Detailed Tutorial on Potted Finger Citron Planting Techniques and Methods

Finger citron is a variety of citron, belonging to the citrus category of ornamental fruit flowers. It is quite common for finger citron not to bloom or to bloom without setting fruit, and even after setting fruit, it often fails to hold it. Below, the editor will introduce the techniques for potted finger citron!

Potted finger citron techniques

1. Promote the vegetative growth of seedlings so they become established plants as early as possible. When repotting in spring of the second and third years, apply cake fertilizer, hoof pieces and bone meal as base fertilizer, and at the same time carry out one shaping and pruning session, cutting the main trunk back to 15cm and leaving 3 to 5 axillary buds below to encourage vigorous branches to sprout and expand the crown. When new shoots grow to 5 to 8cm, pinch off the growing tips, removing the terminal buds and side buds, so as to develop a certain tree shape and promote earlier entry into the fruiting stage.

2. Finger citron prefers acidic soil, and the pH value should be kept at about 5.3; the potting soil ratio is 60% humus soil, 30% river sand, and 10% peat soil or furnace ash residue. A dilute fertilizer solution can be applied once every ten days to half a month. Too much water easily causes root rot, so the method of watering by testing soil moisture should be adopted: do not water when the surface layer of the potting soil is not dry, and water thoroughly each time, all year round.

3. The most suitable humidity for finger citron is 70% to 90%. For this reason, during dry seasons, water should be sprayed on the leaves 1 to 2 times a day, and water can also be sprinkled on the ground to increase air humidity. The suitable growing temperature for finger citron is 15 to 30°C. In hot seasons, it should be moved to a cool, ventilated and shaded place. When the temperature is below 5°C, cold protection is required

4. Finger citron does not easily set fruit, so various methods must be used to promote fruit setting. During the bud stage, before flowering and after flowering, organic fertilizer must be applied, and a dilute organic liquid fertilizer should also be applied once a week. Then thin the buds: deformed buds and diseased or weak buds should all be removed. Too many buds must not be retained; only the two or three buds near the top of the branch with the best growth should be kept, and excessive fruit setting should not be demanded.

5. Finger citron is prone to yellow leaf disease and leaf drop. When yellow leaf disease occurs, a 1% ferrous sulfate solution can be poured on it. If root rot occurs, repot immediately, take the plant out of the pot, rinse the roots, remove the rotted roots, disinfect them, and plant them in sterilized plain sandy soil for care so they gradually recover their vitality.

How to diagnose problems in finger citron by looking at the leaves?

If potted flowers are poorly managed, the leaves will turn yellow, scorch and curl. The changes in the leaves can serve as a basis for analyzing problems in care work, and corresponding measures can be taken accordingly.

1. Young leaves turning yellow, or lower leaves curling and withering with continuous leaf drop, is generally caused by too much watering. Potted flowers should be watered according to “see dry, see wet”. If there is standing water in the flowerpot, it must not last more than half an hour, otherwise the health of the root system will be affected. Sometimes, young leaves of potted flowers turn yellow because of a lack of a certain nutrient. If the leaves turn yellow but the veins remain green, it is caused by iron deficiency. At this time, some ferrous sulfate can be applied. Using 3 parts fine sandy soil plus 1 part commercially available decomposed nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizer can also be effective.

2. Old leaves turning yellow and new leaves growing very small: this is a lack of nitrogen or phosphorus and potassium nutrition in the potting soil. Some decomposed organic fertilizer or commercially available flower fertilizer tablets can be applied to supplement nutrients. If the tips of young leaves scorch, check whether the potting soil is too dry, or whether the light is too strong and the temperature too high, scorching the plant.

3. New shoot tips shrinking, tender leaves pale yellow, and old leaves dark yellow: this is mostly caused by waterlogging in the potting soil, lack of oxygen and root rot. Immediately loosen the soil, stop fertilizing and control watering. If the color of the new leaves at the growing tip is normal, while the lower leaves gradually dry, yellow, drop or scorch from bottom to top, then it is lack of water.

4. Scorched leaf edges are often caused by too much fertilizer and improper watering. Clean water can be used to rinse the potting soil several times so that the fertilizer dissolved in the water flows out through the drainage holes

5. Leaf edges curling, wrinkling and turning brown: this is mostly caused by indoor air being too dry. Water close to room temperature should often be used to spray the leaf surface; or the double-pot method can be used, placing the flowerpot inside another larger pot, with wet plant ash or wet old cloth strips stuffed between the two pots, so that there is a relatively humid microclimate around the potted flower.