A homemade lemon tree is a godsend for many gardeners. Not every plant can simultaneously delight with decorative foliage, fragrant flowers, growing and already ripe fruits. The advantage of homemade lemons is their absolute naturalness. And although it is not always possible to get a harvest quickly, indoor citruses grow tastier and juicier than store-bought ones. If a gardener wants to harvest a decent harvest, he must take a responsible approach to growing homemade lemons: how to care for the plant, when to mold and fertilize - everyone who has purchased citrus should know this.
The citrus guest comes from subtropical regions, so it does not take root well in open ground in cold winter conditions. However, growing it indoors can be successful. To do this, you need to initially organize proper care for your homemade lemon: maintain constant air and soil humidity, provide a sufficient amount of light and heat.
IN flower shops or nurseries, it will not be difficult to purchase seeds or seedlings of varieties that are adapted to unfavorable conditions. IN wildlife the plant can reach impressive sizes, and for growing in a room, samples taken no higher than 1.5-2 m. During the winter, the foliage of the subtropical guest does not fall off, which is why it is called evergreen. Leaf blades last 2-3 years, so they must be protected. - a solid competitor for lemon, it also boasts elegant decoration.
IN room conditions Flowering is possible twice a year: at the beginning of spring and at the end of autumn.
The best varieties of citrus trees for the home are dwarfs and semi-dwarfs:
Dwarf varieties are not very productive; they are grown mainly for decorative purposes. Taller trees can reward the grower large fruits in large quantities.
How to care for indoor citrus?
Caring for a lemon tree involves constant monitoring of humidity, temperature and lighting. He needs correct selection soil composition, its looseness. You should not ignore the formation of the bush. The gardener must initially know how to prune a lemon so that it develops harmoniously and produces more fragrant fruit.
- Lighting and temperature regime summer and winter
South windows and other places with good lighting are suitable for growing. Lemon prefers bright light and long daylight hours. It is better to shade young specimens from the midday sun, as immature leaves will receive serious burns. When organizing cypress and variegated ficus trees, they also take this rule into account, despite the fact that these plants are light-loving.
The temperature in the room where the lemon is kept should be moderately warm. Sudden changes are contraindicated, therefore during winter ventilation the pot must be removed from the windowsill without changing the location of the crown to the light. In summer, the plant can be sent to the garden or to an open balcony.
The crown develops better if it is not turned over often different sides to the light.
Caring for lemons in winter is moderate. The room should be cooler - from 10 to 14°C. Ideal option accommodation - insulated loggia. If the tree has not entered the dormant phase, then the temperature is maintained at about +18°C, and it is necessary to extend the daylight hours to 12 hours using a lamp.
- Watering lemon without mistakes
Depending on the air temperature, change the amount and frequency of water application. IN hot weather moisture is added daily. The water is taken warm, standing for at least 7-8 hours. From September to March, one watering per week will be sufficient. After each application of liquid, the soil must be loosened so that air can flow freely to the roots. The plant does not tolerate both drought and waterlogging. You need to focus on the volume of the pot and temperature conditions.
The smaller the pot and the looser the soil, the faster it dries out. In rooms with central heating You need to water more and more often. Moisten so that the liquid penetrates through the drainage hole into the pan. Excess water is removed after 20 minutes. In this way, it will be possible to wet the entire earthen lump, and not just its upper part.
Lemon care involves spraying in hot weather. The foliage is sprayed 2-3 times a week. Spraying is carried out both in summer and winter, when heating radiators are operating at full capacity. Placing a tray of water or a humidifier next to the tree will help increase air humidity. If you have the practice of caring for this plant, then you can use wild plants to obtain a bountiful harvest.
When caring for a lemon in a pot, it is important not to forget about fertilizing. During the growing season, feed every 10 days. Fertilizers are suitable both mineral for citrus fruits and organic, for example mullein solution. Before applying fertilizer, water the soil 2-3 hours before applying it. This will keep you safe root system from a burn. In winter, fertilizers will also be useful, but the frequency of their application is once a month. If the tree healthy looking, it blooms and produces fruits, then you can refrain from applying fertilizers for a while.
Rules for transplanting and pruning
When transplanting citrus, a drainage layer of broken brick, expanded clay or coarse sand must be laid on the bottom of the box. Any container must have drainage holes to drain water. Liquid stagnation should not be allowed. The soil in the pot should be loose, without lumps. The reaction is neutral or slightly acidic. Lemon develops well in soil of average nutritional value: humus, sand and sand are taken in equal proportions. leaf soil. The container for transplantation needs to be 3-4 cm larger in diameter than the previous one.
Pruning is necessary to approach the flowering period. The shoots are also shortened in order to create a neat crown. It is pinched, removing the apical bud. There should be at least 4-5 leaves left on the shoot. lemon tree pruned in spring at the beginning of flowering.
Pruning homemade lemon play an important role. If you ignore it, the tree will not produce enough fruit or will not bloom at all. If in one year the lemon has formed much more ovaries than usual, then the weakest branches with buds need to be removed. Too many fruits will deplete the plant.
As soon as the lemon peel turns yellow, the lemons need to be collected. If you are late with collection, they will become too sour and dense.
Video about pruning rules.
How to increase productivity?
The first harvest of indoor lemon depends on the method of propagation. If a tree is grown from a seed, then you should not wait for fruits before 5-7 years. Sometimes at least a decade passes before fruiting begins. With proper care, a bush obtained from a cutting begins to bear fruit within 2-3 years.
Secrets of a bountiful harvest:
Growing problems
What difficulties can you encounter when growing? There are several problems:
- Falling of leaves and buds occurs when there is a lack of moisture, drying out of the soil, or excessive dry air. Leaf loss can also be caused by waterlogging. It is recommended to replant the tree by removing the roots with a lump of earth and first drying them on a sheet of newspaper.
- The leaves become pale with a lack of lighting and a minimum amount of nutrients.
- Lack of flowering - a cramped or oversized pot is to blame.
- The tips of the leaf blades turn brown due to lack of moisture and dry air.
To prevent fungal diseases, water the soil once every 2 years. weak solution potassium permanganate.
If no mistakes were made at all stages of cultivation, then a few years later the gardener can be content with delicious lemon slices for tea for a year. In addition to being a fragrant and tonic supplement, they will be useful during the cold season.
Growing citrus plants at home - this is not a difficult process, but it should be approached correctly. Lemon, tangerine, orange and other exotic plants are, as a rule, natives of tropical latitudes, cultivated and adapted for home grown. In order for plants to form correctly, they need systematic feeding, correct watering and optimal lighting crowns. About lighting for indoor lemons and tangerines we'll talk about it in this article.
The importance of lighting citrus plants
Light is one of the key factors for plants that allows them to exist. If there is too much or too little of it, it will immediately affect the nutrition of the plant, since they consume energy only in this way. Light allows the process of photosynthesis to occur, in which plant cells produce inorganic compounds consumed by plant roots. organic matter, which are used for leaf formation, shoot growth, flowering and fruiting. Too much light and too long a period of illumination disrupt the natural processes in leaf cells and negatively affect development.
How to assemble your own lighting from ordinary fluorescent lamps Lighting of 5,000 lumens and a duration of twelve hours is considered optimal for citrus plants.
How to get the lighting right
The amount of light a home citrus plant receives is influenced by a very large number of factors.: this is the orientation of the windows in the direction of the world, their size, the number of floors of the house, and in general whether they have been washed or not.
And, since for indoor lemons, tangerines, citrons and others citrus light is critically needed and they should get enough of it in the right way organize a habitat for them.
Lemon in natural environment habitat receives large amounts of sunlight Many people remember from school that the intensity of light decreases very much with distance from the light source, namely in proportion to the square of the distance to it. And if you don’t remember, then it’s okay, for us it only means that the plant needs to be placed as close to the window as possible. If, for example, a pot is taken at a distance of 3 meters from the window, then only 4% of the street light can reach it.
You should also know that the most dimly lit places in the house by street light are the corners. There you need to be very careful to ensure that there is enough light.
