The Latest High-Yield Cultivation Techniques and Methods Tutorial for Orah Mandarins

Orah mandarin is a hybrid of “Temple” tangor and “Dancy” tangerine, belonging to the late-ripening hybrid citrus varieties. It has strong growth vigor; the tree crown takes a natural round-headed shape in the early stage and gradually opens up after fruiting. In production, sweet orange, red tangerine, trifoliate orange, and citrange can be selected as rootstock. Because of graft incompatibility with trifoliate orange x pomelo, avoid choosing trifoliate orange x pomelo as rootstock. Now let us take a look at the high-yield cultivation techniques for Orah mandarin!

Yield Performance of Orah Mandarin

Orah mandarin mainly uses early autumn shoots as the fruiting mother branches, and the fruiting branches are mostly leafy flowering branches. Generally, the fruit-setting rate is higher in the middle and lower parts of the tree crown. For grafted seedlings of “Orah” on trifoliate orange rootstock, flower trials begin 3 years after planting, and the per-tree yield can reach 5-1 kg in the 4th year and 19.7 kg in the 5th year. For “Orah” top-grafted on the interstock of Nichinan No. 1, a small amount of flowering can occur in the 2nd year, with a per-tree yield between 3.4-10.4 kg, and the per-tree yield can reach 17.2 kg in the 3rd year, with a per-mu yield of about 1400 kg.

Preparation of Orah Mandarin Seedlings

When cultivating Orah mandarin, ensure the seedlings have a good plant shape, a complete root system, and especially do not carry pathogens of quarantine diseases such as citrus huanglongbing, canker, and tristeza. For dry slope land or alkaline soil, mainly use Ziyang sweet orange or sour tangerine, red tangerine, etc. as rootstock; for paddy fields, use large-leaf trifoliate orange as rootstock (using trifoliate orange and citrange as rootstock easily leads to nutrient deficiency yellowing symptoms).

Soil Tillage of the Orchard

Choose loose, fertile land with good drainage and irrigation, sheltered from the wind and facing the sun, or paddy fields to establish the orchard. For sites with a smaller slope, a high-horsepower tractor with a single plow can be used for deep plowing and subsoiling of the whole orchard. Plow when soil moisture is not high, with the direction along contour lines or perpendicular to the road. One plowing can reach a depth of 60-70 cm, then harrow once or twice until level. Then, according to the drainage conditions of slope land, flat land, or paddy field, use an excavator to dig drainage ditches. Alternatively, use a large excavator to deeply dig the whole orchard once to a depth of more than 60 cm, and then level it by harrowing. Or dig planting pits 1 m long and wide and 0.6 m deep, place 50 kg of decomposed organic fertilizer and 1 kg of superphosphate, mix well with soil, and backfill the pit, with the backfilled soil higher than the ground.

Planting Techniques for Orah Mandarin

1. Planting density: The planting spacing for Orah mandarin is 2-3 m between plants and 3-4 m between rows, with 56-110 plants planted per mu, which can be selected according to planting preferences, management level, etc.

2. Planting time: In southern regions, the planting time for Orah mandarin is preferably from February to early May, when the temperature rises and there is more rainfall or cloudy weather; it can also be planted from September to November during rainfall or cloudy days. Container seedlings can be planted throughout the year.

3. Planting method: For bare-root Orah mandarin seedlings, soak the whole seedling in a 0.1% potassium permanganate solution for about 2 minutes, take it out and let it dry for about 3 minutes, then rinse once with clean water, which can kill pathogens present on the plant surface. Then soak the root system of the Orah mandarin seedlings in a solution of fungicide, insecticide, nutrient solution, etc. for about 8 hours. After taking out the seedlings, dip them in yellow mud slurry made with this solution and then take them for planting.