Proper cultivation of tangerine trees and shrubs at home. Ways to grow and propagate a citrus tree at home.
Mandarin is a shrub that is always green all year round. Comes from the fruit family and the citrus genus. The form of life is a shrub, in the form of a tree.
Home tangerine is subject to plant in greenhouse and home conditions: windowsill, balcony, greenhouse. Breeders have bred a huge variety of this plant. A tangerine like this is an effective pot display.
Photo: tangerine tree at home
Homemade tangerine has very tasty and aromatic fruits, they grow on the tree for more than two months. Such a plant attracts and gives pleasure, both with its flowering and the unsurpassed smell of its own flower.
The bonsai mandarin is a rare and skillful piece. Mandarin fruits grow without pollination, the stage of maturity begins at the end of the year.
The most famous and beloved varieties for growing tangerines in the house include:
- Shiva is a Mikan. Early and fast growing species
- Mirkot is a compact variety with sweet fruits ripening in summer
- Winshiu is an unpretentious plant from a Japanese variety, branches well and bears fruit in the third year
- Clementine - the variety bears fruit for the second year, at home. Refers to a hybrid of mandarin and orange. The fruits have a shiny skin, are slightly flattened, and their number per crop reaches five dozen.
How to plant a tangerine at home?
Ancient China was the first to start cultivating mandarin duck. Today, such a plant can be purchased in flower shops.
- If the purchase of a plant occurred in such a store, it is better to transplant it immediately. To do this, buy a substrate specifically for citrus fruits, where the acidity is 5.5 -7. It is also possible to make your own soil. To do this, it is necessary to mix sod and leafy soil with manure humus and river sand, where the proportion looks like this - 1: 1: 1: 0.5
- Look closely at the pot in which the plant was brought from the store; its next residence should be no more than three centimeters earlier than the previous one. All these actions will actively stimulate the tangerine to grow.
One of the first steps belongs to the choice of the Mandarin residence in your apartment.
- Proper lighting is one of the most important keys to your pet's growth. This rule also applies if the tangerine is planted in open ground in a country house or greenhouse. Direct sunlight should hit the plant, but without much persistence. Sunlight will give the leaves juiciness and greenness, the lack will only lead to fading and thin new shoots
- The window on which the tangerine will be grown should be located on the east or south-east side. If the growing season is summer - it is necessary to gradually accustom the plant to direct rays, sometimes take it out to the balcony or street
- If the time of the initial cultivation is winter, put the tangerine in the most illuminated place, if there is not enough light, get artificial lighting. It is possible to use a photo of a light bulb for this purpose.
- The optimal temperature regime for indoor tangerine remains + 25 degrees, if the period of budding and flowering passes, keep the temperature regime around twenty degrees
- The rest mode in winter is observed at the level of five, ten degrees. A plant that is perfectly rested in winter will bear fruit and flowers much better.
Tangerine from a bone - reality
When growing a tangerine from a seed, it will require attention and patience from you only at the first stage, then this culture is easy to care for. Prepare a habitat for the plant. Which excludes the presence of a variety of poisonous neighbors.
A southern room without a neighborhood would be ideal. We take the material for landing from store-bought tangerines. The number of seeds should be as large as possible, since most of the next shoots will die from the disease and will not survive the grafting stage. Growing tangerines from seeds takes place in several ways:
- We take a piece of gauze of a small size, irrigate with water, wrap the bones. Water should be kept to a minimum to avoid rotting seeds. Experienced experts suggest using a solution of potassium permanganate for this process, for disinfecting seeds
- To avoid problems with gauze, it is possible to purchase a hydrogel in a specialized store. Its peculiarity lies in its excellent ability to retain moisture. Looks like a certain mass, into which the mandarin seeds are cured for pecking and the appearance of sprouts
It is possible to plant the bone immediately, in open ground. Most growers do this. If you have a lot of experience in growing plants and flowers, you can easily make sure that the bud does not dry out. The leaves will hatch here later than all types of cultivation, but the sprout will be very strong
Caring for indoor tangerine at home
When you see the first sprouts of your pet, you need to start feeding for the next two weeks. It must be carried out with the help of specialized organic and mineral fertilizers. Care consists in watering and irrigating the sprout and the constant addition of fertilizers.
Spraying the tangerine should be done every week to keep the tangerine high in moisture. It is also possible to keep a bowl filled with water next to the tree. Especially when the summer is hot, the plant needs moisture. In winter, watering should be done two to three times a week, depending on the drying time.
Plant feeding - tangerine should be carried out between April-September, especially if it is a fruiting citrus. This will ensure the sweet taste of the fruit.
How to plant mandarin at home?
Photo: tangerine plant Full-fledged, delicious mandarin fruits can only be obtained as a result of proper care and grafting. Grafting begins in May-August. Since sap flow at this time is especially active.
The effectiveness of the result after grafting depends on your ability to accurately and quickly carry out the appropriate procedures. Prepare in advance for the tangerine grafting stage:
- Grown plant from seed, the trunk of which is at least six millimeters thick
- Cutting from a fruiting plant, the branch of which is at least two years old
- Garden knife
- Elastic tape
- Garden var
For grafting, make an incision at a height of ten centimeters where the stem of the rootstock is. It should look like a T, horizontally - see vertically -4 cm. The scion is prepared by removing thorns and leaf blades. Cut the bud very carefully and insert it into the cut, with a small layer of wood.
Where the vaccination was carried out, wrap with tape. Place the tangerine in a plastic bag or jar. Only after a month you will burn to determine the degree of success of the vaccination. Take a few seedlings for grafting, because only half of them will be successful.
Train the plant by gradually removing the can for grafting, then the new shoot will strengthen and begin to grow. Cover the location of the shoot with a garden pitch.
If you follow the rules for growing and fertilizing tangerine, the leaves of the plant will be forever green. Leaves will turn yellow as a result of inappropriate behavior with the pet. Don't exaggerate with chemical fertilizers. If tangerine is not grown correctly, it will become covered with spots, the leaves will fall off.
How to transplant a tangerine at home?
