Admiral Apraksin brought the first two hundred small fruit-bearing citrus trees in pots to Russia in 1708 at the direction of Peter the Great. At first, privileged persons grew them in their greenhouses and greenhouses. The exception is still the city of Pavlovo, Nizhny Novgorod region, where window citrus growing has become a hobby for almost all local residents (see "Science and Life" No. ). Now, 300 years later, many domestic and foreign companies are engaged in the cultivation of exotic seedlings, and home citrus growing attracts more and more plant lovers. But only those who will rely on the experience of previous generations of citrus growers can count on luck.
Science and life // Illustrations
The main advantage of the Meyer lemon tree is short stature. Accordingly, the leaves and fruits are medium-sized, with a thin peel. This variety blooms and bears fruit very abundantly.
With sufficient lighting on the windowsill, you can grow tangerine fruits that are not inferior to the southern ones. They are just as sweet, large and even have more tender flesh. In the photo: tangerines of the dwarf variety Miagawa-Wase. Plant height rarely exceeds 50 cm.
The most common variety of mandarin, Unshiu broad-leaved, bears fruit from the age of three. Fruits without seeds, with a smooth thin skin.
One of the most unpretentious varieties of lemon - Panderose. The tree is medium-sized, with a spreading crown. The fruits are large.
Fruits of the Novogruzinsky lemon variety are very fragrant - they are elongated-oval in shape, with a pointed tip.
Citrus fruits, even on the same branch, do not ripen at the same time.
In the room, oranges feel quite tolerable. The trees look very decorative: a slender crown, dark green dense foliage and rather bright fruits.
Grapefruit is one of the largest citrus fruits. Plants are tall, so when planted in a window, they need to be severely pruned annually.
Since the 18th century, myrtle-leaved orange, or sour orange, has been grown in Russia.
Citrus seedlings with a closed root system.
Formation of the crown of vigorous varieties of orange, grapefruit, lemon or mandarin.
With a lack of nitrogen, the leaves turn yellow, especially the lower ones and at the base of the shoots.
With poor nutrition, the dark green leaves of any citrus fruits become variegated.
Citrus buds appear at any time of the year, but most of them are in February-April and September-October.
Science and life // Illustrations
Science and life // Illustrations
Science and life // Illustrations
Science and life // Illustrations
I warn you in advance: not everyone should even try to grow lemons and other citrus fruits in an apartment. Home citrus growing is the destiny of passionate, dreamy and at the same time thoughtful, serious people who are able for many years, sparing no effort and time, to learn the numerous "secrets" of this difficult occupation, gradually comprehending its wisdom.
And all for what? In any case, not for the sake of the "real" harvest. And it's not even about satisfying one's own ambitions, but rather about something completely different - a kind of "sculpting" with my own hands the miracle of nature itself - the lemon country on a tiny windowsill.
This is not an exaggeration. Indeed, for any northerner, it is the evergreen tree of orange or lemon, tirelessly blooming, with golden fruits, that is the “living” symbol of the southern countries with eternal summer, where there is no gray-lead low-falling sky, short daylight hours and other discomfort that everyday affects our mood and well-being.
The man-made oasis seems to help, together with the plants, to move into the fairy tale of the subtropics.
But here is another paradox: not a single company that imports citrus fruits even attaches a short growing instruction to them. As a result, the life expectancy of acquired seedlings, sometimes expensive, is reduced to a few weeks, and luxurious southerners turn into miserable scumbags.
In flower shops, citrus fruits are usually sold in the late autumn and winter months, when all their types and varieties look equally festive, especially since they are grown in almost ideal conditions of greenhouses and greenhouses under the supervision of specialists.
Sometimes it doesn’t even occur to buyers that a seedling bought for a lot of money in an ordinary apartment will have to experience, without exaggeration, shock and stress. Whether this whole plant will survive depends not only on our ability to create the necessary conditions for it, but also on the life potential of a particular plant.
Forty years of personal experience in growing such sissies and information from amateurs that I receive after the publication of my books about these plants led me to the conclusion that different species and varieties in the same room conditions do not behave at all in the same way: some die immediately, others get sick , others more or less adapt to life in any apartment.
Over time, I have compiled a kind of "ranking" of different types of citrus fruits in terms of hardiness (from high to low). And what is curious: practically this "rating" coincided with what was published more than 100 years ago by Professor N. N. Shavrov in the book "Tub and Hothouse Culture". So, the most unpretentious are the Pomeranians (bigaradia) and Calamandins, and the "fastidious" and "capricious" are Kinkans. Between them, in decreasing degree of endurance, are tangerines, oranges, citrons, lemons, grapefruits.
From abroad, we mainly import kinkans, tangerines, oranges; their presentation is impeccable, but, as a rule, the type of plant is not indicated. Lemons of different ages are mostly Russian, from domestic greenhouses.
SELECTION OF VARIETIES
The most popular citrus fruits are lemons. Although this species occupies the place of "middlings" in the "rating", the existing varieties differ from each other. In terms of hardiness, I arrange them in the following sequence: Pavlovsky, Panderoza, Kursky, Meyer, Novogruzinsky, then all the rest (more than 100 varieties are known in total).
Pavlovsky. The result of almost a century and a half of folk selection (in the 60s of the XIX century, this lemon was brought from the Mediterranean coast of Turkey). Seedlings of Pavlovsky lemon easily adapt to room conditions. It blooms at least twice, and even three or four times a year. Plants are low- and medium-sized (up to 1 m), practically do not require pruning and crown formation. They begin to bear fruit in the third year. With good care, they give 10-30 rather large (up to 200 g) fruits from a tree.
Panderose. It grows well on any windows without additional lighting. Therefore, it is considered one of the most unpretentious varieties. The tree is low- and medium-sized, less than 1 m, with a spreading crown, short, thick shoots. The fruits are large (up to 50-100 g). It blooms profusely, therefore, in order to avoid depletion of the plant, most of the buds have to be removed. It enters fruiting in the second year of life. The yield is high, up to 10 lemons per tree, but the fruits have their drawbacks: they are thick-skinned, not acidic enough and a little dry.
Kursk. Bred in Kursk by amateur citrus grower A. A. Fomenko more than half a century ago. Unpretentious, although with insufficient lighting in winter it loses a lot of leaves. Fruits in the third year of life. On the glazed balcony yields over 30 high quality fruit per tree. The main disadvantage of the variety is its tall stature, therefore, a strong shortening of the branches is required annually.