But there can be not only little light for a plant, but a lot, and in this case it becomes not a friend, but an enemy. Direct scorching rays of the sun, especially on the south side at noon, can cause serious burns on the leaves of both lemon and tangerine. If there is no other option where to place the pot, then you should shade your citrus by constructing an obstacle in the form of gauze or mesh that scatters direct rays. This should be seriously monitored; even already mature plant. But if you suddenly didn’t check and the leaves are damaged, then you need to spray them with soft water, adding a small amount of the stimulant - Epin.
Special light for plants, usually has a one-time shade In addition to leaves, plant roots can also be damaged by solar overheating, especially if they are grown in dark pots. In this case, it is recommended to shade the pot, for example with a sheet of cardboard, or place the plants below the level of the windowsill so that the crown is illuminated but the plant is not.
If everything is organized correctly, then spring and summer will become the most intense period for growth and development for the home citrus plant, since at this time it receives a sufficient amount of light and can fully grow, bloom and bear fruit. At the same time, do not forget about complex feeding so that he has something to eat.
Lemon lighting according to the seasons
But in autumn-summer period, when natural light decreases By reducing daylight hours in our natural area, it is also possible to allow the citrus plant to fully grow and develop. Indeed, in conditions of lack of light, plants begin to consume stored nutrients, which will significantly slow down the development and growth of the crop.
To support homemade lemon, tangerine or other exotic plant should use artificial lighting. For this purpose, special lamps for plants with a specially selected spectrum are used. Typically, their light appears to be pink, but is actually a mixture of red and blue light.
If the plant is given additional light, it develops faster Citrus plants require 5,000 lumens of illumination and a daylight period consisting of 12 hours of light and 12 hours of rest. Lumens can be measured either by pointing the camera at the surface of the sheet - in many digital cameras There is such a function, or by installing a special application on your smartphone and measuring the illumination through the phone’s camera. To control this, you should purchase a special timer, which will turn the light on and off at the right time.
In order for a plant to feel comfortable at home, it needs to create conditions close to those in which it lives in nature.
One of the key factors influencing plant development is light. It is absorbed by chlorophyll in the leaves and with the help of this energy, organic compounds are built in the plant from inorganic substances, extracted by the root system. The most natural source of light for plants is the Sun.
In nature, plants receive energy for development from the Sun.
It should be borne in mind that houseplants are taken from different climatic zones, where the duration of daylight hours and the intensity of the sun's glow differs from that which you provide them at home. This can especially affect their health and well-being in autumn and winter periods. This is where the question arises additional lighting for plants.
We grow Pavlovsk lemons and Pavlovsk tangerines, so we will consider the organization artificial lighting for citrus plants. Light, time and spectrum of lighting, we make phytolamps with our own hands.
Natural lighting conditions for lemons
The homeland of lemons and tangerines is the tropics. At this latitude, daylight hours are 10 - 14 hours, depending on the time of year. Accordingly, this daylight hours are optimal for citrus crops.
IN middle lane In Russia, daylight hours range from 7 to 17 hours. Plus in autumn and winter there are a lot of cloudy days. Lemons, as light-loving plants, clearly do not have enough light.
Reminder on signs of lack of light
Signs of lack of light can be seen by the young leaves, their color becomes paler, their size decreases, and the stem becomes elongated.
You can send the plant to rest in the autumn-winter period, providing it with a temperature of 10 degrees Celsius, then it will not need a large amount of light. But in standard apartment conditions this is difficult to achieve.
To achieve growth and good development For homemade lemons and tangerines in autumn and winter, it is advisable to provide additional light for 12 hours a day, creating conditions close to those in which they find themselves in natural conditions.
Required lighting for citrus fruits
In addition to the duration of illumination, we also need to take into account the power of the lamps with which we illuminate the plants. Insufficient lamp power will not lead to optimal illumination; excessive lamp power will also slow down the growth and development of the crown of lemons and tangerines.
Citrus plants require illumination on the leaves of 6000 - 7800 lux- this is the power of light radiation (luminous flux) in relation to the illuminated area. That is, it characterizes the light that actually reached the leaves of the plants. We can approximately measure the intensity by installing the Luxmeter or similar application on our phone and conclude whether there is enough light for the lemon.
