Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 5 Jan 2025

Condo (Dwarf) Mango Practical Guide:
What varieties are good for container culture
or small yards

Condo dwarf mango with fruit

Q: "Our winters are too cold for a mango tree, but I'd like to grow one in a pot so I can bring it inside during cold nights. Which varieties do you recommend for container gardening? I've heard of Condo Mango - do you carry them?"

A: Yes, we always carry Condo Mango varieties: they are a fantastic choice for gardeners with limited space or in cooler climates. They grow well in containers and can be easily maintained through pruning. Whether you're growing them on a balcony, in a greenhouse, or in a backyard, Condo Mangos provide the perfect mix of beauty and practicality.

What Are Condo Mangos?

Condo Mangos, also known as dwarf mango trees, are perfect for small spaces. These trees can be grown in containers, making them ideal for balconies, greenhouses, or small suburban backyards. With proper care, they can be maintained at a manageable height of 6-10 feet through regular pruning. Some plant enthusiasts even manage growing Mango tree as an indoor plant!

The term Condo Mango

Condo Mango refers to mango varieties that thrive in containers and are small by nature, allowing them to be easily kept even smaller with selective pruning.

Size and Growth

Unlike traditional mango trees, Condo Mangos are compact. They naturally grow to around 6-10 feet, but with proper pruning, they can be kept small, making them an excellent choice for limited space.

Growing in Containers

- Condo Mango trees thrive in pots and containers.
- A 15-20 gallon pot is ideal to give the roots enough room to grow.
- Ensure your container has drainage holes to prevent root rot.

Planting Tips

- Plant Condo Mangos in full sun, where they'll get plenty of heat and light.
- Use well-draining soil for optimal growth.
- Fertilizer regularly with quality plant food. Out best choice is Sunshine Mango Tango for edibles. - Late Winter to early Spring is the best time to plant in containers, before the rainy season starts.
- Mangoes grow well in USDA zones 9-10, but if you live in cooler climates, you can grow them indoors or in a greenhouse, as long as you meet their heat and light needs.

Pruning and Maintenance

- Prune Condo Mango trees once a year to keep them at the desired height (6-10 feet), right after harvesting (late Summer to Fall)
- Trim the tips of the branches to maintain a compact shape and encourage healthy growth.
- Regular pruning will help keep the tree manageable and ensure better fruit production.

Learn more: Find out what are Top 10 Dwarf Condo Mango - great for container culture.

Condo dwarf mango with fruit

Condo dwarf mango with fruit

Date: 26 Jan 2022

Don't miss this one:
PodCast Premiere!

Episode 1
How to Protect Tropical plants in Winter: Q & A

Featuring Horticulturist Mark Hooten

...We are introducing our new Series: Top Tropicals Podcast. Growing tropicals and pushing the limits. Watch the first episode:

How to Protect Tropical plants in Winter

...Who doesn't like tropical beauty? Everyone wants tropical plants. But not everyone lives in a warm climate. Is it possible to grow tropicals outside of Tropics?
Top Tropicals horticulturist Mark Hooten, who is well known to many gardeners as the Garden Doc with his Saturday Plant Clinic, is answering gardeners' questions about how to prepare and protect tropical plants during winter...

Premiere scheduled:
Thursday, January 27, 8:00 AM

More about cold hardiness and cold protection:

Cold hardy tropical fruit trees
Growing Stephanotis and cold protection
Cold protection of tropical container plants
Plumeria cold protection
Ghost Cold Protection
Seven rules of cold protection for tropicals
Improving cold hardiness before winter: fertilizer and micro-elements
3D garden ideas and winter cold protection
Cold protection - winter action for your plant collection
About Cold Protection

Date: 27 Apr 2020

PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cats of the day: Biggy's Cat Hospital

Biggy checking on patient Abu when he couldn't walk

During these challenging times for the whole planet, we receive kind letters from our customers checking on how our PeopleCats are doing, especially those that previously were ill. And since we promised to follow up on everyone, including heart-breaking story of Raja and Abu, today's report is about everybody's progress!

