The botanical name of Mandarin Orange is Citrus reticulata Blanco; it belongs to the family Rutaceae
Varieties: Coorg Orange and Kodai Orange.
Soil and climate: Subtropical 500– 1500 m above MSL elevation. A rainfall of about 150 cm to 250 cm is required. The winter should be mild and there should be no strong, hot winds during
summer. Deep well drained loamy soils are the best. Soil pH should be between 5.5 and 6.5.
Season: November – December.
Planting: Seedlings and budded plants.
Spacing: 6 x 6 m, pit size 75 x 75 x 75 cm. Planting during May – June and September –
October.
Manures and Fertilizers (Apply twice in a year during June and October)
a) For Palani Hills
a) For Shervaroyan hills (for trees above 6 years old):
Apply 700:375:600 g/tree NPK along with VAM (Glomus fasiculatus) @ 1 kg/tree.
Manures are to be applied in the basin 70 cm away from the trunk and incorporated. Apply
micronutrients as suggested for sweet orange. Apply agricultural lime or Dolomite at 4 kg/tree
during January – February once in 2 – 3 years. This should not be combined with other chemical fertilizers.
Aftercultivation: Remove water shoots, rootstock sprouts, dead and diseased shoots. Remove laterals of the main stem up to 45 cm from ground level. Basins should be provided for each tree with gradient slope.
Mandarin orange protection from Pests;
Leaf miner: Spray dichlorvos 76 WSC at the rate of 1 ml/lit or dimethoate 30 EC 1 ml/lit or
fenthion 100 EC at the rate of 1 ml/lit or monocrotophos 36 WSC at the rate of 1.5 ml/lit or 5% of neem seed kernel extract (NSKE) or neem cake extract or neem oil 3%.
Sucking pests
White fly : Spray quinalphos 25 EC at the rate of 2 ml/lit
Black fly : Spray monocrotophos 36 WSC at the rate of 1.5 ml/lit
Aphids : Spray methyl demeton 25 EC or monocrotophos at the rate of 1 ml/lit or
neem oil 3 ml/lit or Fish oil rosin soap 3/25 g/lit or endosulfan 35 EC 2 ml/lit.
Rust mite : Spray dicofol 18.5 EC at the rate of 2.5 ml/lit or wettable sulphur 50 WP at
the rate of 2 g/lit.
Fruit sucking moth: Destroy Tinospora weed host. Bait with fermented molasses plus malathion 50 EC at the rate of 1 ml/lit. Bag the fruits with polythene bags punctured at the bottom. Apply smoke and set up light traps or food lures (pieces of citrus fruits).
Shoot borer: Prune the withered shoots 4 cm below the dried portions and spray monocrotophos 36 WSC at the rate of 1 ml/lit or endosulfan 35 EC at the rate of 1.5 ml/lit or carbaryl 50 WP at the rate of 4 g/lit.
Stem borer: Prune the branches containing grubs. Plug the fresh holes with cotton soaked in monocrotophos solution mixed @ 5 ml/20 ml of water.
Fruit fly: Collection and destruction of fallen fruits. Spray malathion 50 EC @ 1 ml/lit or fenthion 100 EC @ 1 ml/lit with 1% crude sugar (10 g/lit). Set up methyl eugenol 0.1% solution mixed with malathion 50 EC 0.05% between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. Use polythene bags fish meal trap with 5 gm of wet fish meal + 1 ml. dichlorvos in cotton. 50 traps are required/ha, fish meal + dichlorvos soaked cotton are to be renewed once in 20 and 7 days respectively.
Green scale: Spray monocrotophos 36 WSC 1 ml/lit or fenthion 100 EC 1 ml/lit.
Brown scale: Spray monocrotophos 36 WSC 1 ml/lit.
Safe waiting period: Methyl demeton and monocrotophos – 12 days.
Mandarin orange Diseases and treatment
Powdery mildew
Apply sulphur dust 25 – 30 kg (350 mesh) in the early morning to protect new flush or spray
Wettable Sulphur 0.3% (or) Triademefon 0.1% - 3 sprays at 15 days interval.
Sooty mould
Spray phosphamidon 40 SL @ 2ml/ litre. Boil 1 kg Maida or starch with 5 lit of water, cool,
dilute to 20 lit and spray. Avoid spraying during cloudy weather.
Growth regulators: To increase the fruit retention spray the trees at flowering and again at marble stage with 2,4 - D at 20 ppm or NAA 30 ppm
Harvest: Starts bearing from 3 – 5 years after planting – budded plants, in case of seedlings
5-7 years.
Yield: 15 – 20 t/ha/year
