Tree · Rutaceae
Tangerine
Citrus reticulata
Give it full sun, steady water, and shelter from frost, and the tangerine hands you sweet fruit through winter.
Full sun
Every 7–14 days
USDA 9–11
12–15 ft · 3.7–4.6 m
Overview
A tangerine is a kind of mandarin, one of the deep red-orange, easy-peeling members of the citrus family. The fruit ripens in the cool months when little else does, which is part of its charm. Grow it in a warm spot and it rewards you with fragrant spring flowers and a heavy crop of bright, sweet fruit.
These are subtropical trees at heart, happiest in the warm zones where frost is rare. Where winters bite, gardeners keep them in large pots and move them under cover when the cold rolls in. Tangerines take well to container life, which puts a homegrown citrus within reach far outside the orange groves.
The tree asks for sun, drainage, and a feeding schedule that keeps the leaves green. Get those right and it carries on for years, since a tangerine is a long-lived perennial rather than a one-season plant. Most trouble traces back to soggy roots, hungry soil, or a hard freeze.
Care
The short version: full sun, sandy well-drained soil on the acidic side, and steady water that never leaves the roots soggy. Feed it a citrus fertilizer through the growing season and shield it from frost.
Light
Give a tangerine full sun, at least 6 to 8 hours a day, for the sweetest fruit and the densest canopy. It will tolerate a little partial sun, but shade thins the crop and stretches the growth.
Water
Water new trees about twice a week and settled ones roughly weekly to every two weeks, easing off in cool or rainy spells. Let the top inch or so of soil dry between drinks. The one thing a tangerine won't stand is soggy roots.
Soil
Plant in sandy, well-drained loam kept slightly acidic, with a pH of 5.5 to 6.5. That range keeps iron, manganese, and zinc available, and the free drainage stops the rot that wet feet bring on.
Temperature
A tangerine handles a wide span, from about 39°F (4°C) up to 100°F (38°C), but frost is the real threat. Cold below freezing burns the leaves and kills tender twigs, so a warm, sheltered spot matters most.
Humidity
Average air suits it, somewhere around 40% to 60%. There's no need to fuss over the number outdoors, and indoor trees only want a bit of extra moisture in dry winter rooms.
Feeding
Feed a balanced citrus fertilizer that carries iron, manganese, and zinc, working through spring into fall, roughly February to October. Those micronutrients are what keep the leaves a deep green and head off the yellowing citrus is prone to.
Pruning
Tangerines need little cutting. Take out dead, damaged, or crossing wood, pull any rootstock suckers sprouting below the graft, and thin lightly once the harvest is in. Heavy pruning only costs you fruit.
Repotting
Move a container tree into a larger pot every 2 to 3 years, or sooner if roots circle the pot, water races straight through, or growth stalls. Fresh mix and a bit more room keep a potted tangerine productive.
Size & spacing
A tangerine tree grows to about 12 to 15 feet (3.7 to 4.5 m) tall and nearly as wide. Give it that much open room, or keep it smaller and more manageable in a large container.
When to plant
A tangerine runs on warmth and won't forgive a hard frost. Set young trees out in spring once the cold has passed, look for fragrant white flowers as the weather warms, and pick the 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
Most tangerine trouble shows in the leaves and the fruit, and the tree usually tells you before things turn serious. Yellowing, sticky foliage, and dropped fruit each point to a different cause. Match what you see below and act while it still counts.
Dropped leaves and dead twigs after a cold snap
Dropped leaves and dying twigs after a freeze are cold injury, and tender mandarins take the hit sooner than hardier satsuma types. Wait until new growth appears before you cut, so you can see how far the damage really runs. Cover young trees and add heat during a freeze to keep it from happening again.
Fix:
- Prune out dead wood only after new growth shows extent of damage
- Protect with covers or heat during freezes
Yellow leaves with the veins still green
When the leaf turns yellow but the veins stay green, the tree is short on iron, manganese, or zinc. The usual cause is soil that has drifted out of the 5.5 to 6.5 pH range, which locks those nutrients away. Feed a citrus fertilizer carrying chelated micronutrients, fix the pH, and open up the drainage so the roots can work.
