Need some help, or just a swift kick in the butt telling me to not even bother.
One of my holy grails is to grow a healthy, fruiting mango tree in Las Vegas. I'm probably crazy for trying, but I know that it can be done as there's another person here growing them that has gotten fruit after a few years. That and I figure if I can keep avocado trees alive here for five years, I should be able to keep a mango alive as well.
Unfortunately, with me, they always follow a pattern no matter how big or small they are. Does great their first year. Winter comes, no damage taken with protection (temps get between 30-50F) and very minimal watering. Early spring comes, nearly all the leaves get dry and crunchy. Tree is unable to recover, and dies a few weeks later.
When that happens, I've tried watering a little, watering a lot, watering at the center of the root ball, watering at the area surrounding the root ball...no luck. Also tried not fertilizing, moderate fertilizing, supplementing with soil sulfur mildly and watering with reverse osmosis water to keep pH low, no luck there either.
Trees are planted in RootTrapper II 30gal pots with very free draining soil consisting of palm/citrus mix, sand, and lava rock. No risk of anthracnose or other similar pathogens that I'm aware of being that Vegas has very dry air.
Is there something I'm missing, or am I just a glutton for punishment?