Lemon propagation
Question: Why do some cuttings of lemons and other citrus fruits put on rooting bloom?
Alex: The flower buds were already laid on the cut branch of the mother plant, perhaps the change in conditions provoked them to bloom. If the flower buds have not yet been laid, then until the cuttings take root, there will be no flowers or buds. Also, buds can begin to bloom during the grafting process.
Q: Does flowering on cuttings slow root growth?
Rooting citrus cuttings - Alex's article detailing.
Alex: Flowering will push back the formation of roots, and if there are already small roots, they develop very slowly. I have two greenhouses with lemon cuttings. One cuttings did not bloom, powerful roots are visible through plastic, and no blooming roots are observed.
Question: Does the growth of twigs on cuttings also go to the detriment of the roots?
Alex: The growth of shoots on rooted cuttings also slows down root formation. These shoots feed on the internal reserves of the handle, often then they die off or one leaf remains.
Question: I believed that the appearance of a new shoot on the handle just indicates that it has already taken root and has grown. It isn't?
Alex: If the stalk is rooted for 1.5-2 months, then we can assume that its roots have grown and the development of shoots has begun, but if the shoots appeared on the stalk in a week, then there is no talk of root formation. Some types of citrus fruits (clementine), having stood on rooting for 1.5 months, release shoots, take it out of the greenhouse, and there only callus has formed, and the roots are not yet visible.
Question: Does it make sense to pluck shoots and flowers on a rooted lemon handle until the handle has spent all its energy on them?
Alex: Yes, shoots can be removed, only first you need to make sure that the roots of the stalk are not allowed. It will also take him a lot of energy to sprout the next kidney. But I do not remove the shoots, although this really negatively affects the formation of roots in the handle. I act according to the rule: what to do - what not to pass, the handle wants to live - will survive in any conditions, it is destined to die - sooner or later it will die. But buds on rooted cuttings are a big threat to the survival and growth of roots. They need to be plucked in their infancy.
Question: I have one lemon stalk instead of shoots drives buds. I pinch them - again buds. I already threw off all the old leaves, well, what should I do with it, it is already rooted, and I threw off the leaves?
Alex: Drip a few drops of ammonia on the soil, and place the handle under the bag - let it breathe nitrogen, this can stimulate growth.
Question: The upper buds have sprouted on the cuttings, the neck of the greenhouse bottle interferes with the twigs. What to do? Leave the cuttings in the greenhouse until spring, maybe cut off the throat of the bottle? Or early?
Alex: I replant all rooted plants at any convenient time. After landing on the pot, I put on the top of the plastic bottle and put it under the lamps. Three or four weeks later, I begin to accustom young plants to room conditions: first I turn off the cork, then I cut the neck, then I make the incision even lower, and it is easier to have all these elements ready and change them as needed. In addition, if you do not dare to transplant, then build up the greenhouse with the middle part of another bottle (make an insert) or take another bottle and cut it closer to the base.
Jah: When rooting citrus fruits, I quite often take them out of vermiculite and examine them - if small, 5 mm or more, roots appear, then I plant them on individual hundred-gram cups with the ground, and put a half-liter cup on top. In a week or two, when the roots appear through the walls of the cup, I cut the bottom at the top, that is, I cut off the edge of the bottom so that there is a small hole. After another week or two, I take off a large glass. So I recommend the rooted seating.
Q: Planted mandarin cuttings at the end of August as recommended by Alex. Provided light and warmth. For two weeks now, two cuttings have been throwing away the kidneys, which I cut off. November and no roots in sight.
Alex: Do not dig up the soil to check the roots, if they appear, they begin to grow very quickly, and reach the wall of the greenhouse, through which they will be clearly visible. Real tangerines take root for a long time, I have several cuttings of Unshiu tangerine without roots since February, although callus has been formed for a long time. Hybrids root more easily, some species, as well as lemons, start roots after 3 weeks.
Question: What is the maximum permissible soil temperature when rooting citrus fruits?
Alex: The most optimal air temperature for rooting is 22-25 degrees, while the soil temperature should be 2-3 degrees higher. In summer, at 30 degrees heat, the cuttings also took root well, but here again the vaccine should work: the higher the temperature, the more light the cuttings should receive.
Question: Sometimes I put greenhouses with cuttings on the radiator (battery). First I put a towel, and then I put a greenhouse, the temperature on the towel is about 30 degrees. My question is whether it is necessary to combine heating and light (illumination)? Or can we say heated at night, and light during the day!?
Alex: Excessive heat without lighting is not needed for cuttings, leaflets use their nutrients to form roots, but without light there is no photosynthesis and the restoration of nutrition of these leaflets is disrupted.
For example, now, in November, cuttings take root in such conditions: at night the temperature in the loggia is + 14 degrees Celsius. In the morning, with increasing light, the temperature gradually rises, when it begins to darken, from about 15-30 hours, the backlight turns on. Cuttings receive additional light and heat due to the installed lamps under the shelf - the temperature rises to + 25-27 degrees. At 22-00, the lighting turns off and the temperature begins to slowly drop.
Question: Where are cuttings better rooted - in water or soil?
Valery: I put two cuttings, rooted both in the ground and in the water. But I noticed that when rooted in the ground, the roots are better. Other citrus fruits have the same effect.
Odina: Cuttings put in the ground, rooted faster and 100%. And some of the cuttings put in the water died.
Question: How to heat the soil in greenhouses when there is no heating season?