- Transplanting the plant belongs to the correct care of the plant. Such an event is carried out if the tangerine has become cramped in the pot. Early and young plants are transplanted every year
- Tangerine trees from seven years old are transplanted every two years. To transplant a plant, you need to take a pot with a diameter of more than five centimeters from the present, so that the roots do not rot. The substrate should be picked up with a slight acidity, the bottom of the pot should be laid out with expanded clay, pieces of foam
- The actual transplantation process is carried out not during the flowering of the plant, but in the spring, during the awakening of the mandarin. The soil is laid by irrigation after transplanting. Do not use fertilizer two weeks after transplanting, and four days before transplanting
Reproduction of homemade tangerine
Photo: tangerine at home Reproduction of a tangerine plant occurs in two ways: grafting on the stock and rooting of the apical cuttings. This process is carried out at the very beginning of the summer period. It is imperative to use root-forming agents that will stimulate growth. Grafting is the most effective and successful breeding method.
Pruning homemade mandarin
Pruning is done to improve the formation of the crown of the desired shape, to stimulate fruiting. When the tree grows, there is a loss of compactness and attractiveness.
The process is carried out on young plants using a sharp knife and secateurs. Branches from the first to the third order are subject to pruning. The fourth should not be touched, as they give fruits and flowers.
Video: How to grow a tangerine at home?
Video: How to plant a citrus tree correctly?
There's no way I can root a stalk from your mandarin(many ask for a "piece"). Doesn't give roots - and that's it! I tried it in perlite, in sand, and in citrus soil - the result is zero. The leaves on the twig gradually wither and fall off. I know that you can propagate by vaccination, but it hurts too hard. Is there an easier way to get a successful result?
Simplest method of propagation of mandarin - cuttings... I succeed with 70% success, although mandarin, indeed, from citrus fruits is not the easiest to root. I put the cut aloe leaves in the refrigerator for a week. Then I take it out, let it warm up for two hours, cut it across into pieces of 2-3 cm and lay it out on a tray with one cut up.
Next, I cut the cuttings (into 3 buds) from annual non-lignified branches. Large leaves can be cut in half. At the same time, I carefully observe sterility! The cut should be even, at a slight angle, and it is not at all necessary that it passes under the kidney. In this case, the branch must be held in weight so that the compression of living cells does not occur and the bark is not damaged.
A carelessly made cut leads to rotting of the tip and death of the cutting. Putrid microflora is formed precisely on torn sections and in a dirty substrate. You can take younger green cuttings, but they need to be cut off with a heel. I immediately stick the cut cuttings into the aloe pulp up to half a piece and leave it overnight, placing it in a container under a tight lid so that the moisture does not evaporate so much.
I steam the substrate, cover the plantings with a transparent cover, try to keep the soil slightly moist, be sure to periodically open the stalk for airing and spraying. I keep the mini-greenhouse in a bright place, but not in direct sun.
Also try propagate the tangerine by the method of air layering... So, too, you can immediately get a young tree ready to bear fruit.
The operation is best done in spring or early summer. A branch with a fairly long straight section is chosen, on which a 1-2 cm wide ring of bark is cut with a sharp knife. Then this place is wrapped with a piece of polyethylene, fixing it below the cut.
The resulting funnel is tightly filled with moist sphagnum, it is possible mixed with sterile sand. Then the polyethylene is fixed on the branch above the operation site. The root formation process usually lasts from several weeks to several months. Care must be taken to ensure that the moss does not dry out. Moisten it if necessary.
The resulting roots will be visible through the bag. When they grow up enough (it will take from two to five months), the branch is cut off first under polyethylene, and then, after carefully shaking off the moss, remove the excess part to the roots - After that, the new plant is planted in a loose nutritious soil in a small pot, gently watered and covered with a bag or put in a greenhouse. Sprayed periodically.
Reproduction of citrus fruits is usually carried out by grafting, cuttings, layering and seeds. At home, the most common way to reproduce citrus fruits is cuttings - this is the fastest way to get fruit-bearing trees after 3-4 years. Cuttings may bloom earlier, but in order for the fruit to ripen and the plant does not die, it must grow a lot of leaf mass. In order to get varieties of lemons that are fully adapted to room culture, you need to remove them from a seed sown in a room and grow them at home.
Seeds, sown indoors, germinate in 30-40 days. Lemon seedlings do not tolerate a pick in a very young state: they develop a relatively long taproot, which is not recommended to pinch when picking. The taproot should be pruned when the seedlings have 4-5 leaves. If it is not pruned, then it does not branch, it will grow in length and curl at the bottom of the pot in rings.
If the seeds are sown in boxes, then the taproot is cut without removing the plants, and 10-15 days after that, the plant is carefully transplanted into a permanent dish. If the seeds are sown one at a time in a pot, then the seedlings are not transplanted, but the taproot must be cut. The core roots are cut with a sharp and long knife at a depth of 8-10 cm. To do this, the knife is inserted into the ground at a distance of 8-10 cm from the seedling at an angle to the ground at 40-45 ° C. The knife must be inserted slightly away from the direction of the seedling, then cut the axial root in a circular motion. If there is no confidence that the root has been cut, then the operation is repeated, introducing the knife at the same angle, but 2-3 cm closer to the plant.
Plants bred from seeds bear fruit no earlier than 8-12 years or even later, and at first give a small amount of fruit. But for breeding purposes, growing them from seeds in rooms is necessary.
To speed up fruiting, you can graft a number of seedlings. As a scion, you need to take shoots from fruiting lemons; grafted lemons bear fruit in the 2-3rd year. In terms of adaptability to domestic conditions, these lemon trees are superior to the lemon trees brought from the south and grown in greenhouse conditions.
- Lemon seedlings grown from seed are completely new plant forms. The quality of their fruit depends on heredity (the origin of the seeds) and the conditions of their keeping. If the seedlings grow violently, then the fruiting period is postponed. In this case, pruning is used, but does not worsen the conditions of detention.
- Seedlings that have produced strong flowering and good fruit can be a promising new variety, well adapted for keeping in rooms. Non-fertile seedlings should be used as a rootstock for grafting.
Propagation by cuttings
At home, lemons are propagated mainly by cuttings.
From a normally developed lemon, you can cut the following number of cuttings: at the age of 4-5 years - 5 pieces, at the age of 6-7 years - up to 20 pieces, at the age of 8 years and above - up to 30 pieces.
When harvesting cuttings, the upper 1-2 leaves are left; if the leaves are too large, they are cut by 1/3 of the size. The rest of the leaves are removed completely; the lower end of the cutting is cut 1/4 cm below the kidney, and the upper end is 1 cm above the kidney.
