What's wrong with my mango?

darkcoolboo · Joined: 17 Nov 2014 Posts: 129

Ever since July, it's lost all its main truck leaves and has has grown very little. For some reason, it keeps growing downward; how to fix this?
In the spring, should I whitewash, 5-1-1 fish every week and foliar feed?

myamberdog · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2014 12:17 pm Post subject:

dcb - curling leaves often tell me that it is a watering problem - either too much but more likely too little - how often do you water?

mdog

darkcoolboo · Joined: 17 Nov 2014 Posts: 129

I water once a week

myamberdog · Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 10:22 am Post subject:

Once a week...and it's in a pot? Seems like not enough to me. And is it a plastic or pottery-type pot? Yeah, my first advice would be to water at least twice a week, and in the summer EVERY DAY for sure in our hot sunny climates....

I mean they are drought tolerant which is why this one probably survived, but they will grow much faster with lots of water, green up better, and the ones in pots have little access to water outside of what's in that small space.

Also, I like to do fertilization every couple weeks, but much weaker doses than is recommended. Mangoes can definitely burn from it where other plants may not. And this time of year, I would just stick to potassium cuz that will help with the flowers and fruit set come next year if that is your goal. As you may know, mangoes don't really grow much starting now to about march 1st (in my exp. anyway)

Oh, and I forgot to ask how large a pot you are using? And what soil mix?
Any chance you could pull the shot back so both the pot and the tree are all seen in one pic?

Mdoggie

darkcoolboo · Joined: 17 Nov 2014 Posts: 129

It's in a 15 gal pot, but I'm not sure the soil mix. How often can I do a fish fertlizer dose?

myamberdog · Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2014 9:16 am Post subject:

You can do the fish fertilizer every couple weeks in the summer
but WEAK DOSES and then taper it off till maybe about now when
there is no real growth showing...then pick up again in say, APril....

but you know, I'd like to hear what PT has to say on these matters.
These are just my opinions. Many people in Florida and California
use a lot of Potassium to help with flowers and fruit set, so there are
many tracks of thought on fertilization. It's often a discovery of what
works for you (and what doesn't work so well, too)

But all in all, I would GUESS that the main issue with your plant now
is not receiving enough water....

MDog

darkcoolboo · Joined: 17 Nov 2014 Posts: 129

5% Perlite, 15% Fine Canadian Peat Moss or similar, 50% Aged Pine Bark as and 20% Coconut Coir.

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 12:30 pm Post subject:

You do seem to have some salt burn so I wouldn't give it any more fertilizer for now. Watering, once a week seems fine to me this time of year because its fairly cool out, but it depends on what your soil is like too. If you have something very porous, kind of sounds like that, then maybe you do need to water more often.

I think there is only so long you can grow a mango in a pot. They aspire to be fairly large trees. I think you should put it in the ground. If we have a big freeze coming then cover it with some heavy blankets, and include the ground in your little tent as the floor. Protecting your plants from freezes is a hassle but isn't too bad if you have only one tree. I have like 20 of them, so it's such a pain for me. It also depends on were you live. Some places in town are much colder than others. For example, if you live in Queen Creek or Laveen then growing a mango in the ground is more or less impossible. On the other hand there are pockets in Tempe, Mesa, and Phoenix that rarely freeze.

I like your advice on potassium MyAmberdog. I had a lot of little fruit drop last spring (100's of them) so this spring I'll try to use some regular fish 0-10-10. I'm hoping for a mild winter. So far so good. It seems as long as the jet stream stays east and hammers the east coast it is smooth sailing for us tropical fruit growers here.