Another pic.. for some reason I can only load one picture at a time

One more..

Wow!
I've tried growing mango pits a number of times in the past. They start out as red leaves that turn green, but stay wimpy. Yours is on steroids.

You've given me the urge to try again, I just want one as a houseplant. I love yours, and it's great inspiration!

emmy - yeah, that kind of growth is VERY unusual. I've got some over a year old that don't look as large or as healthy as yours. Now that' it's branching you should continue to encourage that by pinching off those two growing tips...at least I would. Otherwise it might get tall and spindly and be even worse of a fall-over tree that you have now.

And whatever you are doing - soil, water, sun and fertilizer-wise seems to be very effective

By the way, what kind is it? If it had a lot (or a little) of red blush on the skin, it might be a Tommy Atkins -- a very common supermarket mango because it ships so well. Not the best tasting and will have fiber, but then again, maybe you don't actually want to eat the fruit, or aren't a mango snob like the rest of us who are always looking for the next best mango creation out of Florida!

Anyway, good luck and keep us posted....I see you keep in next to a window - where do you live?

Mdogg

Thanks for the replies! I have three other seedlings that I started on the same day, and the tallest of those is only seven inches right now, and all with asymmetric unattractive leaves. Even with a damaged taproot (it completely broke off when I was potting it for the first time), it has grown incredibly fast with beautiful foliage. On the contrary, I'm a mango snob in training! I have a three year old grafted Keitt in-ground in my backyard and I went with that cultivar because I'm hoping it will do well in southeast Texas, and yield some delicious mangoes for me. My local grocery store supplies many different types of mango, depending on the time of year. There is currently an abundance of Ataulfo (yum).

I did as much research on the type of mango it was before I attempted to propagate it and I narrowed it down to Tommy Atkins or Kent, but I lean more towards Kent. It was nearly fiberless and was (surprisingly) one of the creamiest, juiciest, sweetest mangoes I've purchased from a grocery store. But it's also polyembryonic.. If I remember correctly aren't Kent monoembryonic? I know for sure this is a poly because I removed a second pup from this tree about two weeks ago. It's a long shot but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the one I kept will be similar to the parent.

I do keep it in a window right now because we have a cold front blowing through and the temps are dipping into the 40s... I live on the Texas Gulf Coast in Galveston.

Here's a pic of the seedling exactly one week after planting.. I transplanted it seven days after extracting it (September 5th) from the pod and I was surprised to see this a week later, and it really took off from there. This is about the size that all three of the other seedlings are right now. All the same kind of mango, same media, same location in the sun, same kind of planters. This one just seems to be super healthy. Thank you for the tip! I'll pinch off the two growing ends. How far down do you suggest pinching off? I don't want to pinch off more than I should..

As I said Emmy... I would 'pinch" - but really it's a major CUT of those two long branches - all the way back to the main stem, but leaving 6 inches on each branch. Follow me? So after the 2 cuts, the branches and the trunk will look like a "T"....

And unfortunately I looked it up and it appears a KENT is monoembryonic so if that is what you are growing, that seedling will not come true to it's parent. Yes, I know the 2 shoots, but sometimes a mono can have a couple leads coming off the one shoot.....sorry, boss.....

mWoofers

Ah, I follow you perfectly. Thank you so much for the advice!!

Sucks about the Kent. Either way, I love mango trees so much I can't bring myself to dispose of even a crappy producer. Maybe it'll work out as a good rootstock (?).

Genetic Variation. It will turn out better fruits than the parent seed. The one week old seedling photo looks like a kent to me. Again, you have a major genetic variation case in a million years: who say a monoembryonic Kent doesn't product a poly son in a million years? This is why it will grow fast like an elephant. Genetic variation....tion. Make sure to give it lot of space or it will knock down the house.

I'm glad to hear that someone else thinks this is a Kent too. I'm 95% positive that's correct, based on time of year (September), location (Mexico), size, coloration & flavor. Your input is incredibly fascinating to me and I'm anxious to see what it does over the next year. I'm sorry to keep posting pictures but the growth rate is very cool.. If I had the time to stand in the room I think I'd be able to see it in action. Check out the spindly sprouts from the third picture I posted on Monday. This is just 3 days later and beautiful leaves are already developed. I know I should probably pinch it off but I'm just enjoying watching it flourish! Planning ahead, would you suggest planting in-ground in the spring?

I know exactly what you mean. I planted three "Aultafo" seeds in mid summer. One in particular grew large leaves from the start- and red. The others grew small green leafs. And they eventually withered.
The one? Its in a gallon pot and flushing right now outdoors where we are having lows in the high 40's. I've never read anywhere about Mango seeds that grow mature-like leaves right out of the ground. Anybody else had that happen,and know why?
Its in a mix of 50/50 Potting mix and perlite.

This post was edited by stanofh on Wed, Nov 26, 14 at 23:24

Hi Stan
How is your seedling doing?! And what kind of potting mix did you use? Mine is in an unknown mix of random garden dirt and vermiculite.

It's difficult to tell how big it is, but it appears to be ~18" tall? That's very fast. I have a few seedlings one a Madame Francis I started in August or so and is 19" tall, so yours is growing VERY fast!

Close guess! It was a hair under 20 inches in the pictures, pushing 24 when I cut it back. I cut it back to about 18 a few weeks ago and it's now back up to a fluffy 23, with 5 new shoots and full sized leaves. Your MF looks good! What's your soil mix?

My phone cam takes crummy pics :-)

I use yard dirt mixed with big store bagged compost, topsoil, and garden soil. Not exotic but once they're in the ground they won't get much better. Actually everything I put in this mix does pretty well.