Experimenting with the soil for my mangoes .... thoughts?

mangomanic12 · Joined: 16 May 2012 Posts: 16 Location: tolleson

I have a few holes to amend and backfill. I read that mangoes grow very well in sandy soil.

I'm going to backfill 1 hole with 40% sand/ 40% compost% and 20% clay and peat/ perlite on a raised bed

Any thoughts on this idea. advantages/ disadvantages.

Not really satisfied with my current mix of 50% clay and compost with a little bit of other amendments. Soil still feels too heavy / non airy !

Thoughts?

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:19 pm Post subject:

I just go with straight native soil for the backfill (the same stuff I just dug out of the hole) and mulch on the surface these days, and it seems to work really well. If you put anything in the backfill probably some sand would be the best thing.

tropicaltree · Joined: 25 Mar 2011 Posts: 9

what kind of sand you use? Where did you get?

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 11:12 pm Post subject:

Home Depot. I bought a bunch for my kids sandbox once and used the leftovers to amend some soil. Don't buy the expensive play sand in the small bags there is a slightly courser variety that they offer in bulk.

myamberdog · Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2013 11:42 pm Post subject:

by the way - I agree with PT - use mainly native soil in the tree
planting area,and heavily mulch the surface - so far that's the best
formula I've seen for growing this stuff in the desert....

myamberwoofie