Novogruzinsky. Very elegant bright golden fruits of this variety. However, it also has two drawbacks. Firstly, relatively late fruiting - only in the fourth or fifth year of life. And secondly, tallness (up to 1.5 m and above) and large needles.
Productivity - up to 20-30 fruits per plant.
Meyer. The main advantage of this variety is short stature (0.5-1 m). It enters fruiting in the second year of life, and sometimes even earlier. It blooms and bears fruit very abundantly, the fruits are medium-sized, sweet and sour. This variety also has disadvantages. Often a plant throws out only buds, forgetting about the leaves, and then it simply has nothing to absorb the light with. To save the tree, you have to remove most of the buds. Another disadvantage is the painful reaction of the plant to the lack of light during the winter months.
Much better grade Meyer feels at home in our apartments when grafted onto homegrown citrus seedlings. As a result, the trees develop well and bear fruit abundantly: up to 20 fruits from each. The fruits are thin-skinned, juicy and less acidic than other varieties.
As for other types of citrus fruits, tangerines and citrons are more elegant than others. Mandarin trees are strewn with brightly colored, fragrant, sweet fruits. Citrons are distinguished by dark lush foliage and beautiful tuberous yellow fruits.
It is convenient to grow tangerines in small windows, since many of their varieties, especially dwarf ones, are rarely more than a meter high. Citrons after 10 years of growth are slightly higher.
Grapefruits are less suitable for window sills - because of their tallness: they often reach 1.5 m and above. However, they can be successfully grown in spacious areas.
Calamandins and oranges are very decorative, do not take up much space and are unpretentious. However, they have fruits of mediocre taste.
Much tastier than kinkans (their other name is kumquats), their fruits are eaten together with a piercingly fragrant skin. Kinkan trees are rather undersized, but capricious and require growing conditions close to ideal, which is easier to create on the balcony and in the loggia.
Very impressive fruit-bearing trees! But I do not advise you to be tempted by such plants when buying: they rarely get used to room conditions, often get sick and die. It is much more practical to buy citrus "youngsters", they adapt much easier and faster to life on the windowsill.
OUR WINDOWSILL IS NOT SUBTROPIC, BUT…
If you purchased and placed a citrus tree on the window, try to create conditions for it that at least remotely resembled the usual natural element - the subtropics. And initially room conditions, to put it mildly, are strikingly different from them.
In the homeland of citrus fruits - in Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean countries - there is a lot of light (daylight is equal to night, that is, 12 hours), high humidity (up to 95% on average) and favorable temperatures: it is hot from spring to autumn, and cool in winter (5-10 o C heat).
Of the three listed factors more or less achievable in the room, oddly enough, only the last. The indicators of the microclimate of our window sill remotely resemble ... India and Italy, although, as a rule, in the winter months in our apartment it is warmer than it should be, and in the summer months it is a little cooler.
But the other two conditions for the life of these sissies are very difficult to provide.
In December-January, at the latitude of Moscow, no more than 3-5 fine sunny days are usually given, and the duration of daily lighting drops by the end of the year to 7 hours instead of the required 12. Moreover, due to frequent cloudiness, a dim beam of light is simply not able to start the "motor "photosynthesis. And from November to mid-March, citruses are doomed to many months of hard to endure fasting.
After all, the main nutrition that is required every minute is not contained at all in certain fertilizers, but in the surrounding air - this is carbon dioxide, which turns into leaves into organic compounds only under the influence of a powerful light source - the sun!
Fasting is tripled due to low air humidity (25% instead of 95%). And as a result of this, the entrance "gates" slam shut on the leaves - stomata for carbon dioxide, saving the life-giving moisture of tissues from drying out.
It is clear that in order to save the tree, it is important to adjust two indicators of the habitat, namely: every day in autumn and winter, extend the lighting up to 12 hours due to bright lamps and, in various ingenious ways, increase the humidity of the air to at least 50-60% (which, by the way, is important and to improve our well-being!).
Both goals are easily achievable, and in several ways. Ordinary household incandescent bulbs are categorically not suitable as an artificial "sun" (the wrong spectrum of light and too much heat). But fluorescent daylight lamps suspended directly above the crown of plants are quite suitable (ideally, two lamps of 80 watts each), and sodium lamps are even more effective. high pressure with a mirror reflector, manufactured domestic producers(one 70 watt lamp is enough).
As for increasing the humidity of the air, for this, saucers filled with water are usually placed on the windowsill, and plants are often sprayed from a spray bottle. All this helps, but not much. It is much better to hang a large wet towel on the central heating radiator, substituting a wide basin below on the floor. And even more effectively humidify the air in the room electric humidifiers different systems that are sold in stores.
FIRST CHALLENGES
The best place for citrus fruits is the brightest window sill, and even better - a double-glazed and insulated loggia. Immediately after the acquisition, the tree is transplanted (more precisely, "transferred" with the preservation of the former earthen coma) in new pot, more convenient - in plastic, with a diameter and height of 4-7 cm more than before. Do this very carefully, trying not to damage any of the roots. Be sure to arrange drainage at the bottom of the tank in the form of a two-centimeter layer of fine expanded clay, or better - swamp moss-sphagnum; the land mixture is made up of equal parts of leafy soil (completely rotted leaves collected under old maples and lindens), sod (it is obtained by simply shaking off earthen layers cut in a meadow or along the banks of a river, lake, pond) and compost sifted through metal mesh with cells of 1 cm. The so-called special earthen mixtures "Lemon", "Orange", "For citrus" are least suitable for citrus fruits, since they consist exclusively of peat with the addition of mineral fertilizers. Watering trees in winter time usually every other day with boiled, settled water (at least 50-60% of potassium and magnesium salts are deposited in such water, which alkalize the soil), and ideally - with water passed through a household filter.
FEEDING AND PEST PROTECTION
In the future, citrus fruits require an annual transplant into a loose fertile soil and frequent (every decade) fertilizing irrigation from late February to August. You can limit yourself to top dressing with a weak aqueous solution (1:10) of fermented nettle, dandelion, comfrey and other weeds; they are insisted for a week in glass jar or a closed plastic bucket in a ratio of 1:1. As a rule, such dressings are combined with completely soluble complex mineral fertilizers- Sudarushka, Semitsvetik, Kemira-lux.
