I bought an organic mango at the store about 3 months ago. It was originally for my kid but I got hungry. It was super sweet so I decided to germinate it. I generally pry off the husk and put it in a plastic baggie with some soil. This time I just stuck in a a baggie with no soil and a little water and forgot about it for about 10 weeks.

Anyway a couple weeks ago I was moving some stuff around and encountered the forgotten baggie, full of roots and a dried up s-curved shoot that had apparently tried to escape the bag. I opened it, gave it a big more water and now it is taking off. What a survivor. It has a pretty severe curve in the sprout but seems to be doing well... Future world-famous San Bruno mango?

Why not ? San Bruno has no frost.its 10b..as frost free as the bay area gets. Just plant that Mango fronting a wall or fence,and wait 3-4 years...5 tops!
And if you want to cheat and build some plastic cover to boost heat? All's fair in love and Mango growing.

I've never been able to see the sense in taking the husk off mango seeds. The removal risks damaging the internal seed and exposes it to fungus and other pathogens. In natural situations the seeds germinate without any of that kind of intervention.

Removing the husk is just another form of scarification..speeds up the sprouting.
Once you do it a few times,no worry's of damaging the embryo. Actually,by removing the husk? You can see right away if the embryo is healthy. Why wait weeks for a seed that was already rotting?

Stanofh has good point about inspecting the embryo. So here is my reasons for removing the husk:
1) no husk means less chance for fungus to grow on the fatty yummy husk
2) faster germination due to sun light and moist direct control
3) straight shoot instead of the potential looped shoot inside the husk

To open the hush, I don't need to wait for it dry; use scissors and cut off along the edge (the side where the root will come out) and pry open easily with finger nails.

To germinate: I wash the embryo, place in a clear plastic container with lid (i.e. small cream cheese box), and only add 3 or 4 drops of water, enough to keep it moist but not to much for fungus -- keep the water puddle far away from the embryo. Close the lid tight and place in the oven with a small gas pilot light for about 85F. If your pilot light is too large and just crack open the oven to control the temperature. This is perfect temperature and humidity for this baby. Check every couple days and change the little water and wash clean the container if water turned brown. Guarantee to succeed 99%.

Sapote

I've germinated hundreds of them and never removed a husk yet. In fact the only time I've ever heard of husks being removed was on this web site. Mangos are one of the major industries here, so thousands of seeds are sprouted for grafting. No one dehusks them.

For those of us not living in in the tropics,germinating from store bought fruits? Husking saves much time and effort since you don't know what that fruit went through to get to you...boiled,chilled, old,not ripe enough,UV..and many a husked Mango seed revealed a black,rotting embryo. And that's tossed!
I did notice this time..the embryo that was light green when shucked?..turned a rich leaf green planted shallow..the root pushed it up slightly for me to see.
I'm telling you..add heat mat,and it germinated FAR faster then I ever got before.

I agree, for me the two biggest reasons to husk (de-husk?) the mango are to check the viability and save myself the effort of scrubbing off any uneaten fruit.

I've seen too many moldy embryos to waste my time with not knowing. I just pry apart the spot the root pushes through with a knife, get my fingertips in there, and pop it apart.

The one or two times I've left the husk on, no matter how much I clean it off, always seems to attract fruit flies.

Several years ago I went to west Africa. Mangos the size of cantaloupes growing in huge clusters in every yard. People would just toss their half-eaten uncleaned mangoes pits on the ground and a month later there'd be a 2ft sapling. Craziness.

Just seems like dehusking a coconut to get it to sprout, except a lot easier, LOL.

For coconut I never have seen anyone dehush it for sprout. We always left the whole dried nut in its shell at a cool place and a month or so it sprouted. I couldn't think the benefit of dehush the coconut though.

Sapote

I've seen it discussed on internet sites as well. That and the benefit of getting store bought ones because they're already dehusked. I guess it'd be the same reasoning as for the mangos, you don't know about what's happened to the store bought ones and without the husk you see quicker if it's germinating.

I throw my mango waste in a dirt pile that I will plant veggies in next season, often in a rush I drop seeds into the waste pile and bury it all lightly.

They generally sprout in a week or so without any help, but in cooler climes I guess I could understand getting a jump on germination.