Fix:
- Apply a citrus fertilizer with chelated micronutrients
- Correct overly acidic or alkaline soil
- Improve drainage
Sticky leaves, black film, or speckled foliage
Sticky leaves and a sooty black film point to sap-sucking pests such as scale, mealybugs, or spider mites. They draw the sap, drip honeydew, and the mold grows on top of it, while mites leave a fine stippling and webbing instead. Hose off a light attack and reach for horticultural or neem oil when it spreads.
Fix:
- Spray horticultural or neem oil per label
- Wash off light infestations with water
Small fruit falling before it ripens
A tangerine sheds some young fruit on its own, and a thirsty tree drops far more. This is premature fruit drop, often tangled up with the tree's habit of cropping heavy one year and light the next. Water deep and steady and lay down mulch, and the tree holds onto more of what it sets.
Fix:
- Provide steady, deep irrigation
- Mulch to conserve moisture
Toxicity
The fruit is a safe, sweet snack for people, so enjoy it without worry. The catch is the rest of the plant: the peel, leaves, and stems hold citrus oils and psoralens that can give cats, dogs, and horses an upset stomach. Keep pets away from the rind, the foliage, and the prunings.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Safe for
People
Cats Mild
A cat that chews the peel, leaves, or seeds may drool, vomit, or get the runs, and the oils can leave the skin irritated. The flesh itself is harmless, but few cats go near the sour fruit anyway.
Dogs Mild
Expect an upset stomach, loose stools, and a flat, low mood if a dog gnaws the rind or foliage. A bite of the peeled segment won't hurt, though the bitter oils in the peel will.
Horses Mild
The same citrus oils and psoralens in the leaves and peel can leave a horse drooling, off its feed, and loose in the gut. Keep prunings and peelings out of the paddock.
Rabbits Caution
The oily peel and leaves don't suit a rabbit's sensitive gut and are best left out of reach. A thin sliver of the flesh now and then is the most you should ever offer.
Livestock Caution
Goats, sheep, and cattle may pick at fallen fruit, but the peel and foliage can sour the stomach in any quantity. Clear away prunings rather than letting the herd browse them.
Birds Caution
A small piece of the peeled flesh is fine for most pet birds, yet the peel and leaves carry the irritating oils and should stay off the menu. Skip the rind and the seeds.
People Safe
The ripe fruit is a sweet, everyday snack and perfectly safe to eat. Only the bitter peel and the leaves hold the strong oils, so there's nothing 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
Plenty of mandarins go to market as tangerines, but a few names come up again and again. These are the ones worth knowing.
Dancy
The classic Florida tangerine, with deep red-orange skin that slips off easily and fruit that ripens from December into January.
Clementine
A small, sweet, nearly seedless mandarin that peels with almost no effort.
Owari Satsuma
The most cold-hardy mandarin of the bunch, seedless and quick to ripen.
Sunburst
A Florida mandarin hybrid grown as an early-maturing stand-in for true tangerines.
How to propagate
You can multiply a tangerine three ways, though they're far from equal. Grafting is the grower's choice, seed is the slow gamble, and air-layering sits in between.
GraftingModerate
Spring to summer · Bears fruit in about 2 to 3 years
Grafting is the standard way to start a tangerine, joining the variety you want onto a chosen rootstock in spring or summer. It keeps the fruit true to type and borrows disease and cold tolerance from the roots, and a grafted tree usually bears within 2 to 3 years.
SeedEasy
Spring · Several years to first fruit
Sowing seed in spring is easy enough, but it tests your patience. Seedlings often don't come true to the parent and carry a long juvenile phase, so it can take several years before you see the first fruit.
Air layeringModerate
Warm growing season · Several months to root
Air-layering during the warm growing season gives you a clone growing on its own roots, and it takes several months to root. You skip the rootstock, which means you also skip the extra disease and cold tolerance it would have lent.
Myths
Tangerine is its own botanical species, separate from the mandarin.
Tangerine is just a market name for certain deep red-orange mandarins, all of them the same species, Citrus reticulata. The name traces back to the port of Tangier. A tangerine is a kind of mandarin, not a species in its own right.
Every part of a citrus is poisonous, so the fruit itself is dangerous to pets.
The ripe flesh is fine. The ASPCA pins citrus toxicity on the essential oils and psoralens packed into the peel, leaves, and seeds, and those cause only mild stomach upset. It's the rind and foliage to keep away from pets, not the segments.