Growing Unshiu mandarin at home, features of care and reproduction

The Philippines and Japan are considered the birthplace of mandarin. This type of citrus fruit has many hybrid subspecies that differ in shape, thickness of the fruit peel, number and size of seeds, color palette, variety of tastes, and so on.

The species also differ in shape and size. bushes, size of buds, number of flowers and ovaries. In our country, during the New Year's rush, on store shelves you can mainly find hybrids of tangerines. Option to buy real mandarin not excluded, but quite rare.

Tangerines belonging to real, non-hybrid varieties are called Unshiu, which means without seeds.

Content:

1. Unshiu tangerines - what are they?
2. Mandarin Unshiu at home
3. Maintenance in winter
4. Spring and summer
5. Transfer
6. Top dressing
7. Mandarin propagation
8. How to grow mandarin from a seed at home
9. Problems during cultivation

Unshiu tangerines - what are they?

Despite all the differences between the varieties, absolutely all representatives of the genus have green leaves on the shrubs, leathery to the touch, oval in shape with a light corrugated structure, with a slight narrowing at the ends. The period of complete ripening of the fruit mass for all varieties (both pure and hybrid), completely different in time period.

Under natural conditions, tangerine bushes grow to a height of no more than 3 meters.Grown in artificial conditions, they hardly reach 1.5 meters in height.

Unshiu bushes are in an active state for almost the entire period of their life. Their state of rest is little expressed and practically unnoticeable. The lifespan of each leaf is approximately 4 years. But, in place of the leaves that fell for some reason before the specified period, new ones grow quite quickly.

Flowers tangerine Unshiu is white in color, each of which consists of five petals. Their formation begins with the arrival of spring on shoots formed last year. Reproduction of the variety can occur in various ways: using vaccinations, cuttings, layering or seeds.

If you follow all agrotechnical recommendations and proper care, fruiting of the Unshiu mandarin can be observed within 4 years after planting.

Mandarin Unshiu at home

In order to grow citrus shrub at home, you will need to meet some mandatory requirements. First of all, this is the organization of a certain constant temperature regime and a sufficient amount of light. The ideal temperature for the formation of buds, then the flowering process and the appearance of the ovary is + 17 + 18C.

In winter, the plant will be more comfortable in a room with a lower temperature. An insulated balcony is quite suitable for this. Here the temperature should not fall below +8 +12C and rise above +13 +15C.

Watering and air humidity

Watering during this period of the year it should be quite moderate. Without organizing the agreed temperature regime in winter, the plant most likely will not bear fruit.In addition, a tangerine placed on a windowsill during the heating season will in any case be influenced by the hot air flow from the battery.

This influence of excessive heat will lead to drying of the foliage, active reproduction and activity of mites, etc.

If, for some reason, it is not possible to organize the most suitable place for wintering plants, ordinary greenhouse film will come to the rescue. With its help, you can create a kind of barrier at the edge of the window sill, which will prevent the exposure of hot air to the container with shrubs.

Lighting

You should not ignore such an important point for citrus fruits as lighting. From February to August inclusive, during the daytime, when the sun is especially active, the tangerine needs light shading. It will protect not only from possible sunburn, but also from drying out the soil and from heat.

It is better to place a container with both indoor orange and indoor tangerine on the window sills of windows facing southeast or south, but only if there is a mandatory tulle curtain.

Windows facing southwest and north are definitely not suitable. On the first, the citrus fruit will be too hot, on the second, it will be too cold. They need to be shaded only from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The rest of the time, shading will not be needed. During the rest of the daylight hours, the plant will receive the sunbathing necessary for normal growth.

Maintenance in winter

In winter, the tangerine should live according to the following principle: the lower the room temperature, the less light it needs. In cases.when for some reason it is not possible to reduce the temperature in the room and thereby ensure a cool winter, the owners will need to install additional lighting.

This can be done using two fluorescent lamps of blue or white light, located at least 20 cm from the crown, which would give the plant light from both sides. Upon registration lighting This kind of daylight hours should be about 12 hours.

Care in spring and summer

In summer and spring, watering should be plentiful, but only after the top 5 cm soil the container will dry out. On very hot days, you will have to water daily.

With the arrival of cold weather, you need to water moderately and only after that. how the soil will be tested with a finger. In winter and autumn, frequent and abundant watering should directly depend on the room temperature.

If it is relatively cool, then rarely, and only after the earth has thoroughly dried out. But, in no case should you dry out the soil too much and turn it into dust. This can cause the plant to dry out and lose foliage and fruit.

Also, don't overdo it watering. The plant may die from excess moisture. Experienced gardeners recommend keeping the soil in a container in a loose state, and watering in such a way that after it the soil dries out for a maximum of 5 days.

Citrus fruits are plants that like a certain constant air humidity. Therefore, spraying on hot summer days should be regular. In winter, several times throughout the day, only if central heating is constantly running in the room.

It also makes sense in the room where the container with shrubs is located, to place a towel well moistened with water on the working battery. At the same time, monitor the speed of its drying and regularly repeat soaking.

