Tree · Rutaceae
Tangerine
Citrus reticulata
Offer it full sun, steady water, and a little shelter from frost, and a tangerine will thank you with sweet fruit right through winter.
Full sun
Every 7–14 days
USDA 9–11
12–15 ft · 3.7–4.6 m
Overview
A tangerine is simply a kind of mandarin, one of the soft, deep red-orange, easy-peeling cousins in the citrus family. Its fruit comes ripe in the cool months, just when the garden has little else to offer, and that is part of what makes it such a joy. Settle it into a warm, sunny corner and it gives back generously, with sweet-smelling spring blossom followed by a heavy load of bright fruit.
At heart these are gentle subtropical trees, most content in the warm zones where frost rarely calls. If your winters bite, do not worry, since many growers simply keep a tangerine in a big pot and bring it under cover when the chill arrives. It settles into container life with ease, which means a homegrown citrus is well within reach even far from the orange groves.
The tree asks for only a few things: sunlight, soil that drains, and steady feeding to hold its leaves a healthy green. Meet those and it will keep going year after year, because a tangerine is a long-lived perennial, not a plant that fades after one season. Nearly every setback traces back to soggy roots, hungry soil, or a hard freeze, and each of those is something you can prevent.
Care
The short version: give it full sun, sandy soil that drains freely and leans a touch acidic, and regular water that never sits and turns the roots soggy. A citrus fertilizer through the growing season and a bit of cover when frost threatens will keep it happy.
Light
Give your tangerine full sun, ideally 6 to 8 hours each day, and it rewards you with the sweetest fruit and a full, leafy canopy. It will cope with a little partial sun if it must, though shade tends to thin the crop and stretch the branches, so brighter is kinder.
Water
Water a young tree about twice a week while it settles in, and an established one roughly weekly to once every two weeks, easing back in cool or rainy spells. Let the top inch or so of soil dry out before you water again. The single thing a tangerine truly dislikes is sitting in soggy roots, so err toward good drainage.
Soil
Plant it in sandy, well-drained loam that stays slightly acidic, aiming for a pH of 5.5 to 6.5. That sweet spot keeps iron, manganese, and zinc within easy reach of the roots, and the free drainage guards against the rot that comes from wet feet.
Temperature
A tangerine copes with a broad range, from around 39°F (4°C) up to 100°F (38°C), so ordinary weather is rarely the problem. Frost is the real worry, since a freeze scorches the leaves and kills tender young twigs, which is why a warm, sheltered spot does the most to keep your tree safe.
Humidity
Ordinary household air suits it well, somewhere near 40% to 60%, so there is no need to fuss. Outdoors you can leave the humidity to nature, and an indoor tree only wants a touch more moisture during the dry rooms of winter.
Feeding
Feed a balanced citrus fertilizer carrying iron, manganese, and zinc from spring through fall, roughly February to October. Those micronutrients are the quiet secret behind deep green leaves, and they head off the yellowing that citrus can otherwise slip into.
Pruning
Happily, a tangerine needs very little cutting. Take out any dead, damaged, or crossing wood, gently remove the rootstock suckers that push up below the graft, and thin the branches a little once you have gathered the harvest. Going heavy with the shears only trades away future fruit.
Repotting
Move a potted tangerine into a roomier container every 2 to 3 years, or a little sooner if roots begin circling the pot, water rushes straight through, or growth seems to stall. A fresh batch of mix and a bit more space are usually all it takes to keep a container tree cheerful and productive.
Size & spacing
Given room, a tangerine grows to about 12 to 15 feet (3.7 to 4.5 m) tall and almost as wide. Offer it that much open space if you can, or keep it smaller and easier to manage by growing it in a large container.
When to plant
A tangerine loves warmth and struggles with a hard frost, so the timing is on your side if you keep it simple. Wait until spring and the last cold has gone before you plant a young tree, watch for sweet white flowers as the days warm, and look forward to picking fruit from late fall into winter.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Spring, after all danger of frost has passed
- Harvest: Fragrant white flowers in spring; fruit ripens late fall to winter (about November to January)
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 9–11
Temperature: down to -7°C
Troubleshooting
Take heart, because a tangerine usually shows you when something is off, and most of it is easy to put right. Trouble tends to appear in the leaves and the fruit, and yellowing, sticky foliage, or dropped fruit each have their own gentle fix. Find the sign that matches yours below and step in early.
Fallen leaves and dead twigs after a cold snap
Dropped leaves and dying twigs after a freeze point to cold injury, and tender mandarins feel it before the hardier satsuma types do. Wait until new growth appears before you prune, since that shows you exactly how far the damage really went. Covering young trees and adding a little warmth during a freeze keeps it from happening again.
Fix:
- Prune out dead wood only after new growth shows extent of damage
- Protect with covers or heat during freezes
Leaves turning yellow while the veins stay green
When a leaf goes yellow but its veins hold their green, the tree is simply low on iron, manganese, or zinc. It usually happens because the soil has slipped outside the 5.5 to 6.5 pH range and locked those nutrients away from the roots. Offer a citrus fertilizer with chelated micronutrients, nudge the pH back into range, and loosen up the drainage, and fresh green growth soon follows.
