I have planted out seed and fruited 5 mango trees. I have 4 more that are either fruiting size and/or in bloom but have not fruited as of yet. Two of the seeds I planted were supposed to be polyembrionic. However, one did not come true to seed and the other did...or at least it is much like the fruit I tried ans then planted (That was a Carabao). I have seedlings of Mallika (fruited) and Carrie (fruited) and a exact parentage unknown seedling (fruited) that I suspect is a cross between Cushman and Thai Everbearing based on the way the fruit looks. I have three Maha Chanook seedlings that are all in flower now, but have not set fruit as of yet. The mallika seedling has some of the most intense mango flavor I have experienced....but also lots of fiber. The Carrie seedling is 2-3 times larger than Carrie in fruit size but is very stingy in production.....unlike its parent. Flavorwise, it is more or less like the Carrie parent.

As far as time from seed to fruiting has ranged from about 10 years at the earliest to 15 years and counting in one particular case. Expecting a 4 year period, based upon my experience is a sheer pipe dream.

Harry

Wow- Thanks for the information harry- that is very helpful.

That's very interesting. I wonder if soil plays a factor here. Where I live, I have several neighbors just within my division who have planted mango trees from seed and have (according to their own testimony) received fruit within five years. There's also the anomaly tree a block over from me which set fruit at only 5 feet tall and not more than 2.5 to 3 years old (I witnessed when it was planted and subsequently witnessed the fruit set - though the fruit were terrible).

I think that, in general, simply getting the tree to bearing size (eg, 10 feet tall) is what determines when a seedling mango tree will begin to flower.

Jeff

That is interesting.... I wonder if it is just like luck of the draw? (maybe certain seeds just do better than others)

I think culture has something to do with it. Here, the home owner's association fertilizes for us. So, the seedling mango trees tend to fly out of the ground. Our soil is also quite a bit different from that of Harry's. He has muck which is subject to flooding where we have a raised lots filled with limestone rock and sand. Seedling avocado trees have the same success here, fruiting within 4 to 5 years from seed.

Jeff

If you don't want to wait 5-10 years you can approach graft the seedling to a mature tree. Apparently this worked for David Sturrock in the 50s/60s. Not sure how widely tried this method is.

That's good news Jeff. I have a seedling tree going on three years and have Florida subdivision soil like you describe. How Florida swampland is made livable. Way it goes, some of the original topsoil is scraped off retained and heaped up and reused. Canals are dug out for water to drain towards the Everglades. The coral and sand debris (from canal) are heaped up onto the land to raise it above the water table. The land is graded. Houses built. Then topsoil is hauled in. Original topsoil is also spread back on. Grass that only spreads by tough roots is brought in from sod farms.

All in all very energy intensive. But houses built this way went for $40,000 in 1975....but energy was cheap back then.

Thank You all for for the great advice. Both of my seed grown trees that I started at about New Year's are both already 6 inches tall!

I've seen (rare) documents indicating one could graft a seedling tree on to a mature tree and get fruit with girdling within 2 years. This would save 8 years off the assessment period to determine if the tree is worth keeping.

I've also heard of chemical-free means of inducing precocious flowering on seedlings through girdling. This spring my pugged tree is getting a serious girdling. I will also graft onto a mature producing tree.

Man-GO-Man:

If my Manila seedling was a couple years old when I bought it from home depot, it took another 3 (I think) before I had my first 3 mango season. That was followed by (approx.) 12, 22,38, 65-fruit seasons - kind of guessing of course.

So what is that - 5 years to start producing? Of course it was planted in the ground....anyway, one more experience to throw in the mix.....

Harry - I'm sure you've lost track of all the years having so much fun in your orchard !!! (lol)

mangomange

Thanks mangomange! I hope your tree keeps producing well! My two seed-grown trees (6 inches as of now) are Kent, simply from store-bought fruit. I have another round of 4 seeds that are about ready to go into pots which have a root of about 1 1/2 inches and a stem poking out. These are also all from store-bought fruit. Does anybody have mango seeds such as Pickering, Carrie, Graham, or Glenn?
Thanks Again, MGB

M-G-B

Don't want to rain on your parade but is a KENT a polyembryonic variety? If not then the seedlings won't be true to that parent....but maybe that doesn't bother you....

6 inches.....boy, you are a patient man.....

MangoTheOldDog

I don't think Kent are polyembryonic, but I always like experimenting. I was probably going to graft them anyway but I was just wondering because if most of my grafts don't take, I will stick to seed-growing.