Much more worries and troubles are the troubles associated with the health of domestic citrus fruits, since they are a favorite delicacy for many pests. Attracts to them, like a magnet, aphids, whiteflies, spider mites and false shields (the latter are especially dangerous and difficult to eradicate).
Pest attack is one of the main reasons for the death of citrus fruits. Most effective means protection in emergency cases - drugs Aktara and Actellik. I advise you not to spray the plants, but to completely immerse their crown in a container with an insecticide solution. The biological drug Fitovern is also suitable (2 tsp per 1 liter of water), but this drug does not work at a temperature of +17 ° C and below. But the best prevention is regular (every two to three months) treatments with the New FAS drug of increased concentration (3-4 tablets per bucket of water).
So, the key to the successful cultivation of citrus plants is the creation of favorable conditions in the apartment, and care that meets their needs, and the ability to defeat insect pests. Only then will citrus trees bring you joy.
Detailed description of the illustration
Formation of the crown of vigorous varieties of orange, grapefruit, lemon or mandarin. Citrus fruits are pruned in February. On young seedlings, the top of the only growing shoot is shortened in order to quickly cause its branching, the appearance of branches of the 1st order. They are also pruned to get shoots of the 2nd order. This operation is repeated until fruit-bearing branches of the 4th-5th order grow. In the future, pinching stronger branches, cause the growth of weak shoots, thereby forming a lush and beautiful crown. In the figure: a - pinching a branch of the 0th order; b - pinching branches of the 1st order; c - pinching branches of the 2nd-4th order.
Citrus buds appear at any time of the year, but most of them are in February-April and September-October. For more than a month, they develop, increasing in size. When opening at least one bud, a delicate aroma, somewhat reminiscent of the smell of jasmine, fills the whole house. As a rule, each flower has five dense petals, bright yellow fluffy stamens and a pistil towering above them with a stigma at the end. The flowers of many citrus fruits are self-pollinating, but the desired sweetish aroma attracts bees that fly into the apartment through the window.
Citrus trees are very vulnerable to cold weather, and even frost-resistant varieties need care when frost comes.
For the care of young trees up to the age of four, the most effective method protection from the cold is to make a mound of clean soil around the tree trunk at a height of about 30 cm. The soil is a good insulating material that can protect the tree in frosts down to -9 ° C. It is also an absorbent of sunlight, so remove mulch or any other material covering the ground. You can mound around the trees in the fall before frost hits, remove the mound in the spring after. How will the threat of frosts pass? Another way to protect trees is to wrap them special paper to protect seedlings. This is an alternative to creating a mound around the trunk, or you can apply both the first and second methods at the same time to additional protection trees.
To care for older trees, use special winter coatings. Just carefully cover the branches with a special protective material. If the frost is severe, you can place several lamps under the bedspread, or a small heater. However, be extremely careful when placing any heat source under the cover. Keep heat sources away from wood and bedspreads. You can use special "quilts for trees." They are sold already pre-cut specifically for covering a medium-sized tree. On average, these "quilts" help the tree to withstand temperatures 6-8 degrees lower. "Blankets" are used continuously for up to three days. If there is a need to use them for a longer period of time, it is necessary to remove them for the day so that the tree receives some sunlight during the day. Never use plastic covers to protect against the cold, always use "breathable" materials specifically designed to protect foliage.
If your tree has reached a size where the cover is no longer suitable, prepare for frost as follows: first, clear the soil around the tree of mulch to allow the ground to absorb sunlight. In the days leading up to frost, improve the heat absorption properties by irrigating the tree and the area around it. You can also spray the tree with a frost hardening agent that creates a special invisible film on the tree's leaves and branches to help reduce frost damage.
The last way is to spray the tree with water during frost. Mount the sprinkler above the tree and start spraying when the temperature drops to -1°C. The ice formed from the water will protect your tree. However, be prepared for the possibility of branches breaking due to the weight of the ice.
Frost damage on citrus trees
Frost damage on citrus fruits occurs when water inside the fruit, leaves, tree branches, and trunk freezes, rupturing cell membranes. Unlike deciduous trees, which protect themselves from the cold by shedding their leaves in autumn and going dormant, citrus trees continue to grow all year round. An extended period of cold weather even before frost forces citrus trees to prepare for this. This is why sudden changes in temperature - sudden frosts followed by warming - are more detrimental to citrus fruits than a gradual decrease in temperature. However, almost any frost leads to some kind of damage.
No matter what steps you take to protect yourself from the cold, there comes a point where nothing can help and your citrus fruit suffers frost damage. But if the damage is not very serious, efforts and support are required from you so that the tree can be restored. One of the important key points is not to take any steps immediately, but to wait until the damage caused by frost appears. In some cases, the death of a branch can occur even two years after freezing. If you act too quickly, you run the risk of cutting off parts of the tree that can recover from freezing, or vice versa, leaving those parts of the tree that look healthy, but are actually fatally damaged.
Signs of frost damage
Fruit
If the fruit is damaged by frost, the flesh suffers, while the skin may appear intact outwardly. Periodically, spots may appear on the fruits. Severely damaged fruits may fall from the tree; however, this may not happen if the damage is moderate. In any case, over time, the frozen flesh of the fruit will thaw, and the fruit will be empty.
Leaves and branches
Signs of damage on the leaves of citrus trees can be deceiving, as they will be green and springy at first. And only later, when they thaw, they become soft and fall off. In case of minor damage, frost-damaged leaves can recover. However, if the damage is fatal, the leaves will completely lose their structure, dry out and fall off. But leaf fall alone does not indicate the death of the tree. If the tree itself remains healthy, it will recover and growth will resume in the spring. As for branches, damage to branches almost always results in leaf death. In case of severe damage, the leaves will dry out, but may still remain on the branch for some time. However, if the branch is not severely damaged, the leaves will fall off more quickly.
Branches and trunk
Signs of frostbite of branches and trunks are the delamination of the bark and the formation of cracks on it. Lesions can manifest as plant cancer (necrosis fruit plants), which is mistaken for late blight.
Pruning trees damaged by frost
The first step in pruning is to wait until late spring or early summer. This will give time and opportunity to assess the damage. In addition, trees damaged by frost may sprout in early spring, which will soon die off. By postponing the trimming process, you can save time and effort.
When pruning, always remember that it is best to trim the wood where the branches form a fork, making sure you cut off any damage. If young trees have been protected by an embankment, they can survive, recover and sprout at the top, even if you have to cut branches above the embankment.
