Tropical Fruit > Tropical Fruit Discussion
Growing Mango trees in Southern California
Madridje:
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spaugh:
Its ok to grow mono seeds as well
johnb51:
--- Quote from: spaugh on September 22, 2021, 12:30:38 PM ---Its ok to grow mono seeds as well
--- End quote ---
Do you plant them in the ground, and then graft on top?
simon_grow:
Mangos both Polyembryonic and Monoembryonic can get droopy. Most of the time, it is caused by grafting mature scions to non established trees. The mature scions, if grafted in warm weather will grow vegetatively but the scions are often apical tops and the scions sometimes branch out too many shoots. If excessive shoots are left on the branches, or if you tip a mango tree in California too much, the excessive vegetative growths will weigh down the branches and cause drooping. The initial flush of vegetative shoots usually isn’t enough weight to cause drooping but secondary or tertiary vegetative flushes, especially if not thinned will cause drooping. This issue can be exacerbated by over fertilizing and over watering combined with improper training of the trees scaffold branches.
One way around this is to prep the scions by cutting off the apical tip and leaving only 3-5 evenly spaced leaf petioles or petiole scars. This will create fewer branches but you should still thin the branches to 2-3 branches. For vigorous varieties that tend to send out long branches, don’t let secondary branches grow in controlled because the internodes will be spaced very far apart and the branches will grow very long.
They should be pruned back leaving only 3-5 petioles or you can remove the apical tip after a specific length like 12-18 inches for example.
The second cause of droopy trees and the more common cause of drooping trees is grafting with mature scions that begins to bloom in its first Winter after grafting. The blooms are very heavy and need to be thinned by cutting off 1/2 to 2/3 of the entire bloom panicle after it is mostly formed. Removal of the entire bloom panicle will often result in another new bloom cycle.
In Winter when mangos begin to bloom, you have to keep a careful eye on the structure of your tree and especially focus on the shape of your branches. If a branch starts drooping from the weight of the flowers, trim off some of the blooms and if it still wants to droop, stake up the branch.
In California, mango trees begin lignification prior to blooming and continue through winter and early spring. If your tree gets droopy branches during blooming and the shape is not immediately fixed, the branch will lignify into its permanent shape and it will be nearly impossible to correct the shape.
It’s no big deal if you get droopy branches however as long as you white wash exposed horizontally oriented wood that will be exposed to full sun in Summer. Droopy branches can also be trimmed off.
Sorry that was kinda long winded, I haven’t been on the forums much lately because I’m doing a lot of experimenting with Yangmei and have very little free time.
Anyways, if you have the space, even just a small space, you should definitely be growing Mangos in SoCal!
You just can beat harvesting a fully formed Sweet Tart, E4, Coconut Cream or any number of awesome tasting mango from your own tree. A few days ago, harvested this Coconut Cream
And this E4
And had a Coconut flavored mango taste off with my daughters and we all agreed the E4 had more Coconut flavor and the Coconut Cream had more tropical mango flavor with a hint of coconut. We all preferred the E4 but the Coconut Cream was incredible as well.
Today, I cut open this Sweet Tart with absolutely no embryo. I call it a nubbin because it is smaller, rounder, has very prominent lenticils and usually has an aborted seed. These nubbins can get decent sized and are usually super sweet. This mango was awesome with perfect acidity and also extremely sweet, probably too sweet for some people. It definitely lives up to its name!
Simon
Johnny Eat Fruit:
Thanks for four detailed explanations of droopyness on mango trees, Simon.
If my Coconut Cream mango tree produces next year I would be excited to taste this variety. In 2021 it bloomed heavily but no fruit. Five-year-old tree. Enclosed are a few photos of my Coconut Cream mano Tree with a few Seacrest Grafts which are growing more vertically.
My E-4 grafts failed this year to my older and more established mango seedling trees. Likely due to a lack of heat and a very cool and mild summer at my location.
I guess Seedless mango fruit is becoming more common here in SoCal. My Sweet Tart fruit was that way but still excellent tasting. The hype is justified on that variety. Until you tasted a Sweet Tart you have yet to experience a truly top-tier indo Chinese mango.
Johnny
Coconut Cream Mango Tree on Manila Root-stock
Coconut Cream & Seacrest
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