The lemon is dropping fruit. Possible causes of falling ovaries and lemon fruits

Indoor cultivation of citrus fruits requires responsibility on the part of the grower. If your care for them is limited to watering alone, then do not be surprised why the leaves fall off the lemon, although it seems to be an evergreen plant. However, do not be afraid, caring for it is simple, but the tree will immediately respond to caring for it with a beautiful appearance, flowering, and harvest.

A little about citrus

Citrus fruits, for the most part, come from the subtropics, with hot summers and mild winter. The summer growing season for lemons means plenty of sun and moisture. In autumn, with a natural reduction in daylight hours, the volume of watering and fertilizing decreases. The rest period for a lemon is expressed by a decrease in average temperatures.

Unfortunately, we are not always able to provide good conditions wintering lemon. Why he can shed part of the foliage, or almost completely lose the green mass. It’s not so scary if this happened, but in order not to bring our green pet to leaf fall, you need to know why the plant dropped its leaves. So, homemade lemon drops leaves - what to do and how to prevent it?

Video about helping a lemon

Below are the main reasons:

Bad light
Over watering
Insufficient watering
Soil depletion
Dryness and heat at home
Cold in the room where the tree hibernates

Why lemon leaves fall and how to deal with it

Poor lighting includes a natural mechanism for reducing the amount of green mass, citrus fruits are susceptible to this, as conditionally deciduous plants. Only leaf fall for a lemon is more a reaction to stress than an annual process. It is necessary to increase the illumination of lemons in the autumn-winter time, since where they come from, there is no such sharp drop in illumination in winter.

For this:

Place a tub of lemon at the south window
Create additional lighting with reflective surfaces around the plant
Additional illumination with fluorescent lamps.

Excessive watering leads to acidification of the soil, which makes it denser, less saturated with oxygen. Little air enters the root system, small capillary roots begin to die. Not being able to provide nutrition to the entire green mass, the lemon gets rid of some of it.

Insufficient watering leads to the drying of the earthy coma, the death of the roots, the failure to assimilate nutrients from the soil. Sap flow, as a result of this, slows down. It also turns on the process of saving fluid in the lemon tree and it gets rid of most of the foliage. Drying out an earthen clod is extremely harmful to a plant and can sometimes lead to its death, unless your lemon has already grown into a five-eight-year-old tree and the moisture reserve in the wood allows it to endure this torment for more than a month.

Sudden watering after long period drought. This is akin to monsoon rain, when the soil abruptly changes from excessive dryness to excessive moisture. Lemon does not like this very much and responds to such stress adequately - sheds leaves.

To avoid yellowing and leaf fall in such cases, it is best not to let the soil dry out or fill the pot with water, turning it into a swamp. The soil should always be slightly damp. But if the earthen ball is still dry, you need to gradually moisten it. First, in small portions of watering with an interval of several hours, and then after a day or two, increase the doses of watering until the entire volume of the soil is saturated with moisture.

Soil depletion. During the summer vegetation, the plant intensively consumes the mineral composition, and given that in the limited space of the pot it has nowhere to replenish it, in addition to the artificial introduction of organic and mineral supplements, we should take care of this. There are three main top dressings: nitrogen, phosphates or superphosphates, potassium salts. But indoor flowers need even more trace elements such as zinc, cobalt, molybdenum, selenium, iron, etc. A significant drawback of one or more of them is expressed in sheet deformation, color change, and then falling off. This may be redness, the appearance of yellow spots, blanching, loss of sheet elasticity, drying out at the edges.

We avoid this problem by feeding the soil with organic matter with minerals. Macronutrients are not given evenly throughout the year. So, in the spring, most of the nitrogen supplements and organic fertilizers. In summer, evenly nitrogen, phosphorus, mineral and organic are introduced. Increase the dose in autumn potash fertilizers, exclude nitrogen and organics. We feed micronutrients monthly. This is best done in the form of liquid complex fertilizers.

Heat. Dry warm air heated in winter rooms resembles the microclimate of a salt desert. Even in the Sahara, the humidity is higher. Even for cacti that love dry but cool winter air, these conditions will not be comfortable. It is not surprising that the lemon is unable to cope with such stressful conditions - the leaves fall.

What to do if the air in the apartment is too dry:

First, move the tree tub away from the battery.
Hang the radiator with a thick blanket or cloth if there is no other way to control the room temperature.
Regularly spray every week. Shower the plant periodically.

Low room temperature. Coolness is needed for a lemon for a successful winter, but you should know when to stop. It is better to keep the temperature in the room where it is located lemon Tree, above +10. Otherwise, the plant also includes the mechanism of leaf fall. The problem is relevant not only for winter gardens, greenhouses, where there may be too low temperatures air. Your citrus fruits should also be kept out of drafts so you don't wonder later why the lemon sheds its leaves despite all the measures taken. In winter, constant drafts lead to the fact that the plant endures extreme temperature fluctuations for a long time and experiences stress. We need to get rid of it. So take care of temperature regime, as well as the absence of drafts at home.

And separately it is worth mentioning the diseases and pests of citrus fruits, which can also lead to leaf fall.

Indoor lemon diseases

The spider mite most often develops in conditions of dry hot air, characteristic cobwebs appear at the bases of the leaves, the leaves themselves turn yellow, curl, and dry out. Fitoverm is well suited against ticks. You can, if the tree is small, dip its green part in hot water, above 60 ° C.

Video about indoor lemon and his illness

A sign of aphid infection is deformation, yellowing of the leaves, drying out of entire branches. When there are many aphids, its colony is hard to miss, they focus on reverse side sheet. If there are few insects, then manually remove all the affected areas, if there are many, use Tanrek and the like.

It happens that for no reason, for no apparent reason, the lemon dropped its leaves. What to do in this case? Check for homosis - the expiration of gum on the bark. Gommosis is often the result of other diseases that weaken the plant. It is necessary to fight with them. And, most often, exclusively drugs, folk methods are not very effective here. It is not always easy to determine which disease is in front of us, so it is best to use complex preparations, such as Antracol, Quadris and others.

Subtropical citrus plants today successfully grown at home. Lemon is one of the popular plants, but it needs proper care in order to bloom and bear fruit. If the leaves of a lemon turn yellow and fall off, then this is a signal of problems. In order for the plant not to die, it is important to know about the main reasons for such a deviation and how to correct the situation.

There can be quite a few reasons for the appearance of a sign of yellowing and leaf fall in a lemon, but in order to solve the problem, it is important to correctly identify it. If the plant throws off the green mass, then the rules of care were probably violated, it is in it that you need to look for the cause of the abnormal behavior in the first place. This situation may also be associated with the negative influence of factors environment or pests.

Wrong care

Any plant needs to comply with the rules of agricultural cultivation. Care is about providing proper fit and places of cultivation, sufficient lighting and watering, timeliness of top dressing.

Any mistake in at least one of the listed points is fraught with the appearance of problems with the health of the lemon.

Overflow and underflow

Excessive watering leads to acidification of the soil, as a result of which its compaction occurs, and the access of oxygen is significantly hampered. As a result of a lack of oxygen supply to the roots, the processes die off, which leads to malnutrition of the lemon. Experiencing a deficit, the tree begins to get rid of the green mass and shed its foliage.

With insufficient soil moisture, the earth dries out, resulting in root processes also die off. The plant begins to experience problems with sap flow and nutritional adequacy, as a result of which a fluid saving program is activated, resulting in leaf drop.

An adult plant is able to live in a state of stress with insufficient moisture for a month, but eventually dies without correcting the situation.

The plant also reacts negatively to sudden changes in irrigation conditions. If, after a long drought, the tree receives sharply excessive watering, then the drop of greenery becomes a reaction to stress. With excessive dryness of the soil due to the absence of a long time of watering, the frequency of moistening should be restored gradually. To do this, the soil is watered with small portions of water with a time interval of 2 hours. After 2, resume the normal frequency of watering.

Watering with bad water

A common mistake novice gardeners make is watering the plant. tap water. As a result of such actions, liming of the soil occurs, salts accumulate in the soil, and lemons begin to wither. After saturation with salts, a white salt crust appears on the surface of the earth, which makes it difficult for oxygen to reach the root system. At the same time, she closes drainage hole blocking the possibility of removing excess moisture. Rain and melt water is considered the best for irrigation.

At home, warm water is used for watering. boiled water. The use of cold liquid is fraught with hypothermia of the roots. If possible, you can make water supplies from a lake or spring, since in nature it is soft and does not contain a large amount of salts.

Poor quality or depleted soil

Lemon intensively consumes nutrients from the soil, therefore, over time, it causes soil depletion.

Cold or too hot air temperature

Excessively high temperatures in summer adversely affect the growth of lemons. Optimum temperature+17 C is considered for plant growth, +21 C for fruit ripening. Higher rates, combined with low air humidity, lead to leaf fall. Lemon has a negative attitude to differences, for it it is important that the temperature of the soil and air is approximately the same. Leaf shedding is often observed in autumn period when the tree is brought home from the open air.

Too little or too much fertilizer

With a lack of nutrients, lemon leaves begin to turn yellow, changes are observed in the area of \u200b\u200bthe veins. The small formation of flowers and the fall of the leaves indicate that the complex of preparations may have been applied too much.

The wrong place for the plant

At insufficient lighting lemon slows down in growth and can wither, so sunny south sides are chosen for its placement. At the same time, in the summer it is necessary to shade the bush, avoiding direct rays on it. The tree does not like permutations, so you should think about its location in advance. Every 15 days it is recommended to turn it a little so that the crown is formed evenly on all sides.

Too little or too much light

The reason for the fall of the leaves may be poor lighting. When there is insufficient natural light, the plant will automatically start a leaf shedding program. AT winter period it is recommended to organize additional illumination with a daylight lamp for 5-6 hours.

Proximity of heaters

The cause of leaf fall in winter is often too high a temperature in the room and excessive dryness of the air. To avoid overheating in heating season the bush should not be placed near radiators. If it is impossible to move the pot, reduce the temperature of the battery or cover it with a thick blanket. Regular spraying will reduce the risk of leaf drop.

Diseases

Leaf drop may be due to infection of the plant by a fungus or viral disease. The most common is gomosis, scab, leaf mosaic, cancer, tristeza. The last two types of treatment are not amenable. Most often, the problem occurs with weakened trees that have been improperly cared for.

Pests

When infested by aphids, the pests concentrate on the lower surface of the leaves. In this case, they are removed mechanically and special preparations are used, for example, Tanrek.

Symptoms

You can understand the presence of problems with lemon by appearance bush. It begins to wither, the leaves lose their glossy sheen and begin to dry. By the nature of the behavior of the tree, you can determine the source of the problem

Blackening of leaf tips

The appearance of a dark area from the edge of the leaf plate is most often associated with low humidity and high temperature in room. This situation is caused by excessive watering and the use of hard water. The quality of liquid penetration into the soil should be monitored, often upper layer covered with a hard crust and does not allow it to penetrate inside.

Spots on the leaves

If the leaves turn yellow and dry from the end, then with a high degree of probability the plant has picked up an infection or it is overcome by pests. By the nature of the spots, you can determine the type of problem:

when the scale insects invade, the leaves are covered yellow spots, which gradually grow;
when a tick is damaged, numerous small dots form on the leaf plates;
with fungal diseases, yellow-brown formations are formed, eventually turning into scabs.

Problems most often arise when the soil was poorly cultivated before planting. For the fight, drugs of a special action against infections or pests are used.

Leaf curl

Leaf curl can occur due to watering cold water. In the summer, this can be a reaction to hot weather and lack of air humidity. Often an anomaly is observed with mineral starvation. To do this, it is important to understand what element is missing. This can be determined by the appearance of twisted leaves:

calcium - leaves lose color;
magnesium - blanching is observed between the veins, the leaf plates acquire a variegated color;
boron - the leaves look wilted, while watering does not change the situation.

The curling problem is also common in plants affected by spider mite and aphids.

Drying of twigs and green leaves

Drying often leads to problems with the root system. This may be due to excessive watering and the beginning of rotting of the shoots. This situation may also indicate infection with a fungal disease or be a consequence of transplanting into a large pot when the soil was not chosen correctly. To eliminate the risk of infection of the plant with a fungus, the plant should be treated with a fungicide.

Dropping flowers and fruits

If the lemon wilts and discards the fruits, then in this way it can react to a change of scenery. Regardless of the quality of care, when the plant is moved to a new place, shedding will most likely occur. The reasons for this situation may also be the inability of the tree to withstand fruits due to age, the depletion of the soil, the plant's need for more lighting or watering.