In severe frosts, the tree can be completely damaged to the ground. In such cases, the root zone may encourage the development of new shoots and the tree is likely to recover. But if it is a graft and the tree is damaged below the bud, new growth will start from the root shoot, not from cuttings. And then it is necessary to decide whether to carry out cuttings or allow new shoots to grow from the roots.
Citrus fruits easily cross and form new hybrids, breeders widely use this property, so today it is difficult to list all the available hybrids of citrus plants and their many variations. In addition to the already familiar calamondin and limequat, there are other hybrids of kinkans with citrus fruits and other citrus fruits with each other.
Let's look at some types and varieties of unusual citrus fruits that can be purchased at nurseries. A real exotic for your home!
Itchangensis
Citrus icchangensis, Yichang papeda are fairly slow growing citrus species that have a distinctive lemony scent to the foliage and flowers.
- Ichang lemon (also known as shangjuan)
- Kabosu
- Hyuganatsu
Ichansky lemon (lat. Cítrus cavaleriéi, formerly Citrus ichangénsis) is an evergreen plant, a species of the genus Citrus (Citrus). Distributed in China. Is the most cold hardy evergreen citrus, can be used as rootstock. Ichangensis is the most frost-resistant among all species of the genus Citrus. Critical temperature (complete death or freezing to the root neck) from -15 to -17 0 С.
Lemon Yichang, according to another classification, is Citrus wilsonii, comes from the hybridization of Citrus ichangensis (from the mountains of southern China, winter hardiness up to -15C) and Citrus maxima (tropical citrus, can withstand no more than -3C). Shangjuan is another variety of the same Citrus wilsonii, more winter-hardy (down to -13C).
Refers to paped group- citrus fruits, the leaf petioles of which are bordered by very wide wings, are similar to leaf blades. A tree or shrub growing up to 10 m in nature, with straight thorns on the branches.
The juice is sour and pungent in taste, the pulp is dryish, almost absent. Seeds are available. But the fruits are very fragrant, reminiscent of grapefruit (up to 10 cm or more). The large fruit has a taste reminiscent of a mixture of lemon and grapefruit, sometimes used as a substitute for them, although the taste of this type of citrus is still very specific.
How rootstock can be a good alternative to deciduous trifoliate. In addition, the plant itself is very beautiful: densely leafy, with abundant flowering, it grows rapidly.
Clemapo delicacy
Clemapo delice.
Hybrid tangerine x clementine Commune with repeated crossing with tangerine Avana x tangelo Mapo.
Early, medium-high grade. The fruits are obviously flattened, larger than ordinary tangerines (120 g) and usually ripen in October. The pulp has excellent taste and does not contain seeds, moreover, the peel of this tasty orange fruit is very easily separated from the pulp.
Mandarin Ortanik
Tangor - flattened "not-quite-orange", red- orange color, with a thick skin, the result of crossing a tangerine and a sweet orange.
Tangerine ripens earlier than mandarin, and its citrus aroma is less pronounced than that of mandarin.
Ortanique - probably natural tangor, found in Jamaica in the 1920s. Since tangerine and orange trees grew nearby, they decided that this was their hybrid. The name is composed of several words: or(ange) tan(gerine) (un)ique (orange, tangerine, unique).
Its other names are tambor, mandor, mandora.
The fruits are medium and large in size, the peel is slightly rough, orange in color, difficult to peel, with stones. Caliber (54-74 mm). 
Ortanic tangerines are the second largest and largest tangerine variety in Greece. Unlike the Clementine variety, Ortanic is harvested without leaves. Due to the tight-fitting peel, Ortanic tangerines are well protected from damage.
Today, Moroccan tangerines of the Ortanic variety can be purchased in Russian stores. The variety is quite large. The fruits are very juicy, the taste is sweet-sour, very pleasant.
Orangequat Nippon
Orangequat nippon (Nippon Orangequat) is a rare and rare interesting citrus. C. unshu x F. margarita. Orangequat (mandarinquat). Its origin is associated with the mandarin, not the orange.
Orangequat is a citrus, a hybrid of the unshiu mandarin and the Hawaiian variety of the kumquat ("Meiwa kumquat"), created by the American Eugene May, introduced into culture in 1932.
Fruiting is less abundant than that of the mandarin, but more abundant than that of the kumquat. The fruits are orange, rounded, larger than kumquats. The skin is thick and sweet. The juice is bitter, but in the process of fruit ripening, their pulp becomes sweeter. The fruits ripen relatively quickly and stay on the tree for several months. Of the x, they are eaten whole, with a peel, like kumquats: the fruits are very tasty.
The species is frost-resistant, can withstand temperatures down to -12 ° C.
It's attractive decorative tree, grows slowly, small in size, convenient for keeping at home, in room conditions.
Citrus Sudachi
Sudachi - frost-resistant sour citrus, can withstand temperatures down to -15 C. Sudachi ichandrin (papeda hybrid). Citrus sudachi Hort. ex Shirai. Citrus icchangensis X C. reticulata var. austere.
It is considered a hybrid of papeda and mandarin, traditionally grown in Tokushima in Japan, on the island of Shikoku. The fruits can be harvested when young, when Sudachi has a distinctive flavor that is different from Yuzu. The young fruits are used for cooking, the green ones are often included in vinegar or seasonings, and are suitable as additions to many different dishes, especially fish. In dishes, Sudachi is usually cut into thin slices to decorate the main dish. The aroma is used to flavor non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks. The fruits are in high demand.
The fruit of Sudachi is much smaller than that of Yuzu, the average fruit size is 3.8 cm wide and 3.4 cm high, the average weight of one fruit is 27.2 grams. There are few seeds, the average juice content is 34.4%, which is higher than Yuzu, so Sudachi is mainly used for juicing. The flesh is light green when unripe, to green-yellow when ripe. Sudachi is slightly more acidic than Yuzu, averaging 5% citric acid.
Sudachi trees are generally moderately strong creeping, small to medium trees, with spines up to 5 mm in each leaf axil. The leaves are elliptical in shape, with a small winged petiole.
It is highly resistant to citrus weevil. Growth is slow. Trees live for a long time. The tree gives an extremely large yield.
According to the University of Riverside in California, the species may be derived from a hybridization between the citrus papeda and the mandarin C. reticulata.