Rules for growing a tangerine tree
The lower cut is made almost perpendicular to the axis of the cutting, the upper cut is made at an angle. To protect the lower cut of the cutting from decay, the cut is sprinkled with charcoal.
Cuttings are taken from a healthy and fruiting plant. The stalk should have 2-3 developed buds and a length of about 10 cm. It is cut from those branches in which the wood has not yet become coarse and can be easily bent. Cuttings of very young shoots are somewhat flattened on both sides and take root less well.
The timing of lemon and orange cuttings is determined by the availability of suitable cuttings and specific temperature conditions. Cuttings can be carried out throughout the year, but the best results are obtained from April cuttings. In spring grafting, the cutting is taken from the branch of the autumn growth, and in the summer - from the branch of the spring growth.
Cuttings, rooted in pots, indoor greenhouses, hotbeds.
However, rooting can also be carried out in plain water. A glass with cuttings is kept in a well-lit place.
If cuttings cannot be planted immediately, they are kept in water or in a slightly dampened cloth before planting.
Rooting takes place under normal conditions within 2-3 weeks. The pot is taken with a diameter of 7-9 cm so that 4-5 cuttings can be planted in it. On top of the drainage layer, a small layer (about 1 cm) of moss is placed in the pot, on which garden soil and river sand are poured in equal proportions.
You can pour a layer of river sand into the pot on top of the ground. The soil in the pot is slightly moistened with water. Before planting, the cuttings are immersed with the lower end in a solution of heteroauxin or another growth stimulator (for 8-12 hours). After that, a stalk is planted in a specially made peg hole 1.5-2 cm deep, usually obliquely. The soil in the pot is compacted and watered. To provide the cuttings with more moisture, they are covered with a bag or glass.
- The temperature of the water used for irrigation should be 2-3 ° above room temperature. The pot with the handle is placed in a warm place, at a temperature of 20-25 °, in diffused sunlight.
- For better rooting of cuttings, the pots are heated. The emergence of new leaves and roots is a sign of rooting. After rooting, young plants are accustomed to room air, for which they raise the shelter first for 2-3 hours, then for 3-4 hours, etc. After 2-3 weeks, the shelter can be completely removed.
- If the cutting was planted in the sand, then after rooting it is transplanted carefully so as not to damage the young roots.
A rooted stalk of lemon or orange grows quickly. After rooting, the cuttings are planted in pots with a diameter of 10-12 cm to the same depth as during rooting. The earthen mixture is made up of 2 parts of sod land, 1 part of leafy land, 1 part of completely decomposed greenhouse manure and 0.5 part of clean river sand.
It is very important not to pinch the root tips when transplanting lemon or orange cuttings, as they contain mycorrhiza. This is a special type of cohabitation of microorganisms of soil and plants, in another way it is also called fungus root. Thin filaments of fungi sprout inside and outside the root, through the hyphae of the fungus, the plant receives water and soil nutrients. Therefore, if the roots have grown strongly, they are simply rolled up in a ring at the bottom of the pot.
During the first year, three-time transshipment is carried out - in the spring, at the beginning of July and in the second half of August, if possible, without destroying the earthen coma.
Reproduction by grafting
The rootstock is plants obtained from seeds, the scion is cultivated varieties of lemon, which are grafted for fruiting with lemon trees of a certain variety. A wild three-leafed lemon (tripolyate) should be avoided as a rootstock, since a lemon grafted onto a tripolyate in indoor conditions in winter sheds its leaves, a tripolyate is suitable only for a rootstock of plants that will winter in the cold.
For indoor culture, an evergreen stock is taken, adapted to indoor conditions. It can be a lemon, orange or grapefruit, grown from the seed, from the eaten fruit. Any citrus fruit is suitable, except, perhaps, tangerine. Mandarin is considered the worst rootstock; the scion hardly takes root on it. Let's just say that one inoculation out of 20-30 is possible per mandarin (that is, very rarely). In addition, the tangerine stock is too weak, only suitable for citrofortunella. The stock is grown to the size when the stem is at least 7 mm in diameter. Sometimes plants reach this size at the age of 1.5 years, sometimes around 2-2.5 years.
Grafts can be bought in specialized nurseries, which are probably only in large cities, or cut off cuttings from one of your friends or acquaintances from a fruiting tree.
It may be easier to buy an already fruiting tree, but it is always interesting to tinker with vaccinations, watching how the branches of different trees or shrubs grow together. There are important points in reproduction by vaccination:
- vaccinate only in spring, preferably until May, when there is intense growth and sap flow
- graft only with clean tools, using only healthy scion cuttings
- do not cut the cut, but cut off in one even motion
- for the scion and rootstock, it is necessary to connect the cambial layers as accurately as possible, therefore the cut diameters are approximately the same (+/- 1 mm)
- press down as tightly as possible, wrap the joint with soft electrical tape, for example, with plumbing tape
- the scion should be in high humidity conditions (under the grafting site, wrap a bag or film, wrap a damp cotton wool or sphagnum moss around the trunk, secure the bag so that the scion is inside.
Reproduction by layering
Reproduction by layering is that on a plant with good fruiting, the most developed one-year-old branch 20-25 cm long, 0.4-0.6 cm thick is chosen. incision at a distance of 0.8-1.2 cm from each other. The incised bark is removed with a ring. All leaves 5 cm above and below this place are cut off.
Saw the pot lightweight and plastic with a diameter of 8-10 cm in half so that the cut goes through the hole in its bottom. The sawn pot is tied to a twig and to a special stand so that the bark cut is in the center of the pot. After that, the halves of the pot are tied up and filled with well-washed coarse sand, or calcined river sand, or well-steamed moss. The sand or moss should be damp at all times. Watering is carried out with warm water. By the way, instead of a pot, you can use a transparent plastic cup or just cling film.
After 3-4 weeks, the branches will grow their own roots, but without a nutrient medium, they can die off. Therefore, they are given fertilizing.
After 1.5 - 2.5 months after the start of the layering, you can already cut the branch and, together with the lump, plant it in a pot with a diameter of 12-15 cm. The cut is sprinkled with coal dust. When planting, the root collar should not be immersed in the ground by more than 1-1.5 cm. After planting, the pot with a layering is placed in a shaded place for 10-15 days and sprayed daily.
Citrus care
Have you ever seen a tangerine that was grown at home? In fact, getting small, juicy, sweet fruits from this tree is possible, the main thing is a little patience, attention and effort. How to grow a tangerine from a bone at home with fruits? The answer to this question will be discussed in detail in this article.
