Mandarin
As well as being good to eat and nutritious, mandarins are also very handsome trees in fruit and can be grown as an edible hedge or screen.
A mandarin is a must-have tree if you have kids to feed or like to pack a piece of homegrown fruit in your own lunchbox. As mandarins begin fruiting in autumn, they arrive just when summer fruits are waning and provide a welcome source of vitamins, particularly vitamin C.
As well as being good to eat and nutritious, mandarins are also very handsome trees in fruit and can be grown as an edible hedge or screen.
Many varieties
As with most citrus trees, we are spoiled for choice when it comes to selecting a mandarin to grow in the garden. If you have room for several trees, select an early and a late variety to extend harvest time. Mandarins do not need cross-pollination to crop, so a single tree will fruit well.
Imperial and Emperor mandarins are easy to peel and sweetly
flavoured. Imperial peaks in autumn and Emperor in winter, making them a good duo to grow for a long harvest.
These varieties form large trees that may be too big for a small space. In small backyards or containers, select dwarf forms such as Dwarf Imperial or Dwarf Seedless.
Selecting the spot
Mandarins have similar growing requirements to all other citrus
trees including lemons and oranges and can be grown together to
form a small citrus grove.
The ideal spot to grow a mandarin is sunny but sheltered
with deep, well-drained soil. If winters are cold, ensure the tree is
sheltered from cold winds and is adjacent to a masonry wall that will help to create a warm microclimate through winter.
Good drainage is vital for growing any citrus, and mandarins are
no exception. In areas with poorly drained soil, plant mandarins into raised beds or large containers. Allow at least 30cm depth for the root area but deeper is even better.
Mandarins can cope with afternoon shade but they do best with
full sun all day and with no close competition from other plants,
including grasses.
If growing mandarins in a grove or with other citrus, allow at least
2–3 metres between individual trees. If they are planted more closely as a hedge or screen, make sure individual trees get good watering and nourishment.
Growing needs
Mandarins are generally fed in late winter and again in mid- to late
summer with a complete organic fertiliser for citrus. Apply a mulch
of compost and aged manure around the base of each tree. Don’t hold back on watering, especially when the trees are first planted
and when they’re flowering and forming fruit.
Unlike many fruiting trees, mandarins do not need pruning to produce fruiting wood, but they may need to be pruned to around
2–3m high to keep them small enough to easily harvest the fruit.
If pruning is necessary, prune the trees in later winter or early
spring after harvesting. Never prune in summer as exposed
branches can be burnt by hot sun.
Although mandarins fruit in autumn and winter when most
pests have departed, their thin skins make them vulnerable to
fruit-fly attack in fruit-fly-prone regions. It’s vital, particularly for
early varieties, to use organic fruit-fly baits to control these pests.
If the mandarin is attacked by fruit fly it may show sting marks on
the skin. Inside the fruit segments will be found small, white larvae
(maggots), which can destroy the fruit. Affected fruit may also fall.
As well as using baits, regularly collect fallen and infested fruits.
Place them in a plastic bag, seal the bag and allow the fruit to stew in the sun for several days to kill the maggots. Dispose of the affected fruit by burying it or by placing it into the garbage (not the compost).
Harvest, storage & preserving
Mandarins may produce heavy crops in alternate years with smaller crops every second year. This is called biennial bearing. To reduce the extremes of cropping, thin fruit if the crop is heavy. Do this by removing some of the fruit in each cluster in spring or early summer when the fruit is small.
Mandarins begin to ripen in autumn with late varieties continuing
to produce fruit into early spring. Unlike other citrus, mandarins do not store well on the tree but need to be harvested quickly when ripe. Left too long on the tree, the skin becomes puffy and the flesh may be dry and tasteless. Underripe fruit may be bitter and hard to peel. Ripe fruit should be easy to pick and peel and should be sweet and juicy.
Mandarin Prawns with Fennel & Coconut Salad
Serves: 2
3 tbsp sesame oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 small red chillies, chopped
Small knob ginger, diced
2 tbsp tamari soy sauce
1 tbsp raw honey
8 cooked prawns, peeled
1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced
3 spring onions, chopped on an angle
½ cup fresh young coconut fl esh slices
2 mandarins, segmented & pips removed
1 tbsp chopped mint
1 tbsp toasted coconut
Juice 1 lime
- In a pan, heat the sesame oil and fry the garlic, chilli and ginger for 1 min.
- Add the tamari soy sauce and honey, then remove from heat.
- Add the prawns, fennel, spring onion, coconut flesh and mandarin segments, toss and thoroughly coat the salad in the sauce.
- Transfer to a serving dish, garnish with mint and toasted coconut and finish with drizzling the fresh lime juice over the top.
