Potted Cultivation Methods and Daily Care Tips for the Medicinal Herb Bergamot (Fingered Citron)

The medicinal herb bergamot is one of the varieties of citron, and its flesh can be used as a medicinal herb. Its wrinkled peel is bright yellow and very glossy. It begins to branch at the top, shaped like open fingers. Precisely because of its unusual fruit shape, it is often grown as an ornamental plant, and is deeply favored by potted plant enthusiasts. So what are the potted cultivation methods for bergamot? What points should be noted in daily care?

I. Common Varieties of Bergamot

1. White-flowered bergamot: the flowers of white-flowered bergamot are white. The summer fruit of white-flowered bergamot is mostly in the open-hand shape, and the autumn fruit is in the fist shape.

2. Red-flowered bergamot: the flowers of red-flowered bergamot are red. Both the summer fruit and autumn fruit of red-flowered bergamot are in the fist shape.

II. The Effects and Uses of Bergamot

1. The effects of bergamot

Every part of the bergamot is valuable. The roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits can all be used as medicine; it is pungent, bitter, sweet, warm and non-toxic; it enters the liver, spleen and stomach meridians, and has many medicinal functions such as regulating qi and resolving phlegm, stopping vomiting and relieving distension, soothing the liver and strengthening the spleen, and dispelling wind and clearing heat. It is also called the cooling and qi-unblocking fruit.

It is used for indigestion, thick and greasy tongue coating, chest tightness and qi distension, vomiting and cough, tenesmus after diarrhea, disharmony between the liver and stomach, distending pain in the epigastrium and abdomen, cough with excessive phlegm, and nervous stomach pain, etc. The Chisong golden bergamot can be made into many kinds of medicinal herbs, and taken over a long period it has the effect of preserving health and prolonging life.

2. The uses of bergamot

The bergamot fruit can be used for ornamental enjoyment and for smelling its fragrance.

It can also be placed in a car or a room to remove odors, and it can refresh the mind and invigorate the spirit.

Bergamot can be infused in liquor, or preserved with honey or sugar and brewed as tea; it can also be sliced and dried in the sun, and is a commonly used medicinal herb.

Bergamot residue can be splendidly transformed into activated carbon, which can be used to make adsorbents for water dispensers, deodorizing insoles, and even directly used in industry for the decolorization treatment of dye wastewater and for adsorbing formaldehyde.

A commonly used medicine for treating stomach pain and nausea. Bergamot is a commonly used medicine for treating stomach pain, and in treating chronic gastritis and ulcers it can achieve an antispasmodic and analgesic effect. It is especially effective for pain caused by inflammation and ulcers in the duodenal area, and it also has a good antispasmodic and analgesic effect on cholecystitis and cholangitis.

For stomach discomfort, stuffiness and distension, nausea, and a vague desire to vomit in gastroduodenitis, for nausea and a desire to vomit after chemotherapy, and for nausea during pregnancy, etc., it all has fairly good effects, and it helps accelerate the recovery of digestive function.

A commonly used medicine for protecting the stomach. Many aromatic and drying qi-regulating medicines have an aspect of damaging yin. For patients with yin deficiency and internal heat, depletion of body fluids, and also stomach pain, on the one hand it is necessary to nourish yin and clear heat, promote fluid production and moisten dryness, and on the other hand it is necessary to reduce damage to stomach yin as much as possible. At this time, qi-regulating medicines must be selected with care; only a small number of medicines such as bergamot, tangerine peel, white peony root and bitter orange can be chosen.

III. Potted Cultivation Methods for Bergamot

Bergamot propagation generally uses the bergamot cutting method, and the grafting propagation method can also be used.

Bergamot can generally be cut in spring or summer each year, and it is most suitable when the buds begin to swell before each new shoot growth.

Select a robust one-year-old bergamot young branch, then cut an 8—10 cm long cutting, remove the lower leaves, and it is best to keep a few leaves on the upper part; then insert the bergamot cutting into the soil to a depth of about two-thirds of the cutting.

The culture soil for bergamot can be a culture soil made by mixing garden soil and sand in half-and-half, or coarse sand can be used. After inserting the bergamot, spray water to keep it moist, then place it in a shaded and ventilated place for care. Generally after about 60 days it can take root, and when the new branches and leaves have grown fairly long, the seedlings can be divided and planted in small pots.

Bergamot cleft grafting propagation can be carried out in April each spring. Generally, five- or six-year-old sour orange or trifoliate orange is used as the rootstock, and sour orange is better. For bergamot approach grafting, apart from winter, all three seasons of spring, summer and autumn can be used for cleft grafting propagation, and April and May of each year are best. For potted bergamot from cuttings or grafting, if managed well, it generally takes only three or four years to bear fruit.

IV. Points to Note in Bergamot Cultivation

1. Bergamot relatively prefers a fertile and moist environment. During the growing period of bergamot, sufficient and moderate water and topdressing fertilizer must be supplied. Especially in July and August each year, it can be watered a bit more wetly, and generally a topdressing of decomposed soybean cake water or human waste urine liquid fertilizer is applied once a week. Bergamot fertilization should be done frequently and lightly, and after September the number of fertilizations should be reduced. By around October each year, no more topdressing is needed, and during winter care the pot soil for bergamot can be slightly drier. Otherwise the branches and leaves of bergamot grow tender and are not firm, and are prone to cold damage in winter.

2. In winter the temperature for bergamot cannot be lower than 5 degrees Celsius. Young bergamot plants need to be repotted once a year, and adult bergamot plants are repotted every two or three years, mostly in early spring before the buds swell.

3. When repotting bergamot, the roots can be pruned appropriately, cutting off dead and rotten roots. Compost or decomposed barnyard manure can be mixed into the pot soil, and a small amount of cake fertilizer or phosphate fertilizer is added at the bottom of the pot as a base fertilizer.

4. Common pests and diseases of bergamot include scale insects, red spider mites, bergamot worms, swallowtail butterflies and sooty mold, etc., and they should be controlled promptly.