Mango tree grafting.

[owl sees all]

Having some success with growing mangoes from seed; but slow. There is one tree, about 8 years old that has the most delicious fruit.

 

I want to take cuttings and splice onto a suitable root-stock. Now where to get the appropriate root-stock for mangoes?

 

Mrs Owl has asked at a few garden centres and got no-where. Either they say they don't know what she is talking about, or, they do not know the answer to the simple question.

 

I am south of Nong Khai, near Phen. I can go virtually anwhere; Sakon Nakon, Udon or Nong Khai; Loei even.

 

Anyone?

[grollies]

If you have mango trees growing from seed you already have rootstock. Now graft onto these trees with scions from the variety you want. I think.....

[djayz]

1 hour ago, grollies said:

If you have mango trees growing from seed you already have rootstock. Now graft onto these trees with scions from the variety you want. I think.....

Old Grollies here has hit the nail on the head. Heed his advice. 

[owl sees all]

10 hours ago, grollies said:

If you have mango trees growing from seed you already have rootstock. Now graft onto these trees with scions from the variety you want. I think.....

Thanks for that grollies. Yes, I can do as you suggest, but it's the rootstock that I'd like to get hold of. Mrs Owl wants to grow a couple of rows of these 'special' mangoes along the road leading off from the water tower, where they can be easily watered.

 

This area earmarked for planting has only recently become available due to killing off 192 oil palms (a long story).

[stephenterry]

10 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

Thanks for that grollies. Yes, I can do as you suggest, but it's the rootstock that I'd like to get hold of. Mrs Owl wants to grow a couple of rows of these 'special' mangoes along the road leading off from the water tower, where they can be easily watered.

 

This area earmarked for planting has only recently become available due to killing off 192 oil palms (a long story).

The only other option is to purchase young mango trees, if available, and then splice onto them. And build up from your own stock. Bear in mind there are many varieties of mangoes, a couple of which are naturally sweet.

 

You'll need to google to find out where to go.

[owl sees all]

4 minutes ago, stephenterry said:

The only other option is to purchase young mango trees, if available, and then splice onto them. And build up from your own stock. Bear in mind there are many varieties of mangoes, a couple of which are naturally sweet.

 

You'll need to google to find out where to go.

I can get any amount of mango trees. They are everywhere. 

 

Just want to know where I can get suitable rootstock. Google is not Thai friendly at all; in this regard.

 

Want to buy 200.

[stephenterry]

2 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

I can get any amount of mango trees. They are everywhere. 

 

Just want to know where I can get suitable rootstock. Google is not Thai friendly at all; in this regard.

 

Want to buy 200.

Any mango rootstock, plus stem, is suitable if you're grafting from your favoured tree, because it will grow the grafted splice - if successful - as the same tree. Just dig up a few young ones and use them. 

[stephenterry]

Create rootstock growth using the seeds of a successful mango tree. Water and fertilize the seed until growth occurs. Allow the new seedling stem to grow to a thickness of about 3/8 to 1 inch in diameter. If the seedling is green in color, without rot or disease, and it produces healthy leaves and buds, it will be useful as a rootstock. The proper age for rootstock is typically between 6 months and 1 year old.

 

2

Cut the rootstock off about 4 inches above the soil using a pair of very sharp pruning shears or a grafting knife. Make the cut level, and avoid any damage to the stem below the cut. Use your grafting knife to split the remaining stem in half from the top down to about 1 inch above the surface of the soil.

 

3

Locate a scion, or new growth shoot, on an existing mango tree. The scion should be taken from a successful tree that produces regular quality fruit and flowers. The scion should have a thickness equal to or slightly smaller than the rootstock to which it will be grafted and should have fresh buds and healthy leaves. Use your grafting knife to cut the scion from the tree, then trim back the topmost leaves.

 

 

BTW do not burn or eat mango leaves, they are poisonous to humans.

[owl sees all]

Thanks for that stephenterry. I've grafted quite a few down the years. 

 

I find the grafted trees grow quicker than those grown from seed. Probably due to the root development. Although one mango did grow on a 3 year old seeded tree this year.

 

When rubber trees were all the rage some years back, the nurseries, where the trees were sold had literally thousands of rootstock, bagged up. One nursery quite near to us (on the 1022 road) had a couple of girls grafting full time.

[grollies]

Try air layering. 

[owl sees all]

51 minutes ago, grollies said:

Try air layering. 

I've never attempted it, but I'm going to give it a try. Looks very interesting.

Edited May 26, 2019 by owl sees all

[grollies]

1 hour ago, owl sees all said:

I've never attempted it, but I'm going to give it a try. Looks very interesting.

It's a great way of getting rootstock quickly. I've tried it on lime trees with some success. Then you can graft on whatever. If you need more info try contacting @Grafting Ken he is getting to be a bit of an expert.

