Paano Magtanim ng Dalandan: How to Plant Citrus the Traditional Way
Paano magtanim ng dalandan? Here is how traditional Filipino farmers usually plant dalandan, dalanghita at ponkan (citrus), step by step from getting the field ready to the harvest, with the day of each step and what to change for a higher yield.
This guide shows how traditional farmers usually plant dalandan, dalanghita at ponkan. Use it as a starting point. For a higher yield, update it: plant certified seed or clean planting material, test your soil, and follow the right spacing and fertilizer.
This guide shows how Filipino growers usually plant budded or grafted dalandan, ponkan and other mandarins and oranges, and care for them until the first fruits. It is for small orchards, from the lowland dalandan of Luzon and the Visayas to the ponkan and satsuma farms of the cool uplands such as Nueva Vizcaya.
Before you plant, get the field ready with our land preparation guide for fruit and plantation trees. Then choose your seed or planting material with the dalandan, dalanghita at ponkan varieties sold here. If the leaves turn pale later on, the dalandan, dalanghita at ponkan nutrient deficiency guide helps you find what is missing. For more on the crop, read pagtatanim ng puno.
When to plant dalandan, dalanghita at ponkan
Seedlings go in as the rains begin, around May to July, so they root with steady rain. Ponkan, satsuma and other mandarins do best in cool upland and midland areas with sunny days and cooler nights, while dalandan and sweet oranges also grow in the lowlands.
What you plant
A budded or grafted seedling: a bud from a good bearing variety joined to a hardy rootstock such as calamandarin, native pomelo or calamansi. Pick one from a nursery whose mother trees are checked for greening and tristeza, with dark green leaves, a healed bud union and no pests. Trees from seed are slow to bear and do not come true, so most growers avoid them.
Paano magtanim ng dalandan, step by step
Citrus trees usually start bearing at about 4 to 5 years. The crop is ready about 4 years after planting.
Before planting (Bago magtanim)
2 months before planting: Clear the land and mark the spots
Clear the land, and on slopes lay the rows along the contour. Mark the planting spots about 5 m apart each way on soil that drains well.
30 days before planting: Dig and fill the holes
Dig each hole about 50 cm to 75 cm wide and deep, keeping the topsoil apart. Mix the topsoil with well rotted chicken manure or compost and put it back in the hole to settle.
Planting day (Pagtatanim)
Planting day: Plant the budded seedling
Cut the bag away, loosen roots that circle the soil ball and set the seedling at the depth it grew in the bag. Keep the bud union well above the ground, firm the soil, water and tie the seedling to a stake. Tip: A bud union buried in soil can rot and kill the tree.
Care while it grows (Pag aalaga)
Day 3: Shade, mulch and water
Shade the new tree for a few weeks with cut fronds or leaves and mulch around it, a little off the stem. Water every few days in dry weather until new leaves come out.
Day 30: First feeding
About a month after planting, spread a small amount of ammonium sulfate (21 0 0) or urea (46 0 0) around the tree a little away from the stem and mix it in. Repeat every three to four months in the first years, a little more each year.
Day 45: Weed around the tree
Keep a clean circle around the young tree by hand or bolo. Short crops can grow between the rows while the trees are small.
Month 2: Remove shoots from the rootstock
Rub off any shoot that grows below the bud union, since it comes from the rootstock and not the good variety. Check every month.
Month 3: Check each new flush for psyllids and aphids
Look at the soft new leaves for tiny psyllids, aphids and leaf miners, which spread greening and tristeza. Pull out trees with yellow, blotchy leaves that do not recover, and cut and burn twigs with borers.
Month 9: Shape the young tree
Keep three or four main branches spread around the trunk and cut off weak, crossing or low branches. Pick off flowers in the first two years so the tree grows first.
Month 12: Feed and mulch through the dry months
From the second year, give manure after the rains and complete fertilizer at the start of the rains, in a ring under the leaves. Mulch well before the dry months, since a long dry spell makes young fruit drop.
Harvest (Anihan)
Year 4: First harvest
Pick when the fruit is full sized and the skin starts to turn color, using cutters to snip the stem close to the fruit. In the uplands the main picking runs from about June to November.
Watering dalandan, dalanghita at ponkan, stage by stage
Dalandan and ponkan orchards here are mostly rain fed: a new tree is watered every few days in dry weather and mulched, then left to the rain once it roots. Growers with a creek or a pump water in the dry months during flowering and fruit growth, and some upland farms run small sprinklers. A pail or hose into a ring basin under the edge of the leaves on small farms. Small sprinklers on some upland orchards. Drip lines with two or more emitters a tree on a few commercial farms. Water early in the morning.
