Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 1 Feb 2023

10 secrets of growing a perfect Mango tree

Grow Your Own Food

Mango fruit with fertilizer Mango Tango Sunshine Boosters

How to grow a healthy and productive mango tree?

1. Right variety. Select a vigorous grower for in-ground planting, or a condo mango cultivar for growing in container. More info on varieties.
2. Soil must be well-drained. If planted in the ground, plant on a little elevation (see How to plant a tree)
3. Full sun is a must. The more sun, the more flower and fruit.
4. Water. Keep mango tree on a dry side, water young trees regularly but let top of the soil dry before next watering. Mango trees don't like wet feet.
5. Air circulation is important for mango tree to eliminate diseases. Allow enough space from other trees and buildings.
6. Fungicide. Mango leaves are very susceptible do fungal issues, especially in humid climates likу Florida. Spray fungicide (Copper or similar) according to the label, once a month.
7. Fertilize year around with every watering with liquid fertilizer Sunshine Boosters Mango Tango. Apply Micro-elements once a month and use other good supplements.
8. Shape. Check out Video: - to shape the most vigorous and productive tree.
9. Protect from hard freeze. Mango tree doesn't take freezing temperatures well. In subtropical areas Mango can be protected. Alternatively, it can successfully produce in container, if moved indoors during cold weather.
10. Fruit. Mango tree produces thousands of little flowers, many of them can set fruit. Do not let a small, young tree to keep more than 1-2 fruit, remove extra, to avoid exhaustion. Allow 2-3 years for the tree to establish until it produces a full crop. Apply Sunshine Honey supplement to your tree for sweeter fruit.

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Perfectly shaped mango tree

Watch the video:
Tipping a Mango Tree

Tipping mango tree video

Date: 31 Mar 2025

MANGO VARIETY CHEAT SHEET

Mango fruit on a tray

Mango fruit on a tray

🥭 MANGO VARIETY CHEAT SHEET
How to pick the right mango tree for your yard, Quick Guide

    • 🟠 Condo Mango - for containers and small spaces


    1. Cogshall - Compact and colorful, with sweet flavor and fungus resistance.
    2. Ice Cream - Stays under six feet with rich, dessert-like flavor.
    3. Julie - Caribbean favorite with sweet tropical flavor, but very cold sensitive.
    4. Mallika - Indian condo mango with rich, sweet flavor and hints of citrus and melon.
    5. Carrie - Super sweet and fiberless, perfect for small yards.

📚 More: Top 10 Dwarf "Condo" Mango - great for container culture.

    • 🟠 Most popular varieties everyone wants


    1. Alphonso - Rich Indian mango with coconut-like flavor, highly prized.
    2. Maha Chinook - Rare, ultra-sweet Singapore mango, good for pots.
    3. Fralan - Hardy tree with sweet green fruit that cracks when peeled.
    4. Fruit Cocktail - Tastes like a blend of pineapple, citrus, and guava.
    5. Nam Doc Mai - Most beloved Asian mango, semi-dwarf and versatile.

    • 🟠 Most vigorous reliable producers


    1. Glenn - Easy to grow, consistently produces excellent fruit.
    2. Pim Seng Mun - Super productive and reliable.
    3. Sweet Tart - Intense flavor, new and exclusive variety.
    4. Fruit Punch - Tastes like a medley of tropical fruits.
    5. Orange Sherbet - Sweet citrus flavor on a moderately vigorous tree.


🛒 Select perfect Mango trees and enjoy your own treats

#Food_Forest #Mango #Discover

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Date: 6 Feb 2025

How to get mango trees to bloom and set fruit

Cat with mango fruit

Q: Is there any way to make a mango tree set more fruit? My mango trees bloomed like crazy last year but most of the flowers dropped and I had only a few fruit. What do I need to do to get more fruit?

A: Mango trees flower from late Winter to Spring, with the peak blooming season varying based on variety. During this time, mango trees produce hundreds of small, fragrant flowers in large panicles. A healthy mango tree can produce anywhere from 500 to 2,000 flowers per panicle. However, only a small fraction of the flowers will be successfully pollinated and develop into fruit, depending on the tree's size and health.

To support healthy flowering and fruit set, mango trees need dry weather, as excessive moisture can inhibit pollination and fruit development. During flowering period, it's important not to overwater, as the tree is less active in water uptake.

Avoid dry fertilizers during flowering since the tree is focused on reproduction rather than vegetative growth. Continue applying Sunshine Boosters Mango Tango liquid fertilizer to support the tree's overall health and vigor which will encourage fruit quantity and quality. Sunshine Boosters deliver essential nutrients in optimum amounts, proportionally to water intake.