[Grafting Ken]

Hi.. I think mango trees are grafted onto a rootstock that keeps them smaller at least all of my mango trees have.
I'm the same have one tree that has way better fruit than the others so lm grafting from that in June.
Let me find out more about this rootstock that helps keep the tree smaller to be sure as it was the wife that mentioned it.
I've asked around today and I can get the rootstock for 18 baht each if your interested I'll take 50 myself and 200 for the owl:). If anyone else wants some and I can get up to 500 trees I can get the price down.
Grafting seems easy just graft the end of a branch around 8 to 10 inch and place the whole tree into a big bag for a month... water the rootstock a day before grafting... the soil doesn't want to be too wet. For grafting large numbers make yourself a small plastic tunnel and put all grafted trees into that again for a month.


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[KhaoYai]

Can someone please explain what this 'rootstock' thing is all about - simply please? I've never done anything with Mango trees but I've taken thousands of cuttings from other plants and thought doing a Mango would be the same.......no?

 

I have an ageing Mango tree in my garden, I've tried cutting out the rotten bits and there has been some re-growth but other areas are starting to rot, I think its just too old now.  I was thinking about taking some cuttings from the new growth, planting them in pots, after some time choosing the best and then using that to replace my tree.

 

I don't really want to cut the existing tree down if there's a way of rejuvanting it - I guess I could try a heavy prune but it would take years to see the results and they may not be good.  Up until this year, its always produced a lot of pretty decent sized fruit but this year's is very small.  I wasn't there most of the winter time but I know it was drier than normal and the tree doen't get watered.  I don't know if its the age, lack of rain or both that's caused this small fruit.

 

Any help to save this tree would be appreciated.

Edited May 28, 2019 by KhaoYai

[rumak]

i will give you the answer when in the morning 

 

Edited May 28, 2019 by rumak

[rumak]

On 5/26/2019 at 9:17 AM, stephenterry said:

The only other option is to purchase young mango trees, if available, and then splice onto them. And build up from your own stock. Bear in mind there are many varieties of mangoes,

 

On 5/26/2019 at 9:25 AM, owl sees all said:

I can get any amount of mango trees. They are everywhere. 

 

Just want to know where I can get suitable rootstock. Google is not Thai friendly at all; in this regard.

OK.......  HI guys.   Rumak here from Mango country (Lamphun province).   Here there are hundreds of streetside shops selling small mango trees ( in black plastic containers)  .  They are quite small (from less than a foot tall to maybe 2 foot tall) and cost  from 10 baht to about 30 baht each)  The variety sold is called ตลับนาค     dtalat nat                                         They use this because it is strong and hardy.  Plant in the rainy season.  After one year it should be established enough to graft to.   You can choose any variety that you like, but of course must have access to a tree to slice off pieces to be grafted.  Since each original tree will have about 3 or 4 branches to graft,  doing more than 20 trees yourself can be a lot of work unless you are pretty good at it.  Here you choose the variety,  find someone that grafts that kind, and they come with everything and do the grafting  ( usually 10 baht or so a graft ).   This is how we did our 100 trees.

This is the 3rd year and trees are over 2 meters high and many have fruit....but next year will be a lot !

will try later to post some fotos.

[rumak]

I will be out till this afternoon.   If any questions from anyone I will get back at that time.

Edited May 28, 2019 by rumak

[Grafting Ken]

Hi.. yes after checking same as I said before.
Rootstock for mango is Khaew Kamin. Rootstock is available.
I can't upload photos for some reason and my laptop is down. I sent photos of the trees on to Grollies maybe he can send them on. They are ready to graft.


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[CLW]

OK.......  HI guys.   Rumak here from Mango country (Lamphun province).   Here there are hundreds of streetside shops selling small mango trees ( in black plastic containers)  .  They are quite small (from less than a foot tall to maybe 2 foot tall) and cost  from 10 baht to about 30 baht each)  The variety sold is called ตลับนาค     dtalat nat                                         They use this because it is strong and hardy.  Plant in the rainy season.  After one year it should be established enough to graft to.   You can choose any variety that you like, but of course must have access to a tree to slice off pieces to be grafted.  Since each original tree will have about 3 or 4 branches to graft,  doing more than 20 trees yourself can be a lot of work unless you are pretty good at it.  Here you choose the variety,  find someone that grafts that kind, and they come with everything and do the grafting  ( usually 10 baht or so a graft ).   This is how we did our 100 trees.
This is the 3rd year and trees are over 2 meters high and many have fruit....but next year will be a lot !
will try later to post some fotos.

So as you describe it mango trees are grafted on the branches, right?
I can remember that at home apple trees for example are stem grafted. So that doesn't apply here I'll guess?

[MikeN]

@KhaoYai using rootstock is a way of getting the best of 2 varieties of a tree. A tree ( variety A) might have great fruit but be too large or susceptible to disease. Another variety B of the same fruit tree might be smaller or tougher. So you use the roots and lower stem of B then graft on a cutting of A, hopefully the graft takes and you get the best of both .....good fruit on a tough tree.

