🟠 Tangerine
Citrus reticulata
Satsuma's slightly less cold-hardy cousin — same peel-and-eat joy, slightly more drama.
Sun
Full sun, 8+ hrs
Days to harvest
2–4 years to first crop
Spacing
12–15 feet apart
Soil pH
6.0–7.0
How to grow
Plant in spring in full sun with good drainage — tangerines want more warmth than satsumas, so they're best in central and south Florida. Same citrus rules: certified disease-free nursery stock, light feeding, frost protection for young trees. Container growing works if you can wheel it inside for freezes.
Water & feeding
Deep, regular watering while fruit develops; inconsistent water means split or dry, disappointing fruit.
Common problems
- Citrus greening (HLB) — buy clean stock; there is no cure
- Scale insects and the sooty mold that follows them
- Freeze damage on young trees in marginal zones
Harvest
Harvest November–January when fully colored and the skin puffs slightly loose from the flesh — that's peak sugar. Taste one before stripping the tree.
Nerdy fact: 'Tangerine' originally just meant mandarins shipped through Tangier, Morocco — it's a shipping label that became a fruit name, more or less.