Ensuring a dry, sunny environment and mild fertilizer Mango Tango will help the tree set fruit successfully.

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Mango tree flowering

Photo above: Our Mango garden in Sebring, FL is in full bloom now! Early spring in Florida started in January 2025. Surprisingly, all our mango varieties decided to start blooming: - early, mid- and late- season cultivars. It's a stunning view! Check out a short Video.

Photo below: 2024 fruiting trees. We use Sunshine Mango Tango year around.

Mango tree fruiting

Date: 22 Mar 2017

Condo Mango

Q: I was curious about indoor fruiting mango trees. I live in upstate New York and was thinking about trying to grow an indoor tree for fruit. I have a small heated greenhouse. Is there a variety that can be grown from seed that would suit my purposes and if not what is the most economical way I could obtain a cutting or small grafted plant? I keep my greenhouse around 60F in the winter and have no supplemental lighting. Are there any varieties that may work in a sunroom or other well lit indoor location?

A: There are many dwarf varieties of mango suitable for container culture. They are called "condo mangoes".
The most popular condo varieties are: Carrie, Cogshall, Cushman, Fairchild, Graham, Ice Cream, Julie , Mallika, Nam Doc Mai, Pickering. You may read more about them in our online catalog. You may also look into variety Lancetilla which is also a compact tree, and produces one of the biggest size fruit, up to 5 pounds. If you want some rare variety that hardly anyone else has - try Baptiste, an exotic Haitian dessert mango.

Your greenhouse should work for the winter time. Mango trees can take as low as mid 40s during winter and even lower as long as that cold is occasional. If you keep the temperature around 60, this should work well for over wintering. Just make sure to reduce watering to a minimum, because cool temperatures, low light and wet soil - is a bad combination for tropical plants, especially for mango trees which prefer to be kept on a dry side.

Many indoor gardeners have fruiting mango trees in their collection. However, keep in mind that the most important requirement for a mango is full sun. While you may over winter the plant for a few months in a low light conditions, in order for it to flower and produce fruit it needs lots of light. If moving the tree into full sun your yard during the summer is possible, this would be the best solution.

We always recommend SUNSHINE boosters for both over wintering tropical plants in colder climates, and for indoor gardening. SUNSHINE applications will help your tree to cope with cool temperatures and low light conditions. This will also dramatically increase flowering and fruiting performance. Another important factor for keeping your container plant healthy is quality of your potting soil. We offer a special professional mix that contains lots of good stuff: coconut fiber, peat moss, pine bark, and perlite. Fertilizing potted plants is also very important during the warm season, because this is the only way for them to get nutrients (which in the ground can be reached by spreading root system).

As far as seedlings vs. grafting - the only way to have a nicely fruiting mango tree is to plant a grafted variety. Seedlings start producing only after 8-15 years, and the quality of such fruit may be questionable. Only grafted plants can guarantee the desired taste of a variety. Besides, grafted mangoes start producing immediately - you may see fruit forming on plants as small as 3 ft, in 3 gal containers. However, during the first 1-2 years you will need to remove extra fruit and leave only 1-2 fruit so the plant doesn't get exhausted and has enough energy to establish strong root system.

For fun stories about growing mango, check out our Radio Show recording YO Tango Mango!

Date: 17 Jul 2024

Mango Rainbow tasting table: whats the taste of that Mango variety?

Mango Rainbow tasting table

🌈 Mango Rainbow tasting table: what's the taste of that Mango variety?

🥭 We just had a mango tasting table of a few early and mid-season varieties and here is our impression:
  • 🟠 Tommy Atkins (purple) - the earliest variety, sweet a juicy, but a bit fibrous. The fruit is super colorful! The tree is an excellent producer, vigorous and problem-free.
  • 🟠 Haden (red) - a full sweet flavor, less fibrous than Tommy. Very colorful, large fruit.
  • 🟠 Florigon (yellow-green, round) - completely fibreless, sweet and flavor is somewhat mild pineapple-like.
  • 🟠 Baptiste (bright yellow) - very sweet, firm flesh, good flavor.
  • 🟠 Val Carrie (green elongated) - reminds large Asian mangoes, with firm flesh, very sweet, fibreless and juicy. It is a cross between Valencia Pride (large fruit) and Carrie (excellent flavor). It took the best from its parents. Very aromatic flesh has no fiber at all.
  • 🟠 Kent (large green-and-red) - excellent flavor, large size, and very little fiber. Eat before fruit gets too ripe.


❔ What Mango varieties have you tried this year?
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📝 See also earlier posts:

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#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

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