After almost 11 full months of caring for my newly planted Mandarin Orange tree I couldn't wait any longer, so yesterday was harvest day.
It wasn't a large bounty. It was just one whole brightly colored Mandarin orange. Pretty small harvest for the amount of work that I put into it, but this little tree has taught me so much about caring for citrus fruit trees and even more about trying to grow things in this harsh climate.
I've had no previous experience with this type of fruit - this year has been my first. I'll have to say that they're very difficult to take care of, but I think if you take the time to learn about them the rewards are worth it. With too little water this tree will drop all its' leaves, with too much water it'll drop all its leaves too. Finding the watering balance is crucial for this type of tree.
Earlier on in the year there were many more young Mandarin Oranges on my tree, but a lack of water caused all but one developing oranges to drop off.
I remember well the painful day I went to inspect the tree and I saw all my potential oranges lying on the ground. I took the failure well and rather than let it be a disappointment, I took it upon myself to study more about the trees needs and learn what I had to do to help it thrive.
My learning paid off and that one lonely Mandarin Orange held on until I snipped it with my wire cutters from the end of the branch it was holding onto.
In the next few months I hope to see my tree budding with flowers all over again, getting ready to produce an even bigger bounty for 2010.
My honeybees, I'm sure, will be happy to see the citrus flowers out too. After a long two or three months without any real source of nectar or pollen they'll be happy to go back to work.
Growing things is never 100% success, but if you fail you can learn from it and try again - it's worth it.
Submitted by shy-but-green on February 12, 2010 - 9:59pm.
I have just been given a mandarin orange tree for the Chinese New year. I still have the one from last year (just). You are dead right about the leaves dropping with due to too much or too little water. It take a lot of trial and error to get it right. The leaves on my new plant started to drop and I watered it. Next morning 20 or so leaves had dropped off. They really are very tricky plants to manage.
Submitted by Mr Murdock on November 16, 2009 - 9:31am.
Wow, just one orange hey. That's alright though because you did learn a whole bunch of stuff about it so that you'll have better luck next year!
Submitted by shy-but-green on November 15, 2009 - 11:15pm.
nice little story. need to try this out.
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