The luminous flux itself is measured in Lumens and characterizes the intensity of the glow of the lamp itself. This is a characteristic of the light that the selected lamp emits. It depends on the choice of lamp and is indicated in its characteristics.
In order for the lamp to shine, it is brought to electrical energy, the lamp's consumption of this energy is measured in Watts (W). This value is also indicated on the lamp.
It is also obvious that having lamps with the same glow intensity, but located at different distances from the plant, creates different illumination. Moreover, as the lamp moves away from the plant, the illumination drops very quickly - we increase the distance by 2 times, the illumination drops by 4 times.
Signs of excess light in a plant - everything should be in moderation
Also if we take various lamps, then the power consumption in watts and the luminous flux that the lamp emits will be different. The less watt a lamp consumes, giving a greater luminous flux, the more profitable it is to use it - the less you pay for light.
I would like to note that often the light that seems bright to our eyes can be dim and completely insufficient for plants; we perceive illumination very subjectively with the help of our eyes.
For northern or shaded foliage street trees In windows, lighting for citrus plants is simply necessary for good development. Otherwise, you will be faced with constant loss of leaves from lemons and tangerines, slow and suppressed growth of shoots, and the citrus plant will be on the verge of survival. The likelihood of flowering and fruiting of lemons will be greatly reduced, and if they all do bloom, it will be a very heavy load on them.
Spectrum of light for plants
Very important characteristic light for indoor plants is the spectrum. In nature, the source of light for plants is the Sun. We perceive the light that falls from it as white. The light that we see indoors, emitted by various home lamps, is also white, but of a different shade. This is determined by what it consists of.
White light is a mixture of all colors
The light we perceive as white is actually a mixture of all the colors of the rainbow. Our brain does not know how to perceive light separately by the colors of which it consists and always produces an average value, and the amount of each color determines the shade of white that we see. The light temperature is often indicated on lamps; the higher its value, the visually bluer the emitted light will appear, and the lower, the more yellow.
In fact, natural sunlight for plants, broken down into all colors and intensity, looks like this:
Spectrum of sunlight
But if you go further and look at how the leaves of a plant perceive light depending on its color, you will notice that plants absorb red and blue colors and almost do not absorb green. This could be easily guessed, since we see the color of the leaves as green and this means that almost all of it is reflected from them.
What is the conclusion from this? - the energy that is spent by the lamp to create a green spectrum is completely wasted and is almost not used by plants. Accordingly, to illuminate homemade lemons, we need lamps that will have good radiation in the blue and red spectrum and almost none in the green spectrum.
If we go even further and remember that light is a wave and each color has its own wavelength and take more accurate measurements, we will see that the peaks of light perception by plants are at wavelengths of 445 Nm and 660 Nm. This corresponds to dark red and blue-violet colors.
Light absorption by plant leaves depending on wavelength
The red part of the spectrum affects the flowering of the plant and the ripening of fruits, it is the main source of energy for photosynthesis; if it is in excess, then the plants stretch out too quickly.
Blue color stimulates plant cell division, under its influence the stem thickens. It is a signal for the plant in which direction to turn and direct the growth of the stem.
Scientific minds have long noticed this fact, and have designed lamps with a narrow specialization - illumination of plants for their effective growth.
Types of phytolamps for illuminating citrus plants
For home use the most suitable lamps are lamps daylight- fluorescent lamps and led lamps. We use both types of phytolamps to grow lemons and tangerines and will tell you about our experience. They can also be used as lamps for seedlings. We don’t even consider incandescent lamps due to their low efficiency and strong heating.
Fluorescent lamps
Fluorescent lamps in our case, can be divided into two types: household lamps and specialized lamps for plants. The difference can be understood by the markings of the lamp itself and visually by the glow of the lamp.
Household lamps made to illuminate the room with light that is as comfortable as possible for the human eye. Depending on the light temperature, their glow will be white or slightly yellowish.
Spectrum of household fluorescent lamps
From the spectrum graph you can see that household lamps in the red band of the spectrum do not emit enough light. They can be used, but as an additional light source for plants. They emit a lot of light in the green spectrum, which is almost not used by plants, so they cannot be called effective and economical.
