The Tropical Fruit Forum

Steps to stone graft a mango:

1.  Plant rootstock mango seed.
2.  When mango seed sprouts, mark as day 1.
3.  After day 7, select good branch on mother tree, but do not cut it.  What you want to look for is red or purple leaves at the end of the branch, where it is starting to form new leaves.  Trim all of the leaves, except for the purple/red leaves at the end, down to 6 inches.
4.  Wait 7 days.
5.  Cut the scion from the mother tree, that is the part prepared in step 3, which includes the red/purple leaves along with the 6 inch defoliated branch.  Immediately place branch in distilled water so the red/purple leaves do not dry out.  Cut each red/purple leaves in half.
6.  Prepare the rootstock by cutting off the top, leaving 3-4 inches at the base.  Make a 1 inch cut down the center of the rootstock.
7.  Trim both sides of the end of the scion (opposite side of the red/purple leaves) to make a point.  The point should be about 1 inch long.
8.  Insert point of scion into slit of rootstock.  It should fit nicely.  Bind with grafting tape. 

The grafted seedling will require lots of water and moisture.  Cover with a plastic bag and make sure it is always moist.

Make that 14 days even.

Thanks ASaffron and puglvr1!

It's possible that the tap root that was broken off contained a lot of feeder roots, and so there was not enough roots to support the canopy.

I used to have the same thought about starting plants in the largest pot to avoid repotting, but have found that that is the easiest way for the plant to develop root rot.  When the soil to root ratio is high, the soil in container will stay wet for too long since there is not enough roots to use up the water.

Planting in the earth is different because the earth acts like a giant wick and draws the excess water elsewhere. 

So I would go with repotting.  It is sometimes even appropriate to repot a size down if root pruning is implemented.

-Herman

I was at Home Depot today, and saw that they were selling 3 foot manilas.  These were grafted trees, which I thought was kind of strange since I thought that manilas were grown on their own roots.

Anyways, I was wondering if it would be okay to graft another type of mango onto these already grafted trees.

Thanks!

Herman

Aw, missed it by 30 minutes.

If you have any Maha Chanok seeds that you want to get rid of, please let me know =)

Thanks,

Herman

Thanks guys!

Here's some visuals:



This is one after repot to opaque container and better soil.



This is one in clear container in perlite.  Leaves are very dark green and shiny.



This shows the roots of the same mango in clear container.

Here's some pics:





Thanks,

Herman

1) Durian
2) Mango
3) Mangosteen
4) Lychee
5) Rambutan

Hi!

I just purchased a Mallika mango tree through mail order from Top Tropicals. It is grown in a 3 gallon container, and is around 4 to 5 feet tall. It only has a main trunk, and I would like it to be more spread out, like a bush, so I am thinking about pruning it. I would like to prune it down 2-3 feet, around 50%, so the main trunk would be 2.5-3 feet tall. The trunk girth where I would like to prune it is about half an inch thick. Is it too late to prune it that much? If it is not too late, at what time is the best to do it? Early spring?
 
Thanks in advance for your help!

Herman