Well let's start off with the Bad. About three weeks ago, we had some of the coldest temperatures in my backyard that I have ever seen. For the better part of a week and a half we were in the 30s every night with the lowest night in the mid 20s
. I lost a lot of new trees in my backyard including Coconut Cream, Placid, Ugly Betty and Orange Essence Mango's and four or five of my Manila Mango seedlings. All of my Banana's burned back to the ground after growing none stop through the winter and all of my young papayas dropped all of their leaves. At least whatever survived a huge cold spell like that will be stronger for it in the long run.
The Good: last weekend was my B-Day and I'm blessed with an incredible wife that I have been with for 13 years now. She will listen to me talk about whatever new Gary Zill Mango is coming out, grafting, rootstocks, different cultivars of whatever, and countless soil nuances. One of my favorite things to do with my wife and two kids is take them to different nurseries and arboretums from LA to San Diego. My wife knows how bummed I was with all of my mango losses and told me that my gift this year was going to be the large Manila mango that I found at Atkins Nursery in Fallbrook several months ago. If you have not read Simon's thread on Southern California mango growing, he talks about the importance of the Manila mango rootstock to have a longterm healthy tree in our area. The Manila mango rootstock is easy to find in our area at Home Depot or Lowe's, but most are barely a small twig with a few leaves on it. To find Manila rootstock in such a large size for sale is a rarity. Once my family got to Atkins Nursery, we were told they had two boxed Manila mango seedlings about 7-10 years old. I started looking at the two trees to decide which one would be the preferred one to buy. I quickly noticed one had a superior shape to the canopy, but had very severe trunk rot issues. The other Manila had a healthy trunk, but much less desirable canopy. After trying to decide between the two, my incredible wife said, "Why don't we get both?" She negotiated a price and we got a smoking deal on both trees. We came home with two 24" boxed Manilas and a few papayas.
The Ugly: As I mentioned, one of the Manilas has a trunk rot issue. I'll post photos to better show what it looks like. It seems like there was too much mulch against the trunk, which caused the rotting. Other than this issue, the tree looks very healthy. Has anyone dealt with this issue before and successfully healed the tree? Also, should I wait to graft onto this tree until it is healed? Any tips or suggestions are much appreciated.
(I had trouble uploading photos, so you can view them here:
https://imgur.com/a/8oy9i)
Show Posts
. Is this really the price that these plants are being sold for? Anyways I passed on purchasing one in hopes I can find a better deal some where else. 