Phoenix Tropicals Gardening

[mangomanic12]

Hi all i live in Tolleson and wanted to share some experience trying to grow these beautiful plants over the years with much failure.

#1 Last year i had a couple of seedlings growing on the east side of my house for 2years. I introduced fresh coffee grounds and dug some in the soil and placed some on top in spring - they died at the end of summer.

Observation- i think the coffee grounds contributed to them dying / burned roots etc. The no. 1 thing i think that kills our tropicals but very slowly 1-3 years is our hard/ sodium/ salty water.

I heard from a friend that i can buy a filter that attaches to your hose to reduce salts etc; will check this out further and update you all. Not all plants are intolerant of the salts for ex a seedling guava i got from doug 2-3 years ago is growing gang busters - should get fruit this summer for first time.

#2 Don't be lazy and dig a 1- 2ft hole in our hard soil and plant a mango and expect it to live . Dig a hole at least 4ftx 4ft deep to give yourself a chance.

#3 Backfill the hole with about 25% of our native soil and the rest should be a great soil blend of sand / compost/ humus/ etc.

#4 Shade your tree the first 2- 3 summers especially in the summer
soon as we get above 100

#5 Fertilize lightly with osmocote slow release every month

#6 Foliar feed every month with fish emulsion or maybe a organic mixture of zinc/ magnesium

Prepare holes now and prepare / have a plan for putting up your shade and frost structure

# 7 somehow get rid of the sodium in your water i truly believe over time it kills the mangoes

Thanks, mike !

[mariolo]

Do u have any pics

[mangomanic12]

Mariolo, here you go 4- 5 ft hole for my newly purchased Harvest Moon mango . Now i need to backfill it with the good stuff and maybe about 25 % clay

[mariolo]

Wow thats pretty awsome. Keep us updated with your mango. How big is it ?

[MKIVRYAN]

Thats a lot of digging!

[mangomanic12]

@ Mariolo - i will keep u updated right now its in a 7 gal 3- 4ft tall
@MKIVRYAN - Sure was a lot of work this was done last year though , i am currently working on 2 more like this in my backyard.
I must plant 3 mangoes back there in Feb 2013.

I want the new Sweet tart, Maha chinook and maybe an Po Pyu Kalay or a Lemon zest / Pineapple pleasure?????????????

Lol can't decide yet. Hope to have a lineup of

(1) Harvest Moon cross of a Gary mango and a Kent supposedly
(2) Maha Chinook - Thai mango - supposedly one of the best
(3) Sweet Tart - cross of A Zill indochinese and a ?
btw i tasted a zill indo chinese and it blew me away flavor is so sweet and complex i can't describe
(4) Po Pyu kalay tasted these small green mangoes (very sweet) also called Lemon Merengue / also thinking of the Lemon Zest which is a seedling of this/ also thinking of pineapple pleasure???

At Least 3 of these should be lanted by mid- late feb - that's my goal- wish me luck!!!

Lots of hard work ahead

[Datropicalman]

If you have not filled back in yet I would break up the bottom with a pick while you have access to bottom. Loosening the soil will provide better drainage

[Kyle_Davis]

Mike,

So how have your mango's been doing after digging those big holes?