Citron is the third plant obtained in Far Future in Plants vs. Zombies 2. When planted, it is relatively small. Then, it charges up its attack and gets larger. When fully charged, it will shoot a powerful ball of plasma every 9.5 seconds that does 800 damage per shot to a zombie.
Overview
When Citron is first planted, it is small. At that stage, it charges its projectile and quickly gets bigger until it reaches its charged stage. It takes seven seconds to charge up the first ball of plasma, then takes 9.5 seconds to charge after that.
If there are no zombies or tombstones in front of the Citron, it will not fire until any other enemy enters its range. The shot deals 800 damage, and is a single-target projectile.
Almanac entry
Citron
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Citron
SUN COST: 350
RECHARGE: 5
TOUGHNESS: 300
DAMAGE: 800
RANGE: Straight
FIRING RATE: 1
PLANT FOOD POWER: Damage
FAMILY: Fila-mint
Citrons shoot powerful balls of plasma.
As the owner and primary user of "Vitamin C-U-Later" 20-hour energy shots, Citron is always on and always ready for action. "Let's make this happen!!"
Chinese version (China only)
充能柚子可以发射等离子炮。
植物特征:橙红色植物、十万伏特 "厚积而薄发" 是充能柚子座右铭,少年老成的性格让人觉得他渊博,稳重。有人问他成功的秘诀时,他指了指他家那台大屏等离子电视机。 Plant feature: orange-red plant, 100,000 volts "Sufficiently accumulate." This is Citron's motto. his precocious character makes others think that he is profound and steady. When asked about his secret to success, he simply pointed to the large-screen plasma TV in his house. |
Upgrades

Plant Food ability (animated)
Plant Food effect
Upon the usage of Plant Food, Citron gets struck by lightning and shoots a giant glowing light-blue plasma ball that travels down the lane, flinging away most types of zombies and tombstones in that lane. The plasma ball disintegrates upon impact with any mechanized zombies, or Gargantuar, dealing 2500 damage. This will reset his attack delay, therefore, it's best to be used when he had just finished firing a shot, since a reset happening by then doesn't really affect gameplay. For balancing reasons, Zombie Bull, Treasure Yeti and all Imps are also directly removed from the screen when hit instead of the plasma ball exploding on them.
Fila-mint effect
When boosted by Fila-mint, Citron charges his plasma ball twice as fast, and its plasma ball does an additional 1000 DPS.
Level upgrades
Level | Seed Packets | Coins | Upgrades | |||||||
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Sun Cost | Recharge (Fast) |
Toughness (Typical) |
Damage (Huge) |
Projectile Velocity |
Firing Rate (Slow) |
Plant Food Power (Damage)* |
Range | |||
1 | 0 | 0 | 350 | 5 seconds | 300 dps | 800 dps | Normal | Normal | 2500 dps | Straight |
2 | 10 | 1,000 | 325 | 5 seconds | 350 dps | 850 dps | + 20% | 2600 dps | ||
3 | 75 | 5,000 | 325 | 4.5 seconds | 400 dps | 900 dps | + 1.5x | 2700 dps | ||
4 | 200 | 10,000 | 300 | 4.5 seconds | 450 dps | 950 dps | + 40% | 2800 dps | ||
5 | 400 | 20,000 | 300 | 4 seconds | 550 dps | 1000 dps | 3000 dps | |||
6 | 750 | 30,000 | 275 | 4 seconds | 600 dps | + 60% | 3200 dps | |||
7 | 1,000 | 40,000 | 275 | 3.5 seconds | 650 dps | + 1.9x | 3400 dps | |||
8 | 1,250 | 50,000 | 250 | 3.5 seconds | 700 dps | + 80% | 3600 dps | |||
9 | 1,500 | 60,000 | 250 | 3 seconds | 800 dps | 3800 dps | ||||
10 | 2,000 | 75,000 | 225 | 3 seconds | 900 dps | + 100% | 4000 dps |
Note: Citron's charging time is actually 7 seconds, but there's a 2.5–second interval between each charge, during which he fires the plasma ball.
*Damage dealt to units it cannot wipe out instantly.
Mastery upgrades
- Chance to Boost
- Damage Pierce
Level upgrade (China only)
Costumed (China only)
Citron now deals higher damage and produces chains of electric current to attack zombies.
Strategies
Citron's greatest advantage is its high damage per second capability. Against a single target, Citron can easily outmatch most controllable plants, including Strawburst and Banana Launcher or even the Magnifying Grass (If you don't have sun). Thanks to this, Citron is a powerful choice against single high-health targets such as Robo-Cone Zombie and Gargantuar. However, its high cost, slow firing rate, and the inability to control Citron mean that large numbers of zombies will present a great challenge, as Citron will deal huge amounts of overkill damage and waste its shots. Because of this, Citron should be paired with other crowd-controlling plants like Laser Bean or Fume-shroom, and it should not be used by itself. When paired with either of the two, it can become a seriously dangerous plant.
