Bergamot tree, planting and care

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Greenish-fleshed and intensely aromatic, the bergamot (Citrus bergamia) is a sour orange with evergreen leaves that flowers from late autumn into midwinter. Its rind holds the fragrant oil used in perfumes and herbal teas, but this is the least hardy citrus: give it full sun and shelter, or a pot brought indoors from mid-autumn to late spring.

Bergamot is a type of sour orange that is added to many perfumes and delicious infusions, herbal teas, and such.

Planting a bergamot orange tree

The planting of the bergamot orange tree is an important step that influences its further development, bergamot production, and the lifespan of your bergamot tree.

Bergamot tree planted directly in the ground

The bergamot tree is one of the least hardy citrus and can only be planted outdoors in regions with very mild winter climate.

• Plant preferably in spring.
• Choose a sheltered spot well-endowed with sunlight to support its growth and produce nice bergamot oranges.
• The bergamot tree loves slightly acidic soil, not chalky at all. Adding heath soil upon planting is an advantage.

Potted bergamot orange

• Growing bergamot trees in pots is best, just as for all citrus, if ever it freezes in your area.
• You will need to bring it indoors in a greenhouse or lean-in, unheated, from mid-autumn to late spring.
  Repot upon purchasing and then every 2 or 3 years in spring, with a blend of one part heath soil and three parts citrus soil mix.

Pruning and caring for bergamot orange trees

Pruning isn’t really needed but certain good practices should help increase the harvest and growth of the bergamot orange tree.

After the harvest, shorten each new shoot back to more or less half its length, taking great care to cut just above a leaf.

Remove dead wood regularly and clear the inside branches to let light penetrate to the center.

• This will result in your bergamot orange tree keeping a nice, tight shape.

• Wear stout gloves when pruning the bergamot orange (Citrus bergamia), whose branches bear sharp spines; no such protection is needed for garden bergamot, or bee balm (Monarda), a thornless herbaceous perennial.
• Cut away any shoots that appear below the graft union right back to the trunk, as the rootstock will otherwise take over from the bergamot itself.
• Use clean, sharp secateurs and disinfect the blades between trees — wipe off sap and debris, then apply 70% alcohol or a suitable disinfectant — to avoid spreading citrus diseases.
• For container plants that tolerate pruning, pinching soft shoot tips during active growth encourages branching and restrains size, but check each species first, since some flower on wood formed the previous season.

Watering bergamot

In pots, water as soon as the soil is dry, without flooding the pot. During the growth phase, regularly add citrus-specific organic fertilizer.

Avoid all heat sources such as nearby radiators, because this could dry your tree out.

If your tree is growing outside in the ground, water only in case of prolonged dry spells or heat waves.

• Where possible, water potted bergamot orange (Citrus bergamia) with rainwater, because hard tap water adds lime that raises soil pH and can lock up iron, causing yellowing between the leaf veins.
• While the tree is overwintering in its unheated shelter, cut watering right back and stop feeding altogether, giving just enough to keep the compost from drying out completely.

Diseases that are commonly found on bergamot orange trees

Just like many citrus plants, the bergamot orange and its tree are vulnerable to certain parasites such as scale insects and aphids, but also to a fungus called European brown rot which results in fruits rotting.

• Scale insects – whitish masses colonize bergamot tree leaves
• Aphids – bergamot tree leaves curl up and fall off
• European brown rot – bergamot oranges rot while still on the bergamot tree

• Sticky leaves and a black sooty film on a bergamot orange tree (Citrus bergamia) signal sap-sucking insects feeding above — aphids, scale, mealybugs, whiteflies or psyllids — whose honeydew the mould colonises.
• Check leaf undersides and young shoot tips before the potted bergamot goes under cover, since scale insects can build up quickly indoors, where warmth, year-round growth and few natural predators favour them.
• On bergamot orange trees (Citrus bergamia), pick off rotting or mummified fruit instead of leaving it to shrivel on the branch, since such fruit can harbor fungal spores that reinfect later crops.
• A spray of horticultural oil smothers scale and aphids, provided you wet both sides of the leaves and the twigs where the insects shelter.

Bergamot troubles at a glance

Three problems account for most of the damage seen on bergamot trees. Each shows itself in a different way, so the symptom tells you which one you are dealing with.

Like many citrus, the bergamot is prone to all three, so a regular look over leaves and fruit pays off.

All there is to know about bergamot oranges

Bergamot oranges are much more famous for their role in perfume-making, herbal teas and infusions than they are for their taste as fruits.

Bergamot oranges are mostly grown in Italy, more precisely in the region of Calabre, where about 95% of the world’s production is grown.

There are 4 cultivars – Fantastico, Castagnaro, Calabrese and Femminello.

Bergamot essential oil

The fruit is harvested for the fragrant bergamot oil that is found in its rind. It is used for dietary purposes and for perfume-making.

It also is one of the compounds that form Cologne as well as other perfumes, but it also is an ingredient in many Mediterranean dishes like tajine.

Health benefits of Bergamot essential oil

Bergamot essential oil has stomach stimulating, antiseptic, antispasmodic and deworming properties. It is recommended in case of intestinal colics, intestinal parasites, difficult digestion or inappetence.

Bergamot essential oils contain bergapten, which was previously much used in suncream to speed tanning. However, bergapten was revealed to have carcinogenic side-effects, and is now removed from products before being made available to the public, following current legislation.