Jah: I recently experimented with a halogen spotlight. Not only does it heat the air, it also emits a lot of IR rays, which heat quite distant objects, especially black ones. I noticed accelerated root formation in lemon cuttings (Pavlovsky gave roots in less than a week) and seed germination (after heating began, 2 annons, 2 carambolas and 40 pieces of physalis seeds sprouted simultaneously).
But with IR rays you need to be very careful, the chances of boiling cuttings are great.
Natalie: Ground heating can be done using a conventional electric heating pad. Energy consumption is not very high, the temperature is usually regulated. If there is no electric heating, take a shoe dryer, now they are sold in any Fixprice. But I advise you not to leave cheap dryers unattended or, in extreme cases, turn on through a power filter, which has circuit breakers.
How to care for lemon
Question: I was given a small lemon tree, how to take care of it
Alex: Caring for lemon, like other citrus fruits, they need light, be sure to at least 4 hours of direct sun a day, water after drying the top layer of the earth. The roots of the lemon grow, form a thick wide washcloth, the ground between them is compacted. Therefore, after heavy watering or on duty once a week - loosen the soil, especially along the edge of the pot. Fertilizing with fertilizers special for citrus or complex for flowering plants, Fertica Lux is very popular. Take care of lemon - carry out pest prevention, especially tick. Inspect the leaves, wash off the dust in the shower.
Plant growth regulators
Question: Has anyone used phytohormones (zircon, etc.) to root growth regulators, your impressions?
Antonina: This year, when cutting lemons into a heteroauxin solution, she added zircon according to the instructions. Rooted as standard: soaking for 8-12 hours in a stimulant, then planted in the soil - 50% soil and 50% sand. So far, not a single stalk has died, about 70% of the roots were given in a month, the rest (without leaves) are still standing, but the condition is encouraging. In my opinion, it is worth using.
Valery: I use either root or a mixture of heteroauxin and zircon. Sometimes a mixture of heteroauxin with vitamin V1 and nicotinic acid. I did not succeed in rooting with one zircon.
1. Per 100 ml boiled water of heteroauxin 60 mg; vitamin V1 10 mg; nicotinic acid 10 mg. (If V1 is nicotinic acid in ampoules, then it is necessary to recalculate mg in ml depending on the percentage composition).
2. Per 100 ml of boiled water, 20 mg of heteroauxin and 4 drops of zircon.
Sergey: For the experiment, I put three cuttings from one tree to rooting in one place, but used different drugs to stimulate root formation - root, heteroauxin and zircon. The fact of the matter is that zircon showed its best side in comparison with root and heteroauxin.
tsitrys: I found information that a yeast solution accelerates the appearance of roots by 10-12 days and increases their number by 2-10 times. Taken at a concentration of 100 mg/L. Cuttings are placed in it for a day, then washed with water and put in clean water. To prevent it from stagnating, several pieces of charcoal are added. Aged until roots appear.
Question: Does zircon provoke the flowering of cuttings?
Alex: I have approximately 50 percent of rooted cuttings without zircon blooms.
Alla Viktorovna: I'll tell you about my kalamondin cuttings. They already periodically try to bloom. And then recently I tried to spray them with the remaining zircon from the lemons. So they released buds from all kidneys. I naturally cut them off.
Valery: It happens that when rooted, cuttings produce buds. This occurs with or without zircon.
Odina: My zircon has never stimulated flowering in cuttings. True, I sprayed only vaccinations and cuttings that take root with problems.
Jah: Zircon doesn't really stimulate flowering. Now I am reading a book on biotechnology - they recommend soaking cuttings in coconut endosperm - coconut milk, in other words.
Citrus cuttings do not take root
Question: I put only one mandarin stalk on rooting. He gave roots, and after transplanting from the greenhouse, he threw off the leaves and sits, silent for more than a month. Can you expect growth from him in the fall, or can he sit in this state until spring?
Alex: I would not touch it, my citron stalk without leaves stood for 1.5 years, and then began to grow intensively.
Question: I already have five rooted cuttings of Novogruzinsky lemon after growing new shoots, suddenly they begin to rot from the very roots, up to the top of the head and die, with the rest of the lemon varieties this has never happened.
Alex: The reasons may be as follows:
- excessive sensitivity of the roots to waterlogging of the soil;
- the mother plant is infected with a viral or bacterial disease;
- soil infected with fungus.
It would be nice to treat all plants with Fitosporin, Maxim's drug.
Rooting cuttings in the dark
Question: Has anyone tried to root cuttings in the dark, using the Etiolation method?
Drycha: I already have the result! I had a grapefruit handle rooted (in complete darkness), in the bathroom since July, and today I tried to move it, and then pull it out, but I can't - I gave the roots! Do not be surprised at the timing, at first he stood in the light with me for a month, it is a pity he did not mark the date, and in July he plunged it into complete darkness - and here is the result. I did not use either heteroauxin or zircon, I powdered only sections of root, sprayed twice a day quite abundantly. Two weeks ago, I put another batch of cuttings on rooting, among them panderosa, grapefruit, pomelo, fortunella. Today I watched them too. Fortunella died, the rest are sitting. I will try the next batch of cuttings, having previously soaked in heteroauxin!
Question: Is it worth heating from below when rooting in the dark: there is no light, high temperature, and it won't take long?
Drycha: For rooting in the dark, according to Hartmann, you need "fog," so I think if there is heating from below, then evaporation from the ground can turn into steam, but when cooled from above, it is possible into fog!?
Valery: I also tried to root in the dark. But while the results are more comforting. Moreover, the cuttings, which did not take root in the dark for a long time, very quickly gave roots, as soon as they were put into the light.