Calamondin, which is also called citrofortunella Is a citrus hybrid created by crossing a kumquat (also called fortunella or kinkan) with a mandarin. This plant is directly related to the Rutaceae family, and it comes from Southeast Asia. It is also often referred to as a golden orange or indoor tangerine.
This evergreen is quite beautiful, and its main decoration is spectacular orange-yellow fruits that you can eat. Almost every florist wants to grow such a tree. Calamondin is undemanding to care for and is easily propagated by cuttings or seeds. It feels great in wintertime in apartments with low humidity, and can also grow in greenhouses. And he is also able to bear fruit for quite a long time, because this plant is adapted to fruiting in indoor conditions. In the summer, you can take it out into the fresh air.
The tree reaches a height of 100 centimeters. However, it may well grow up to 5 meters, but only in its homeland.
Flowering usually begins in the last weeks of spring or summer. The flowers are very similar to lemon flowers, and are snow-white fragrant stars.
In order to be sure that calamondin will bear fruit, you need to manually pollinate the flowers. with a fairly soft brush. Fruit formation occurs even on fairly low trees (25 centimeters). They taste bitter-sour and very fragrant, and inside there are a lot of seeds. The fruits can be candied if desired. By the way, their peel is pretty sweet. Even if the plant still has fruit, it may begin to bloom again.
Since this plant is fruitful, it needs regular watering and feeding. If the foliage has begun to fall, then something is wrong with the tree.
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Caring for calamondin at home
Adaptation
Often, this plant gets to new owners as a gift. For a store-bought plant, there are many changes. So, lighting, temperature conditions, humidity are changing. And, as a rule, it is very difficult for calamondin to adapt to new conditions, and its foliage begins to fall off. In the event that several leaves have fallen per day, then you must immediately put on a plastic bag on the tree and fix it on the trunk. This will dramatically increase the air humidity to 95-100 percent.Remember to air the plant every day by opening the bag. The bush needs a lot of light, and you need to protect it from drafts. Supplementary lamp lighting is recommended in winter.
Most often, in a flower shop, you can buy an imported plant that was grown using special technologies. In the root system, special capsules with hormones are sometimes found. In the event that foliage begins to fly around a recently purchased tree, it is recommended to transplant it, while studying the root system. Don't forget to clean the roots that have started to rot, and then you can plant the calamondin in fresh soil.
In the event that all the leaves have fallen off, you can still try to save the tree. Remove any existing fruits, as they draw forces out of it, and you can even cut off a certain number of branches. Slices should be coated with crushed charcoal. Further, the plant must be sprayed once a day with a solution designed to correct nutritional deficiencies, prevent and treat diseases of domestic plants. After 2 weeks, young shoots will appear.
Illumination
Despite the plant's love for bright light, in the summer it does not tolerate the direct rays of the sun, from which it should be shaded.
Caution! It is impossible to move calamondin from place to place, as well as turn it, while it blooms and bears fruit, as it begins to drop flowers. However, to form a symmetrical crown, it is necessary to turn the bush, but this should be done correctly, namely, every day by 1 millimeter.
Temperature regime
This quite thermophilic plant feels great at a temperature of 18-20 degrees. However, for fruiting, he needs a cold wintering (12-15 degrees). It can withstand a short-term drop in temperature up to 4 degrees.
How to water
During the hotter months, abundant watering is needed. When wintering cold, water should be moderate. Needs regular hydration of foliage.
Top dressing
For feeding, a complex citrus fertilizer is used. Fertilizing the plant is required throughout the year, because it bears fruit continuously. Foliar top dressing is recommended. However, to avoid damage to the foliage, the nutrient solution is sprayed underneath. In order to spray calamondin with a nutrient solution or to cure it of harmful insects, the bush should be moved to another place. But this must be done correctly. So, many gardeners recommend putting a mark on the pot so that you can then put the flowerpot in the same position. In a new place, in the evening, you should process the bush, and in the morning put it in its original place, turning it to the window exactly with the side that was turned before processing.
Earth mix
To draw up a suitable soil mixture, it is necessary to mix rotted manure, turf soil and sand in a ratio of 1: 2: 1.
Transplant features
For transplant, choose a voluminous pot. Even if the tree is small, its roots are quite voluminous and branched. It is not recommended to destroy the earthen lump too much during this procedure. A good drainage layer is required. Make sure that the calamondine root collar remains at the same level in the new pot as it was in the old one. The transplanted plant should not be fed for 1 month, as the soil has enough nutrients at this time.
Reproduction methods
This plant is not easy to propagate. The rooting of cuttings is extremely bad, and most even die. And a plant grown from a seed will begin to bear fruit many years after planting. For rooting of cuttings, loose soil and a small greenhouse are used (bottom heating is required). Since rooting requires a temperature of 23-25 degrees, it is best to propagate the plant in June or early July. Experts advise using phytohormones.
Pests
False shields very often settle on this plant, scabbards, whitefly, spider mites, and aphid... An infected tree should be treated with a drug to destroy this particular type of insect. You need to process it 2 or 3 times with temporary breaks recommended in the instructions. Close with a plastic bag and place on a windowsill, but so that direct sunlight does not fall on the bush.
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