Growing a tangerine from a bone at home with fruits
How to grow a tangerine - features of an exotic plant
As many know, tangerine is an exotic plant with a wonderful smell, characterized by easy care and rapid growth. In the spring, with the beginning of life, the tangerine tree begins to bloom actively, filling the house with beautiful, graceful white flowers. Of course, getting a small tree is not easy as it requires constant effort. But after a few years you will be full of pride and joy for the resulting plant.
Important! Reproduction of the tangerine tree is possible in two ways: vegetatively and with the help of seeds. The first option allows you to get a fruitful tree, and the second - an ornamental plant that will only decorate your interior with green, bright leaves.
Therefore, if you decide to grow a plant to get fruit, then you need to learn more about the grafting method in more detail. For those who just wanted to get a good, beautiful flower, it is enough to use seeds. The tangerine tree has some requirements for growing - it will not grow on the north side, it does not tolerate being close to poisonous plants and does not need constant watering.
Tangerine from a stone with fruits - rules of cultivation
So, first you need to prepare the seeds of the tangerine tree. They are sold in all specialty stores, but you can make them yourself. When buying a tangerine from a market or store, try to choose the ripe, juicy and healthy fruit. After removing all the pulp from the seeds, rinse the planting material thoroughly, spread it on a dry towel and leave to dry for about two days.
After that, the seeds need to be soaked in order to speed up the process of pecking them. For this, the seeds are placed in a small bowl and slightly covered with warm water.
Homemade tangerine from a seed in a pot - features of growing
From above, the seeds are covered with a cotton cloth. Want to have not one but two tangerine trees? Then try to use as many seeds as possible anyway, as not all of them will eventually germinate.
Once you see the seeds have spilled, it's time to transplant them outdoors. Before planting, it is important to soak the cuts in a weak solution of Magrantzovka for disinfection. Now you need to prepare a nutritious soil, which plays a major role in getting a good, beautiful plant. Mandarin reacts poorly to peat, as this product contributes to soil acidification. Peat is found in almost all ready-made mixtures that are sold in specialized stores, so you can only get suitable soil with your own hands: turf soil, leafy soil, humus and a little sand. At the bottom of the container, you need to lay out a small drainage system in the form of expanded clay or large rubble.
Tangerine care at home
Once you plant your seeds outdoors, they need good maintenance. The plant should not be placed in a very dark place, flooded with water and create drafts. In addition, it is important to fulfill the following requirements regarding:
- Fertilizer. Top dressing is a prerequisite for the full, normal growth of a tangerine tree. For this, both mineral and organic dressings are suitable. You should be extremely careful with the latter, since they are often the cause of pests and dangerous insects.
- Transplants... When should you replant a tangerine tree? It is recommended to do this every year, choosing a pot corresponding to the root system. Once the mandarin is 10 years old, you can repot the plant every two or three years.
- Location. Since the southern countries are considered the homeland of the plant, it is important to create the most suitable conditions at home.
The tangerine tree does not like shade, so it should be placed on the south side. Direct sunlight can harm the leaves, causing the plant to die or start to hurt. A better solution is to create a soft, diffused light that will have a beneficial effect on the tangerine state.
- Temperature. In summer, tangerine can withstand large temperature fluctuations, while in winter, the air temperature should not be allowed to drop below +14 degrees.
- Humidity. Mandarin loves regular, abundant watering, does not tolerate drought. The leaves of the plant immediately suffer from a lack of moisture, which become frail and sick. You can also periodically spray the tree and wipe it with a damp cloth.
So now you know how to grow a tangerine from a seed at home with fruits... We hope that our tips will help you achieve your goal and enjoy a beautiful, exclusive plant.
Make citrus bearing fruit on a home windowsill is difficult, but very exciting. This will require patience, curiosity and, most importantly, love!
At home, you can grow not only lemon, but also orange, tangerine, lime, grapefruit. The lemon in this family of citrus fruits is the most capricious, but you cannot order your heart, it is its fragrant fruits that most housewives dream of seeing on their windowsill.
Planting method
The first thing to do is get a plant. This can be done in two ways. The first and easiest to buy from a garden store is a teenage lemon with shiny waxy leaves. Most likely, it will be grown somewhere in Holland on a nutritious substrate, will cost you dearly and will lose its gloss as soon as the stimulants are weaned. The adaptation of such a plant grown on fast food to ordinary garden soil can end in tragedy. The second way is safer and cheaper to grow a lemon from a seed. To do this, you will need:
- a few large seeds from freshly eaten lemon;
- a pot with a diameter of up to 5 cm and a height of 5-7 cm, always with a drainage hole and a pallet;
- expanded clay for drainage and special earth for citrus fruits (the easiest way to buy it in the store).
Fill the pot 1/5 with expanded clay, the rest with earth, without adding 1.5 cm to the top. Spill the soil well so that the water becomes? pour out onto the pallet. In the center of the pot Place the seed on the surface and cover it with earth to the top of the pot. Place on the lightest windowsill. Now the main thing is to regularly water the future plant and maintain the air temperature above 15 °. If the conditions are met, a sprout will appear in 3-4 weeks.
How to care for a plant
When the sprout has already appeared on the surface, you should begin to properly care for the plant. The care includes several points.
- Watering. All citrus plants love moisture. How do you know when the watering time has come?
Feel the soil in the pot; it should be slightly damp. Use water for irrigation slightly warmer than room temperature. Citrus fruits are great clean, they love a shower, but only with very soft water, otherwise a white bloom of calcium will appear on the leaves. In winter, when the air is dry, you need to spray the lemon daily. The plant will be grateful if you regularly wipe the top of its leaves with a cotton swab.
- Loosening. In winter, the air in the room is very dry, and the bottom of the pot is fried by the batteries. Because of this, the top layer of soil in the pot dries up and a crust forms. In such conditions it is difficult for citrus fruits to "breathe", because they are plants of a subtropical climate with high air humidity. Therefore, the soil must be loosened regularly, but not deeper than 1 cm, so as not to damage the roots. Use an unnecessary plug for this.
- Top dressing. Fertilize your plants from spring to fall every other week. Do not stop feeding, even in winter, but do it less often than once a month. Use liquid fertilizers made specifically for citrus fruits. These plants also love organic matter (settled manure). However, no housewife wants to endure an unpleasant smell in the house, so a vermicompost solution is suitable as a substitute.
