what am I doing wrong?

15 years ago

I have a; meyer lemon tree, key lime tree and a calamondin orange tree that i bought this year.

1) I would like to know how to take a cutting and get it root. I have tried a few times with the lemon tree but all that ends up hapening is the leafs on the cutting dry out and the branch starts to (slowly, 3 weeks maybe) go brown. How i have been doing it is: taking a branch that is a good 4-6 inches long and has 4+ leaves on it (cut it off with poultry shears), taking all flower buds off -if there are any-, take a box cutter and trim about 1 inch of bark off on side on the branch. Dip the branch into rooting hormone and put into water. I keep the cutting indoors under lowenergy flourescent light very close to the humidifier that i use for the rest of my trees. However after as few as 4 days the cutting looks pretty sad, dry and wilted. The leaves get a definate browning and i can not touch them or they will fall off. I have the cutting in a clear glass so that i can see if rooting has started and last time i waited almost 3 weeks with nothing. I am not so worried that nothing has happened because i had to prune the tree to get it more even anyhow so i wasn't hurting the tree to try however i would like to get them to work so i could give one to my dad.

2) is it adviseable to polinate my trees with a paintbrush since they are all going to be indoor trees? -i live in canada zone 3 so they will not have bees doing it for me-

3) we had a week of decent weather (22-28C) here so i put the trees out on the balcony, i noticed that the leaves yellowed right away -and a few fruit did aswell- would that be because they weren't "hardened off" even though the spot i put them was directly on the otherside of the window where they live indoors?

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Comments (6)

jsvand5
15 years ago
As far as I know you can not root citrus from cuttings. You would be much better off buying some trifoliate orange seeds, growing them up to a suitable size to be used as rootstock, and then grafting budwood from your tree to it. Also, the key lime should grow true from seed. That would be the easiest way for those.
birdsnblooms
15 years ago
You can grow citrus from cuttings, but if you expect the cutting to flower/fruit, it'll take many years. Unless like Js stated, grafting to rootstock.
Water won't do it.
To root, remove a 4" cutting that includes wood from the previous year's growth at the base. The cutting should not have flowers. If it does, pinch off..Also remove leaves at the bottom of stem, leaving the top two or four leaves. Dip in rooting hormone. (When you dipped in the hormone, then set in water, most likely the power washed away.) (One option is placing the cutting 3/4" into sterilized sand.) There are other mixes you can root in, the one I mention is from a book that deals strickly in rooting cuttings and seedlings called, Starting From Scratch.
You can also use a seedling mix or make you're own.
Soil needs heat, between 75-90F degrees. Cuttings have the best chance taking in spring/summer when they obtain warmth.
I like rooting cuttings in Peat Pots, but if you haven't any, use a 3-4" growing pot per cutting. Water thoroughy, then place in a platic bag. Either keep top opened, or cut vents for fresh air. (One thing about Peat Pots is, when it's time to repot, instead of removing cutting from pot, you can set a Peat Pot in a larger pot/soil, which eventually breaks down. This way there's no chance of root breakage.
Never place the bag in direct sun. Bright light is fine. Cuttings should root 6-12 weeks. Check soil about once a week..if it's moist, wait, don't water..Misting entire plant works too. That's it..good luck, Toni
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damethod
15 years ago
The proper way to obtain to obtain a new citrus tree from an established one is by air rooting. You take a sturdy branch on the tree that produced well. You take a knife and cut barely cut into a branch(not too deep!) then go around the branch. Then make the same cut 1-2 inches away from that cut. The point is to peel a small section of the branches outer skin. You want to leave a small section exposed without damaging the branch. You then use some kind of root starter(obtained at a local nursery) and apply that to the area. Wrap it up with aluminum foil and wait for a few weeks. You will see the wrap start to bulge. This means that roots are growing! cut the new tree from the branch just under where the roots begin and plant.
daer0n
Original Author
15 years ago
damethod that is an interesting suggestion! I will have to try that.

hopefulauthor it sounds like i just didn't give them enough heat or enough time.

jsvand i did plant seeds also, just before i bought my trees i picked up grapefruit lemon and key limes i germinated all the seeds. The key limes and grapefruit never took -well actually the grapefruit took but rotted- and the lemon is a happy little triprloyed tree. Since then i bought some tangerines and have a tangerine tree now too.

i think it would be neat to learn how to do grafting then maybe i could get these trees onto a root stock that could survive our winters.
jsvand5
15 years ago
Do you use any soil inside the tin foil wrap with this technique?
damethod
15 years ago
No, you only use the product(don't remember the name) that get the roots started.

what am I doing wrong?

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jsvand5

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what am I doing wrong?

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jsvand5

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