Soil Temperatures for Mangos

[toadshade]

New to the forum.  Something I have not seen is a discussion of root temperatures for mango trees.  I will be planting a mango among other fruit trees/vines in a greenhouse I specifically built for tropical plants.  The greenhouse is heated for our winter temperatures in Atlanta Georgia USA so maintaining a temperature above 40-50 degrees F will not be an issue.  But our ground temperatures are between 40-50 degrees F all year.  I heat my greenhouse with a hydronic heater (that uses hot water).  I can send a loop down under ground with a thermostat and heat the ground too but of course this will take some work I would rather not do it if it is unnecessary.  Not the end of the world either though.  I wanted to make sure and get this discussed as the first thing I do since I want to get my mango in the ground soon (I just bought a Carrie tree).  My next research will be soil and size of the hole I am going to dig out.  I would appreciate any input on soil temperatures.

[Jaboticaba45]

I have 4 mangoes in ground in my greenhouse and they seem to do fine. Lowest it gets in the greenhouse during winter is about 40-45. I think the ground under the greenhouse stays pretty warm due to the heat from the sun being absorbed into the ground during the day. I don't think you need to stress about soil temps as long as the above ground temps are high enough. As for planting the mangoes, I just planted them like any other tree in native soil.

[mangoba]

Do you know how cold your soil gets during winter if you don't do the setup you explained?

[toadshade]

Soil temps here in Atlanta are around 50 degrees or so all year.  I think about a foot down is pretty consistent. 

Jaboticaba45 that is fantastic!  So far you are the only person I have found growing mangos in a greenhouse in the southeast north of Florida..  I really would like to ask you a few questions.  Your soil in Tennessee around that area is darker from shale formations than our red clay I assume?.  I am trying to get a lot of better soil in my greenhouse so it is not this water loving clay.  It is one of my biggest concerns for planting anything here in the ground.  I need to get the water to drain much better.  So the trees survive just fine in the 40-45 degree range in the winter?  That would be great news.  I can heat my greenhouse as much as I need but of course the lower the better.  How old are your trees.  Or rather how long have you had them in the ground?

[bsbullie]

Soil temps here in Atlanta are around 50 degrees or so all year.  I think about a foot down is pretty consistent. 

Jaboticaba45 that is fantastic!  So far you are the only person I have found growing mangos in a greenhouse in the southeast north of Florida..  I really would like to ask you a few questions.  Your soil in Tennessee around that area is darker from shale formations than our red clay I assume?.  I am trying to get a lot of better soil in my greenhouse so it is not this water loving clay.  It is one of my biggest concerns for planting anything here in the ground.  I need to get the water to drain much better.  So the trees survive just fine in the 40-45 degree range in the winter?  That would be great news.  I can heat my greenhouse as much as I need but of course the lower the better.  How old are your trees.  Or rather how long have you had them in the ground?

Are you sure about that soil temp 'all year"?  Does not sound right.  I lived outside of Philly and soil temp was above 50 for a number of months.

[toadshade]

You could very well be right.  I went into my greenhouse and dug down about 20 inches and it was 73 degrees.  That 50 degree number has been in my head for decades and I have not questioned it.  I need to check but it must be higher.

[Jaboticaba45]

Toadshade,
My soil is also heavy clay with lots of rocks. Nonetheless, this doesn't seem to hurt the trees for now. My oldest mangoes are around 5 years old and have fruited. They have been in ground 1 year and are doing great. If you are worried about clay not draining, you could try rootmaker pots. Forum member Mark in Texas has a detailed thread about this. https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=7511.0
I plan on trying these out. With the lowest gh temps of 40-45 in the winter, you can grow basically anything. Other than mango, I have white sapote, guava, lychee, jakfruit, and abiu all inground.

[brian]

I have an in-ground mango in a heated greenhouse and I'm further north than you, you'll be fine.  I forget exactly what my soil temps are in winter but I think around 50F inside the greenhouse dirt.

