I have my doubts that a mango rootstock can impart vigor, dwarfness, or anthracnose resistance to a mango scion. What you usually end up with by pairing a vigorous rootstock to a dwarf scion is an elephant footed tree where the lower half of the graft is much thicker than the top half. I think the best that you can hope for is a rootstock that makes the tree slightly more prone to branching, precocity, or better graft compatibility (no elephant's foot).

I tried grafting the full size june plum scion to dwarf june plum rootstock (hoping that it would dwarf the tree), but the thing still shot up like a rocket as if it was the full sized june plum. The scion drove the rootstock.

Jeff

You would need to look within the species for specifics but the things you are looking for are comming grafting reasons in citrus.

If your trees are close enough they may naturally root graft with each other and be connected anyways. I don't see it being able to impart disease resistance directly but by sharing nutrients it can possibly increase the health of a weaker tree to prevent it from being as susceptible to diseases. I doubt branches grafted together will be able to impart any anthracnose resistance though.

No reason not to try connecting them together. Let us know how it goes.

Interesting... I may give it a try..

Jeff, have you tried root pruning as a way to slow down the tree's vigor? I hear you can drive a shovel in a semi-circle around the tree in order prevent the tree from taking up too much water and nutrients thus slowing its growth.

Just to clear things up, I plan on connecting one or two branches from one tree onto a neighboring tree. Imagine three people standing in a triangle holding hands. In case you were wondering, I was inspired by the crazy grafting pictures from the web link above.

murahilin, good point about the tree roots possibly naturally root grafted. My trees are fairly close together. I plan on connecting my Alphonso, Glenn and Carrie. If I am successful with this and do not see any limb die back, I may consider connecting my Kwa Luk Lychee with my Kaimana. I will wait untill late spring to attempt the grafting as the branches aren't long enough to graft at this time.
Simon

There are a couple books that do the best they can to reconstruct how Erlandson shaped his trees. I have one, and it gives some good advice on how to place the grafts so that all trees remain healthy. It is as far as I know, more difficult to keep all the trees healthy than if they remain separate. You have to pay special attention to the nutrient paths of least resistance - those will grow well and others will starve. So you have to make sure that all paths are "balanced" from a nutrient flow perspective.

I have been shaping a rubber tree into a helix shape for about 8 years. It is grafted back together at the top and doing quite well. Don't have a picture handy though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tree Circus

Wow simon grow and belgarden. I am so glad to read this post. I just purchased an alphonso tree from Plant O Gram, which arrive yesterday at six feet tall an an additional june plum. Even though Mickey is extremly nice , I regreted that I didn't do enough research after reading the issues that gardeners in Florida have with the Alphonso tree. I am hoping that the quality of fruit will be different in California, so it is refreshing to see that ther are two mango experts in Claifornia with the same tree.
Simon-grow , how is your Kwa Luk. I have some scions for that tree. Hope it will survive. Thanks everyone on this site for all of your valuable information on growing tropical trees. This message was intended for another thread that I can't find. Simon,I like your innovation on merging branches. As a cellular specialist,I dont see why it won't work. Take Care.

Mango 908

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Hey Mango908,

My Alphonso Mango is doing great, actually my best growing mango tree. It is currently flowering but I will probably remove all fruit this year because it is still relatively small. The Alphonso mango is very strong tasting, it has a sort of Pine taste to it.

At first I didn't like it but after eating a few of them, it grew on me and now I love them. I ordered some Alphonso mangoes from Mangozz.com. They are in season now and it might be a good idea to order some and taste them. You can also try Alphonso mangoes by going to a good Indian store, they usually have Alphonso and Kesar mango pulp.For some reason, the Alphonso mango pulp is not as Piney as the fresh fruit.

My Kwa Luk is doing pretty horrible. Its still alive but it has been badly tattered by the wind. It is about the same size as when I recieved it several years ago. This week, I'm going to put up a wind barrier around it and also use some artificial N-P-K fertilizer to help stimulate it. Until now, I have been growing it organically. Let me know how your Kwa Luk scion do, I hear they are really difficult to graft.
Simon