The Plant Food ability is very similar in many parts to Laser Bean. The main difference between the two is how they deal with larger, tougher zombies. Laser Bean's Plant Food ability is not stopped by mechanical enemies, effectively making Laser Bean more useful than Citron for crowd control. Conversely, Citron's can instantly kill zombies that Laser Bean's cannot, making Citron ideal against single Gargantuars and Gargantuar Prime, who will release their Imp after passing the 91 normal damage shots mark. Regardless, in levels without tough zombies, the two Plant Food effects are perfectly interchangeable with no major differences.
Citron should be avoided against fast zombies like All-Star Zombie and Surfer Zombie or zombies that block or deflect straight-firing projectiles like Shield Zombie, Jester Zombie, and Excavator Zombie. All-Star Zombies and Surfer Zombies can reach the Citrons quickly and destroy them (though this is easily resolved by using a cannon fodder plant). Shield Zombie, Jester Zombies, and Excavator Zombies, on the other hand, will nullify the plasma ball. The same does not apply to its Plant Food ability projectile, so Citron can be boosted to deal with these threats should the situation get dire.
Do not use Citron on levels with Chicken Wrangler Zombies or Weasel Hoarders, as they release many small, extremely weak yet fast Zombie Chickens and Ice Weasels. Citron is unable to conquer them alone due to its slow attack speed, plus the fact that it can only hit one target at a time. Therefore, it should be paired with Laser Bean, Fume-shroom, Snapdragon, Electric Peashooter, or Lightning Reed to deal with these zombies. Do note that the same does not apply to its Plant Food ability projectile.
Tips: Avoid using Citrons on levels where tombstones are present as their plasma will hit them, wasting an attack. Also, Tomb Raiser Zombies pose a major threat against Citron in Ancient Egypt as they will continuously create more tombstones while Citron's fire rate is slow and can only destroy one at a time. If planted on a power tile on all lanes, it is useful to clear zombies in small sizes.
In the Chinese version, it is recommended to upgrade Citron to at least level 4, since when it is planted, it has a chance to immediately activate its Plant Food ability. In addition, Sweet Potato can help attract more zombies so Citron could kill them easily.
In the Chinese version, for level 5 ability, it is useful to kill Chicken Wrangler Zombie and Weasel Hoarder, as the electromagnetic effect can clear swarms, and using an Aloe and Dave's Alarm Clock pendant helps with recharging of Citron.
Gallery
Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Citron.
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In other languages
Language | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
Citron | ||
充能柚子 | lit. "Charged Pomelo" | |
Cédrat | ||
Zedrate | ||
Cedro | ||
Cidra | ||
Pomelo |
Trivia
- If one looks closely at a zombie that has been flung from its Plant Food ability, small bolts of electricity will arc around the zombie.

Citron costing 400 sun in an EA screenshot
- Before Far Future was released, it was originally going to cost 400 sun, according to an official screenshot released on Tuesday Exclusive prior to the world's release by Electronic Arts. Probably, the cost was reduced for balancing reasons - It doesn't deal splash damage like Coconut Cannon (also 400 sun), therefore the high cost would severely damage game balance.
- It was the second Far Future plant to be previewed in Piñata Parties, with the first being Laser Bean.
- During the setup for Last Stand, its animation stops once it is fully charged, possibly due to a bug. Once the level starts, its animation will resume. This also happens in Far Future - Day 15, on the seed selection screen.
- Magic Vine's projectile from Plant Food upgrade is a recolored version of Citron's.
- The Puzzle Piece to unlock it shows a fully charged Citron, while the Puzzle Piece to unlock its costume shows an uncharged Citron.
- In a Zomboss battle, if there are fully charged Citrons in the lanes the Zombot is in, the Citrons will shoot at the Zombot while it is leaving.
- Citron's idle animation in game is different from both the one of the Almanac (slightly flatter) and that of the seed packet (does not glow).
- In certain levels like Last Stand, during the preparation phase, however, when a Citron is fully charged, its shape is actually the same as the one in the seed packet.
- Its Plant Food effect can destroy multiple mechanical zombies at once if it is activated close enough, despite not being splash damage. This was also true for Gargantuars before the 6.7.1. update.
- When Citron is bitten while reloading, its mouth will flash white and it will reload longer.
- Its Almanac entry is a pun on "Vitamin C" in oranges and the phrase "see you later."