The first mention of Sudachi is in the 1708 book Kaibara Atsunobu.
The fruit is spherical, tuberous, about 4 cm in diameter, weight about 30 g, usually harvested green, from August 15 until the end of September, then the fruit turns yellow and becomes sweet.
The essential oil contains special ingredients, including sudachiines. The quality of sudachi fruit is the subject of publications in Japanese and Korean sources: it is good for the skin, increases triglycerides, fights obesity, it is an anti-oxidation and diabetic juice, improves glucose and lipid metabolism, an excellent anti-inflammatory agent, including in inflammatory processes in bone tissue. A Tokushima University Graduate School publication shows that mice fed this citrus supplement with 1% zest powder had a noticeable weight loss effect.
In Japan mass production started in 1956. There are micro-manufacturing in California and in Portugal.
The sugar level in the juice is higher than that of a lemon, the sugar/acid ratio is more than 5, the usual quality level for this type of fruit. The taste is typified less tangerine than Yuzu, less resinous than Kabosu, it gives a pleasant sensation of adding sweetness and acidity, it is a real miracle that is highly appreciated with grilled dishes (fish, mushrooms...), added to soy sauce and drinks (alcoholic drinks, beer, soft drinks). Grated zest is also used.
Tangelo Seminole
Tangelo Seminole (Seminole tangelo). Citrus reticulata x C. paradisi. Citrus tangelo J.W. Ingram & H.E. Moore.
Seminole is a citrus with large fruits (like a grapefruit) with a red-orange peel. It is very juicy, has a rich sweet taste with hints of grapefruit, tart, a bit like tangerine, but with a different shade. Variety trees require pruning.
Tangerine is a type of mandarin that grows in Morocco, Sicily, China and the USA. Tangerine is not a botanical term. As a rule, tangerines are called red-orange sweet bright tangerines with thin skin that easily peels off. And hybrids of tangerines with other citrus fruits are called tangelo. The first tangelos were obtained in 1897 in Florida.
Known varieties of tangelo: Curly, or Sunrise Tangelo (K-Early, Sunrise Tangelo), Tangelo Seminole (Seminole tangelo).
Lemon Chimera Aranciata
Lemon chimera "Aranciata". C. lemon "Chimera aranciata".
A chimera is an organism consisting of genetically heterogeneous cells, and this lemon is called a chimera for a reason. On one plant, you can see shoots and fruits of both the original forms and hybrid, diverse, with a mixture of signs. Therefore, the shape and taste of the fruits of the chimera are different (oval and pear-shaped). It looks very impressive!
The oval-shaped fruits that grow on the chimera are sour, juicy, fragrant, slightly reminiscent of Meyer lemon in taste. Pear-shaped fruits medium acid, juicy. The chimeric "lemon" is a fruit with bright yellow skin, pale orange flesh that looks more like an orange than a lemon. The pulp is not entirely sweet, but it is far from the acidity of a lemon. The other fruit is pale yellow, but definitely more orange, with lemon flavored flesh. In general, it is incredibly interesting: what will grow and how it will taste!
Thomasville
Citranjequat "Thomasville". Citrangequat "Tomasville".
This hybrid was created at the beginning of the 20th century. It first gave fruit in Thomasville, Georgia (Georgia), now it is called that. The fruits are medium in size, elongated or oval in shape, orange to orange-yellow in color. The taste is sour, there are seeds, there are not many of them.
Tree of fairly vigorous growth, with thorns, grows upright. Leaves of variable shape, often trifoliate. The fruits are large, sour, tasty (when fully ripe), so the variety is the most common variety of citranjquats.
Wakiva (Wikiwa)
Wekiwa tangelo. Citrus × tangelo.
Fruits are medium-small, spherical, obovate or pear-shaped; pale yellow color; relatively few seeds. Skin of medium thickness, smooth. The pulp is tender, juicy; the taste is sweet. Under favorable conditions, the skin is pink-red and the flesh is amber-pink.
The tree grows slowly, but at the same time it is productive; leaves are small, rounded-oval.
It is a hybrid of the grapefruit and the Sampson mandarin and hence the species is a tangelo. It is not commercially significant, but is of interest due to its novelty and pinkish skin color.
The fruits are juicy and sweet with a hint of grapefruit.
They are dwarf trees, grow well in pots, can be kept small, compact, with judicious pruning. The fruits ripen in January.
Unlike other tangelos, Wikiva fruit resembles a pink grapefruit, but tastes more like a tangerine.
Flying dragon
Citrus Poncirus Trifoliata Flying Dragon. Flying Dragon. Latin name: Trifoliata Poncirius Monstrosa.
The unique exotic citrus Flying Dragon is a deciduous, very bonsai with an attractive shape, twisted branches and hooked thorns.
The flying dragon, also known as the Japanese bitter orange, is the hardiest close relative of citrus fruits. Native to China and Korea, it is a deciduous shrub with twisted green twigs and menacing crooked thorns. The green spiky lace of the branches resembles the shadows and silhouettes of flying dragons.
The fruits of the Flying Dragon are yellow, about 5 cm in diameter, the juice is similar to lemon. In China, the Flying Dragon is used as a compact, impenetrable hedge. The variety is unpretentious.
Suitable as dwarf rootstock for citrus fruits, causes very early flowering and fruiting. Trees grown on the Flying Dragon rarely exceed 1.5 meters in height and often bear fruit already in the year of sowing.
The fruits of this species ripen in late autumn.
The flying dragon in nature grows up to 2 meters in height, a plant with a moderate growth rate. Trees need very little pruning compared to others. fruit trees. Needs a fairly sunny location, fertile, well-drained acidic soil, regular deep watering recommended. The variety is frost-resistant and will survive low temperatures, down to -20C. By spring, fragrant white flowers with five petals adorn the bare stems. In summer, green fruits appear among the glossy green leaves. Each leaf consists of three oval leaflets, therefore it is called trifoliate. In autumn, the leaves turn yellow, and around this time, the fruits of yellow-gold color ripen. Fruit may remain on the tree through the winter.
Takle
Tacle (Citrus sinensis x Citrus clementina).
While Sicily has been supplying the world with its citrus fruits, its most valuable treasure has been hidden in the Acireale research center for citrus and Mediterranean crops: the Tacle, a new type of citrus that was created about a decade ago.
