How to get the best mandarins from my tree?

[atlantisflicka]

I have recently moved into a new house and there is a mandarin tree in the garden, they look nice but when you open them the fruit inside is really small. If the fruit is 6cm on outside the real fruit inside is 2cm, but still rather jiucy.

I have now picked the tree clean and the flower buds are forming for next season.

What can I do to get nice big juicy mandarins from my tree net season?

[MarkT]

The fruit you describe is very small, and some mandarin varieties have small fruit. The Clementines grown so successfully in Spain are grown in a way to prevent cross pollination so they will be seedless, and this results in smaller fruit. One suggestion is to have other Citrus varieties around for pollination.
The more common reason for small fruit is that the tree has been somewhat neglected. Fertilize the tree now, just before or during bloom. This will help the tree flower more heavily and hold more fruit on the tree after bloom. After the bloom, spray the tree with a citrus nutritional spray and citrus oil. Small bottles should be available at a garden center at modest cost, and small amounts will last a long time. The citrus oil spray will kill any pest insects that might have accumulated over time. Citrus absorb some nutrients readily through their leaves, and the new growth of the tree will green up nicely after the nutritional spray (this is standard practice in commercial citrus orchards).
The only thing left to do after that is to water regularly. The fruit shrunken away from the rind that you describe sounds as if the tree was not irrigated regularly at some point after last seasons fruit was set.

[Theamaryllisqueen]

Wait until the plant is done flowering and then in a couple of weeks those flowers will turn into mandarins, wait until ripe before picking.