How to plant a mandarin and care for him at home

Planting such an exotic fruit on their windowsill seems an impossible task to many. We are constantly afraid that a citrus family needs unique care, which will absorb all of our time and finances. Indeed, some of these plants require careful supervision, but mandarin is not particularly concerned. This fruit is completely unpretentious and hardy enough for our climate. Therefore, after reading this article, choose the best cultivation method for you and feel free to start planting an overseas fetus. And how to choose and grow a tangerine from a stone at home, we will tell below.

Choosing a place for mandarin

If you do decide to grow a tangerine, the first thing you need to choose a place for an evergreen tree. Room mandarin can grow both on the windowsill and on the balcony.Today, breeders bred a lot of dwarf plants, but ordinary mandarin trees can be given the desired shape.

Place for planting a tree at home, is selected as well as on the garden. Plot must be well lit with little direct sunlight. In low light, the mandarin will slow down its growth and may not bloom at all. Therefore, to grow a tangerine, choose the southern part of the room, but so that at noon the tree can be slightly pritenit.

Temperature

For room content of mandarin, it is necessary to maintain a certain temperature. In the summer, the optimum temperature indicators for growing a tree should be + 20… + 25 ° C. When the plant begins to bloom, or buds appear on it, it is advisable to prevent them from falling flowers, lowering the temperature not above +20 ° C.

In winter, to improve the future of flowering citrus Mandarin better leave without much movement. The temperature during the winter period can vary from +5 ° C to + 10 ° C.Observing such temperature regimes, you can easily grow tangerine from the stone at home.

Lighting

Lighting Mandarin is a very important moment in its growth. With insufficient light, the tree is lagging behind in development and there is a big risk of getting modest blooms. In summer, a young mandarin can be gradually put up in the open air, so that the plant gradually gets used to the environment. But at noon, you have to hide it from direct sunlight.

In winter, when the light day is rather short, the mandarin must be set to the brightest place in the room. It happens that a young tree may lack coverage. Here comes the help of a phyto lamp, which is screwed into an ordinary table lamp or a chandelier. Start off highlight mandarin need to graduallyotherwise, with a sharp change in the length of daylight the plant may lose foliage.

Air humidity

Mandarin does not tolerate dry air. Therefore, to maintain sufficient humidity, it is recommended to put containers with water around the container. With increasing temperature, the plant must be further moistened, sometimes several times a day. In winter, it is better to apply spraying, but only as the soil dries.

The choice of dishes or container for planting

It is recommended to choose dishes for planting mandarin based on its size. Remember, for the best growth of the tree it will need to be replanted every year. Do not immediately choose a large pot, as too much space may lead to rotting of the roots.

The best containers for mandarin are small wooden boxes or pots made from natural materials. When planting, do not forget about good drainage. For this role, pebbles, expanded clay, remnants of broken ceramic dishes, and even foam are great. Mandarin does not like stagnant moisture in the soil, which can also lead to rotting of the roots.

Mandarin soil

As with outdoor cultivation, indoor tangerine does not like sour soil. Therefore, when choosing a ready mix for planting in a store, pay attention to the acidity of the substrate.

If you do not trust the purchased substrates, you can independently prepare the soil for planting. To do this, take the turf and leaf ground, river washed sand and some wood ash. Observe the proportions 1: 1: 0.5. From these components is obtained light, well-breathable soil, which is so fond of mandarin.

Planting, reproduction and transplanting mandarin

When home growing citrus mandarin, there are several ways of its reproduction: cuttings, grafting and the most popular way to date - bone. But how to plant and grow a tangerine from the stone to the tree bore fruit?

First of all, it is necessary to understand that when using this method, the result is expected no earlier than after six years. An even more complicated breeding method is grafting, since when it is used, it is extremely rare to grow tangerine at home.

At the same time, a mandarin vaccine is considered one of the tested options. At home, it is planted on seedlings of orange, lemon or grapefruit.In addition, many gardeners are interested in how much grows mandarin? This citrus tree is very durable and with proper care will live for more than thirty years.

Mandarin roots are actively growing every year, because of what plant needs annual transplant. After 5-6 years, transplanted less often - once every two years. Transplantation should be carried out in the spring, before the active growth of the rhizome, and each time a pot or pot is selected slightly larger than the previous one. Best for Mandarin will be transshipment method of transplantation: try not to destroy the formed earthen room.

Vegetative breeding method

As we mentioned above, reproduction of mandarin at home, using conventional planting cuttings - is almost impossible. Therefore, to grow a fertile tree, Mandarin cuttings are grafted on any other citrus plant.

To do this, you need a bush aged from one to two years old and a stalk of your choice of mandarin variety. We take a citrus sapling and at a distance of 10 cm above the soil make a T-shaped incision.Then, slightly pressing down the tip of the knife, we get a recess into which we insert our cutting.

After that, you need to coat the place of the cut garden pitch and rewind PVC film or tape. After vaccination mandarin, you must put them in a greenhouse, or simply cover them with a plastic bag. You can air once a day, making sure that the eye has not appeared after vaccination.

The cuttings are usually grafted for a month, after which the greenhouse is removed and the electrical tape is weakened. After rooting from the tape can be completely eliminated. Growing tangerine in such a way of reproduction, you have every chance to get sweet and juicy fruits.

Seed method

The easiest method to grow a tangerine is to plant a bone, and you already know about it. Therefore, in advance, buy several fruits that were properly stored, without freezing and direct sunlight, and select a dozen of them from the seed. Then rinse thoroughly with running water and place on a window sill or other flat surface to dry.

When the seeds are dry, they need to soak for further germination: take cotton fabric and wrap bones in it. For several days, the cloth should be wet, but not float in water.

After the seeds swell and sprout starts to peek, they can be transplanted into the prepared soil. As soon as you plant a mandarin seed and the seedling grows a little, it needs to be transplanted into a container with a volume of about 4 liters.

Plant care

If you no longer have questions on how to plant a tangerine, then it remains only to provide him with the right care and wait for the fragrant fruit. For a good tree growth Do not forget about enough moisture in the summer. Give us more light, but shine in the sunshine, as mandarin leaves can easily get burned.

Some varieties of indoor tangerine can bloom up to a whole year, but to ensure their comfortable growth, tear off most of the flowers and ovaries. If you do not want to give the mandarin tree a special look, then you only need to remove dried or strongly stretched branches.

Watering mandarin

With the arrival of spring, it is necessary to water the mandarin copiously, wetting the whole earthen room, and if you build the drainage system correctly, there will be no stagnant moisture and it will not harm the plant. On particularly hot days, water the tree with a warm shower, and in the process of preparing for wintering, in the autumn, watering should be reduced. When growing in a warm room, water it as the topsoil dries.

Fertilizer and dressing

All fertilizers and dressing for mandarin, it is desirable to make after watering. In summer, the tree requires fertilizer once every two weeks, and with the arrival of autumn - once a month. A good top dressing for tangerine tree is a bred cow dung.

You can also combine various mineral fertilizers, although in every garden shop you can easily buy ready-made special formulations. To increase fruiting, there is such a method of feeding as "fish ear": a quarter of a kilogram of unsalted fish, boiled for about half an hour in two liters of water, then add cold water, filter and use together with fertilizer.

After such simple manipulations, your southern tree will not only delight with its appearance, but will also begin to bear delicious fruits. Agree, it is much more interesting to put tangerines grown at home on the New Year's table, with which you will undoubtedly surprise all the guests who have come to you.