As of: February 24, 2024, 9:00 a.m
By: Ines Alms
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Repotting citrus trees like the lemon tree encourages growth and blooms.
The most important thing is the right pot and the right soil.
When the scent of a blossoming lemon or orange tree wafts through the house or winter garden and you close your eyes, you could imagine yourself in a citrus plantation in Italy.
As beguiling as the scent is, so is the hobby gardener's happiness when the Mediterranean pupil bears new flowers or even fruit every year.
Caring for citrus plants is not always easy, but this also includes regularly repotting the tree.
There are a few important points to note here.
Best time and container for repotting the citrus tree
Mediterranean plants such as lemon trees place particular demands on the soil in which they are potted.
© Shotshop/Imago
It's time about every two to three years - for older plants, four is enough: Before the lemon tree, kumquat or even a bergamot leaves its winter quarters, i.e. in early spring, the plant should be given a new pot, depending on its growth, or at least fresh soil receive.
At the latest when roots find their way out of the pot's drainage hole.
If necessary, this is also a good time to prune the citrus plant.
June is also a very good repotting date.
The pot for a citrus plant should ideally be made of clay: on the one hand, because it has enough stability for the large volume of soil and the small tree, and on the other hand, the roots are somewhat ventilated.
And the formation of waterlogging is made more difficult - the moisture is carried through the pores of the clay to the outside of the pot.
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Important aspects when repotting
The following points should be taken into account when repotting:
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When the plant has grown, choose a new pot with a drainage hole that is about four to five centimeters larger in diameter than the previous one.
Or they are based on the crown size of the tree, which should correspond to the diameter approximately 1:1.
Fill the pot one third full with a drainage layer of expanded clay and all around with some soil.
Remove the top layer of soil from the citrus tree on which salts from irrigation water have accumulated and discard it.
If necessary, loosen the tree in front of the edge and lift it into the middle of the new pot so that the ball sits about two centimeters below the edge of the pot.
When repotting, loosen some of the old soil.
It does not have to be removed completely, citrus plants have sensitive roots.
Add some fresh substrate to the edge, press lightly and water the plant.
The right soil for citrus plants
Mediterranean plants require nutrient-rich, well-drained soil that should have a slightly acidic pH of 5.5 to 6.5.
For example, a nutrient deficiency during the growing season leads to the dropping of unripe fruits.
There are special citrus soils available in stores.
Mixing it yourself with normal potting soil and a third of quartz sand, crushed limestone or broken gravel is possible, but more complicated.