Main Description:
Self Paced 20-hour course to help you understand more about growing citrus plants and fruits
Learn about growing citrus plants with this online course.
The citrus genus varies widely in respect to the variety of species and fruit types within it – making this group of plants quite exceptional. The distinctive glossy green foliage and attractive fragrances of leaves, fruit and flowers add to the charm and make citrus highly sought after and widely grown by both commercial producers and enthusiasts.
Our 20 hour courses are self paced and will help you understand a topic in a short amount of time. You can work through the course when you like- test yourself with mini-tests along the way. There are extra case studies or research you can undertake if you would really like to get into the topic. Once you have completed the lessons and self assessment tasks, there is a final exam undertaken online- you can then download your personalised certificate.
Course Structure:
This course has five lessons. Each lesson has a corresponding online self-assessment test.
1. Introduction: Scope, Nature, Botany And Taxonomy
- Citrus today
- Harvesting
- A brief history
- Botany of citrus
- Appearance
- Reproduction and variability
- Flowering and pollination
- Fruit development
- Number and classification of species
- Species of citrus
- Close relatives
- Microcitrus
- Eremocitrus
- Fortunell
- Poncirus
- Lesson 1 additional reading
- Review what you have been learning
2. Citrus Cultivation
- Planting citrus trees
- What affects success?
- Temperature
- Frosts and cold winds
- Choose the right type
- Shade
- Tree size
- Root damage
- Container growing
- Soil
- Colloids
- Preparing the soil for planting
- Does your soil need gypsum?
- Planting technique
- Feeding
- Fertiliser applications
- Drainage
- Irrigation
- Measuring water availability to plants
- Irrigation
- Scheduling irrigation
- Important elements
- Period of watering
- Cyclic watering
- Pulse watering
- Water extraction by roots
- Types of irrigation
- Common citrus fruit problems
- Nutrient deficiencies
- Pests of citrus
- Diseases and viruses of citrus
- Planting lemon trees
- Planting technique
- Caring for lemon trees
- Pruning citrus
- Pruning a standard shape
- Renovating an old tree
- Pruning to improve fruit quality
- Pruning to improve tree health
- Review what you have been learning
3. Citrus Propagation
- Propagation options
- Grafting (budding)
- Budding techniques
- Dwarf trees and double grafts
- Growing from cuttings
- Growing from seed
- Review what you have been learning
4. Citrus Cultivars
- Deciding what to grow
- Lemon tree selection
- Cumquats
- Unusual citrus
- Citrus fruit ripening chart
- Lesson 4 additional reading
- Review what you have been learning
5. Using Citrus
- Nutritional value of citrus
- How to extract citrus oils
- Freezing citrus
- Drying citrus
- Making use of excess lemons
- Making fresh lemonade
- Recipes
- Making jams/marmalade
- Marmalade
- Beetroot and orange chutney
- Citrus syrup cake
- Classic orange fennel and onion salad
- Easy salad dressing
- Easy pasta side dish
- Fruit butter/ fruit curd
- Lemon tart
- Lemon dipping sauce – Asian style
- Lettuce cups with chicken and citrus
- Lime chutney
- Marinade for chicken
- Marinade for steak
- Orange salad
- Orange couscous
- Salsa topping for salmon or trout
- Review what you have been learning
- Final assessment
Related courses (if any):
How Does a Warnborough Online Course Work?
You can start this short course at any time you like. Once you have enrolled, you can download the study guide to your PC, tablet or other device.
There are self-assessment tests at the end of each unit so you can check if you understood the lesson. You can attempt these as many times as you like, and the results will be displayed once you have completed. You must be connected to the Internet for these tests to work.
At the end of the course, you can attempt the final assessment. If you achieve at least 60%, you will be able to download a certificate of completion with your name on it. If you do not achieve a 60% pass rate, you can contact us to re-sit your exam.
If you have any questions, please contact us.