As we mentioned in our previous newsletter, several cats in TopTropicals Cat Sanctuary had a coronavirus (we call it COVID-Cat-20), or simply a cat respiratory infection. Chiefy, Snitch, Marco and Biggy had it really bad, but some other PeopleCats surprisingly didn't get it! Just like with humans. Lucky King didn't have a single sneeze!
Finally, everybody has recovered by now, but it has been a very stressful couple of weeks for us, considering limited vet availability at this stay-home time. On top of that, Lil S had an abscess and was also contained in a home hospital, away from flu-quarantined PeopleCats. Our homes become real cat hospitals!
We are thankful to our customers support, especially Silvia who made several donations for our PeopleCats, and also recommended antiseptic pads - those worked great for Lil S!
Abu and Raja's adventures were not over... After 2 weeks of seeing a vet treating their infections and injuries, they got worse... Then after a couple of weeks in another hospital (and a couple thousand more in bills) we were suggested to put them down as hopeless since they would never walk again... But Kristi did not want to believe it, she did not give up! The kittens heard her. They won. Today, they are all better, walking, jumping and playing!

Thank you Kristi!
Never give up hope!

Stay safe and healthy with your PeoplePets!

TopTropicals PeopleCat Club

Thank you everybody for supporting us in helping PeopleCat Community!
Make your kind donation today and receive a surprise gift from us. Every little bit helps! Thank you and God bless you and your pets!

Date: 16 Nov 2019

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Charlie, the Indoor Hunter

Carlie was a kitty drop off with LadyBug, Rickie, and Purry.
Charlie is Jamie's baby. She has an attitude of a teenager, one minute she loves you and the next - wants nothing to do with you. Carlie stays with the inside PeopleCats, she says it's too big in the outside world for her and she gets scared. Carlie has a fun game (fun to her): she plays around 2:00 am in the morning, she loves to drag random items down the hall (socks, toys, shirts, even blankets) in her mouth MEOOOWWWING as loud as she can. She then sets the items down on her human's bedroom rug and waits for her human to say thank you. We're pretty sure her hunting instinct is off...

Check out and more Cat of the Day stories.

2019, from Top to Bottom: Moe, Charlie, Bagheera, and Snitch. 2016: Charlie

From left to right: Purry, LadyBug, Charlie, and Ricki - 2016

Date: 29 Nov 2020

Cold protection of tropical container plants

Q: I am long time customer of yours, I live in San Diego California and while the summer and Fall temperatures are warm to mild, the winter temperatures dip to a point where some tropicals die off. We are experimenting with different variations of way to heat and insulate the pots we have the tropicals planted in as a way to keep them alive during the colder winter months. I was wondering if you knew of the ideal soil temperature for these tropical in order to look their best year round. All of the heaters we have installed have thermostats and temperature adjustments so we can now keep the soil anywhere between a range of between 65-75 degrees. Any advise you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

A: This is a very interesting concept you are working with. Indeed, keeping pots/roots warm, may help a lot! We've been experimenting with cold protection for a long time - for the above-ground plant parts. For sure keeping roots protected (even with a thick layer of mulch) will benefit tropical plants during winter. In case with container plants, this may help dramatically.
The guideline is, tropical plants slow down or stop their metabolism at 65F. As long as you can keep soil above that temperature - this should work great. Of course, the higher the better.
Optimum temperature for growing tropical plants in general - 70-85F. Above 90F, metabolism stops too, unless it's a heat tolerant, desert plant.

More information on winter cold protection of tropical plants and zone pushing:

Greenhouse in Virginia
Plumeria cold protection
Ghost Cold Protection
Seven rules of cold protection for tropicals
About Cold Protection
Cold protection - winter action for your plant collection
Tropical Treasures articles on zone pushing.