Citrus plants need loving and comprehensive attention if they are to look good and bear fruit in this country too. They have special needs in almost every respect. Whether it is summer or winter also has a decisive influence on care.
Citrus plants need a lot of moisture
pour
Citrus plants come from always humid areas of the earth. In our latitudes, they therefore have to be supplied with water regularly during the growing season, precisely because they are cultivated as container plants. Daily watering may be required in summer, but once a month is sufficient in winter.
It is now known that citrus plants have a high calcium requirement. You can therefore water them with lime-rich tap water without hesitation, even doing them some good. But be sure to avoid oversupply, as waterlogging is not tolerated.
Fertilize
Mineral fertilizers are more suitable than organic ones because their nutrients are better and more readily available. Whether long-term or immediate fertilizer is used is the same. Only fertilize during the vegetation period according to the fertilizer manufacturer's instructions. All citrus species require the following nutrients:
- in roughly equal amounts of nitrogen (N) and potassium (K)
- in smaller amount phosphate (P)
- an NPK fertilizer with the combination 20-5-15 is suitable, for example
- Trace elements such as boron, iron, copper, magnesium, manganese and zinc are also required
tips
Various fertilizers are commercially available that you can use to fertilize citrus plants. If you have to supply many citrus plants, you can also buy the individual nutrients cheaply and mix the fertilizer for citrus plants yourself.
repot
Repotting is about every 2-3 years in spring. You need special soil for citrus plants, which you can mix cheaply yourself. The pot should also keep up with the size of the plant.
To cut
Whenever a single branch grows unattractively out of the crown in summer, you can shorten it promptly. Aside from these cosmetic fixes, the best time to prune citrus plants is late winter, around February and March.
Prune regularly for good branching. Choose an outward-facing bud and place the scissors about 3mm above it. Cut diagonally and in the direction of growth of the bud. When pruning in winter, you can also cut back damaged or dead branches back to the old, healthy wood. You should coat the edges of larger cuts with tree wax (€12.96).
hibernate
Overwinter your citrus plant cool and frost-free. Depending on the species, the ideal temperature can be between 3 and 15 °C. The warmer the winter quarters, the brighter it should be. If it is too dark, the plant will lose leaves, but will sprout again in the spring.
All owners who do not have a suitable wintering room can overwinter the citrus plant in the living room, but then they will have to take care of it more intensively.
tips
Place the bucket on Styrofoam, because cold soil regularly causes a citrus plant to develop yellow leaves.