The first year after planting, while the roots are small and shallow. Flowering and fruit set, when dry soil makes the flowers and young fruits drop. Fruit growth in a long dry spell, which gives small fruits that split when rain returns.
| Stage | When | How often | How much |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planting to new leaves | Planting day to day 30 | Soak on planting day, then every 2 to 3 days in dry weather until new leaves come out | Half to one watering can a tree each time, into a ring basin a little away from the stem |
| Rest of the first year | Day 30 to month 12 | Every 3 to 4 days in the dry months, not needed in steady rain | Half to one watering can a tree, or about 1 to 5 liters a tree a day on drip |
| Second year | Month 12 to 24 | Every 3 to 4 days in the dry months on light soil, about once a week on clay | About 3 to 5 watering cans a tree each time, or 10 to 15 liters a tree a day on drip |
| Years 3 and 4, before bearing | Month 24 to 39 | Every 4 to 7 days in the dry months | A deep soak of the whole ring under the leaves, or about 15 to 40 liters a tree a day on drip as the tree grows |
| Bearing trees: short dry spell before flowering (each year) | Month 39 to 40 | Let the soil get drier for a few weeks at the end of the dry months, then give a deep soak with the fertilizer | Little or none for a few weeks, then one deep soak |
| Flowering and fruit set | Month 40 to 42 | Every 5 to 7 days in dry weather, never letting the soil dry out | A deep soak of the ring under the leaves |
| Fruit growth | Month 42 to 47 | Every 7 to 10 days in dry spells | A deep soak of the ring under the leaves |
| Ripening and picking | Month 47 to 49 | Water lightly and evenly in dry weather. Avoid one heavy flood after a long dry spell | A normal soak of the ring |
Without irrigation. Plant as the rains begin, mulch well a little off the trunk, and mulch again before the dry months, since a long dry spell makes young fruit drop. On slopes, plant along the contour and shape a small basin on the downhill side of each tree so rain soaks in. Rain fed trees bear mostly on the rains, with fewer fruits in a year with a long dry season.
In the dry season. First year: every 3 to 4 days. Second year: every 3 to 7 days, by soil. Bearing trees: every 5 to 10 days through flowering and fruit growth. Water when the leaves curl and look dull by midday, or when young fruits start dropping.
In the rainy season. Wet soil against the trunk brings root rot and gum oozing from the bark, so keep the bud union well above the ground, never pile soil or mulch on the trunk, and water the ring under the leaves, not the trunk. Plant on ground that drains well and open drains from low spots. Waterlogged trees yellow and decline.
- Too little water: Leaves curl, fold along the middle and lose their shine by midday, older leaves yellow and fall, new flushes stop, and young fruits drop.
- Too much water: Leaves yellow all over, roots rot, gum oozes from the lower trunk, and the tree slowly declines.
To water better for a higher yield: Drip with two or more emitters a tree, starting at about 1 to 5 liters a tree a day in the first dry season and rising to 20 to 40 liters by the fourth year, keeps young trees growing through the dry months. Keep the soil steadily moist from flowering through fruit set and wet a wide ring rather than the trunk. This alone cuts fruit drop and root rot.
Spacing, water and fertilizer for dalandan, dalanghita at ponkan
Spacing
About 5 m by 5 m, one seedling a hole. Rows follow the contour on slopes. Some growers plant closer and prune more.
Water
Mostly rain fed. Young trees are watered every few days in dry weather after planting and mulched. Long dry spells make fruit drop, so growers who can water during flowering and fruit growth, some with small sprinklers.
Fertilizer
Chicken manure or compost in the hole at planting. Young trees get small doses of ammonium sulfate (21 0 0) or urea (46 0 0) every three to four months. Bearing trees in the uplands get chicken manure after harvest, around October or November, and complete fertilizer around December or January. Many growers now test the soil to guide the amounts. To read what a bag really gives, see our guide to fertilizer for this crop.
Care and harvest
Care while it grows
Weeding a clean circle, mulching, removing rootstock shoots, shaping to three or four main branches, pruning and weeding after each harvest, and checking every new flush for psyllids, aphids, leaf miners and borers. Trees with greening are pulled out so they do not spread it.
When and how to harvest
Trees start bearing at about 4 to 5 years and keep bearing for many years. Fruits are picked by hand or with cutters when full sized and starting to color, leaving a very short stem so it does not poke other fruits. Many growers wash and dry the fruit before packing it in crates.
Common mistakes when planting dalandan, dalanghita at ponkan
- Planting seedlings grown from seed, which bear late and give mixed fruit.
- Buying budded seedlings from unchecked mother trees that carry greening or tristeza.
- Burying the bud union or letting rootstock shoots grow.
- Planting in heavy, waterlogged soil where roots rot.
- Ignoring psyllids and aphids on new flushes.
- Skipping pruning and weeding after harvest, so the trees get crowded and sick.
How to get a higher yield of dalandan, dalanghita at ponkan
The traditional way gets a crop, but small changes add up. These are the first things to change, one season at a time.
- Buy budded seedlings from an accredited nursery with clean, tested mother trees.
- Test the soil and feed by the result, with lime where the soil is very sour.
- Prune, weed and feed right after each harvest.
- Scout every new flush for psyllids and aphids and remove trees with greening.
- Water during flowering and fruit growth in long dry spells to stop fruit drop.
- Match the variety to the place: mandarins in the cool uplands, dalandan and oranges lower down.
anee.io helps with each of these. The NPK Plus calculator checks that your fertilizer plan feeds the yield you want, the pest and disease finders tell you what is on the leaves before you spray, and Anee, the smart farm technician answers your questions in Tagalog or English.
Members open this guide in the How to Plant tool and send every step to the Protocol Builder in one tap, each on its own day. There you can change the seed, the spacing and the fertilizer, then turn it into a cropping calendar for your lots.
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Start freeQuestions about planting dalandan, dalanghita at ponkan
Paano magtanim ng dalandan?
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How long before dalandan, dalanghita at ponkan can be harvested?
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