Specialized fluorescent lamps for plants emit more light in the blue and red zones of the spectrum assimilated by plants, having a dip in the green. Their light does not seem bright to our eyes, purple-pink and unpleasant, but for plants this is just the thing!
Spectrum of a fluorescent lamp for plants
We partially use exactly these lamps at home. We use the Camelion FT8-36W/BIO lamp model, they consume 36 W of power, giving a luminous flux of 1400 lm. Have best characterization of the lamps known to us in terms of price/quality ratio. The spectrum is close to that needed by our lemons and tangerines. If you know something better and cheaper, then please write to us in the comments and we’ll try them.
Fluorescent phytolamp for plants
To get the necessary illumination for citrus fruits at 6000-7800 Lux from these lamps, we install 2 lamps at a height of 20 cm above the plants on an area of 1.2 meters by 0.6 meters. Plants feel great in winter and give good growth.
LED lamps
Another class of plant lamps that we use to illuminate lemons are LED lamps. They can be divided into two groups:
- Lamps from groups of individual LEDs of various narrow spectrums;
- Lamps assembled from identical plant-specific LEDs with a wide spectrum.
Narrow spectrum LED plant lamps
Classic LED, unlike fluorescent lamps, has a narrow emission spectrum. The idea for biolamps made from such LEDs is that we place in it a set of LEDs that emit only at those spectral frequencies that are most effective for plants. These, as we wrote above, peaks at wavelengths of 445 Nm and 660 Nm, respectively dark red and blue-violet, and sometimes other colors are mixed.
It seems to be an ideal situation - peaks of light absorption by plants overlap narrow peaks of LED emission. It would seem that the idyll, lemons and tangerines should grow well and prosper... But! The peaks are very narrow and if the LEDs are of even a slightly different spectrum, then their radiation will not be well absorbed by plants.
And here, as luck would have it, there are two factors: first, LEDs with this particular spectrum are more difficult and more expensive to produce than LEDs with a spectrum that is very close, but not the one that is suitable for plants. Their colors are also blue and red, you can’t tell the difference by eye, and they are cheaper. The second factor is that manufacturers really like to save money and often install these LEDs, which are practically useless for plants. They shine, but there’s no point.
Fiolamp for plants made from narrow spectrum LEDs
To summarize, it is a good way to illuminate plants and is economical if you have a spectrometer on hand that can accurately measure the spectrum of lamps upon purchase.
Broad spectrum LEDs for plants
Another class of LEDs, in which the capabilities of the LED are expanded by adding a phosphor, which expands the spectrum of the LED. With one LED you can get the entire spectrum of light that plants need.
Characteristics of LED for plants with a full spectrum of radiation
We use such wide-spectrum LED lamps to illuminate lemon and tangerine seedlings. Its disadvantage is its high cost, but we got out of the situation by assembling them ourselves from separate components ordered in China. It turns out significantly cheaper.
Full spectrum LED for plants 3W
We separately order from China on the Aliexpress website 3W full-spectrum LEDs for plants (in fact they give 2W), a driver for them (power supply) for 10 LEDs, and also buy an aluminum beam from a hardware store as a heat sink and hot-melt adhesive. We mount all this on a beam, and we get an inexpensive, highly efficient and economical lamp for lemons and seedlings.
DIY full spectrum LED lamp for plants
If we return to the characteristics, then with a power consumption of 20 watts, it provides illumination to plants, like a 36-watt fluorescent lamp per the right plants spectrum Now in winter we illuminate some of the lemons with LED lamps, some with fluorescent lamps, and under both lamps the plants feel good, the difference is not noticeable.
Installing a time relay
There is another trick to lighting plants - using a time relay. Sold in electrical goods and aquarium stores. We set a weekly backlight schedule: days, on and off times. No need to remember what time to turn it on and off. A very convenient thing - set it once and forget it.