Then feeding can be alternated: mineral fertilizers water vermicompost water.
- Pruning. The first year or two, citrus seedlings are not pruned. Then a regular haircut will be required in the spring. On each new branch, three buds with leaves are left, weak branches are removed. Thus, a beautiful crown is gradually formed.
- Light. It is ideal to keep lemon on the south, south-east and south-west windows. It is good if you have an insulated balcony or loggia, they will come in handy for a summer walk of the plant. Choose a place for the pot right away, so that you do not later move it from one window to another and do not twist it in all directions, the lemon does not like this. It may even shed leaves or slow growth in protest.
A lemon grown from a seed will grow up to 40-50 cm in two years. It is fair to demand from such a solid tree at least a little gratitude for patient care in the form of two or three lemons for tea. But what if the long-awaited fruits are still missing and not?
Do not blame yourself and do not scold the plant, this is the nature of this culture: a lemon grown from a seed will begin to bear fruit only for 15-25 years. The fastest citrus grapefruit (fruiting for 3-5 years), orange and tangerine for 10-15 years. However, there is a proven way to speed up the fruiting process.
The seed lemon will bear fruit for 2-4 years if grafted. To do this, you need to find a sprig from a fruiting lemon with several buds. It should be fresh, healthy, and free from visible damage. There are two ways to inoculate wild boar: by bud or cuttings. The grafting technique is no different from that used in gardening.
Keep in mind that a citrus seed grown is a true Spartan compared to a grafted one. The latter is more capricious to watering, lighting, pruning
Useful tips, informative articles for summer residents and gardeners... Planting, leaving, harvesting. Of course, a lot of information about flowers, berries, mushrooms. On the pages of the site "Useful grass.ru"
Mandarin is an evergreen compact tree with a spreading crown of the Rutaceae family, belonging to the genus of citrus trees and shrubs. Found wild in tropical and subtropical regions.
In the open field, a tangerine tree grows up to 3-8 m in height, in indoor conditions - up to 1-1.5 m. The average yield of each plant reaches 100-150 kg per year.
The branches of the tree are slightly drooping, smooth, dark green, becoming lighter with age. The leaves are elliptical or ovoid, slightly tapered or blunt towards the end. Their surface is leathery, glossy, dark green, with a protruding mesh of veins. Leaves are attached to the branches using long, slightly winged cuttings.
In spring (most often in May), the tree is covered with fragrant white flowers, which are located in the axils of the leaves singly or in groups (up to 5 pieces). Mandarin flowers are bisexual, small in size, consisting of delicate matte petals.
The fruits are formed without pollination. They are round or pear-shaped, slightly flattened, up to 8 cm in diameter. Covered with an orange peel, which is easily separated from the pulp. The pulp is juicy (contains about 89.7% liquid), fleshy, sweet or sour-sweet in taste, orange, divided into slices and covered with white veins. As a rule, there are no seeds.
Mandarin peel is a rich source of essential oils and has a strong pleasant scent, which is why it is widely used in the perfumery, aromatherapy and cooking industries. The pulp of the fruit contains vitamins C, P, B1, D and K, as well as provitamin A. In addition, it contains about 10% sugars, mineral salts, organic acids and glycosides. A unique feature of the fruit of the tangerine tree is that it never contains nitrates. This amazing fact is explained by the "quarrelsomeness" of these harmful substances with citric acid, which is saturated with the pulp of these fruits.
Tangerine trees suitable for growing in a winter garden can be divided into two groups: tangerines proper and hybrids. They differ in appearance and taste of the fruit. So, for example, the fruits of the tangerines themselves have a yellow or light orange color and a sour taste. Of the hybrids, the most noteworthy are the unshiu and tangerine tangerines with sweet fruits covered with a thin smooth skin of a dark orange or reddish color.
This plant thrives in enclosed spaces. Mandarin is the earliest representative of citrus trees, is quite unpretentious and gives a good harvest. Place the tree in a cool and well-lit room. Do not allow direct sunlight to get on the tangerine, as this disrupts the normal metabolism. In the warm season, it must be periodically taken out to fresh air.
For normal growth, tangerines need high humidity. The earthen coma should not be allowed to dry out; in the summer, it is necessary to spray the leaves 2 - 3 times a day, you can also place a container with a plant in a pad with water. During the period of active growth (from April to September), the mandarin needs a weekly feeding.
Mandarin at home: growing from seeds
For this, a complex mineral fertilizer is most suitable.
A young tangerine tree (up to 7 - 8 years old) must be replanted every year in early spring. For transplantation, you can use a mixture of equal parts of river sand, turf and leafy soil with the addition of organic fertilizer.
The main difficulty that arises when growing tangerines at home is moisture rationing. Its excess or deficiency leads to the development of various types of spotting, leaf fall and damage to the root system. In addition, citrus red mites, various types of scale insects, mealybugs, and sooty mushrooms pose a health hazard to the tree.
Reproduction of tangerine is a rather laborious process, but quite achievable. Its cuttings root poorly, therefore, grafting is more often used, using other citrus crops as a mother tree. The breeding process takes place better in specially heated greenhouses. Those who do not have the opportunity to create the necessary conditions can purchase a young tree in a specialized store.
Fruiting occurs in the 2nd year and occurs without pollination.
Citrus. Buddha's hand.
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I thought for a long time before tackling my first article. The question of choosing a topic tormented me until I analyzed the search queries. It turned out that a large number of people want to know how to grow citrus plants in the room - lemon, orange, tangerine, grapefruit, kinkan, lime, citron.
Where to begin
For a beginner, I recommend not chasing beauty and not buying citrus fruits in flower shops, covered with a centimeter layer of wax and grown somewhere in Dutch greenhouses. The most correct way for a beginner is to grow a citrus from a seed.
For sowing, you need to have:
- a few large, freshly picked seeds of a lemon or other citrus fruit;
- a pot made of unglazed fired clay with a diameter of up to 5 cm and a height of 5–7 cm with a sufficiently large drainage hole (up to 0.5–1 cm)
- a handful of expanded clay or finely broken red bricks for drainage
- a special earthy mixture for citrus fruits (available at the store)
- half a liter of water at room temperature (tap water must be defended for 2-3 days to remove chlorine)
Take a pot, fill it 1/5 with drainage, then pour the soil mixture into the pot, without adding about 1.5 cm to the top. Slightly compact the soil. Place the pot on a stand (pallet) and pour water over the pot until a small amount appears in the pallet. Now place the seeds on a damp soil surface in the center of the pot. Fill the pot with soil mixture (almost to the top) and place it on a light windowsill.
