Tangerine

The tangerine is one of the most important kinds of citrus in Egypt, due to its economical benefits among other fruits. The success in tangerine cultivation depends on the good selection of the agriculture area because of the importance of climatic conditions which has a major impact on the growth of trees, gemmation and the completion of the fruit development and maturity. In general the climate circumstances in Egypt, especially the temperature is considered very suitable for the cultivation of tangerines or citrus in general. This with the exception of some periods of blowing hot sirocco during gemmation, and on the other hand temperature differences in the winter and fall seasons between day and night helps in the fruit discoloration.
Tangerine cultivation is spread in the Delta region, Ismailia and other regions, and the area of ​​Wadi El Natrun is characterized with its suitable temperature for the cultivation of local tangerines.

Tangerine can be cultivated in mixed lands in terms of the strength of the soil; it is preferable that the soil texture ranges from sandy to muddy.

However, oranges should not be grown in saline soil, in which its appearance has lines and cracks. Because the high salinity in the soil will cause shortage in the proportion of nutrients in the fruit.

The Monastery of St. Mary El Syrian cultivates an area of around 10 acres of tangerine, because the monastery’s land is sandy, non-constructive and non-grouped as is the case with clay soils. Therefore it is easily affected by erosion factors such as the wind and floods that often occurs in the dessert lands as well as rapid water infiltration.

  The most important precautions that must be taken into account when irrigating orange trees:
1. The need to irrigate trees with many fruits two weeks before gemmation and avoid irrigation during the gemmation season, unless there is an extreme necessity.
2. Continue irrigation protector during the gemmation period and then increase the rate of irrigation gradually during fruit development.
3. As of late October, the period between each irrigation must be lengthened.
4. You should not completely prevent irrigation of trees during the winter, however, irrigation should be on spaced intervals.