How to revive a tree

The resuscitation of the lemon tree is not an easy task. The main problem of how to revive a plant is to correctly determine the causes of what happened. If the lemon has dried up due to insufficient watering, then attempts are made to restore root system. There is a certain algorithm of actions that will help you understand what to do in such a situation.

To begin with, the plant is removed from the pot, and the roots are soaked for 5 hours in a solution of "Heteroauxin".

First you need to clean them from the ground and remove the damaged processes. Next, the plant is planted in a pot, leaving the root collar 3 cm above the ground. The crown is closed with a plastic bag, further providing periodic ventilation. The soil is moistened with a nutrient solution. After 7 days, the tree is sprayed with "Zircon" and the soil is watered abundantly.

We saturate citrus fruits with micro and macro elements

It is possible to revive the plant only when using high-quality soil. After transplantation within 2 months, the tree is not recommended to be fed with fertilizers. To prevent soil depletion during the year, the plant is fed with mineral and organic means. The following rules are recommended:

nitrogen-containing fertilizers are applied in spring;
in summer, complex top dressings are performed at regular intervals;
in autumn they remove nitrogen and organic matter, increase the rate of potash fertilizers.

When applying the drug should be guided by the manufacturer's recommendations.

Proper care of the plant

It is important for the plant to ensure timely watering and periodically loosen the soil. In winter, it is good to provide additional lighting. Fertilizing the plant with mineral and organic fertilizers is carried out on a regular basis, focusing on the season.

Choosing the best place for a lemon

For placement choose a sunny south side. Preferably not around heating systems. The place should be protected from drafts and have minimal traffic.

We establish irrigation and regulate watering

Lemon needs moderate watering. This means that after the soil dries up in a pot, the soil is not moistened immediately, but only after 3 days. Humidification and irrigation have a positive effect on plant growth.

We fight infections and insects

To prevent infection, high-quality soil is used and once a year, preventive washing of the shoots with soapy water is carried out. Directional drugs are used to combat lemon diseases.

What to do with citrus after purchase so that it does not fly around

After purchase, the plant is released from the packaging fixing the roots. For annual plant take a container with a volume of 0.5-1 l, for a two-year-old you can take 2 l. A drainage layer is laid out at the bottom of the pot, the soil is covered and the roots of the tree are deepened, leaving the neck at the level of the soil. The plant is abundantly moistened and a layer of humus is formed on top of the soil. To reduce stress, the lemon crown is covered with polyethylene or a glass cap. After a couple of days, spraying with "Epin" or "Zircon" is carried out.

How to prepare a plant for transfer from the street to the window

Room lemon must be moved into the house before the onset of frost. The temperature drop will become stressful for the plant, so it is moved in several stages. To begin with, the tree is transferred to a cooler room, for example, to the veranda. After a couple of days, he is moved to a room, the temperature of which is also recommended to be reduced to street levels.