If watering is timely, and the ambient temperature (on the windowsill) is more than 15 ° C, seedlings will appear in 3-4 weeks.
Lemon or any other plant grown from seed is called seedling.
Seedling care
Further care for your "pet" will consist in periodic watering, loosening the top layer of soil, fertilizing and spraying (washing the leaves with water from dust). Also, plants must be transplanted and pruned in a timely manner.
Watering
Lemon is a moisture-loving breed; care must be taken to ensure that the soil in the pot is always moist. Watering should be done as needed: by touching the soil with your finger, determine its moisture content. Water for irrigation should be slightly warmer than the temperature of the soil (substrate) in the pot.
Loosening
As a result of watering and drying of the top layer of the soil in the pot, crusting of the soil occurs. To avoid this, it is necessary to process the soil with a loosener (you can use an old fork as it). Loosening should be done carefully - to a depth of no more than 1 cm, so as not to damage the surface roots.
Top dressing
Plants should be fertilized from spring to autumn, every 7-10 days. In winter, if the temperature on the windowsill is more than 12 degrees - once a month. Use a liquid citrus fertilizer available at your flower shop to fertilize. To determine the dosage, use the instructions for the fertilizer.
Transfer
Young plants (up to 2 years old) are transplanted 1-2 times a year, by transferring (without destroying the earthen lump) into dishes with a diameter (and height) of 2-3 centimeters larger than the previous one. With each transplant, the density of the added soil mixture is slightly increased.
Pruning
The first year or two, citrus seedlings are not pruned.
Spraying
Plants should be sprayed with clean, settled water at room temperature 1-2 times a week, during the heating season - at least 1 time a day. It is necessary to keep the leaves as clean as possible, for this it is recommended to wash the crown with warm water (up to 30 degrees) at least 1 time per month. Use a cotton swab to wash. The upper side of the leaf blade should be washed. In no case should you rub the back of the sheet.- so as not to damage the stomata located on it. The purity of the leaves is the key to the health of your plant.
Illumination
To balance out seasonality in light mode, homemade lemon, as a shade-tolerant plant, is best kept in the northeast, northwest windows in summer and in the south, southeast and southwest windows in winter. If this is not possible, I recommend from March to September to keep the plants at some distance from the window (within the window sill), and in winter - to bring them as close to the window panes as possible. For other citrus fruits (except lemon), the most illuminated windows (for all seasons) should be highlighted.
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate?
So, it's been 2 years. You have a seedling 40–50 cm high with a stem thickness of up to 1 cm, growing in a pot with a volume of up to 1 liter. What's next? Then it's up to you to decide. Lemon grown from seed, with proper care, begins to bear fruit at the 15-25th year, the orange and tangerine at the 10-15th year, and the grapefruit at the 3-5th year. In order for your seedling to start bearing fruit in the 2nd to 4th year, it is necessary to inoculate with a bud or cuttings from a cultivated fruiting plant. But if you compare the whimsicality of your "Spartan" grown from a seed and a grafted plant, there is a huge difference. The oculant (grafted seedling) is more demanding on the conditions of detention than your "wild". I sometimes give my customers the following example: take a homeless dog - he sleeps wherever he has to, eats from time to time, snow, rain, wind - nothing for nothing, alive and alive and happy to be happy. And now let's take a pure-blooded Doberman for comparison and put him for a short time in the conditions of an unfortunate stray dog - the animal will die. So in our case, any varietal plant is more whimsical than a wild one (grown from a seed).
If the previous paragraph did not affect the person who wants to have a varietal lemon, I continue to "intimidate". Usually I ask the question: "Do you want to get yourself a baby?" Indoor varietal lemon is very whimsical. The only thing that makes him different from a baby is that he does not scream at night. If this did not frighten my listener, then I turn to explanations. The most common varieties of lemon for home cultivation are Pavlovsky, Novogruzinsky, Udarnik, Maikopsky, Lisbon, Kabo, Panderoza, Meyer ("Chinese dwarf"). Orange: Pavlovsky, Washington Navell. Mandarin: Pavlovsky, Unshiu, Kalamandin. Of the citrus fruits, lemon is the most demanding in terms of growing conditions: it does not tolerate drafts, temperature changes, irrigation with cold and unsteady water, is picky about watering and air humidity (at least 50%), painfully tolerates rearrangement from place to place and unfolding by 180 degrees. Lemon is picky about cleanliness, top dressing, transplants, the composition of the earthen mixture, etc. In other words, in my opinion, in order to grow indoor varietal citrus, you need to love it. Only with a great desire, patience and acquiring skills (I will help you with them), you can grow a fruiting indoor citrus tree.
A few words about other citrus fruits. Their exactingness to the conditions of maintenance and care is somewhat lower than that of a lemon, but they require more light. For example, I have been growing Pavlovsky orange and Unshiu tangerine quite successfully for more than ten years, but I was able to cope with lemon only in recent years.
So, you just have to decide: you leave the unpretentious and dear wild, or go a faster, but dangerous way (vaccination). In the first case, further care of the seedling is necessary with the use of correct pruning and crown formation, as well as transshipment every spring into a more spacious container. In the second case, you need to "cultivate" your seedling. To do this, you must purchase a twig from a fruiting plant with multiple buds. It should be healthy, undamaged and as fresh as possible. Then you need to inoculate your wild boar with a bud or graft (the grafting technique is the same as in regular gardening).
I will write about the care of grafted and rooted citrus plants in my subsequent articles.
Wishes for beginners
- Determine if your desires to grow or purchase citrus match with the ability to provide it with attention and proper care.
- Do not buy plants grown in greenhouses, conservatories, conservatories or outdoors - they will not be able to live in the conditions in which you place them. An indoor, houseplant is a plant grown indoors.
How to grow a tangerine at home
For example, you have successfully grown an indoor lemon and, while going on vacation, decided to give it to a neighbor in a greenhouse, greenhouse or winter garden for a while. Plants, like people, get used to good things very quickly. In greenhouses, greenhouses and conservatories, conditions are sometimes better than in the homeland of the plant. A few days will be enough for the plant to "spoil", and then, upon returning to the previous conditions, it will suffer greatly. In the case of lemon, this can lead to the death of the plant.