The tacla fruit looks like a large tangerine or slightly crushed orange and is actually a cross between an orange and a clementine. To be precise, this hybrid stems from the Montreal variety Clementine (which is itself a hybrid) and the Tarocco orange.
Tacle has a sweet taste, the flesh is firm and very juicy, without seeds. Shiny, bright orange peel. It is ideal for fresh consumption and juicing.
Fragrant citrus fruit, excellent thirst quencher, speckled with reddish hues due to the characteristic pigmentation of anthocyanins. The fruit, weighing an average of about 150 g, has a flattened shape. The tacle fruit is harvested from late December to late January and has a distinct taste, similar to a mixture of clementine and Sicilian orange.
Thanks to its characteristic appearance and sweetness, Tacle stands out as a citrus fruit with a pleasant aroma and taste and valuable organoleptic characteristics, vitamin-rich pulp and low fat content. Tasty and healthy!
Pomum Adamo
Pomum Adami Citrus aurata Risso. Adam "s apple, d" Adam, du Paradis, Pomme d "Adam, Pomme du Paradis, Pomo d" Adamo. Adam's apple. Italian variety.
Pomum Adami is a citrus with huge fruits. It has long been called Pomm ď Adama ("Adam's apple"). According to Gallesio (1811) belongs to the group of hybrids "Lumia". It can be a cross between orange tree and cedrato lemon. Marco Polo found this variety in Persia (now Iran) in 1270, the Arabs brought it to Palestine in the 12th century. It was also mentioned in the book History of Jerusalem by the French author Jacques de Vitry in the early 13th century. The book claims that de Vitry saw him in Palestine during crusades and holy war. This variety was also later described by other famous botanists.
According to molecular analysis done at one plant by Italian researchers, the original mother plants are pompelmus, citron and lemon.
The tree grows to medium height and fairly wide, has a globular crown with typically non-thorny branches, or in some cases there are rarely a few thorns on the branches. Large, spear-shaped leaves are oval, sometimes with slightly serrated edges. The flowers are large, highly fragrant, creamy white with a hint of purple. They usually grow singly, but at the tips of young shoots almost exclusively in racemes.
Spherical fruits are quite large, with or without a tubercle, sometimes with a narrow neck. The peel is light lemon-yellow, bitter. The pulp is almost inedible, very sour.
Tsitranszheremo
Microcitrus Citrangeremo. 
Australian microcitrus.
This plant is actively growing, seedlings can be used as a rootstock. The plant is compact and grows well.
Citrangeremo is a natural hybrid of Citrange x Eremocitrus glauca. This variety was brought to Europe from Germany. The leaf is small, oblong, reminiscent of a willow leaf.
A variety of Australian origin, should withstand heat and dry air well, compact, great for indoor growing.
Glauka x shekvasha
Microcitrus Glauka X Shekvasha. C. Glauca x Shekvasha. 
A hybrid of the Australian desert lime and mandarin.
Glauka easily form hybrids, this is one of them. Shekwasha is a tangerine (Shekwasha, Citrus depressa Hayata, Citrus pectinifera Tanaka).
It grows well, the crown is dense. The tree is very decorative.
The tree is vigorous, with a rounded crown. The fruits are very small, orange in color, flattened, with a very thin and fragrant peel. The pulp is soft, slightly viscous, with a very pleasant taste.
Eremoorange
Natural hybrid of C. glauca (Australian desert lime) x C. sinensis (orange). Eremoorange. 
A tree of vigorous growth, gives a good increase. Leaves like microcitruses, from orange - a larger size of leaf blades. Seedlings of this variety grow quickly, have deep taproots.
The fruits are small (2-4.5 cm in diameter), drop-shaped, elongated, the peel is bright yellow.
In the area of Marseille, Eremorange survives in open field temperatures down to minus 15 degrees.
The fruits have a sharp sour taste, with a strong tangerine aroma and hints of orange. Suitable for making marmalade of the highest quality.
Kumquat Triploid Reale
Kumquat Reale (Fortunella Reale ISA). Fortunella Reale (Fortunella Reale Kumquat, Kumquat Reale ISA, triploid reale). This is a triple hybrid (triploid): a "Monreal" clementine is crossed with a Fortunella Hindsii kumquat, and then the resulting hybrid is crossed again with a Fortunella Hindsii kumquat, so 4x.
ISA - Istituto Sperimentale per l "Agrumicoltura, an institute in Sicily that breeds new citrus varieties.
Fruits of fine dessert taste.
This kumquat is specially bred in order to obtain the outstanding decorative qualities of the plant, continuous flowering and the ability to bear fruit in the first year of life. An ideal variety for growing at home, in an apartment.
Grafted plants bloom in the first year of life. The leaves are similar to kumquat leaves, the crown is compact, the spines are short and thin. The fruits are small, weighing no more than 15 grams, oval, yellow, they stay on the tree for a long time after ripening.
high yielding variety, repairing. The fruits vary slightly in size and shape. 
The taste of fruits is tangerine-kumquat, sweet peel and pleasant sweet and sour pulp. The pulp is sour, juicy; peel with the taste of sweet tangerine, rich, fragrant, so the fruits are eaten with the peel. Seeds are found, but not in all fruits.
From the Montreal clementine, the variety received a good taste, and from the Hindsii kumquat - the ability to constantly bloom profusely.
Reale has outstanding decorative qualities: it blooms continuously. On the tree at the same time there are ripe fruits, ovaries and flowers. The shape of the crown is a bit like a Meyer lemon.
The variety is unpretentious, undemanding to the conditions of detention (suitable even for beginners), very prolific, highly decorative, and also with very tasty fruits. It is highly recommended as a pot culture for indoor maintenance.
Breeders from the Sochi Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution "All-Russian Research Institute of Floriculture and Subtropical Crops" are currently working on the creation of large and frost-resistant lemons and tangerines. If the development is successful, farmers will be able to start producing citrus fruits on plantations in the Krasnodar Territory.
To do this, biotechnologists cross plants with large fruits and plants that are resistant to cold. Frost-resistant hybrids scientists plan to propagate using micrografting. A certain optimism is given to our farmers by cooperation with a large American institute USDA (United States Department of Agriculture - National Institute of Food and Agriculture). The residents of Sochi expect to receive rare and valuable citrus genotypes from their colleagues in the United States to work on cultivating their own variety; perhaps, together with the Americans, they will also conduct research on varieties.
