Bumping, I wanted this seen before the page drops down too fast.

I started one about 20 yrs back and I still have it. It has a 3inch trunk now. I keep it pruned to about 5 ft height. It had flowered once and never fruited though. But then it spends the whole winter inside in less than desirable condition.

Tropic please post a pic of your mango tree!!! Since seeing this post I'll be starting one soon lol. I recently popped some lemon seeds in soil so hopefully they'll sprout!!!!

Nice!!!

This plant is easy to take care of. No bug problems I can think of. The only place I have for it in the winter is a north facing patio door and hardly gets much light. It sulks and drops leaves slowly over the winter. I prune/chop to let more light in. Now it is growing again. New buds are popping everywhere.

Wow, TOC, impressive! 20 yrs. old, holy smokes!

Your leaves look so happy & healthy. Interesting to see how the leaves grow in separate clusters, sort of Schefflera-like habit.

I hope mine continues, this one's been different that others I've tried. Longer lived & so far, didn't have gnats, which several priors had.

Jamila,

Citrus seeds are easy, I grow grapefruit & tangerine pits (oddly in the base of an Aralia plant).

Mango seeds are different, they're inside a pit from which they need to be removed, uninjured. Not always the easiest to do. I recently took pix of this very process, take a look.

Pit left to dry several days after eating.

(pardon the reminder note there, on my hand)

Carefully pry open the pit at its side, sort of a side seam. Fingernails are good, a blade CAN work but can also injure the seed.

Keep on going, the seed is inside here, gotta get it out intact, not so easy.

Almost there. This one had already sprouted while still inside the pit.

Here's both the seed & the pit it came from.

Finally, there's the seed to plant. Pretty cool.

Karen pretty cool set of pictures of the mango seed and great for increasing the chance of success. I normally just stick various tropical seeds around the yard without any pre-processing. If squirrels do not get them I usually end up with pretty big plants by fall. My favourites are avocado, mango and papaya. Most I leave them to die. Some I will dig out for friends. This mango was started the same way.

I also think (not 100% sure) without pre-processing the plants that do manage to defeat the seed coat tend to be more robust. Survival of the fittest !!!

As kids we used to make whistles with partially germinated mango seeds similar to your picture. We did not have much money to buy toys and had to do with whatever nature provided - and there was plenty of that.

Instead of completely separating the seed coat we would pry out the inner seed instead. We would do this when the seed coat had slightly cracked open. This makes a funny sounding whistle and each was different sounding. Some did not work well. But we had infinite supply. Such fun memories from back home in India.

I've tried planting a ton of them, and none have sprouted. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I do take them out of the pod, and plant them in promix.

Thanks

One possibility is that the seeds are sterile. Sometimes they do take a while like a month or more to sprout. Also it needs to be pretty warm - 60+F for night time temperatures.

Wow, that makes a pretty attractive tree, so I think I will go ahead and buy some mangoes to try doing this too. :)

Very, very easy from seed. You can remove the outer seed husk as shown above (I use pruning shears), but it will also sprout without removal. Seeds cannot dry out though, so plant immediately after removal in well-draining soil and keep warm. The Glenn variety of Mango (common supermarket one) is the one I currently grow. They are not dwarf but do do fairly well in containers and are actually easier than avocados inside.

I've never removed the seed from the outer husk. Doing so increases the risk of damage and also invites all sorts of fungus which can kill it. The only advantage in removing the husk, if you do get germination, is being able to see the sprout from an early stage in its development.

I also do not see the necessity to remove the outer seed coat. Last Jan I started several limes, lemons, kumquats and some moro orange seeds with and without the outer shell. Because many recommend removing it. I did not see much difference in germination rates. The ones without germinate a few days earlier and also suffered damp off more than with the seed coat intact.

I have a recently sprouted mango seedling, nice looking plant with dark burgundy leaves.

Tropic, that is very impressive you have kept one alive in PA for 20 years. What kind of soil is it in?

James: It is in standard 511 mix but it is long overdue for a full repot. I am trying hard not to go up in pot size too much. I would prefer a slightly wider but a slightly shallower pot but cannot find a suitable one.