If your grafts don't take, then keep on trying until they do take :-). If you give up, you'll never learn :-).

Jeff

Thanks Jeff, do you think I should do T-Bud, Cleft, or Veneer graft? I have done T-Bud successfully on citrus, but I don't know about mango.

T-bud can be much more difficult to take on mango than on citrus. Side veneer works quite well and allows you to try again if it fails.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff!

Hi all, this is my mango seedling. The first pic was taken in 2000, the second pic is current. The frost in December burnt about 1ft. off the ends. It was planted between 1996-1998. It fruited for the first time 3 years ago and only a hand full, last summer I had so many I could not give them away fast enough, so I let them fall to the ground for the animals. The fruit is a nice medium size with very little fiber and very good!

nice. what variety was the parent?

I wonder if the fact that its a seedling helped it to be more vigorous and cold hardy

ever think about trying to graft some branches

hey deano - LOVE to see the older trees so healthy. And I love that multi-trunk swirl at ground zero.....Yeah, it seems to be a mystery why some mangos just don't want to hold their fruit year after year, but then you had a turn around this last year and BANG - too many to handle!

Probably don't even know why you got so many, right?

And I'll bet you're in Florida.......they just seem to have a lushness there that the California trees don't have.....nice work - you and Mama Nature....

FrostyTheMangoDog

deano6165

Great looking seedling! It looks like our Manila seedlings. Seedling in Socal are just as vigorous.

MangoDog -

Au contraire mon bon Perrito. SoCal's seedlings are just as vigorous and productive as our Floridian cousins. I refer you, again, to article published in the 1986 Journal of the California Rare Fruit Growers written by Jim Neitzel. The grafted varieties are another story but according to Alex Silber of Papaya Tree Nursery if you don't let them hold any fruits for the first three years they are just as vigorous. Here is a quote from the article:

"Crafton Cliff of RFCI in Miami visited the Edgehill property this June. He was very impressed with the grove's appearance and production, commenting that these trees looked even healthier than the trees growing in Florida and were laden with fruit hanging down to the ground."

Having done some research on seed grown apples/pears/etc...it takes a long time... Best bet is to graft older fruiting wood to a seedling tree.

I stand muted.....though the word "lush" that I used was specifically angled for the greeness and voluptuousness I feel the florida trees have over ours - perhaps because of the benefit of humidity....

so I don't know JF - I might get a good lawyer and stick to my guns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL

StickemUpMangoHound

I planted 2 polyembrionic mango seeda ( Nam Doc Mai )$ ( Florida ) both of them gave sprouted more than one tree. When and how separated them ??? Which one should I keep?? Please respond .I'll try to post some pictures

15 years ago we had a unknow seedling (not Manila) that had a 360 degree loop root above ground. It was not taller than 3 feet and started to have fruit less than 3 years from seed. The zone is Santa Ana, CA92704. I believe the cold winter cycles had induced stress and causing the tree to have fruits sooner than normal (in tropical clmate). The tree died the next year by root rot from cold wet soil.

Sapote

This is my new baby. It sprouted to life from the seed of a"Bombay" mango that grows in my neighborhood. The fruit was a lovely combination of sweet with a deep rich spicy note and full mango flavor. The Bombay has a rich heritage of being brought to Jamaica as a seed from a favorite Indian cultivar. It is the parent to many successful cultivars such as "Bailey's Marvel" and "Zill." It came up completely on it's own from the seed I discarded one cool, rainy night. I'm anxious to see how it turns out. I have another seed grown fruit from 2008. We will see what that turns out to be like. All the fun is in the anticipation!

I'm sure I'll still be spending time on the GW Forum when they eventually do fruit or maybe the future owner of the home and garden will mention the crazy exotic garden long after I'm gone.

All the best!

Vince

Not a lot of information out there on growing mangos from seed, as far as length of time to fruit. I know a lot of people say they have waited a long time 8+ years.

I have two mango trees I planted from seed 5 years ago and I am proud to say I have my first flowers on each one of trees! I will post pics shortly. I am sure that all mangos very as far as length of time to flowers but I wanted to let people know that there is a chance that they can flower relatively quickly!

Good luck ya'll! Happy growing!

I dont know if its true,but somebody claims that 80% of the fruiting Mango tree's in California backyards are grown from seed. I have a Champagne about 3' and three years from seed here in the bay area. We have about 1/4 the heat hours of Florida and maybe 50- 70% of soucal. It looks fine.