Technology
For the ripening of mandarin and lemon fruits, conditions such as warm temperature and sunlight are important. If the temperature remains below +18 degrees Celsius for a long time, then the fruits simply do not ripen. To restore all citrus fruits after flowering fruit trees, it takes up to six months, during which night temperatures should not fall below 13–16 degrees.
Therefore, regions with a favorable climate for growing, for example, tangerines are in China, India, South Korea, USA (Florida), Spain, France, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Turkey. Within the territory of former USSR the northernmost areas of their cultivation are Sochi and Abkhazia.
- Our varieties, for example, Sochi mandarin or Novogruzinsky lemon, are adapted to the extreme conditions of the region: the city of Sochi is the northernmost citrus growing zone in the world. As a rule, they like warmer regions. Most types of citrus fruits - lemon, grapefruit, orange - love warmer regions. Other species, such as mandarin-satsuma, and rarer relatives can grow in Sochi even without shelter. Thus, the Black Sea coast of the Western Caucasus is a border zone for growing citrus fruits, which creates optimal conditions for breeding for frost resistance. The development of methods for in vitro cultivation (in vitro) will speed up the breeding process and preserve the collection of valuable species and varieties of citrus fruits,- says Lidia Samarina, employee of the All-Russian Research Institute of Floriculture and Subtropical Crops, co-author of the development.
In the case of lemon, the micrografting method involves the spring selection of plants from the greenhouse. Specialists take buds from young shoots, sterilize and plant in a nutrient medium. Seeds are placed separately in the same soil: they begin to germinate, and after three weeks seedlings are obtained, ready for grafting.
Next, the top of the seedling is cut off, and a kidney 1–2 mm in size is placed in place of the cut. The bud grows together with the seedling - this is how a micrografted plant is obtained. This method, according to Samarina, allows increasing the multiplication factor by 1.6 times and the survival rate of micrografting by 6.6–35.1% compared with similar works in this area.
- The in vitro method is universal. For example, it makes it possible to obtain under artificial conditions such "chimeras" as the thornless blackberry. You can also focus on genetic engineering - genetically modified organisms (GMOs), for example, artificial seeds, - reported n and the Department of Fruit Growing, Viticulture and Winemaking of the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after. Timiryazev.
Culture in vitro in Russia was developed after the Great Patriotic War. The founder of the trend in the USSR is considered to be Raisa Butenko, who in 1964 published the book "Culture of Cells and Tissues". In Soviet times, the research institutes had their own industrial plantations - about 80 hectares in Sochi.
At that time, the citrus harvest was 400 centners per hectare. After the collapse of the USSR, the squares were reduced, and the city was built up. For almost 120 years of history withOchinsk Research Institute was able to develop many new varieties of citrus fruits. ToIn addition, the institute's collection includes about 130 genotypes. But this is not much, considering that there are more than 900 of them in the US collection. In addition to citrus fruits, the institute is engaged in persimmon, feijoa, hazelnuts, kiwi, and tea breeding.
"In order for us to reach the US level and ensure import substitution, our institute lacks young specialists; if we had a hotel for graduate students and young scientists, we could attract valuable personnel and solve the tasks more effectively."
Cultivation of lemon in vitro will help Sochi residents to preserve promising genotypes in their collection of citrus crops. First of all, these are plants that are resistant to harsh Russian winters, various diseases, etc. Of course, varieties with large and sweet fruits, with a high content of vitamins, are also considered valuable genotypes. According to these criteria, breeders select promising genotypes that are stable in a particular growing area.
- The advantage of the method of cultivation of lemon in vitro developed by us is that it allows preserving and multiplying genotypes with a high degree of reliability and genetic stability due to the modification of the micrografting technique and the composition of the nutrient medium. If we propagate plants in other ways, then mutations can occur, that is, plants can give genetic abnormalities. If we plant seeds, we will not reproduce the variety with its valuable properties at all. And if we vaccinate, then with 100% probability we will get exactly the variety that we took from the greenhouse, - says Lidia Samarina.
Obstacles
Raisa Kulyan, Head of the Breeding Laboratory of the Department of Subtropical and Southern Fruit Crops of the Research Institute, talks about three problems of modern domestic citrus growing that do not allow Russia to replace supplies from Turkey and other countries:
- They used to collect much more than they do now. Each farm and each collective farm had its own area for citrus fruits. Today, there remains a spot laying of gardens on the coastal territory. These are Abkhazia, Adler and a small piece in Sochi. But nevertheless, the yield is high, 200 centners per hectare, - says Kulyan. - The taste of foreign citrus fruits is completely different. For example, a lemon can hang on a tree for two years. It turned yellow, but they forgot to take it off, it turned green, and then again in the fall, a year later, it turned yellow. It was taken down and released. Naturally, there will be a completely different taste. Lemon is the only fruit crop, which does not drop fruits, they can hang on the tree indefinitely. Therefore, when the barrel of a lemon has turned yellow, you need to immediately remove it, it "comes to a lying position."
citrus economy
Directors of the news agency FruitNews Irina Koziy believes that and at the moment it is impossible to seriously consider import substitution of citrus fruits in Russia. Firstly, the total volume of citrus production in Russia is about 20 tons per year, respectively, there is no question of any commercial production volumes and cannot be. Secondly, in no country in the world in climatic zones similar to ours, citrus fruits grow in commercial volumes.
- It is possible, of course, heroically overcoming all difficulties, to grow citrus fruits in specially equipped greenhouses, but the cost of such greenhouse fruits will be several orders of magnitude higher than the cost of imported analogues. In the Russian climate, it is possible to effectively develop the production of apples and certain types of berries from fruits, as well as to grow certain varieties of pears and grapes. In these categories, both production volumes and the success of domestic selection still leave much to be desired, but there is some progress, and I really hope that the efforts of producers and breeders will be applied to the development of these categories and we will see the results in the medium term, - says Koziy. - And the theme of frost-resistant citrus fruits most of all resembles an unforgettable reprise from the film "Garage" about breeding frost-resistant macaques to collect cedar cones in the Siberian taiga. In my opinion, the benefit from import substitution of citrus fruits will be approximately the same as that of the hero of the film.
According to FruitNews, the growth trend of citrus imports in the domestic market was traced until 2013. Now there is a drop in both demand and supply due to a decrease in income and purchasing power of the population. The total production of all citrus fruits in Russia in 2015 amounted to 20 tons, in 2014 - 24.5 tons, in 2013 - 15.5 tons.
