How to Grow a Lemon Tree from a Seed or Cutting?

It’s a fact that the majority of the population is interested in growing their food. A lot of people enjoy growing their vegetables and fruits, and they’re always looking for new ways to grow something at home. This post will teach you how to grow a lemon tree from a seed or cutting.

A lemon tree is a popular and beautiful plant that is widely grown and used in the kitchen. It is easy to grow from seed or cuttings. The lemon tree is a member of the citrus family and is related to the mandarin orange, citron, and pomelo. This post describes how to grow a lemon tree from a seed or cutting.

You can grow a lemon tree from seed as well as stem cutting at your home easily.

How to Grow a Lemon Tree from a Seed or Cuttings?

There are some quite effortless ways to grow lemon trees in your home garden with insufficient care and maintenance. You can grow a lemon tree in your garden and get freshly grown lemons from organic lemon trees. Lemon can be propagated by seeds as well as cuttings. Let’s discuss both ways in detail with their pros and cons.

Overview of the Lemon plant

Common Names                     Lemon

Technical Name                       Citrus limon

Family                                      Rutaceae                                     

Native                                      South Asia

Plantation Season                   July-August                                

Harvesting Condition              Yellow or yellow-green     

Climate                                   Tropical and sub-tropical

Irrigation                                 Once a week

Harvesting Season                  Winter to early summer

Storage                                    For 2-3 weeks

Crop Type                                Both Self and Cross pollinated

Varieties of lemon plant

• Kaghzi
• China
• Eureka
• Meyer
• Lisbon

The flavor of lemon fruit

The Meyer and Eureka are the best varieties, very juicy, sweet, and thin-skinned that produce fruit year-round. Most types of lemon are available. Some are bitter, sour, and harsh in taste and can enhance the flavor of food.

How to Grow Lemon Tree from Seed?

First of all, you have to look at your climate late spring and early summer favorable for lemon growth, then decide the variety you want to grow.

• Let’s decide the cultivar you want to grow in your garden according to your favorable climatic condition for the plant. We’ll take the Meyer variety to grow because it’s good in taste and starts fruiting just after two to three years of propagation.
• First of all, you must take the soil in a pot that must be pasteurized (without any harmful insects or pests) that will be half peat moss and half perlite /sand.
• Now select the juicy, fresh, and mature variety and put out the seeds from it carefully.
• Put the seeds directly in the soil after taking them off from the lemon.
• Note that you have to sow the seed at about a 1inch depth of 2.54cm in the soil. The next step is to rinse the pot with a sprinkling to avoid seed dislocation.
• Now, the last step is to cover the pot with plastic wrap for sustaining water preservation.

Tips for Growing a Lemon Tree

• Don’t overwater the soil to prevent sogginess. Put the pot at a temperature of about 70degrees.
• Generally, seeds start germinating two weeks after sowing.
• After some outgrowth of shoot and root, take the pot in sunlight. Transplant the plant in a large container of about 4- 6 inches and fertilize with potassium.
• The newly propagated seedling should be provided with at least four hours of sunlight, not more.
• After 2-3 years of seed propagation and a height of about 20 feet tall tree starts fruiting
• Regular pruning should be required when planting indoors at nearly 10-12 feet, and the new outgrowth of the plant should be done just after harvesting.
• Harvesting lemon fruit is easy to pluck the lemon fruit with a hand or with a shear or sharp knife.
• In winters, put your lemon pot or a tree outside to take four hours of regular sunlight.

The same processes, including climate, soil requirement, irrigation system, fertilizer, planting distance, potting media, and proper care, should be assured to get the lemon tree from cuttings.

Pros: 

• Easy to germinate
• Develops a Good root system

Cons:

• Takes more time to bear fruit
• Chances of poor fruiting

How to Grow Lemon Trees from Cuttings?

If you want to get lemon fruit from your plants in the next year of the plantation, then you’d love the propagation through cuttings. It also gives more identical plants to the parent plant. Here’s how you can grow a lemon tree from cuttings:

• Just choose the cultivar that you need to grow in your home garden. Take the cutting from the parent plant with the help of a knife or a sharp shear/pruner. 
• Take the cutting at the angle of about 90 degrees near the node area (2-3 nodes), put the cutting inside the soil to about 15cm inches.
•  Irrigate it with a sprinkler just after sowing the cuttings in a pot and place it indoors.
• The temperature should be 70degrees, not more or less than it.
• After a new outgrowth shoot and root development, transplant it into a garden for proper growth and nutrient uptake.
• The planting system should be square, and the distance should be 50×50×50 in your garden.

