mandarin orange

order: sapindales
family: rutaceae
genus: citrus
species: reticulata
cultivar: seedling

mandarin orange seedling, the first pair of leaves.

Soon after I began to do gardening again after a decade not doing it, I've sown a seed from a supposedly seedless clementine variety of mandarin orange. From the entire bag of oranges, I only found one single seed. So, I can say the seeds are rare.

This seedling branches readily and the growth is quite compact. The size of the leaves aren't all that big; they are mostly mid-green, except when it's showing the symptom of interveinal chlorosis due to nutritious deficiency, where some part of the leaves become somewhat yellowish. At the first sight of the symptom, I fed the seedling with diluted fertiliser.

Being tropical/subtropical plants that love sun, the citrus plants aren't the easiest plants to keep at home. Although, they aren't infamous for being finicky either. To ensure success, we need to provide them with ample sunlight. The plants are best kept outdoor throughout the summer, so long as the temperature is above 7°C. Over the winter, it's advisable to keep them in a bright, cool room with temperature around 12°C. Cold, wet soil tends to encourage root disease. Therefore, when watering the plant, it's important to use water at room temperature or slightly higher.

mandarin orange seedling, the first pair of leaves.

month old seedling, two pairs of leaves.
more recent photos will follow.

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