If you are a citrus lover, and your houseplants are citrus trees, then you will probably love to know how to propagate potted citrus trees, and enjoy their scent and fruits throughout the whole year.

By seeds
1. Remove the seeds from the freshly bought citrus fruit.
2. Wash them thoroughly from the mucus that covers them.
3. Let them dry for 1-2 days, and then sow them in a small pot.
4. Use garden soil, mixed with some sand and peat.
5. The method is very simple, but you will get wild plants that won’t give fruits or the process of giving fruits is very slow.
6. Citrus seeds can be sown at any time of the year.
7. The plants obtained can be used as rootstock after 2-3 years.

By cuttings
1. From the wooded branches, of a pencil dimension, cut small sections of 18-20 cm. Leave 2-3 leaves at the top, and cut them in half with a scissors (perpendicular to the petiol line).
2. Use a soil treated with a fungicide or at least mixed with burned wood dust to prevent fungal infections.
3. Stick the cuttings to the ground, close to the first leaf.
4. Cover the cutting with a jar to keep a high humidity around it.
5. Place the container in intense light, but not under direct sunlight.
6. Keep the soil moist, without water pouring around the cutting.
7. If they get rid of cryptogamic infections, the cuttings will roots in 4-6 weeks.
8. The plants thus obtained will have all the characteristic of the plant from which the cuttings were taken.
9. Citrus cuttings can be remove regardless the season, but in February-March the chances of success are a bit higher.

By grafting
1. You will use rootstocks from the plant obtained by seeds.
2. One method of grafting is the “growing eye”, executed in May, when we have rootstocks of the thickness of a pencil, but not thicker than a pen.
3. Another method, when the rootstock grows a bit more, the grafting is made on branches or even in the cleft.
4. The grafts used for grafting will be taken from healthy and fruitful plants to be sure that the citrus tree will give fruits after grafting.

Image Credits: Theprairiehomestead