Qustion about mango flowers and pollination.

13 years ago

Okay I decided I needed to do some investigating on wether the flowers have to be pollinated or not to produce fruits. North Tree Man I believe made a comment about pollination. I didn't want to comment on it because I wasn't sure myself. I always thought that mango flowers don't require pollination.

I don't remeber the names of the 2 websites I just checked but according to what I read(and what I remembered.) it said that mango trees contain both perfect and asexual flowers. The asexual flowers lack the large ovary that develops into the actual mango fruit. They just sry up and fall off. I also read that the females contain one fertile structure and the ovary.

So, if this is right, would I have to hand pollinate my flowers or will hand pollinating just increase my chances of fruit development?

I also assume that younger trees will produce less perfect flowers?

Thanks for the input. I wont ever say that I know a ton about this stuff. I did take a semester of Botany when I was in college over 12 years ago!

Andrew

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Comments (6)

squam256
13 years ago
Andrew, the studies I've seen have indicated hand pollination is a waste of time with mangoes.

And yes, mangoes are self-pollinating.
murahilin
13 years ago
Hand pollination of mango flowers is only worthwhile if you are doing mango breeding.
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puglvr1
13 years ago
Speaking of mango breeding and hand pollination...I found this article while surfing the net.

Here is a link that might be useful: Making miniature mango trees...
Andrew Scott
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks guys. I just wanted to be sure. That's a big relief considering I have cherimoyas and that's 2 trees that I have to hand pollinate. I would like to keep it that way!
Andrew
mangodog
13 years ago
Pugsy - interesting article...

Andrew 78 - I've also heard that pollinating is a waste of time...but....I've decided to shake my tree a bit to see if I can help the process along that way.....I don't think that would hurt and may be completely unimportant in the long run, but my shy-bearing whatever-its-called (forgot the name) might need the help.....

mangoDoggy
north_tree_man
13 years ago
Yes, I did try to pollinate the Mallika, and I intentionally ignored the Pickering and Nam Doc Mai. Surprisingly, the Mallika dropped every damn fruitlet that pollinated, and the Pickering and NDM both, magically, pollinated themselves without any help from me/insects/wind/etc. The Pickering finally dropped its two remaining fruits, but they were about the size of quarters.
Now as it turns out, pollinating mangoes is an enormous pain. I couldn't see any pollen anywhere when I was using the brush except under direct, bright sunlight. That's what I discovered when I tried it. I know Lycheeluva actually bought flies and released them around his trees during flowering, about a year ago...you might want to ask what results he had with that.

Qustion about mango flowers and pollination.

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squam256

murahilin

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Qustion about mango flowers and pollination.

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squam256

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