How to Care for a Lemon Tree?

A lemon tree is a beautiful addition to any garden, and it’s a great way to add some much-needed overwater color and fragrance to your home. If you’ve ever owned a lemon tree, you know how difficult it can be to keep it healthy and thriving. It’s not just the leaves that need to be tended to. Moreover, the roots must also be watered and fertilized regularly.

Usually, it’s important to keep your lemon tree well-watered to ensure that it stays healthy and strong. However, it’s equally important to not overwater your lemon tree. This can lead to root rot and even death. Here are some tips to help you care for your lemon tree so that it lives for many years to come:

Climate

Usually, lemon is mainly a subtropical plant grown in humid, dry atmospheres and is self-pollinated (needs no other tree for pollination). The feasible time to sow lemon through seeds or cut is the rainy season or monsoon time (July and August) for better growth.

Soil preparation

Usually, soil requirements for lemon propagation are the clay, sandy clay deep, and infertile with a pH level of between 5.5 -7. Moreover, the water level should not be too wet or dry while planting.

Fertilizer requirement

Usually, lemon plants need fertilizers that contain potassium, nitrogen, and some organic fertilizers. Moreover, you may use some organic fertilizers to improve the growth of your lemon plants. Some of them are banana peel, manures, coffee beans, tree leaves, kitchen scraps, eggshells, and some citrus fertilizers having nitrogen with the ratio of 8:8:8.

Disease and insect pests

Usually, there are the following diseases and insect pests that affect lemon trees. 

• Leaf minor plant
• Parasitoid wasp
• Aphids
• Rust mites
• Ladybug can control the aphids.

Water requirement

So, after sowing seeds of lemon in pot water, it is an adequate amount during dry periods and let it grow gradually. Moreover, If you want to keep your lemon plant healthy and fresh, let the soil get wet 3 inches deep before watering. Usually, mature lemon trees required water every seven to fourteen days in a dry span.

Harvesting 

To ensure that all the fruits are ripe and about to harvest, you need to look at the physical form. So, when lemon fruit’s color turns yellow-green or complete yellow, it attains proper size; usually 2-3 inches. Moreover, take the sharp knife or sickle and cut it from a tree cautiously to avoid bruises or damage.

Post harvesting

Just after harvesting lemon fruit from the plant, you must save them from sunlight or heat and do proper grading, waxing, handling, storage at the appropriate place or in the refrigerator.

Nutritional Value of Lemon

Usually, a single lemon gives about 17 calories. A Lemon comprises various compounds, including minerals and essential oils that contain water, protein, calcium, iron, carbohydrates, sugar, vitamins, fiber, and a tiny amount of fat.

Some health benefits that we can get from eating a lemon. It is a good source of vitamin C, and it can prevent kidney stones and help to control weight. Moreover, it reduces the cancer risk, improves the digestive tract, and many others. Lemon also improves your skin, hair, and stain remover, cleaning and curing asthma, pneumonia, and arthritis. On the commercial level, we can use lemon to make detergents, soaps, and shampoos. Moreover, we can extract oil from lemon peel for making perfume.

Conclusion

It would be best if you needed to remember some things before selecting a variety to plant a new plant for your garden. Moreover, select the cultivar that should be fresh, diseased free, and belongs to the nursery not purchased from any grocery store. So, take good care while plant growth and development don’t overwater proper sunlight requirement and use some fertilizer. After harvesting, put them directly in a calm environment and prevent bumping, bruising, and squishing areas. Moreover, post-harvesting of lemon fruit by putting some oil in an airtight jar, and storing them for a long span in the refrigerator.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you start a lemon tree from a cutting?

Yes, but it takes a lot of time before the plant has enough roots to survive on its own. You should plant it in a sunny location where it will get enough sun. Moreover, the more light the tree gets, the faster it will grow

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