Mangodude,
Oh man, I wish I could be there to see that. Last winter I overwintered my 6 foot tall gardenia tree in my living room. I was really worried because I knew it was not going to get anywhere near the amount of light it required to stay alive and even more to bloom. I made the best decision I thought I could make by pruning it back about 6 inches all the way around the tree. The Gardenia actually seemed like it was happy for being vut. It started blooming and doing really well under very low light conditions, until I noticed the leaves curling up and falling of. I could not for the life of me figure out what I had done wrong. I was giving it fertilizer like I had done before, I was not feeding and watering as much but I thoughtit was good enough. On close inspection I noticed webs all over the canopy of the tree. I noticed the leaves curling up and dropping. I had a nasty case of spidermites! I hope this is not your problem especially with it being outdoors. I figured out that the pruners I used must have had a few on them. They were sitting in the basement in my growing area. I had not sanitized it and properly cleaned it up after I had taken everything out side. I bought a bottle of insecticidal soap and actually used a lot more then the directions called for. My tree which is almost 5 feetwide was almost defoliated. I kept up with the spraying and finally after almost a month of spraying I got rid of the little bastards! I would recommend taking a leaf or two to a garden center, or if you feel confident google garden pests or fruit tree pests and confirm what you have. If it turns out that you have spidermites, you will have to be dilligent about spraying to get rid of them. Otherwise you may end up with more then one fatality!! Good luck and keep us posted. I would really like to know what you find out. I have a mango tree growing indoors and this is a bad time for any critters to infest my trees, because they are all so close to each other.
Andrew

Hi,
I have a mango plant in a pot that's developing similar symptoms - curling at the tips, dry brown spots. I've always used tap water for it, but have not really used any additives or fertilizers. The spots are more visible from underneath of the leaves. Also, there's a strange white deposit on the trunk of the plant. It does not come off when I rub it with my finger. The plant is 4 years old and it never flowered. I noticed some cob webs, but nothing else. The plant was never set outdoors, so I'm wondering if anyone has any idea what this stuff is and how to treat it. Any additional advice is welcomed. Thanks in advance.

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/Epyon777/Mango?authkey=Gv1sRgCNaOlMPI8KquEQ&feat=directlink

-Robert

Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures of 4-year-old mango plant

Hi everybody, I did find some TINY bugs on the bottom of the leaves. Less than a 15th of an inch I would say. Looks like they have left some small black spots on the bottom of the leaf and looks like they have a black spot on their abdomen (maybe their head).

Not sure that they look like spider mites but than again...

Anybody with information please share it! I'd hate to lost this mango tree.

Thanks

Mangodude, If I were you instead of guessing or getting the wrong info, I would bag up that bug, and take it to either your local cooperative extension or your local nursery. The nursery may not no what it is but they should be able to point you in the right direction. I think if you go to your cooperative extension they will have your answers. Robert I would do the same. For both of you if you buy an insecticidal soap you may not have the right product to get rid of the critters. I would rather go the cooperative extension then losee the money you spent on that tree!
Andrew

Where mangos grow natively or have been translplanted and can grow year round outdoors, the most common problems are spider mites, thrip, and perhaps mealy bug. Mangodude's problem does sound like spider mites. I looked at Robert's pictures and I have no clue on what that is. The problem is that you guys may have something entirely foreign to what we have here in Florida. So Andrew's advice to go to an extension office is a good idea...except that your local extension offices may have no knowledge about mangos. So, you have the classic catch 22 here. Sorry, I couldn't be of more help.....best of luck figuring it out.

Harry brings up some valid points. Robert, did you grow that tree from a seed? It looks to nice to just sit back and wait for cooperative extension. Where fo you live? I may be entirely rong here but I think unless you got this tree from somewhere tropical outside of USA, the bugs should be from here. You could look up leaf afflictions of Mango tree and maybe come up with a pic to compare to. I really would just go buy the insecticdal soap and spray as much as possible. Something else you should both consider. Both of you need to isolate the sick mango, and make sure you don't use the same tools that you use on the mango to care for the other plants. For example: Pruning sheers, watering can spray bottle. It can be very easy to spread critters or virus and bacteria to your plants.
Andrew

Guys,
Thank you all for your replies. This is really appreciated. So here are some answers:

1. Yes, it was grown from a seed. I purchased the actual fruit from a grocery store and grew the plant from that seed.
2. I live in Washington state.
3. Search engines are just about useless. I get more fruit recipes than shot of sick plants LOL That's why I turned to this forum.
4. I will test with a insecticdal soap or antibacterial one if I can find it. This plant was never fertilized - could it be some sort of a deficiency?

One thing I will try for sure is to switch to filtered water. Not sure why it would matter all of a sudden after four years, but I can try that first. I'll also see if there's an extension office anywhere nearby. This condition seems to affect younger/smaller leaves, although one large is infected too. The only thing I can think of that has changed was the weather. We went from unusually hot and long summer to our "normal" cooler and rainy season (no A/C in that room). As mentioned before, the plant was never outside but it does have direct light through the skylight. Again, thank you all for your comments.

Mangodude,
Sorry there was no luck on the web. I have been using water from my faucet ever since I planted this mango. It did of course get rainwater when there was a good rainstorm which this summer we had an over abundance of. I actually had some plants that would have normally bloomed but we also had some cool weather all smmer long. I would think you just got a critter on that poor tree. Maybe the weather dhange dideffect it negatively. I know mine picked up anthracnose and I had to treat that. Now that it is indoors it is fine(so far). These trees are pretty indestructable. The bigest problem us nontropical gardners face now is cold drafts and bug /disease infestations from other plants. Hope that helps you.
Andrew

HI all,

I have the same problem like robert, with this difference that my brown spots appeared very soon, My mango is no more than 3months old, It was growing perfect, i potted from saeed, no idea what kind is it. But doesnt have so many leaves as the one for Robert. I used fertilizer, i even keept the plant outdoor (temp is 30-35 degree) but no chages. The mango is drying slowly i think. Plase any one advice:)

xxxx_2009, perhaps 35C was a bit too hot for your young plant. Did you keep it in direct sunlight? I understand that matured plants like direct sunlight, but not sure about young sprouts. Perhaps someone here is better experienced to answer this question.

Hello everyone! I am having problems with my young mango tree. I have searched the web trying to find out what's wrong with it. Here are some images, could someone please help?