[Grafting Ken]

So as you describe it mango trees are grafted on the branches, right?
I can remember that at home apple trees for example are stem grafted. So that doesn't apply here I'll guess?

No they should be grafted onto the stem.


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[rumak]

51 minutes ago, CLW said:

So as you describe it mango trees are grafted on the branches, right?
I can remember that at home apple trees for example are stem grafted. So that doesn't apply here I'll guess?

When googling you will see various methods.  The way they do it around here is the way i described ( not on a short stem,  but rather let the small tree grow for a year or so and then it will have a few good size branches (at least the diameter of your finger.  Our trees we bought for 30 baht as they were already about a foot and half tall.  After one year they were sturdy and healthy.  On average there were from 2 to 4 branches that were large enough to graft.  Think of slicing two fingers in half and then connecting them together  lol   the stems grafted were around 4 to 6 inches (if memory serves) and so the branch was sliced accordingly.   Then clear plastic tape to join the two.  About 95% of the grafts took and are doing well.

PHOTO:  took a shot of front of a shop when driving home.  you can an idea of the approx size of the saplings that are sold (one shown are rather tall....others are shorter and cheaper)

Also pic of our first mangos this year ( 3 years to the date of first planting)

and a pic of a new variety called  R2  (english translation)  

the tree shown is  maha chanok

 

[rumak]

I should say that the pic of the small saplings is from a shop that actually grafts them and sells them as such ( price is around 60 baht each).   In that case I think he has done a stem graft..... but not a common thing for the orchards to do.   Easy if you just want a few to take home and plant and be done with it.

[CLW]

No they should be grafted onto the stem.


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http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/horticulture/horti_Propogation_fruitcropmango.html

Something like they describe here?

Another thing, just remembering fruit trees sold at home with two different varieties grafted, that must be on branches then I'll guess? It's mainly for small backyard gardens that want to enjoy different varieties. For commercial use I can't see much benefits...

[seajae]

I graft frangipani(thousands over the years), any mango seedling will do, same with established small trees. All you really need is a good growing root stock from any of the nurseries, they are very cheap to buy, just match the root stock to the scion  and do it in the dry season, you graft to the stem/trunk for a solid tree that will grow strong and remove any new tips it pushes out below the graft or they will dominate

 

 

Edited May 29, 2019 by seajae

[rumak]

I don't know where ken lives.......  I just described how it is done around here and the whole area is one very large mango growing area.

 

the grafts were not on the lower part of the stem.  they were all done a foot or more up on the branches that branched out from the main trunk.  If you see the photo.... the tree shown has two main branches and they were the ones cut and grafted onto.   

[rumak]

1 hour ago, Grafting Ken said:

Hi.. yes after checking same as I said before.
Rootstock for mango is Khaew Kamin. Rootstock is available.
I can't upload photos for some reason and my laptop is down. I sent photos of the trees on to Grollies maybe he can send them on. They are ready to graft.


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different areas use different rootstock.   Ken is maybe in Isaan.   Around here they use what i posted

 

[seajae]

18 minutes ago, rumak said:

When googling you will see various methods.  The way they do it around here is the way i described ( not on a short stem,  but rather let the small tree grow for a year or so and then it will have a few good size branches (at least the diameter of your finger.  Our trees we bought for 30 baht as they were already about a foot and half tall.  After one year they were sturdy and healthy.  On average there were from 2 to 4 branches that were large enough to graft.  Think of slicing two fingers in half and then connecting them together  lol   the stems grafted were around 4 to 6 inches (if memory serves) and so the branch was sliced accordingly.   Then clear plastic tape to join the two.  About 95% of the grafts took and are doing well.

PHOTO:  took a shot of front of a shop when driving home.  you can an idea of the approx size of the saplings that are sold (one shown are rather tall....others are shorter and cheaper)

Also pic of our first mangos this year ( 3 years to the date of first planting)

and a pic of a new variety called  R2  (english translation)  

the tree shown is  maha chanok

 

they are R2E2's, its  a variety from Australia, I have it growing here as well and know the aussie farm it came from originally. Grafting can be main stem or multi grafting branches(not as strong a grower) depends on the grafter, where I bought ours in Surat Thani all their mangoes are main stem grafts(it makes for a strong growing tree) for every variety they sell, as I said it is up to the style of the individual grafters which varies between regions/countries

[rumak]

1 minute ago, seajae said:

they are R2E2's, its  a variety from Australia, I have it growing here as well and know the aussie farm it came from originally. Grafting can be main stem or multi grafting branches(not as strong a grower) depends on the grafter, where I bought ours in Surat Thani all their mangoes are main stem grafts(it makes for a strong growing tree) for every variety they sell, as I said it is up to the style of the individual grafters which varies between regions/countries

i am sure main stem is good as the few i bought that way are doing very well.   Just easier and cheaper i guess to do it the way the orchard owners do it.  Trees done multigrafting also produce fruit quicker it seems. 

BTW:  isn't  R2E2 the robot from star wars ?

[grollies]

Hi all. The photos from Ken.