i’m curious if there are really any cold hardy mangos? i got a grafted mallika mango this spring that was advertised as cold hardy to mid twenties and i would like to plant it in the ground next spring but i know i will have to protect it whenever temps go below 40 F. i was thinking of placing bricks around the base and covering with moving blankets. i just started my backyard orchard/fruit forest this year so i don’t have enough vegetation yet so should i wait until i have more dense vegetation before i plant it in the ground? i was just wondering what tips and tricks people use to grow mangos outside in zone 9a.
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None are really cold hardy. When mature they’ll take more cold. Briefly maybe mid 20s.
The temperatures I’d worry about on a young tree are anything below freezing. So, 35 air temperature maybe rather than 40. Cold spells in FL are usually shorter than many places so you’re not really concerned about cold soil causing root damage.
In California winters everywhere are much colder than FL. Almost all areas have periods in the 30s for a week or longer with no damage unless it freezes.
I’ve got mine in a greenhouse and for the next two months I’ll hold 37-48F as much as possible. That’s to get chilling on stone fruits. I expect the mango to tolerate that fine. But that’s yet to be proven.
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thanks for the info! the ground here doesn’t freeze, usually when we get temperatures below freezing, it is at night time, and not normally consecutive days, but the past few winters i was surprised we had gotten into the 20s with bizarre cold spells, though winter here (second half of December, all of January, first half of February) in my zone 9a we have 60s as the average highs and 40s as the average lows.
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The cultivars “Timotayo” and “Valencia” are recommended for zone 9 and up. I’ve had success with both in 9b. I’m currently growing Timotayo in 10b.
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i think if i was in 9b i would try many more varieties, but 9a gets colder and i haven’t seen any mango trees growing outside/in ground in my area nor do i know of anyone who is growing them around here without using a greenhouse in the winter.
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@jamie
I trialed many mangos in zone 9b and only recommend the two above. Also note: the published feeding recommendations for mangos from Fairchild are not a good match for zones 9 and 10. Citrus regimes work well.
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South of I-4 should be safe most years. That’s 9B though.
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Those zones, they are a-risin’
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Just like waves on the ocean…there are crests and troughs. I was almost in zone 7 in the early 1970’s, then I was in zone 5 awhile, and it’s officially 6b currently but might have climbed if it hadn’t gotten to -19 last winter. (And I didn’t move far from the same spot in the same county in the same state.)
So, saying they’re rising is correct half of the time.
Well it’s true that when I rode my bike to school back in the 60’s it was uphill both ways, both in the ride there and the ride home. It’s also true that the present rise in global temperatures and air turbulence will last hundreds of years even if humans provide some intervention. In terms of summer heat the effect will primarily be experienced in inland areas. Here locally the result is increased marine layer and air humidity, both from superheating of the western Pacific ocean tropics.
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They can’t get a forecast correct for 10 days…you may, but I don’t believe your 100’s of years forecast is anything other than opinon. 50 years ago the forecast was for a new ice age.
30 years ago it was said Florida would be under water in 50 years…
There’s more truth to be found on the comics page of the newspapers than in these long term prognostications.
I don’t see anyone moving from the beach except poor folk that can no longer afford taxes and insurance.
But, since neither of us
is apt to convince the other they are mistaken…maybe I’ll try a stroll in the orchard uphill both ways.
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The equivocation of weather forecasters with climate scientists is political at best, as is the equivocation of local weather with global thermodynamics. The upward change in cold hardiness zones in the near tropic and middle latitudes in both the northern and southern latitudes is an established fact, along with its correlation to atmospheric CO2 concentration. The latter has grown steadily over the past few centuries, not in cyclical waves. Reducing the atmospheric CO2 concentration on a global scale is no easy task. Consequently the observed increase in global heat retention and violent weather is here to stay for many centuries.
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Keep it dwarf, thermocube c9 incandescent lights and frost fabric you will be fine those few nights you need it
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In my experience there’s no big difference in cold hardiness in mangoes. 3 years before I’ve bought seeds of Gomera-3 mango, which is supposed to be one of the most hardy and is used as rootstock on Canary islands, but it’s all about to continue to grow when it’s cold and other varieties stop growing,
when temperatures drops below freezing there’s no difference, they are equally damaged. I think you should protect them first 2-3 years ( I attach the photo what I use) when below 30°F, then when they are mature and too big, just accept some dyeback every winter. Also is good to create some microclimate, better to plant near south facing wall and create soil mound around.
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Will not necessarily carry specific traits of the parent.
This variety is polyembryonic ( true to type). I had 17 seedlings from 5 seeds
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Just keep in mind that you likely had ~12 clonal seedlings and ~5 zygotic, assuming all the seeds had their zygotic embryos survive to germination. Polyembryonic mangoes typically still have one zygotic embryo per seed.
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Two decades ago I read a few large scale studies from India demonstrating that the “sprout test” method for mango seeds is faulty. The upshot is that a germination lab including an autoclave plus embryonic biology expertise is necessary to obtain true-to-type offspring. These articles conclude that the best use of mango seedlings is rootstock.
The same is true of Citrus and Myrtaceae. Beware of sellers of “polyembryonic” seeds.
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Yes, I know that some of them are zygotic. But see no difference in terms of cold hardiness between them
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I’m not sure anyone would in zone 8b.