Potted lemons

If potted lemons are not managed properly, they often only bloom, have no or few fruits, or even do not bloom at all. To make potted lemons bloom and bear fruit every year, scientific management must be carried out in water, fertilizer, pruning and other aspects to achieve the goal of abundant fruits. The main aspects of management are as follows:

Properly prune potted lemons for two reasons. First, the pots are small and have little soil, which provide limited nutrients and cannot meet the growth needs of lemons, so they must be pruned; Yes, through shaping and pruning, the reasonable distribution of nutrients in the tree is adjusted, so that the limited nutrients are concentrated on the buds and leaves, forming more fruit-bearing branches, so as to achieve full branches with flowers and fruits. Potted lemons must be pruned intensively before spring shoots sprout. First, remove dead branches, diseased branches, leggy branches, inward branches, cross branches, sprouting branches, etc. Cut strong branches lightly to leave 4 or 5 full buds; cut weak branches hard to leave 2 or 3 buds to encourage each branch to produce more strong spring shoots. After the spring shoots are all grown, in order to control their excessive growth, you can lightly prune off 3 or 4 nodes of the branches. The new shoots that will grow in the future will be pinched when they have 6 to 8 nodes, in order to induce more summer shoots.

"Withhold water" before flowering. In order to prevent excessive growth of summer shoots, and at the same time, the tree body must accumulate nutrients and promote the formation of flower buds, potted lemons should be "watered" before the summer heat. The specific method is to gradually reduce the water supply to the potted lemons more than ten days before the onset of heat; stop the water supply for the first 5 days, the pot soil will be exposed to the sun, a large amount of water will evaporate, and the pot soil will dry; due to the lack of water in the root system, the branches and leaves will lose water and the leaves will become shriveled. ,curly. In order to prevent the leaves from dehydrating, you can spray water on the leaves in the morning and evening, and you can also spray a small amount of water on the potting soil to keep the lemons in drought conditions without withering. Instead, their axillary buds will expand day by day, and the color of the buds will change from green to white. , when most of the axillary buds turn from green to white, "withholding water" to promote flowering will be successful. At this time, water supply to the potted lemons should be restored in time.

Preserve flowers and fruits. After lemons bloom, in addition to applying thin fertilizer once a week, flowers and fruits must also be thinned. Before the flowers bloom, some of the flower buds should be thinned out; after the flowers have faded and the fruits have set, some young fruits in improper positions should be thinned out. The purpose is to reduce the consumption of nutrients and allow the limited nutrients to be concentrated on the remaining flowers and fruits, so that the fruits can grow longer. Bigger is better. During the growth period of the fruit, if there is sufficient fertilizer and water and the nutritional status of the plant is good, some branches will sprout new shoots. The growth of new shoots will inevitably divert some nutrients and affect the growth of the fruit. In order to preserve the fruit, the new shoots that grow must be wiped out in time. When the fruit turns yellow and ripe, stop fertilizing and reduce watering to keep the soil moist and slightly dry. If you continue to provide too much fertilizer and water, the fruits will ripen and fall early, shortening the viewing time.

Reasonable fertilization Lemons like fertilizer, so you should apply more thin fertilizer at ordinary times. Apply decomposed liquid fertilizer once before the plants germinate, and then apply liquid fertilizer based on nitrogen fertilizer every 7 to 10 days to promote longer branches and leaves and more spring shoots. After each topping, fertilizer should be applied in time to promote early maturity of the branches. During the growth of lemons, you can sprinkle some cake fertilizer on the pot surface so that some fertilizer can penetrate into the soil every time you water to enhance fertility. After autumn, fertilization is reduced to avoid excessive plant nutrition, promote autumn shoots, compete with fruits for nutrients and cause fruit drop.

Repotting Potted lemons have very limited nutrient supply due to the lack of soil in the pots. After many years of lack of soil fertility, the lemons will weaken year by year, with few flowers and few fruits. In order to keep lemons blooming and bearing fruit every year, they must be repotted. The optimal time for repotting is half a month before the lemons sprout. Before repotting, prepare a pot that is one size larger than the original pot. Take the lemon out of the pot. Do not break the mud ball. Cut off 1 or 2 cm of surface soil along the mud ball, and cut off the dead and rotten roots. , and peel off 1 cm of soil at the bottom of the mud ball, and take out the tiles that were stuck in the soil on the bottom of the pot. Place the drainage holes in the new pot with tiles, first lay a 2-3 cm thick drainage layer, and then lay a 4-5 cm thick layer of nutrient-rich culture soil mixed with a small amount of superphosphate. Then put the lemon mud ball into the pot, fill the surrounding area with culture soil to the mouth of the pot, compact the pot soil slightly, pour enough root water, place it in a ventilated and semi-shady place, and put it back to the original place after a week for daily management. .