Growing Mandarin Orange's

lcrcboy

I was wondering is it possible to grow Mandarin oranges indoors in Ireland, and if so can you buy seeds in gardening stores or would they be hard to come by. I know this sounds stupid but could you use the seeds from Mandarins bought at the grocery store??

Cheers for any information.

johngalway

I will be glued to this thread

I've no answer for you but I know I absolutely love eating them!

planetX

You could grow a pip for fun, but don't expect a harvest any time soon unless you have a 2 story conservatory. You can buy little orange trees in garden centres, but they are always grafted onto dwarfing rootstocks. They need sun and plenty of heat.

looksee

Well you could sow a pip, whether it grows depends on whether it is sterile or not.

This thread just reminded me to look up how they skin mandarin oranges for tinning as it seems impossible, looking at the canned fruit. I'm sorry I checked, I used be rather partial to canned mandarins!

Ophiopogon

As Looksee mention, it's likely the seeds will be sterile as inhibitors have been added. They best way to get around this is to buy organic fruit that would not have them added.

Also, the riper the fruit the better so wait till it's almost rotton before harvesting seeds. Sow in 2 part compost one part hort grit as they like drainage but don't allow to dry out.

Lemons and oranges can take up to seven years to flower but they make nice house plants and anyway.

I would hold off till Mayish though all the same.

You can generally grow alot of seeds and tubers...avocados, ginger, mangos, chickpeas, etc. It's a bit much asking to get a crop of them but it can be a bit of fun to see what will work and they all make nice lokking houseplants.

Jellybaby1

looksee wrote: »

Well you could sow a pip, whether it grows depends on whether it is sterile or not.

This thread just reminded me to look up how they skin mandarin oranges for tinning as it seems impossible, looking at the canned fruit. I'm sorry I checked, I used be rather partial to canned mandarins!

Aaaaah! You made me look it up! Fresh from now on.

Chloris

Sorry to resurrect this ancient thread, but I have a similar query... Would it ever be possible to grow oranges in Ireland? If so, does anyone know where I could get a tree that's already been planted and grown to a certain extent?

I would plant it myself but I'm very much an amateur gardener and I don't have the patience!

virino

I've grown little orange and lemon trees easily from pips at any time of the year, and given them away so I don't know if they ever flowered. All the information I've read in plant books say that they can take years to flower. I have one three year old one at the moment which is a lovely little tree grown from a clementine orange, so you never know. I have also grown kumquats, and I believe these will eventually flower indoors in Ireland, but once again, I never kept one long enough to find out. All these citrus trees are great for the plant stalls of school or charity sales, my reason for growing them - their scented leaves are very pleasant even without flowers.
I saw citrus plants, lemon and I think orange, a few weeks ago in Avoca of Kilmacanogue. They looked quite advanced, definitely not seedlings, and some had fruit on them. I don't know if other Avoca branches have them, it would be worth checking.
Good luck with them if you find them - they're easy to grow if you can keep them scale free and have a nice sunny spot for them.
One more thing, they need an acid soil generally, so it's best to buy citrus compost for them, or failing that, any lime-free compost, but if that is too peaty you might have to add some grit for good drainage.

Day Lewin

I've germinated lots of pips - orange, lemon, satsuma etc. They make pretty little trees. Right now I still have a lemon that has been growing for about 6 years: long savage thorns on it but it has only ever produced three flowers. No fruit.

Realistically, all the citrus probably need a lot more heat than they are likely to get in Ireland.
I have investigated this several times and the sources seem to be in agreement that the Calamondin Orange is the only one likely to fruit in these climates. The little ones you see for sale in pots are usually Calamondins, and it takes a serious amount of TLC to keep them alive enough to flower and fruit again.

To germinate pips for fun, just push a couple into the soil around any houseplant, and wait.
When you see the little leaves spring up - could be a month or two - pick the seedling out carefully with a table fork and plant her up. Enjoy!

wildlifeboy

I have germinated two mandarin seeds at the moment and I am going to get citrus compost and pot them up. anyone know where I can get this compost? do they require much watering?

randomuser2013

I ordered a Mandarin Orange from Bakker for my conservatory. It's due to be delivered this week or next. I've never grown one indoors before so this will be new to me. I saw you can order special citrus compost online from Johnstown Nursery.

Carawaystick

I was in an auld fellas house in the midlands once and he had a dwarf lemon tree with loads of lemons hanging off it ( maybe a doxen on a tree 4' diameter) in a room facing south in a bog standard bungalow. So it can be done.