Mandarin

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Mandarin (lat. Citrus reticulata) - evergreen fruit shrub or undersized tree. It is a prominent representative of the genus Citrus of the Rut family. The Russian name of the culture was borrowed from the Spanish language (according to other sources - from French). The name was formed from two words "se mondar", which means "easy to peel" and indicates the property of the fruit skin. Currently, mandarin is widely cultivated in Japan, China, South Korea, Spain, Algeria, France, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Argentina and Brazil. Also tangerines are grown on the Black Sea coast.

Characteristics of culture

Mandarin is a shrub or tree up to 4-5 m high with dark green shoots. Leaves are petiolate, medium-sized, elliptical or ovoid. The flowers are dull white, single or collected in two pieces in the axils of the leaves. Fruits are yellow or orange, round, usually flattened from top to bottom. The peel of the fruit is thin, easily detachable, fragrant. The pulp is yellow-orange or orange, juicy, sweet or sour-sweet. Mandarin blooms in May - early June (which depends solely on climatic conditions), the fruits ripen in October-November.

The first fruits appear 3-4 years after planting. Up to 100 fruits can be harvested from one mature tree. Mandarins are of a huge variety; today there are quite a few interesting varieties that boast good frost-resistant properties, which makes it possible to grow a crop in regions with a temperate climate. Mandarin is a frequent guest of greenhouses; it is also cultivated as a houseplant.

The subtleties of growing tangerine indoors

Tangerines are light-requiring, they love rooms with intense lighting, they need shading only at noon. With the onset of steady heat, containers with tangerines are taken out onto the balcony or into the garden, but always in a place protected from the wind. You can dig the tangerine into the soil in the garden without removing it from the container. The optimum temperature for the development of culture is 18-20C, in winter - 13-15C.

Mandarin is hygrophilous, good for regular spraying. Dry air does not tolerate; to increase air humidity, a tray with water is installed next to the container or under it. Soils for growing tangerine are preferable to well-drained, fertile. The following substrates can be used: sod and leafy soil, rotted manure and oily clay (3: 1: 1: 1) or sod and leafy soil, rotted manure and sand (2: 1: 1: 1).

Mandarin is propagated by seeds and cuttings, often by grafting. The seeds are sown in the ground immediately after the extraction of their fruit. Seedlings appear in 30-40 days (subject to proper care and compliance with optimal conditions). Seedlings develop very slowly. Tangerines grown by sowing seeds enter fruiting in 6-7 years. Cuttings are also possible, but the cuttings do not take root well.

The grafted tangerines begin to bear fruit in 3-4 years. Among gardeners, the most relevant vaccination "eye". The method of propagation of the culture by air layers is welcomed. In this case, a three-year-old branch is chosen on the mother plant and the bark is removed in the form of a ringlet, its width should be about 2 cm. A container made of dense polyethylene is attached around the ring and filled with sand, soil and wet moss. This mixture is watered regularly. As soon as the cuttings take root, they are separated and transplanted into a separate pot.

Transplantation of young tangerines is carried out once a year, then every three years. Every year, plants change the top layer of the earth, this is one of the prerequisites. The transplant is carried out by the transshipment method, it is undesirable to damage the earthen lump.

Care

Caring for tangerines consists in abundant and regular watering. In the winter season, watering is reduced. For irrigation, use warm and settled water. The culture has a negative attitude to waterlogging and drying out. And in fact, and in another case, the complete death of trees is possible. Top dressing is required. When growing tangerine as a houseplant, fertilizer is applied from April to September weekly. In winter, feeding is not needed or as needed. Tangerines are rarely affected by diseases and pests, but preventive treatments with natural preparations are not prohibited.