The volume of imports of tangerines in 2014 amounted to about 847 thousand tons, and in 2015 - about 777 thousand tons.The volume of imports of lemons in 2014 is about 209 thousand tons, and in 2015 - about 201 thousand tons. According to the US Department of Agriculture, Russia is the world leader in imports of tangerines, and the import of lemons is second only to America and the EU.
Breeders see the spread of their method in several directions. If they can increase the frost resistance of their varieties by at least two degrees, lemons and tangerines will go to the mountains. If not, they will go to Abkhazia.
- Sochi is a mountainous territory, the climate is characterized by vertical zonality. High-rise buildings have not yet been set up in the mountains, there are many areas that can be used for farmland. There are special agrotechnical horticultural practices for mountainous areas; up to an altitude of 600–900 m above sea level, it is quite possible to plant plantations. The second direction of application of developments on citrus fruits is Abkhazia, our institute has long been exchanging collection varieties of citrus fruits with the Abkhaz Research Institute of Agriculture of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Abkhazia. They have manufacturing facilities. And we have scientific developments, but there is little space for industrial plantings, says Samarina.
So it is customary to call the fruits of citrus fruits - oranges, lemons and tangerines. They are called golden for the color of the fruits: sometimes orange, sometimes yellowish, and in a figurative sense, for high taste qualities and medicinal value.
The combination of pleasant acidity with sweetness, wonderful aroma, pleasant refreshing taste, a large amount of valuable vitamins put citrus fruits in the first place.
Any citrus tree is decorative, and flowering has a delicate and strong smell. All citrus plants love warm climates. Of these, lemon, orange, tangerine, grapefruit are more widely known, and less so are kinkans, citrons and others.
Originating in warm countries, although not tropical, citrus fruits have a different growth pattern than deciduous and some other evergreens. At home, lemon gives rise to branches five or six times a year, orange and tangerine also give several growths. Trees grow all year round, reach large sizes, bloom profusely and bear fruit.
In our country, citrus plants fell into conditions that are sharply different from their homeland. In winter, there can be not only cold, but also frost. Young, tender branches and leaves that have grown in autumn and have not had time to get stronger, fall under the cold and freeze. Late fruit ripening forces the tree to vegetate until late autumn. As a result, the tree does not have time to prepare for winter dormancy and suffers greatly from cold winters.
They tried to restrain the growth of citrus fruits by grafting them onto a deciduous rootstock - trifoliata, or, as it is mistakenly called, wild lemon. This deciduous plant has a very slow growth and great resistance to cold weather. Trifoliata, withstanding twenty-degree frosts, grows well, for example, in Kyiv.
Trifoliata restrained the growth of grafted citrus fruits, but their frost resistance increased little. Like any deciduous tree, trifoliata has a pronounced period of winter dormancy. Even in a very warm winter or in a greenhouse, it has a winter rest. In lemons, oranges and tangerines, as soon as the sun warms up, sap flow begins. Moisture is consumed, and the trifoliate root does not supply them with either water or minerals, and does not take away the products of the activity of the leaves. As a result, citrus leaves lose water and die from lack of it.
Grafted on seedlings of lemon or orange or rooted cuttings of lemon grow normally. In warmer countries, citrus plants are grafted onto evergreens, root systems which are capable of activity even with a little heat.
All these reasons lead to failures in growing citrus fruits not only here, in the Sochi region, but also to the south, in the Transcaucasus.
Fedor Mikhailovich Zorin took up the breeding of a frost-resistant mandarin. He crossed the most frost-resistant Shiva-Mikan with the Unshiu mandarin and selected the most frost-resistant seedlings from these seedlings. To increase the frost resistance of the seed plant, F. M. Zorin grafted them for “education” on the most frost-resistant plant, as we know, - trifoliate.
After a harsh winter, when citrus plantations died almost everywhere, even in the southernmost part of the country, Fedor Mikhailovich and I examined his breeding site. Thirty-five-year-old tangerines, oranges and lemons were frozen to the root. But the hybrids of Shiva-Mikan with Unshiu stood, retaining the foliage completely. It was freezing, snow crunched underfoot, a gray gloomy sky hung over the black-blue sea, life stopped, and these trees stood as if there were no frosts.
On the way, Fyodor Mikhailovich said:
Now I will show an even more interesting case: see the orange? In fact, this is a three-story plant. Below - the roots and part of the trunk - trifoliates, then - a mandarin stem, and an orange, bred from seedlings, is already grafted onto it. Look!
Bottom and top are alive and well. Of these three plants, the most frost-resistant tropholiata and "theoretically" the most tender orange remained alive, and the mandarin, more resistant than orange, died. So there is also a frost-resistant orange!
It was necessary to preserve this frost-resistant orange. The trunk of the tangerine was not all dead, a narrow strip of bark could somehow give water to the crown; but soon she will die. F. M. Zorin had to plant a long thin seedling of trifoliata and graft it to the crown of an orange. And not just one, but several. The appearance of such a plant "on crutches" is somewhat strange, but it is important that the frost-resistant orange be preserved.
Scientists spent a lot of effort on preserving citrus fruits in cold weather. Used for this oil heating pads, shelter of corn straw and multi-layered gauze. Developed methods of surface and near-wall culture, but all this does not save citrus plants from death in harsh winters. Shelter can only save small trees in mild frosts.
Breeding citrus fruits from seeds, raising them in harsh conditions, using the Michurin method of raising them on frost-resistant rootstocks will change the natural requirements of an evergreen plant that is weakly resistant to frost. Only in this way will we get a plant that has one period of growth, is productive, with excellent fruits and is not afraid of our frosts.
The first stage has been passed, and F. M. Zorin's success in this regard is obvious. It is proven by the harsh test of winter.
There is another way to cultivate citrus fruits - their indoor culture. More precisely, growing lemons in the winter in the room, and in the warm season - in the yard.
When growing citrus plants, you need to remember several features of such a crop. What is good for lemon is bad for orange and tangerine. Growing oranges and tangerines in tubs will produce them much more acidic than those grown in the ground, which are supposed to be sweet. In lemon, acid is just a positive quality. So, we should talk mainly about tub culture of lemons.
For tub culture, you can graft a lemon on seedlings of lemon and orange or root its cuttings. The best decoration rooms - a well-formed lemon bush with fruits just set and ripening, with buds and flowers emitting a wonderful aroma.
