Permaculture Plant Series - 3 : Mango

The third part of the permaculture plant series. Today, it’s a tree, my favorite fruit, Mango.

I love mangoes, my hens love them too. I feel so lucky to live in a place that I can grow mangoes in my backyard. Many neighbors have mango trees around here. They look very attractive every fruiting season for me and for native animals. My favorite kind is named Bowen. It’s got lots of sweet juicy meat, non stringy fruits, perfect for everything. But it can grow too big in my backyard. So I looked for smaller mango trees and there is! Dwarf Mango trees are on the market now!!! How exciting!! Dwarf mango trees can grow in a pot as long as right care is provided, which is good news because I can move around the tree to find the best spot for it in my garden and also protect it from rough weather. If I move house, I can easily take it with me too. The variety I found is named sensation. It is a grafted dwarf tree. The tree is ideal for a container, grows only to 2 to 2.5 m tall, which is much smaller than normal size mango trees that my neighbors have. Despite the fact the tree is small, it produces a good sized fruit. I just had to get this tree.

At the shop, I looked carefully around the grafted area and the leaves on top of the tree. The joint should look nice and secure, and the top of the tree should have nice healthy leaves growing. I picked one and took it to its new home.

At home, I didn’t plat in a bigger container straight away, because it was a windy day and the winds were supposed to continue for the next couple of days. I wanted to protect the tree from possible damage, also from change of the location. I chose a spot where has filtered light and protected from strong winds for now. The tree was in a small pot anyway so it shouldn’t have too much problem staying in there for a week or so. I will transfer the tree to a bigger pot on a calm day, then gradually move the tree under direct sunlight. I hope the process won’t shock the tree too much. In a few years, I’m hoping to taste the delicious mangoes. I’ll keep you updated on this too.