Automatic timer will turn the light on and off at the right time
Behavior of seedlings at the beginning of illumination
Also from personal observation: if your lemons previously received insufficient light, and then you immediately installed powerful lighting, then some plants may develop leaves that are larger than standard ones. This is not scary, the next growth will produce normal leaves. If possible, then you need to increase the illumination gradually, but if this is not done, then it’s okay.
Summary on the topic of artificial lighting for house plants
Pavlova lemons like light-loving plants in the autumn-winter period they need additional lighting, especially if they live on server or shaded windows. The most energy-efficient and effective method for illuminating indoor lemons and tangerines at home is to use specialized fluorescent lamps for plants labeled Bio, Flora or similar. Phytolamps made from LEDs are also suitable for illumination if you are sure that their spectrum meets the needs of the plants. Such lamps are expensive, best option collect them yourself. Well, to automate the processes of turning lamps on and off, use a time relay.
Proper lighting will provide the plant with everything necessary for the development of fruit ripening
We will make Pavlovsk Lemons great again!
Growing indoor lemon is a job troublesome, but very rewarding. In addition to the fruits we receive fresh air in the apartment, because citrus fruits emit phytoncides that reduce the concentration harmful microorganisms in the air up to 300 times! And we can get 15-20 fruits per year from a well-formed 5-7 year old tree.
conditions for growing indoor lemon
light
For homemade lemon you need a fairly spacious room and good lighting. Therefore, windows on the south and southeast sides are considered the most favorable. In winter, the plant requires 5-6 hours of illumination with a fluorescent lamp. The tree needs to be carefully turned at a small angle every half month, precisely at a small angle. If you make a large angle in relation to the light source, this can slow down the growth of shoots and leaves, since lemons are very sensitive to rearrangements and changes in lighting. So for correct formation trees are important.
temperature
For leaves and shoots, the optimal temperature is about 17°, and for fruit development 21-22 and the soil temperature should not be lower than air temperature. In winter, when the plant is on a cold windowsill, this problem arises. In order to somehow cope with it, you need to insulate the pot standing on the windowsill.
If the house has radiator heating, the air will become dry and the lemons may die. To avoid this, move the tree away from heating devices, place a wet cloth on the radiator, spray the lemons with soft, warm water. But do not overdo it in spraying so that the plants do not get fungal diseases.
watering and fertilizing
The rule regarding lemon is that it is better not to add more than to overfill. And you need to water with warm, settled water. Approximately once every 10-12 days, fertilizer is added to the water for irrigation (if you use minimal fertilizer, you can find special fertilizer for citrus fruits in the store). This fertilizer contains nutrients and microelements needed by lemon, it can be used for root and foliar feeding (spray on the leaves).
trimming and shaping
The lemon needs to be pruned, as it tends to grow long powerful branches; if you do not trim it, the crown will be voluminous, and this is inconvenient in the room. Therefore, it is better to choose dwarf varieties.
Pruning is done early spring. First, inconveniently growing branches that have dried out are removed and the stem is shortened slightly, which stimulates branching. And the fruits of lemons grow on shoots of the 3rd-5th order. Formation begins at the end of the first year of growth, the zero shoot is cut off at a height of 15-20 cm, while 2-3 leaves are left on the tree. For shoots from 1st to 4th order, 15-20 cm long, the apical bud with 1-2 underdeveloped leaves is removed. This formation just helps the bush to remain compact.
Attention, mistakes made when growing lemons
- Do not plant the lemon immediately in a large container, the soil will turn sour and the roots may rot.
- Pay attention to watering. Although underwatering is less dangerous than constantly wet soil, which can turn sour, when underwatering, some of the roots dry out and the plant grows worse.
- If your lemon tree is still small, but at the same time decides to bloom, do not regret it, remove the buds that have not yet blossomed, otherwise it will become very depleted.
- Dry air causes leaf tips to dry out or fall off, and when flowering or ovaries form, flowers and fruits drop off. This is a very common problem that occurs in our houses and apartments in winter.
- Be careful with rearranging and rotating lemons; if done carelessly, you can cause severe leaf fall, slower growth and poor fruiting.
If the tree has at least 20 full leaves, then flowering and fruiting are allowed. And for each fruit, there must be at least 9-10 mature leaves in the crown of the tree.
