at a temperature of 25°C.
It stimulates germination. Then you plant them in a pot of soil as shown in the steps above.
Citrus trees love the sun, so place the pots in full sun when the weather is nice.
In winter, if it freezes or the temperatures drop too much, cover them with a winter veil.
Or, put them in a bright sunroom or garage.
For my part, in the Alps where the conditions are harsh, I shelter the pots from the cold wind:that's the most important thing.
My advice:prefer growing lemon trees in pots and not in the ground...unless you live in the far south of France.
This allows the trees to be brought in easily in the cold season.
Do not hesitate to put green manure at least twice a year.
Yes, a lemon tree grown from a seed can bear fruit after 6 years if you live in a tropical region.
In our latitudes, it will take even longer to know after 10 years.
But above all, it will begin to flower. And you will see how pleasant the smell of these flowers is!
Of course, 10 years seems like a long time...but what a pleasure to harvest these own citrus fruits!
For this, 2 methods:
- The transplant . It is a painstaking practice, but quite simple. And it is the assurance of having fruit on all your fruit trees in record time.
For this, you need a small tool called a "graft" and raffia. The grafting is done in spring or summer.
A good video is better than a written explanation, I recommend this tutorial to practice grafting on your young lemon trees.
- Luck . Some say that grafting is essential to obtain fruit on citrus fruits grown from seeds.
However, this is not the case...my trees on my terrace are proof of this.
I didn't know they needed to be grafted, so I let nature do its thing.
And surprise, two of my adult lemon trees bear fruit every year for 2 and 3 years. Of course, these fruits are smaller than normal, but they are delicious to eat.
It doesn't work every time and you have to be even more patient. But the result is worth the effort...especially if you don't feel like doing a transplant.
Tip:harvest the fruits of ungrafted trees and replant them. Good insurance to avoid grafting and still have fruit.
Quite simply, because I respected the alternation of hot and humid periods / temperate winter.
In summer, I put my lemon trees in full sun, but respecting a high level of humidity (watering, spraying).
And in winter, the shrubs were put in a veranda:assurance of a constant temperature and permanent sunshine.
