How to grow seedless sugar mandarins

Buy high-quality seedless sugar mandarin saplings or seeds from the market and plant them. The soil should be loose, fertile and well-drained, with a pH of 5.5-6.5. Choose seedlings about 50 cm tall with a well-developed, intact root system and no pests or diseases, and plant them at a suitable spacing. After the saplings are planted, carry out fertilizing, watering, pruning and pest and disease control well.

I. Planting Techniques

1. Soil: Sugar mandarins have a fairly wide range of soil adaptability, but soil that is loose, well-structured, contains 2%-3% organic matter and is well-drained is most suitable, with a pH of 5.5-6.5.

2. Planting: Choose seedlings about 50 cm tall with a well-developed, intact root system and no pests or diseases, and plant them at a spacing of 10x7 chi (80 plants per mu), 10x6 chi (100 plants per mu) or 9x6 chi (110 plants per mu).

3. Fertilizer and water: For young trees, fertilize mainly with nitrogen fertilizer, combined with phosphorus and potassium fertilizer. Fertilize 5-6 times during the spring, summer and autumn shoot emergence periods, applying 0.4 jin of ammonium bicarbonate or 0.2 jin of urea per tree each time. For mature trees, apply the sprouting fertilizer, fruit-setting fertilizer, fruit-swelling fertilizer and post-harvest fertilizer well. Irrigate when the soil is dry and drain when there is standing water.

4. Pruning: For young trees, mainly prune lightly, cutting back the central leader and the extended shoots of the main and secondary main branches, and remove overly dense branches. In the early fruiting stage, cut back the extended shoots at all levels of the framework and remove summer shoots. In the full fruiting stage, cut back fruiting branch groups, flower-dropping fruiting branch groups and declining branch groups, and remove shading branches, dead branches and pest- and disease-damaged branches.

5. Pests and diseases: Diseases include anthracnose and foot rot, and pests include mites, scale insects, aphids, leaf miners, longhorn beetles and flower bud maggots. Control them promptly.

II. Precautions

1. Do not plant them mixed with seeded varieties;

2. The most suitable rootstock is trifoliate orange;

3. Use narrow plant spacing and wide row spacing to extend the time before the rows close in;

4. Use the girdling plus fruit-setting agent method to reduce the second physiological fruit drop;

5. Use a shoot-control agent to control summer shoots;

6. Thin the fruit before the autumn shoots emerge, removing fruit that is too large or too small;

7. Pay attention to pest and disease control, mainly controlling leaf miners, red rust mites, citrus whiteflies, aphids, swallowtail butterflies, psyllids, huanglongbing and anthracnose.