From personal experience, I was convinced that starting my hobby for an indoor garden with a lemon is a rather difficult task. I would strongly recommend starting with figs, pomegranates and laurel - these plants are much easier to grow and receive from them, and once you have mastered the skills in caring for less whimsical breeds, you can proceed to "His Majesty Citrus".
This will require a ripe and pot of earth. First, remove the seed from the fruit and treat it with a growth stimulant, which you can always buy at a gardening store. Follow the directions usually found on the label.
Next, place a few broken shards or pieces of brick on the bottom of the pot with a hole. This will result in drainage, without which the roots will be damp and stuffy. Fill the pot with soil. For her, take purchased land for citrus fruits or prepare a mixture of humus, turf, peat and sand, taken in equal quantities.
The soil for the tangerine must be steamed over a saucepan of boiling water.
Place the seed in a pot, water and place in a warm place. You will have to wait a long time, only a month later a sprout will appear. This time, the soil must be watered periodically so that the soil does not dry out. Move the pot with a sprout to a lighted place, take care of a young tree and after a couple of years you will get a beautiful plant that will bloom and even delight with fruits. True, they will not be tasty, and in order to get sweet tangerines, you need to plant this bush at a young age or grow another plant.
To inoculate a mandarin, you need to take a stalk or bud from a varietal plant.
Growing a tangerine from a cutting
To get a plant with sweet fruits, you need a mandarin with a twig and a leaf. You can buy this at the store. The main thing is that the twig is not dried out. Cut off a stalk with a leaf and plant in loose, fertile soil. Drizzle and cover with a half-cut plastic soda bottle with the cap screwed on.
After a couple of months, the branch will take root and new leaves will appear. All this time, it is important to monitor soil moisture. When the plant has finally hardened, the shelter can be removed. Further, care comes down to regular watering, an annual transplant into a more spacious pot with soil replacement and top dressing. For top dressing, take manure diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. Water the soil under the house tree with this solution 2 times a year, in spring and autumn.
First, the tangerine will grow, then it will bloom with beautiful white flowers, and soon you will be able to enjoy its fruits, grown with your own hands on the windowsill.
Mandarin- an evergreen plant that belongs to the Rutov family. The specific Latin name for mandarin is Citrus reticulate. Like orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, it belongs to the genus Citrus. The life form of this plant is interesting - it can be a shrub and a tree, reaching a height of 5 meters.
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Indoor tangerine
Like other representatives of the genus Citrus, mandarin has long been grown in greenhouses, greenhouses, and winter gardens. Despite its size, a tangerine at home can be grown on a balcony or on a windowsill. Currently, breeders have bred many varieties of dwarf and low-growing tangerines for home cultivation, the maximum height of which is 0.6-1.1 m. Indoor tangerines may not belong to dwarf varieties, then the plant needs to be heavily pruned and shaped.
Indoor tangerine very showy pot plant... And not only because of the bright, aromatic and mouth-watering orange fruits that can last for several months. Sometimes the plant delights only in its flowering, because the delicate white mandarin flowers exude an amazing aroma. In some varieties, flowering begins in spring and can last all year round. Indoor tangerine grown as a bonsai is a real work of art.
1:882Indoor tangerine fruits set without artificial pollination, usually ripen at the end of the year. Often, a potted indoor tangerine is bought in a store with fruits already hanging on it. Despite the fact that they are very appetizing, they are not worth eating. Indeed, to achieve such a high decorative effect, plants receive high doses of fertilizers. The tangerine has beautiful leathery and corrugated leaves.
1:1619Popular tangerine varieties for growing at home
Unshiu is a Japanese variety, the most unpretentious, begins to bear fruit for 3-4 years, grows up to 0.8-1.5 m in room conditions. Branches well. Blooms profusely in spring; forms fruits in late October-November. Pear-shaped fruits lack seeds.
Kovano-Vasa, Miha-Vasa, Miyagawa-Vasa - dwarf tangerines Vasya groups - suitable for growing on a windowsill, height 40-80 cm. Orange-yellow fruits ripen for the first time in the second year of cultivation, abundant flowering. Like all dwarf varieties, they do not need crown formation.
Shiva-Mikan is an early, compact, fast-growing variety. Small fruits, no more than 30 g
Murcott- The fruits of this compact tangerine variety are very sweet, ripen in summer, taste very sweet, therefore the name of the variety is translated as "honey".
Clementine- a hybrid of mandarin and orange, bears fruit at home in the second year. One adult domestic tree per year produces up to 50 medium flattened orange-red fruits, very fragrant, with a shiny skin. Plants of this variety with numerous seeds are called montreal.
Mandarin home care
Lighting tangerine at home
The first step in successfully growing indoor tangerines is choosing a location for the plant and proper lighting.
Indoor tangerines, like those grown outdoors, need good lighting with some direct sunlight. In low light, the plant slows down growth, produces few flowers or does not bloom at all. With a strong lack of light, the leaves of indoor tangerine become faded, new shoots are elongated, thin and painful in appearance. Therefore, it is better to grow a plant in the eastern, southeastern and southern windows, shading from midday direct rays. In summer, the plant can be taken out onto the balcony, gradually accustoming it to the street.
In winter, with a short daylight hours, the indoor tangerine should be exposed in the most illuminated place with direct sunlight. But sometimes even this is not enough: artificial lighting is needed. For this purpose, an ordinary phyto-light bulb is suitable, which can be screwed into a chandelier or table lamp. It is necessary to transfer the plant to supplementary lighting gradually. With a sharp change in the length of daylight hours, it can shed its leaves.
Content temperature
The optimum temperature for indoor tangerine in the summer is + 20-25 ° C. During the period of budding and flowering, so that flowers do not fall off, it is better to keep the plant at a temperature slightly below + 20 ° C. In winter, to ensure a relative dormant period, mandarin is kept at + 5 -10 ° C. A plant that is rested over the winter will bloom and bear fruit better.
How to water and spray tangerines at home
The indoor mandarin, like its wild ancestors, is adapted to withstand dry periods. As a last resort, the plant will shed its leaves to reduce the amount of liquid that evaporates. A common problem when growing tangerines at home is over-watering, which leads to the development of fungal diseases.
