Can You Graft An Orange Tree To Lemon And Vice Versa?
Grafting is one way of growing a tree. It helps the tree produce fruits way faster compared to growing from seed. A grafted tree can bear fruits well for around 3 to 5 years. A lemon tree can also be grafted but is it possible to graft a lemon tree to an orange tree?
Can You Graft An Orange Tree To A Lemon Tree And Vice Versa?
Yes, you can graft an orange tree to a lemon tree. The orange and lemon trees are both citruses and they are different trees but they are in the same family. Both of these trees are compatible to be grafted on each other.
You can graft a lemon tree into an orange tree. Not just a lemon tree but also most of the citrus trees are possible to graft to orange trees. You can try it with lime, kumquats, grapefruit, mandarin, etc.
There are some growers who graft lemon and lime and it works well. Lemons and limes look similar but are they the same? You can also graft more than one citrus to a tree. A salad citrus tree is called when there are more grafted trees into a single rootstock. It will be awesome if a tree bears limes, oranges, and lemons.
How To Graft An Orange Tree To A Lemon Tree?
To graft an orange tree to a lemon tree first, prepare the materials like a lemon tree rootstock, orange scion, a grafting knife, and parafilm grafting tape.
Get your lemon rootstock and cut off a limb on the tree and leave a foot long branch. Make a cut about a two-inch cleft into the lemon tree’s limb. Then, get the orange budwood that will serve as a scion.
Make a V-shape point form at the bottom to make it fit in the lemon tree’s limb. Make sure that the cut will be no longer than 1 1/2 inches. Press the orange budwood (scion) into the lemon tree’s limb until it fits well.
Cover it with parafilm grafting tape to prevent rainwater from entering and make it safer. You can also use a rubber band to make it protected. The cut will heal in around 3 weeks.
You can remove the parafilm grafting tape once the scion and limbs are well connected. The leaves will appear in around 8 weeks. This method works well, especially if the tree is suitable to grow in your location.
You can also try the bud grafting technique below.
Bud grafting is a good way to propagate and grow a lemon tree. In this method, the skin of an old lemon tree is connected to another young plant.
A small piece of skin on the young plant is being removed and the old skin of the lemon tree is connected to the plant.
After 14 days the old lemon tree skin connected to the plant will produce leaves after 20 days. The old lemon tree skin has the ability to grow and produce flowers and fruits way faster.
It is a good way to grow a lemon tree and get fruits quickly. Growing a tree from seeds will takes time and sometimes they don’t even produce fruits so doing this bud grafting is a good way to get lemons faster.
Can Orange Cross Pollinate With Lemon?
Yes, an orange can cross-pollinate with a lemon. But it isn’t required since both trees are self-fruitful. When an orange pollinates a lemon tree, the fruits will still be the same. There will be no different from the actual fruits. But lemon fruits will not change into orange fruits.
It is the same when a lemon tree pollinates an orange tree. The fruits of oranges will not turn into lemons and the fruits and the taste will just be the same. But there are changes in their seeds.
When a lemon tree pollinates an orange tree, the seeds are slightly different. The reason is the pollen from the lemon tree enters an orange flower stigma which causes to make the seeds slightly different.
Can You Plant A Lemon And Orange Tree Next To Each Other?
Yes, you can plant a lemon and orange tree next to each other. If both are standard trees, you need to place a 12 to 25 feet distance and around 6 to 10 feet for dwarf trees. Standard orange trees and lemon trees grow big and wide and need a few distances between the trees to prevent them from getting crowded.
With regards to cross-pollination, they can both pollinate each other but it is not needed because they are both self-fruitful.
If the lemon trees and orange trees are planted in the ground, spacing is important so that they will not compete with the water and nutrients in the soil. They will get the maximum water and nutrients in the soil that will help them thrive better.
Do Orange Trees Self Pollinate?
Yes, orange trees self-pollinate. They don’t need help from bees on their pollination or help with other orange trees. Most of the citruses like an orange can bear fruits on their trees without bees or cross-pollination.
But even if they are self-fruitful, bees and other methods of pollination can still help to increase fruit production. Bees are the most common pollinators and it will be great to see them roaming your orange trees.
Hand pollination can also increase the number of pollinated flowers and it can be done by using a small dry brush, start brushing the flowers carefully, and trying to move the pollen to the stigma. Repeat it also to other flowers. You can also get an orange flower and brush it with other flowers.
If some of the flowers are not pollinated, it’s common for them to drop. Not all orange flowers are going to develop and it’s nearly the same with other citruses and other trees.