Transfer

Transplant Young shoots are needed every year. But, replanting can be carried out only when the root system completely entwines the earthen ball. In this option, it will be quite enough to change only the top layer of soil in the container.

Often, it does not contain any useful elements and is overly enriched with insoluble salts. Shrubs that have already begun to bear fruit are replanted once every three years.

Indoor citrus fruits should be replanted very carefully so as not to destroy their soil lump too much. After a certain number of years, when the plant has reached its maximum size, its regular replanting should be stopped.

When buying a young but already fruit-bearing tree in a specialized store, the owner needs to be prepared to transplant it into a larger pot. The transplant must be done as carefully as possible so as not to disturb root system.

Citrus trees sold in similar stores and grown in greenhouse conditions are often planted in peat soil, which is absolutely not a suitable substrate for their full growth. But you shouldn’t immediately replace it with soil with a different composition, as you can lose the ovary and fruits.

The container for transplantation should be approximately 4 cm larger than the store-bought container. At the bottom you need to create drainage, which will consist of broken bricks, expanded clay or shards and will be approximately 5 cm in height.

After completing the drainage, you can begin to remove the young seedling from the old container. If you can’t do this without any problems, you can use a hot knife to cut the old container and thus break the pot.

This procedure will greatly facilitate the process of removing the tree. After extraction, the citrus plant is placed in a new pot and the required amount of soil is added on top.

Part of the old part that fell off during replanting peat It is not recommended to reuse the soil. When adding fresh soil to the container, you need to control the level of the plant’s root collar. It should coincide with the level of location in the previous container.

The soil composition for transplanting young citrus fruits should consist of the following components: 2 parts turf, 1 part leaf soil, 1 part three-year humus, 1 part coarse sand or small pebbles, 1 part vermiculite.

To transplant adult citrus fruits, you will need soil containing the following components: 3 parts turf, 1 part leaf soil, 1 part humus, 1 part pebbles or sand, 1 part vermiculite.

Acidity of the earth for transplanting citrus fruits should be within the pH range of 6.5–7.

Too acidic soil can kill the plant or make it permanently sick. In such cases, there can be no discussion at all about fruiting.

Top dressing

Conduct feeding tangerine plant is possible and necessary. But this must be done at a certain time and with a certain composition. Feeding is especially important for young shoots.

With the arrival of the spring period, but not earlier than a month after transplantation, the first feeding can be carried out. You can feed with both mineral and organic compounds.They feed with different compounds not simultaneously, but alternately.

Organic fertilizer can consist of horse or cow manure diluted in a ratio of 1:10 with settled water. As mineral fertilizers, you can use any recommended in a specialized store for citrus flowering plants.

Mandarin is a plant that tolerates deficiency very poorly potassium. The owner can understand this by the yellowed and dried edges of the foliage. If similar symptoms are detected, it is necessary to carry out additional feeding, exclusively through the foliar system. To do this, you will need fertilizers that do not contain chlorine. For example, such as: potassium carbonate or sulfate, potash and others.

If the tangerine tree is not in a warm room in winter, but is located on a loggia, balcony, etc., and is in a state of complete dormancy, then it should not be fed with any fertilizers.

Mandarin propagation

All citrus fruits are propagated in almost the same way: cuttings, grafting, seeds or layering. The most suitable method for propagation at home is cuttings.

This method gives the plant the opportunity to bloom almost immediately after the formation of the root system. But, it is better to pick the emerging primrose and give the seedling the opportunity to gain strength and grow.

But with trees grown from seeds, the situation is completely different. Their first flowering can only be observed after ten or more years.

How to grow mandarin from a seed at home

Growing any citrus fruit from a seed, including tangerines, is not difficult. For this you will need bones from ripened fruit.They must be soaked in settled water for 3 days.

After the specified time has passed, a whitish tip should appear from the cracked bone. This will be the hatched root. The seed is placed in a small pot with soil, the composition of which should be as follows: universal soil for planting citrus fruits purchased in a specialized store and not a large part of vermiculite.

The seed should be placed in the ground to a depth of no more than 1 cm. The soil with the seed should not be overdried. The soil should be in a constant moderately moist state. After about three weeks and soil, a sprout will appear.

Only after this can the container with the sprouted seed be moved to a windowsill with sufficient sun.

Problems during cultivation

Quite often, citrus bushes can be affected by various fungal infections, including powdery mildew. Problems of this kind can be eliminated using a solution of copper sulfate, topaz and other drugs with similar effects.

In cases where the bushes begin to noticeably become smaller, turn yellow and the leaves fall off, the flowering process does not occur, the ovary does not form - the plant needs urgent nourishment. There is one correct way out of this situation: the plant needs to be transplanted into soil enriched with nutrients.

Similar symptoms can be observed in plants affected by mites. If they are detected, the bush must be treated with a special compound.

Sudden and causeless falling of leaves may be associated with soil waterlogging, insufficient sunlight in winter, watering with too cold water, too low a temperature in the wintering room, an excess of nutrients in the soil or the presence of drafts.

Let's watch a video with detailed information about growing tangerines indoors: