Would mango trees benefit from acid fertilizers?

[djseaquist]

I often see Citrus & Avocado fertilizers recommend for mango trees too. As many of you already know, mangoes prefer their soil on the acidic side. However, some of us live in areas where the city water and soil have a high pH (alkaline). I'm just wondering if mangoes would benefit from the same acidic fertilizers they typically recommend for blueberries.

Advice?

[spaugh]

If you read the ingredients on the blueberry stuff, it probably has lots of sulfer for the ph down.  Thats all you really need to adjust the ph downward.  You can use the avocado citrus food and also add sulfer.  The sulfer by itself will be cheaper than buying blueberry stuff. 

[K-Rimes]

Is your plant showing symptoms of chlorosis / ph issues? If not, I wouldn't worry about it much.

[RodneyS]

Yup. Add more acid

[Mike T]

Most tropical soils are acidic and most fertllisers acidify the soils.

[sbtropic]

If your water high in bicarbonates and your soil is high in Magnesium relative to Calcium, this would be the cause of higher PH.

You can do the following in addition to adding a small amount of sulfur which may help in the long run:

1) Add a small amount of gypsum per year ( less than 500 1bs/acre) In the long run this will help to rebalance the soil and offset some of the water problem.

2) You can acidify the city water with an acid. This may not be practical for you.

3) Increase organic matter and make sure the tree gets an adequate amount of water. ( These steps help the tree to better handle a higher PH.)

4) A foliar spray with Manganese and Iron may help.

[Mike T]

The higher magnesium may inhibit calcium uptake also and yes mulch always buffers in spite of humic/carbonic acid production. I am not sold on foliar micros solving deficiency issues but some swear by it I know. Ammonia, urea and sulphur can help acidify yes.

[palmcity]

I have to look this up often so this is for my memory lol....

Google:Ammonia has one nitrogen atom and three hydrogen atoms (NH3), and ammonium has one nitrogen atom and four hydrogen atoms (NH4). This small difference in hydrogen makes a big difference in the compounds. While ammonia has a pungent smell and can be harmful to aquatic organisms, ammonium is both odorless and harmless.:: "

A Good Read:
https://extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/documents/ec1560.pdf
Go to page 4

UREA:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/urea-fertilizer#:~:text=In%20the%20soil%2C%20urea%20changes,a%20period%20of%20warm%20weather.

https://eupdate.agronomy.ksu.edu/article_new/understanding-the-chemical-reactions-of-urea-in-the-soil-484

https://extension.umn.edu/nitrogen/fertilizer-urea

[junglerv]

I use Tiger sulphur 90. but please make sure you check your water pH. I  thought it was 8.5, turned out it was 7.5. with addition of sulphur my soil pH went really low which is also not good for Mangoes.