Hi growers, I’ve got a pair of mandarins that have got me stumped (pun!).
I’m in San Diego (Zone 10A) and I got these mandarins (Tango and Kishu) six months ago. Both are in 5-gallon plastic containers which are inside terracotta pots. I water every two days until I see water coming out the bottom and I fertilized about two months ago. No success with fruit so far, they seem to grow to the size of a Cheerio, then sort of just shrivel up and die.
Tango
The Tango (left) seems content staying about the same size and putting out a lot more fruit. The lower branches all seem to be growing out of one side.
My goal is to have healthy trees that produce fruit. What, if anything, am I doing to prevent me from reaching this goal? Should I take them out of the plastic containers? Should I water more/less? Should I fertilize more/less? Should I do an aggressive prune (shout out to http://littlefruittree.com)?
Maybe all you need is time. However to get much size on those trees they’ll need a bigger pot. I’d suggest 15 gal now and maybe 30 gal after that. For right now the trees look good.
I agree that your trees look healthy and maybe it is just more time. One challenge I have with my potted citrus is that even though water is coming out the bottom, the actual soil remains dry. As the roots grow in the pot they may take up room so that the soil doesn’t really soak in, rather runs down the sides or makes tunnels to the bottom. Stick something in the soil and see if it is moist in the middle. If it is dry, let the water slowly drip into the pot instead of spraying with a hose or whatever.
Citrus actually like to have their roots crowded. I learned this from our two local citrus “experts” who have been growing citrus for decades. I used to help one of them out at his citrus “farm” where he was propagating over a thousand citrus of all varieties. He told me never to up-pot too much with citrus. Citrus also don’t like “wet feet”. That’s what works for him and for me.
