Refining the lemon tree »Step-by-step instructions

Why refine?

Lemons - like many other citrus plants - have a fairly long youth phase and form, provided you have them even grown from a seed have blossoms and fruits only in eight to twelve years at the earliest. In order to get your own seedling to bloom quickly or to reproduce a favorite variety, it is best to graft it. The youth phase is then shortened by about half.

Requirements for finishing

A sharp knife, rubber or raffia for wrapping and Lac Balsam or Tree sap needed to cover the cut. With citrus, the simplest refinement is the side plating, here the refining base and the noble rice do not have to be of the same thickness. The prerequisite for the noble rice to grow is that the base has a lively metabolism, ie is “in the juice”. For this reason, the finishing only works in summer. In addition, the growth layers of the noble rice and the rootstock must lie on top of one another as closely as possible.

Instructions for finishing

Before the actual refinement, you must first prepare the noble rice:

• Choose a lignified branch of the noble variety from the previous year.
• This one should have dormant buds.
• Remove the leaves, leaving only the petioles on the branch.
• Cut the noble rice with a long cut from the top to the base.
• Then a small counter-cut is made.
• The rice is cut above the second bud.
• The finished rice has about one to two buds.

Now the preparation of the document takes place:

• Cut a straight, long area free on the trunk or on a side branch.
• This should be about two inches long.
• This is where the noble rice will be added later.
• Remove the leaves.
• Make a cut that is as similar as possible to the noble rice in the exposed area of ​​the base.
• The tongue of the pad should fit exactly into the counter cut on the rice.

Now you can put the individual parts together. Wrap them well with raffia or elastic and cover all interfaces airtight with Lac Balsam or tree resin. The individual parts usually grow together within two to three weeks.

Tips & Tricks

To yourself Refer to the finishing documents yourself, you can collect bitter lemon seeds in the Botanical Gardens (ask gardeners!). Immediately remove the seeds from the fallen fruits and sow them.