When a plant lacks nutrients, it sheds flowers, ovaries and fruits,...
lemon like evergreen needs nutrients throughout the year. Fertilizing indoor plants should be done not occasionally, but regularly. The lemon plant especially needs nitrogen, phosphorus and potash fertilizers.
Nitrogen plays a primary role in the growth of leaves, wood, in the formation of flowers, ovaries and fruits. With a lack of nitrogen, the growth of shoots is sharply reduced or completely stops, and the plant does not bear fruit. An external sign of nitrogen deficiency is a general, gradually increasing yellowing and underdevelopment of leaves, lack of growth, very small and pale colored flowers, often crumbling before blooming. Moreover, if the ovary is formed, it is poorly retained and gradually crumbles.
Phosphorus also has great importance in the life of the plant, especially in the formation of the yield of fruits and their quality. characteristic feature lack of phosphorus is the browning and drying of the leaves. Drying starts from the ends and edges of the leaf blade. Older leaves turn bronze and fall off. In plant tissues, the formation of sugars is sharply reduced. The fruits become rough, often ugly and have a thick skin. With normal nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition, lemon fruits are very juicy and have a smooth and thin peel.
With a lack of potassium, the area of \u200b\u200bthe leaf increases sharply, its plate becomes folded (corrugated). The leaf acquires a yellow-bronze color. Barely noticeable droplets of sweet sticky gum appear on the upper side of the leaf blade. Sometimes light yellow bronze spots form on the leaf blades. The growth of the tree is delayed, the upper points of growth dry up. The plant begins to shed its leaves and may dry out completely. It has been established that during potassium, as well as during nitrogen and phosphorus starvation, no fruits are formed.
Thus, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are the main elements necessary for the normal growth and development of plants. In addition to these basic elements, the plant also needs other, so-called trace elements (boron, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, etc.). The lack of individual trace elements causes plant disease, reduced yield and deterioration in fruit quality. Usually organic fertilizers, introduced into the soil at a room culture of lemon, provide a sufficient amount of trace elements.
With a room culture of lemon, it is necessary to apply both mineral (nitrate, superphosphate, potassium salt, etc.) and organic fertilizers (manure, slurry, compost).
From mineral nitrogen fertilizers the best is ammonium nitrate. To fertilize lemon indoor plants, prepare its concentrated solution in advance. In 1 liter of water dissolve 30 g of ammonium nitrate. For fertilizer, plants take one part of this solution and nine of the same parts. clean water, which is less than a half-percent solution of nitrate.
To ammonium nitrate, you can add 20 g of potassium salt, and dissolve all this in 1 liter of water. For fertilizer, take one part of this strong solution and nine parts of water. Such a solution fully meets the needs of the plant in nitrogen-potassium fertilizer.
Of the mineral phosphate fertilizers, ordinary superphosphate is used. Cooking first strong solution, for which 50 g of superphosphate are taken per 1 liter of water. For better absorption of superphosphate by the plant, it should be dissolved in hot water. The solution is boiled in an enamel bowl for at least half an hour. After cooling and settling of the sediment, the liquid is drained, and the sediment remaining at the bottom is discarded. The drained solution has a yellowish color. To fertilize lemon, take one part of this solution and nine parts of water. To mix phosphate fertilizer with nitrogen, and it is also impossible to make them together.

One of the painful topics for a citrus grower is the difficulty of obtaining fruits, for which most grow this exotic on their windowsills. I'm not talking about varieties that bloom constantly and produce more or less in any case (note: calamondin, limequat). It's a shame when a citrus blossoms once a year, sets fruit and ... drops absolutely everything!

In this article, I will try to describe the reasons that I discovered while growing citrus fruits for several years. If you want to add or object, please write in the comments and share your experience.

Self-regulation

The first reason is, that is, when the tree "understands" that it does not have the strength to grow fruits. Usually, ovary shedding occurs on young citrus fruits at the first flowering. As an example: orange and grapefruit bloomed very abundantly for the first time. There were a lot of ovaries, most of which actively began to increase. But then, one by one, almost all of them were dropped. On this moment only one fruit remained on the orange, and one and a half on the grapefruit (one ovary is still very small and I do not hope that it will grow).

Not a single fruit could be preserved on clementines and tangerines from a few flowers - the trees are obviously still too small.

But Novogruzinsky and Pavlovsky, fortunately, are not blooming for the first time and were able to save several fruits, although last year all the ovaries fell on these lemons.

Heat

High temperatures have an extremely negative effect on fruit set. This is most noticeable during the summer months when the kumquats are in bloom. Last year, it was hot all summer and citruses were able to set fruit only at the end of August. During the first two waves of flowering, no fruit set at all. This year we were lucky: after flowering there were two weeks of coolness, during which the fruits grew well, the stalks managed to get stronger and the chance of shedding decreased significantly. But the subsequent waves of flowering were in vain and the harvest, obviously, will not increase:

According to personal observations, the heat not only affects the setting of new fruits, but greatly inhibits the development of existing ones.

Unfortunately, I do not have the opportunity to influence the temperature around my citrus trees: the loggia is located on the east side and the sun warms the air inside very much during the afternoon. To get a good harvest, you have to rely only on the weather, so that the heat does not stand for months.

Watering

In the early stages, timely watering is equally important. A slight overdrying of an earthy coma can just as easily lead to the loss of all ovaries, even larger ones. But if you find drooping leaves, then you should not immediately fill in a large volume of water. Citruses not only drop the ovaries, but also the leaves can be strongly abandoned.