[toadshade]

This is why I love forums.  I am fascinated by the rootmaker pots now.  I will have to spend some time going through the 14 pages of the link started by Mark in Texas.  Brian, Jaboticaba45, Do you have full sun?  One of my biggest concerns at least for fruiting is my sun level.  Our property is wooded but the greenhouse is on the South, West facing side of my house.  I don't get as much sun as I would like, but it gets beaming in there through the day.  I was hoping it would be enough to set fruit. My thought was it might take a bigger tree before getting fruit and it might be a lighter crop.  I have three citrus trees and that is basically what happens.  They set fruit but it is not nearly as much as they would in more light.  I was hoping the best case scenario for my mango might be just like the citrus trees.  My passion fruit is on its second year since starting from seed (no idea what variety it is.  I just started the seeds from a fruit I got at a farmers market).  The vine is healthy and is starting to climb all over the greenhouse, but it hasn't flowered yet.  I am assuming it could be a lack of sufficient sun.

[toadshade]

And just in case anyone here knows who can help, will I have to go through the security questions to post forever or is it because I am new?  I had to try the scrambled letter Captcha thing three times to enter my last post.

[Jaboticaba45]

During the summer, I have mostly full sun. I have a 40 percent shade cloth on top combined with vents on either end to keep the gh temps below 100. During the winter, the shade cloth comes off to help the gh stay warm. Not much sun during the winter and around 2-3 o clock the gh is in full shade.


I believe the security questions are for newbies so there are no bot posts. Should go away after enough posts.

[brian]

the google captchas are awful.  Not sure what type this forum uses.

My mango tree gets full sun, but because of the greenhouse glazing and the northern latitude it is less than an outdoors tree in, say, Miami.

[toadshade]

Sounds like I will have to see what happens.  But at least my roof is open.  I have a roof opening mechanism that allows all the sun and rain to come in and close during colder temps.  Didn't even think about the glazing effect but it makes complete sense.  I have had greenhouses since I was in college but only just now at almost 50 am I getting into the science.  Do you consider the mango an easy tree?  And even though I did not really mean for this topic to turn into an all mango question discussion, would you be willing to say what mango varieties you have and why you chose them?  I chose the Carrie simply because it was a smaller tree (but I don't think it is a true dwarf).  Also the flavor is supposed to be good and seemed like a good greenhouse grower.  It is supposed to get to 10 feet.  My greenhouse is a 16 foot cube so I am hoping it gets to a mature height comfortably.  I only want to trim it at all if I have to.

[brian]

I only have one mango, a Mallika, simply because that was the only type I found for sale nearby.  It has been fairly easy to grow, and has been very healthy.  So far I haven't gotten any fruit to mature yet so who knows.  The first year it flowered not many fruit set.  This year a ton of fruit set but steadily dropped off over time.  The largest fruit was about 4in long when it fell.  Hopefully next year some will hold. 

I don't prune my tree much.  It is just reaching 7ft tall right now so I will start pruning it next year. 

[toadshade]

My citrus trees do the same thing.  I can usually expect about ten percent mature fruit versus number of flowers.  At least the greenhouse smells amazing in the late winter with citrus blooms.

[Jaboticaba45]

I also got a mallika and it is my oldest tree. Not a huge fan of it as it is a slow grower, and is not the best fruit setter. But the tree is healthy so I guess I shouldn't complain. I think there are much better choices for growing mangoes imo. The fruit taste just like a lemon zest mango (citrus component) except with a hint of pineapple and carrot. Also if not picked at the perfect time, I heard it tastes a lot like a carrot. This year it didn't set fruit...not a lot of female flowers and all the rest dropped off.

[toadshade]

That is a concern of my Carrie.  Supposedly it is hard to tell when it gets ripe.  It stays green with just a hint of yellow.  I have looked for a few places that would sell the fruit so I could have a box delivered, but, considering the cost of a shipped box of mangos, I am possibly lucky I haven't found any yet.  I have in my head a combo rootmaker pot that is very shallow and wide.  After hearing about the success you are both having growing in the ground, I think I am just going to make basically a raised bed using the rootmaker to raise the tree about 8-10 inches off the ground.  Probably a 4 foot diameter hole/pot combo.  I really appreciate all the input.