How to Plant a Citrus Tree

Hi this is Yolanda Vanveen and in this segment we're going to talk about how to plant a citrus tree. Now citrus or pretty much any fruit like an orange or lemon or a lime that is considered part of the citrus family and so they're very easy to grow, but only if you live in a warm, coastal climate. That's the deal, because they have found that a lot of lemons and oranges were found originally in Northern India and around the Mediterranean, up into Spain and Italy and they were brought into the United States in the Southern and the Northern Americas by the Spanish and so they brought them everywhere with them. So they really like coastal climates that aren't too arid. They don't like desert climates too much. So it's best to grow a citrus tree somewhere where it's not going to get below fifty degrees and doesn't really get above ninety degrees. They love the coastal climates, Florida and California and they love Spain and Italy. So if you're growing a citrus tree, they're just a tree like any other tree and you can get a graft, especially like a Meyers lemon. The seeds many times will not reproduce because they're a hybrid, but they will take a graft from an existing tree which is just a start and then it'll root and then you can get a new tree from that. So as long as they're in full sun with good drainage and they don't get below fifty and above ninety and they have some good humidity, they will grow really well. The best time to plant them is in the winter time or early spring, and that way they can get an early start next year. Even planting them in the fall is good because they get summer rain from the winter time and that way they'll get good set of roots before the drought of the summer. Because that's the first worry that you have when you have a citrus tree, if you start it in the summer time and it stays really warm and you don't water it well enough, you'll lose it. So grow citrus anywhere you can grow pretty much any other type of tree, just make sure that it stays warm enough. I've even grown them in a greenhouse before, as long as they don't freeze or nearly get below fifty degrees, they will thrive and produce fruit for you.