However, a permanent bay will also not lead to good. Citruses need to be watered in the usual way: as the soil dries out.

In any case, we can influence this factor and are obliged to pay more attention to the state of the earthy coma during hot periods.

fertilizers

Many citrus growers really want to help their pets at the sight of abundant flowering, wanting to achieve a large harvest, and begin to actively fertilize. But here you need to be very careful, since "citrus dressings" mainly contain nitrogen, which can provoke a tree to grow. Citrus begins to produce many shoots for which it spends a lot of energy, and the ovaries fade into the background. Their growth stops and often they crumble.

Bad condition in general

I wrote earlier that flowering is not always good sign. Often, citruses throw out massive buds and even set fruits when they feel bad - apparently they want to leave behind offspring before possible death. In this case, it is unlikely that it will be possible to grow a crop and it is much better to cut off the flowers immediately, preventing them from wasting energy on fruiting.

Instead of conclusions

It is worth remembering: the smaller the ovary, the higher the chance of its reset. It is in the initial stages of fetal development that we should pay maximum attention to citrus fruits and limit them from any possible stress.

All good harvests!

Almost every person who is interested in indoor plants, dreams of growing such a wonderful tree as a lemon on his windowsill. It not only decorates the room, but also proper care gives more and juicy fruits, which are rich in vitamin C. Lemon is a rather whimsical plant to the composition of the soil, lighting and air humidity. That is why sometimes his ovaries fall off.

Lemon is a whimsical plant, and get good harvest can only be done with the right care.

Why do lemon ovaries fall off

If the ovaries fall off the lemon, then this is a negative reaction to a change of scenery. If a pot with a lemon tree is rearranged to another window or transferred to another room during fruiting, then the fruits will surely crumble, regardless of the quality of lemon care. Lighting changes, causing the plant to experience stress.

There are several more reasons why the fruit fell off the lemon tree. This is due to the inability of the lemon to grow them on itself. The ovary is reset for a number of reasons:

the tree is still too young and does not have the strength to ripen the fruit;
the soil is impoverished, and there are few minerals in it;
the plant lacks sunlight;
the tree needs more intensive watering;
too much ovary, which the lemon can not handle.

If measures are taken to prevent all the shortcomings of caring for a lemon tree, then next time it will please its owner with lovely yellow fruits. It is not recommended to buy a tree during the fruiting or flowering period, because moving the plant to completely new growing conditions and the transportation itself negatively affects the lemon. Such a plant will certainly throw off the ovary.

If there is a large number of ovaries, lemon gets rid of excess

Signs of dropping the ovary

To understand that a lemon tree is about to drop the ovary, you need to take a good look at the plant itself. The following signs are observed:

The leaves on the branch with the fruit begin to twist or fall off a little.
The ovary itself dries out and shrinks.
The petiole of the fruit darkens and dries.

As a result, the fruit falls off, and the plant gains new strength for the next harvest. It also happens that the leaves have fallen off, but the fruits remain. On the face of the lack of nutrients in the soil. If you don't contribute mineral fertilizers, then over time the lemon tree will die.

Mineral fertilizers will help to cope with the problem of falling ovaries

What to do so that the lemon does not throw off the ovary

If the plant periodically blooms, but continues to drop the ovary, then this is the first sign of problems in caring for it. First you need to understand why the fruits fall. If the problem is mineral starvation, then complex fertilizers for indoor flowers are applied to the soil, they can be purchased at specialized stores. Sometimes mineral supplement does not help and then the lemon tree is transplanted into another pot with a new substrate. The soil must certainly be slightly acidic.

If the soil in the pot is too dry, then the plant should be watered more often. You need to do this at least three times a week. It is also necessary to spray the leaves with water at least once a day.

Homemade lemons, like their wild counterparts, love diffused light and feel very bad in the shade. It is better to choose a place for a pot in such a place that there is enough lighting, but direct sunlight does not touch the leaves. So it is quite possible to avoid falling off the ovaries.

On a small tree, it is better to remove the future ovary even during the flowering period. young plant pinch off all the flowers. If the lemon tree is mature, but there are too many flowers on its branches, then only a part is removed. This will help the tree retain the remaining fruit.