Fix:
- Apply a citrus fertilizer with chelated micronutrients
- Correct overly acidic or alkaline soil
- Improve drainage
Sticky leaves, a black film, or speckled foliage
Sticky leaves topped with a sooty black film usually mean sap-sucking pests such as scale, mealybugs, or spider mites have moved in. They sip the sap and drip sugary honeydew that the mold grows on, while mites tend to leave a fine speckling and light webbing instead. A gentle spray of water clears a small outbreak, and horticultural or neem oil handles it once the pests spread.
Fix:
- Spray horticultural or neem oil per label
- Wash off light infestations with water
Little fruit dropping before it has ripened
A tangerine naturally lets go of some of its young fruit, and a thirsty tree lets go of far more, so a little loss is nothing to fear. This is premature fruit drop, often bound up with the tree's habit of bearing heavily one year and lightly the next. Water it deeply and steadily and tuck a layer of mulch around the base, and it will hold on to more of what it sets.
Fix:
- Provide steady, deep irrigation
- Mulch to conserve moisture
Toxicity
The sweet ripe fruit is a safe treat for people, so share it and enjoy. The part to watch is the rest of the plant, since the peel, leaves, and stems carry citrus oils and psoralens that can leave cats, dogs, and horses with an upset stomach. Keeping pets away from the rind, the foliage, and any prunings is all it takes to stay on the safe side.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Safe for
People
Cats Mild
A cat that nibbles the peel, leaves, or seeds might drool, be sick, or get loose stools, and the oils can leave its skin a little irritated. The flesh itself does no harm, though most cats want nothing to do with the sour fruit anyway.
Dogs Mild
If a dog chews on the rind or foliage, look for an upset stomach, loose stools, and a quiet, low mood. A taste of the peeled segment will not hurt, even though the bitter oils in the peel certainly can.
Horses Mild
The same citrus oils and psoralens in the leaves and peel can leave a horse dribbling, off its feed, and loose in the gut. Keeping prunings and peelings out of the paddock is the kind thing to do.
Rabbits Caution
The oily peel and leaves do not agree with a rabbit's delicate tummy and are best kept well out of reach. A thin sliver of the flesh once in a while is the very most you should ever offer.
Livestock Caution
Goats, sheep, and cattle may nibble at fallen fruit, yet the peel and foliage can turn the stomach in any amount. Gather up prunings rather than leaving the herd to browse on them.
Birds Caution
A little piece of the peeled flesh is fine for most pet birds, though the peel and leaves carry the irritating oils and are best left off the plate. Set aside the rind and the seeds.
People Safe
The ripe fruit is a sweet, everyday snack and completely safe to eat. Only the bitter peel and the leaves hold the strong oils, so there is nothing at all to worry about at the table.
Keep peels, leaves, and seeds away from pets, where the irritating essential oils are most concentrated.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
United Kingdom
Animal PoisonLine: 01202 509000 (fee applies)
Australia
Animal Poisons Helpline: 1300 869 738
Varieties
Many mandarins reach the market under the tangerine name, though a handful of them turn up again and again. These are the friendly few worth getting to know.
Dancy
This old Florida favorite carries a deep red-orange skin that slips away with ease, and its fruit comes ripe from December into January.
Clementine
A small and sweet mandarin, all but seedless, that peels away with hardly any effort at all.
Owari Satsuma
The hardiest of these mandarins against cold, seedless, and among the quickest to come ripe.
Sunburst
A Florida mandarin hybrid raised as an early-ripening stand-in for the true tangerines.
How to propagate
There are three ways to make more tangerines, and they are far from equal, so pick the one that suits your patience. Grafting is the reliable favorite, seed is the slow and hopeful route, and air-layering rests somewhere in the middle.
GraftingModerate
Spring to summer · Bears fruit in about 2 to 3 years
Grafting is the trusted way to begin a tangerine, setting the variety you love onto a rootstock of your choosing in spring or summer. It holds the fruit true to type and lets the tree borrow disease and cold tolerance from its roots, and a grafted tree tends to bear within 2 to 3 years.
SeedEasy
Spring · Several years to first fruit
Starting from seed in spring is simple enough, though it does ask for patience. Seedlings often will not match the parent and carry a long juvenile stage, so several years can pass before that first fruit arrives.
Air layeringModerate
Warm growing season · Several months to root
Air-layering through the warm growing season hands you a clone growing on its own roots, and it needs several months to take. You skip the rootstock this way, which also means you give up the extra disease and cold tolerance it would have offered.
Myths
A tangerine is its own botanical species, quite separate from the mandarin.
In truth, tangerine is just a market name for certain deep red-orange mandarins, and every one of them is the same species, Citrus reticulata. The name itself goes back to the port of Tangier. So a tangerine is a kind of mandarin, not a species standing on its own.
Every part of a citrus is poisonous, so the fruit itself must be dangerous to pets.
The ripe flesh is perfectly fine. The ASPCA traces citrus toxicity to the essential oils and psoralens packed into the peel, leaves, and seeds, and even those bring only mild stomach upset. It is the rind and foliage to keep from pets, never the sweet segments.