The amount of water for irrigation of indoor tangerine depends on several factors:
- the size of the plant;
- the size of the container in which the tangerine grows;
- ambient temperature;
- the duration of daylight hours and the intensity of illumination.
The larger the leaf surface of the indoor mandarin, the stronger the evaporation, and the more it needs watering. Temperature also affects the rate of evaporation: the higher it is, the more the plant loses moisture. The length of daylight hours directly affects the amount of moisture that evaporates. Stomata - formations on the underside of terrestrial plants, which serve for gas exchange, open during daylight hours.
Watering indoor tangerine should be carried out in the first half of the day, when the plant has activated life processes. When the temperature drops, watering is reduced, until it stops for several days during a period when the temperature in the room is only + 12-15 ° C. In this case, the tangerine is watered with a small amount of water, only to maintain life.
Mandarin at home needs regular spraying of the leaves.... Strongly dry air has a negative effect on the plant and is often a prerequisite for its infestation with spider mites. If the indoor tangerine blooms, then you need to make sure that water does not get on its flowers.
How to feed tangerine at home
Full-fledged tangerine care at home is not possible without additional mineral and organic feeding. The soil in the pot is quickly depleted and washed out during watering, and recreational processes practically do not occur in it, unlike soil in nature.
For feeding, you can use soluble or dry fertilizers. In the spring, with an increase in daylight hours, the feeding for indoor tangerine is increased. It is in the early spring period that vegetative and generative buds begin to develop intensively, at this time the plant requires additional nutrients.
At home, mandarin is fertilized, like all other indoor plants, that is, in the morning. The ambient temperature should be at least + 18-19 degrees.
For feeding, soluble fertilizers are often used. They can be used to water the plant, and in a weaker concentration, spray its leaves. For feeding indoor tangerine, any complex mineral fertilizer containing phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium is suitable - the main elements necessary for plants.
Dissolve fertilizers in soft or settled water at room temperature. The main thing is not to increase the dose. If the instructions say: 1 cap of the product per 1 liter of water, do not think that 2 caps will make the solution more useful. This will lead to the opposite effect - chemical burns or toxic poisoning of the plant.
You need to feed the tangerine at home during the period of intensive growth (from March to September) 2 times a week. Less often, but not more often.
Dry fertilizers that are applied to the soil and gradually dissolve, giving the soil trace elements, must be applied even more carefully. Their advantage is that by introducing them in the spring, you can forget about feeding for a long time. However, they can be quickly used by the plant, and it will be difficult to guess about it. The introduction of an additional dose of fertilizer will lead to the above-mentioned overdose.
Organic fertilizers are also needed to grow tangerines. To do this, you can dilute infused cow dung in a ratio of 1/10. The best option would be to use organic fertilizers in combination with mineral fertilizers for soil fertilization.
Additional home care for tangerine
To form a lush tangerine tree, pinch the tops of its branches.
Caring for a tangerine at home also involves removing dried leaves or stretched twigs.
On young flowering plants, flowers are partially removed so as not to deplete them and to allow several fruits to ripen. One ovary can be left for 15-20 leaves of an adult plant. The less fruit remains on the tangerine, the larger they will be.
Fruit-bearing branches of indoor tangerine are tied, tied to a support, otherwise they may break from the severity of the fruit, and the plant will not have an attractive appearance.
Diseases and pests
Mandarin at home can be affected by the scabbard, red spider mite and mealybug. Spraying the plant with soapy water (2 tablespoons of liquid soap, you can use "Fairy" for 3 liters of water) will help from the scabbard. It is better to clean off the pests by hand beforehand. After keeping the solution on the leaves for half an hour, it is washed off with warm water. When a spider mite is damaged, the pest is harvested by hand, after which the leaves and twigs are wiped with a cotton swab moistened with cold water or alcohol, then sprayed with a two-day infusion of garlic or onions (crush 200 g and pour warm boiled water). Against mealybugs, removing the pest with a cotton swab and spraying it with garlic infusion 3 times (once every 7 days), or rubbing it with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol (can be replaced with calendula tincture) will also help. In case of persistent damage by any pest, they resort to potent chemicals, which are used according to the instructions.
If watering is incorrect, mandarin leaves become stained and fall off. To prevent or eliminate the problem, follow the rules for watering citrus plants.
Tangerine transplant at home
Proper tangerine care at home involves plant transplantation. Usually, a transplant is carried out if the plant, in our case a room tangerine, is cramped in a pot. As a rule, young indoor tangerine plants are transplanted annually, plants over 7 years old are transplanted every 2 years. For transplantation, use a special soil mixture for citrus fruits or make it up themselves from sod land (50%) and leaf, humus and sand, taken in equal parts.
For transplanting an indoor tangerine, choose a pot with diameters 5 - 8 cm larger than the previous one. A small plant should not be planted immediately in a large pot: this often leads to decay of the roots. Moreover, it is neither aesthetically pleasing nor practical.
Mandarin at home, as in nature, prefers a light substrate with weak acidity. It is imperative to put drainage at the bottom of the transplant tank - this is the prevention of water stagnation and root rot. As a drain, you can use: expanded clay, small stones, fragments of ceramic dishes, pieces of foam.
A transplant of indoor tangerine cannot be carried out during the flowering of the plant. It is better to do this in the spring at the beginning of the awakening of the plant from a relative dormant period.
You cannot feed the plant 2-3 days before transplanting, as well as use fertilizers within 12-14 days after transplanting.
After transplanting, the indoor tangerine is lightly watered to settle the soil. After 30-40 minutes, if necessary, add a substrate to the pot and water it again.
Reproduction of indoor tangerine
At home, tangerines can be propagated in two ways:
- vegetative (rooting of branches);
- generative (growing from a bone).
For rooting cuttings, it is better to use a rooting agent - the survival rate will be 3-4 times higher. To do this, cuttings with 2-3 leaves are dipped in a rooting agent and planted in moist soil, covered with a film or cut plastic bottle on top, making sure to leave holes in them for ventilation. The cuttings take root within a few months.
Growing a tangerine at home from a seed is the longest way of reproduction, especially since some varieties almost do not form seeds. In addition, indoor tangerines grown in this way will need to be grafted, otherwise it will not bloom. For rootstock, indoor lemon or grapefruit, grown at home from a grain, are better suited.
Since both methods of reproduction of indoor tangerine take too long, more often amateur flower growers buy already grafted indoor tangerine in the shops.