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mullenium

Growing mangos in portland?

mullenium
12 years ago

wife and I are considering relocating from PHX to Portland. I was contemplating if my potted mangos and other tropicals would even survive there with the constant rain and overcast?

the other tropicals I have and would want to bring with me are suebelle sapote, jaboticaba, dragon fruit, acerola, surinam cherry, and bananas.

would I need some sort of indoor grow room to accomplish growing these in the PNW? I think its zone 8. or would moving them inside and outside to battle cold temps suffice?

also my 2 mango trees in ground I dont want to leave if we do move.. will digging them up put them into fatal shock? or just a temporary shock? theyve been in the ground for 2-3 years

Comments (12)

  • mangodog
    12 years ago

    mmmmm......tough choices Mulls.....well, have you tried googlihg "growing mangos in Portland"?

    I mean if they are in pots you have nothing to lose in moving them assuming you are taking lots of other stuff with you in a big truck or what have you and have the room - and I think keeping them wintered inside and bringing them out in Spring to Fall might just work.....diggin up the ones in the ground and moving them -very tough - I did that once when I moved from LA to Palm Springs and lost what would now have been a 10 year old Manila......sadness....

    ...the other thing is you could come west on Route 10 and drop whatever you don't want at my house on the way to the big bad WET....LOL......

    ...lets see what some others have to say.....How soon this supposed to happen?

    MangoDude

  • mangodog
    12 years ago

    mulls, here's a forum thread I didn't read but applies to your situation I believe:

    http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropical/msg011553341609.html?12

    mangomaddog

  • mullenium
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    we dont know when.. its hard since my wife is pregnant and due november so we might wait til the baby is born.. plus we own a house here in PHX that we are slightly updside down on so it might be hard to dump it and move but not impossible.

    we just think raising kids will be better in the PNW as the air is not as polluted, more wildlife, fresh water, less heat.

    seems every morning on the radio lately there's a high pollution ozone advisory..its not something we want our kids growing up in.. and my 2 year old is starting to get lots of bloody noses due to the dry air or dust in the air i think?

  • newgen
    12 years ago

    What about moving to somewhere in Arizona that's more temperate? Maybe Sedonia?

  • stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
    12 years ago

    Suebelle can handle the summers in Portland..its summers are as warm as the fog belts of the bay area? Mango will be tough,they need REAL warm in summer,the longer the summer you can create with hot spots or plastic covering before bringing indoors is your best chance.
    If your truly dedicated and want sure success..use a 400-1,000 watt metal halide light in winter indoors. Using them, you can bring your Plumeria's too!

  • murahilin
    12 years ago

    Try growing these instead:

    http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/cropmap/oregon/crop/treefruit.html

    Here is a link that might be useful: Oregon Tree Fruits

  • nullzero
    12 years ago

    Mull,

    Oregon is a beautiful state, great place to live. To pull off mangoes, and other tropicals you are going to need a greenhouse. If you are on a budget, you can build one from easy to find parts for a decent price.

    You can get away without a heated greenhouse. Using methods like pools of water, and composting inside the greenhouse. If you are adventurous, you can even build a greenhouse into the ground, and use the ground to keep temps warm in the winter. I had some resources for DIY greenhouses, however my main computer with the links is down atm.

    If you do some googling you can find all you need.

  • samuelforest
    12 years ago

    Plant your mangoes in a big pot.If it gets below freezing get them inside, then outside when its get more hot.I'm doing that with my 4 months old mango that is a foot tall and he's doing really good .Yours will do better than me because you are in zone 8a, but be careful to do not cut the major roots when you'll dig them from the ground because they could die.

  • jk840
    12 years ago

    I have been trying to grow a potted mango indoors here in Portland but its only been a couple of months, so no learnings yet.. I would really like to get by in the winter without any additional lighting.
    It was a struggle with the citrus and murraya koeginii last year but that was mostly because of overpotting and non-optimal growing medium issues.

  • Don St.Clair
    2 years ago

    I am in Eugene, Oregon, and interested in growing mango trees for their super medicinal leaves (they are beneficially anti inflammatory to our poor overtaxed lungs, google mango leaf extract lungs Buhner)

  • socalnolympia
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Mangoes are not going to be able to grow outside in Portland. There is the "banana belt" in coastal Oregon that is only zone 9, but that area has too much coastal fog and the temperatures do not rise high enough throughout the year for mangoes to really grow or ripen.

    I prefer the spelling "mangoes" for the plural, but either spelling is not wrong.

  • stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
    2 years ago

    Not even Gomara or whats that other used for rootstalk? None can grown in a winter in Portland. On the other hand those 100w LED plant lights and some enclosure you could grow fruiting plants indoors. Try the condo types. Too bad you don't see many people take advantage of those ultra bright lights that run on much less wattage then the old halide lights. Coffee would be easy and cool too.