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Plants vs. Zombies: Social Edition | |
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Plants vs. Zombies Adventures | |
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>Normal | Peashooter · Sunflower · Aspearagus · Wall-nut · Cherry Bomb · Popcorn · Beet · Snow Pea · Jalapeño · Magnet Plant · Flaming Pea · Shamrock · Bamboo Shoot · Repeater · Chilly Pepper · Twin Sunflower |
VIPs | Sweet Pea · Beeshooter · Hard-nut · Acespearagus · Power Flower · Beetboxer · Ice Queen Pea · Shamrockstar · Bamboom |
Others | Trees |
Plants vs. Zombies 2 (Chinese version) | |
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Ancient Egypt | Peashooter · Sunflower · Wall-nut · Cabbage-pult · Bloomerang · Iceberg Lettuce · Grave Buster · Bonk Choy · Repeater · Twin Sunflower · Snow Pea · Cherry Bomb · Torchwood |
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Wild West | Threepeater · Squash · Split Pea · Chili Bean · Jalapeno · Pea Pod · Melon-pult · Winter Melon · Imitater |
Kongfu World | Radish · Fire Gourd · Heavenly Peach · Bamboo-shoot |
Far Future | Laser Bean · Blover · Citron · E.M.Peach · Infi-nut · Magnifying Grass · Tile Turnip · Starfruit |
Dark Ages | Hypno-shroom · Sun-shroom · Puff-shroom · Fume-shroom · Sun Bean · Pea-nut · Magnet-shroom · Oak Archer · Coffee Bean · Plantern |
Big Wave Beach | Acidic Citrus · Lotuspot · Lily Pad · Bowling Bulb · Banana Launcher · Guacodile · Tangle Kelp · Homing Thistle |
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Modern Day | Shadow-shroom · Caulipower · Moonflower · Grimrose · Nightshade · Dusk Lobber · Blooming Heart |
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Renaissance Age |
Aloe · Kinnikannon · Wax Guard · Oil Olive · Ruby Red · Dartichoke |
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Others | Potato Mine · Flower Pot · Tactical Cuke |
Removed | Rotten Red |
Plants vs. Zombies Online | |
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Player's House | Sunflower · Peashooter · Wall-nut · Potato Mine |
Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum | Bruce Bamboo · Carrot Rocket · Pomegranate-pult · Dandelion · Venus Flytrap · Wax Gourd · Sod |
Ancient Egypt | Bloomerang · Bonk Choy · Grave Buster · Iceberg Lettuce · Cabbage-pult |
Pirate Seas | Snapdragon · Spikeweed · Spring Bean · Kernel-pult · Coconut Cannon · Narcissus · Endurian · Spikerock · Pineapple Cannon · Threepeater |
Far Future | Laser Bean · Blover · Citron · E.M.Peach · Tile Turnip · Ganoderma · Banana Tree · Nitro-shroom · Infi-nut · Magnifying Grass |
East Sea Dragon Palace | Oxygen Algae · Garlic · Bubble Flower · Electric Anemone |
Upgrades | Twin Sunflower · Repeater |
VIPs | Winter Melon |
Power Ups | Cherry Bomb · Jalapeno |
Premium | Squash · Snow Pea · Tall-nut |
Adventure Mode only | Magic Vine · Split Pea · Chili Bean · Lightning Reed · Pea Pod · Melon-pult · Starfruit · Chomper · Fire Peashooter · Cattail · Zorrose · Clivia · Sap-fling · Acidic Citrus · Magic-shroom · Ghost Pepper · Guacodile · Hurrikale · Plantern · Oak Archer · Homing Thistle · Pepper-pult · Radish · Toadstool · Blooming Heart · Red Stinger · Electric Blueberry · A.K.E.E. · Moonflower · Guerrequila · Aspiragus · Pumpkin Witch · Mine Fruit · Sea Anemone · Lychee Drill · Sea Starfruit |
Plants vs. Zombies 3 | |
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Neighborville | Sunflower · Wall-Nut · Bamboo Shoots · Peashooter · Bonk Choy |
Lost Keys Lake | Lily Pad · Tangle Kelp · Squash |
Mt. Quesogrande | Chili Bean · Silversword · Cabbage-Pult |
Power-Ups | Grapes of Wrath · Chilly Pepper · Jalapeño · Cherry Bomb · Blover |
Pre-2021 | Puff-Shroom · Buttercup · Garlic · Potato Mine · Pushywillow · Chard Guard · Spikeweed · Kernel-Pult · Caramel Popcorn · Lightning Reed · Melon-Pult · Shuffle Truffle · Blockbuster · Butternut Squash · Ragweed · Sawgrass · Fire Peashooter · Pine Needler · Snow Pea · Night Cap · Aloe Vera · Sweet Potato · Hydrangea · Dogwood · Chomper · Flak Seed · Gravitree · Gloom-Shroom · Lemon-Aid · Starfruit · Snapdragon · Fairy Ring Mushroom · Kalestorm · Star Tree · Magic Beans |