Guv's Gardens
Photo: Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Sun
- Full sun (6+ hours), sheltered from strong winds.
- Soil
- Deep and well-drained.
- Water
- Water regularly while young and keep watered spring to autumn. Water sparingly in late winter before flowering (dry winters help flowering).
- Hardiness
- Tropical and subtropical; frost-free warm temperate areas for some varieties (e.g. Kensington Pride, R2E2). Frost and cold, wet conditions can kill trees.
- Height and spread
- 10 m+ unless pruned; dwarf varieties 3-4 m.
Guv's tipWear gloves when harvesting mangoes; the sap can cause contact dermatitis. Water sparingly in late winter, as dry winters help flowering.
Through the year
When to plant
Spring (Sep-Nov) or early autumn (Mar-Apr).
Harvest or flowering
Flowers late winter-spring. Fruit ripens about 100-150 days after flowering, mainly in summer (late summer-autumn in cooler areas). Grafted trees fruit in 3-5 years.
Pruning
Formative tip pruning while young. On fruiting trees, prune after harvest to remove dead wood and upward growth and to limit height.
Making more plants
Grafted trees; polyembryonic varieties (Kensington Pride, Bowen) grow true from seed.
Watch out for
Fruit fly (including Queensland fruit fly)
Look for: Stings and maggots in fruit; premature fruit drop.
What to do: Bag fruit, bait and trap, and destroy fallen fruit.
Anthracnose
Fungal (Colletotrichum spp.).Look for: Sunken dark spots on leaves, flowers and fruit; poor fruit set after wet weather during flowering.
What to do: Spray copper fungicide from the end of flowering to harvest; prune for airflow; bin affected parts.
Always read and follow the label on any treatment, and check it is approved for use where you live.
Safety and spread
Pets and people: The sap is a skin irritant that can cause contact dermatitis - wear gloves when harvesting. Not listed as toxic by the ASPCA or University of California pet-poison lists.
Weed risk: Not a declared weed in Victoria or Queensland.
The Plant Doctor and the Guv's book
Printable pest and disease charts with real photographs, and all 50 Australia plants in one book.