Humidity is very important; this plant does not like dry air and does not like high temperatures. Lemon especially does not like it when the humidity is low and the air temperature is high; it will definitely drop its leaves.
the best varieties of indoor lemon
Pavlova lemon — productive, you can harvest from 20 to 50 fruits per plant. The fruits of this variety have thin skin and few seeds, the vitamin C content is no less than in southern varieties, and is not inferior in other respects.
Maykop lemons - dwarf lemons, well adapted to apartment conditions. Maikop craftsmen succeeded in harvesting, and often up to 200-300 fruits per year.
Meyer lemon — the smallest, the most productive and the earliest to bear fruit. In indoor conditions it grows very well, blooms profusely and bears fruit every year, but requires bright rooms. Fruiting occurs in 2-3 years.
Panderosa - a hybrid between lemon and citron. The tree is small with a beautiful crown, tolerates dry air and high temperature, begins to bear fruit in the 2nd year. The fruits can reach 600-800 g.
Do you like lemons?
All the best to you, friends! See you!
It’s a pity to realize this, but summer is ending and our favorites have a bad time ahead. better times. The group is increasingly asking questions about wintering and using lamps to illuminate citrus fruits. This prompted Ivan Kuznetsov, an active member of the group, to write this article. As the author of the blog, I express my deep gratitude for this work, since I myself am interested in the issue of additional illumination and invite you, the readers, to read it below in the original.
First, let's figure out why additional lighting is needed. Additional lighting– artificial improvement of lighting and extension of daylight hours. It's no secret that citrus fruits need 12 hours daylight hours, and in winter we have 8 hours of daylight at best. And if plants overwinter in a warm place, they will clearly not have enough light, which can lead to leaf fall, a depressed state of the plant, and in the worst case, it can cause its death.
Today there are a huge number of lamps on the market that can be used for additional lighting. Most often used in citrus growing are: fluorescent lamps, sodium DNAT and DNAZ, metal halide lamps DRI, and LED lamps; and in almost each of these categories, there is a series of phytolamps. Phytolamps are lamps whose spectrum is adapted to the needs of plants - at least that’s what the manufacturers say. The cost of these lamps is slightly higher than the cost of “ordinary” analogues; their light is unpleasant for the human eye, since they lack middle part spectrum Reviews about these lamps are divided 50/50: some claim that their efficiency is very high, others that they are even inferior to their “regular” counterparts.
It's up to you to decide which lamp to choose. It all depends on the number of plants, which side the window faces, the distance of the plant from the window, etc. Sodium lamps (HPS or HPS) are considered the most effective. They provide the most powerful luminous flux. But it is advisable to use them for a large number of plants. If there are few plants, you can get by with fluorescent lamps.
Very important point When choosing any lamp, its power (Watt) is determined. The more watts, the greater the luminous flux and the greater its efficiency.Many indoor plants receive quite a significant portion of the light without lamps. It follows from this that the lamps themselves, for some types of plants, can be relatively low-power. But citrus fruits are light-loving plants and, of course, without the help of lamps we will not be able to provide them with enough light. For additional lighting on southern windows in winter, you can get by with one standard 40 W fluorescent lamp per meter of window sill length (30 cm wide). For the north window you will need up to three 40W lamps per meter.
If citrus fruits are grown under completely artificial light, we need much more power. That is, you will either have to use a lot of fluorescent ones, or (which is much more convenient) use lamps high pressure, giving a lot of light.For additional lighting large quantity plants on the loggia or in winter garden It’s also much more convenient using high-pressure lamps.
Lamps should be located as close to the plants as possible. But the main thing is to find out at what distance from the lamp the temperature will not be too high. This can be determined by simply raising your hand to the lamp. If it is too warm, the lamp should be placed higher. Fluorescent lamps can be located at a height of 15-20 cm above the plants, then their efficiency will be maximum; with each subsequent cm, the efficiency of the lamp will decrease. DNAT and DNAZ should not be placed closer than 50 centimeters from the upper leaves.
Supplementary lighting is advisable from mid-October to March.Last year my citrus fruits
