From the Manual Of Tropical And Subtropical Fruits
by Wilson Popenoe
The Mango
Climate And Soil
While the mango grows in humid tropical regions subject to heavy
rains throughout the year, it is not successfully cultivated for its
fruit under these conditions. It requires the stimulus of a dry season
to fruit abundantly. To a certain extent this stimulus can be given by
artificial means, but there can be no doubt that the best regions for
commercial mango culture are those in which there is a well-marked dry
season occurring at the proper time of year.
This is illustrated
by conditions in India. Lower Bengal is a humid region in which
moisture-loving tropical plants are completely at home. Mango trees in
this region are ragged in appearance, with foliage of an unhealthy
color, and the fruit does not ripen well. In sharp contrast, the trees
at Saharanpur, on the dry plains of northern India, are vigorous and
stocky in habit, with abundant foliage of rich green color. They fruit
more profusely than those in the moist lowlands, and the fruit ripens
perfectly. Saharanpur lies at an elevation of 1000 feet, and has an
annual rainfall of about thirty-five inches. During the season when
mangos are ripening, no rain falls and the air is hot and dry.
Temperature of 100º F., continued throughout day and night, are
common. The monsoon, or rainy season, lasts but a few months.
The
total amount of rainfall is not so important as the season during which
it occurs. Where the dry season coincides with the normal flowering
time of the mango, good crops of fruit can be expected, but it seems
doubtful whether the finer grafted mangos can be cultivated
successfully in regions where there is much precipitation during the
flowering season. Some of the seedling races will fruit under these
conditions, but the choice Indian varieties are more exacting in their
climatic requirements.
On this point G. N. Collins1
states: "The fact that the tree may thrive in a given locality and yet
fail to produce fruit should always be kept in mind. It may be
considered as proven that the mango will be prolific only in regions
subjected to a considerable dry season. On the moist north side of
Porto Rico the trees grow luxuriantly, but they are not nearly so
prolific nor is the fruit of such good quality as on the dry south
side, and in the very dry region about Yauco and at Cabo Rojo the fruit
seemed at its best, while its abundance was attested by the fact that
fine fruit was selling as low as 12 for a cent. In Guatemala and Mexico
the mango was found at its best only in regions where severe dry
seasons prevailed."
Fawcett and Harris2
report similar conditions in Jamaica. They say: "Although the mango
grows freely everywhere, it is not a fruitful tree in every district;
in the southern plains and the low, dry limestone hills it produces
enormous crops year after year, and very often two crops a year, the
main crop from May to August, and the second crop later in the year. .
. . In humid districts and along the northern coast the tree is not at
all fruitful, except in very dry years, and in the wet districts like
Castleton it rarely fruits."
In the Botanic Garden at Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, there is a magnificent avenue of mango trees planted
by the emperor Dom Joao VI more than a century ago. So far as known
these trees have never matured any fruits. They blossom, and
occasionally set fruits, but the latter invariably drop off before
reaching maturity. J. C. Willis, former director of the garden,
attributes this to the fact that they are planted on low wet ground.
1 Bull. 28, U. S. Dept. Agr.
2 Bull. of the Bot. Dept., vol. 8, 1901.
Other mango trees in the immediate vicinity but on higher ground produce fruit regularly.
Mangos
can be grown successfully on soils of several different types. In Porto
Rico deep sandy loam has given excellent results. On this soil the tree
makes rapid growth and attains great size. The sandy soils of southern
Florida have proved satisfactory. Clay, provided it is well drained,
seems to be good.
In India, some of the best mango districts are
situated on the great Indo-Gangetic plain, where the soil is a deep,
rich alluvial loam. This may perhaps be considered the best of all
mango soils. An analysis of surface soil from the mango orchards in the
Saharanpur Botanic Garden shows that it contains:
| Lime (CaO) | 1.20 % | | Magnesia (MgO) | 1.18 % | | Potash (K2O) | 2.73 % | | Phosphoric acid (P2O5) | 0.18 % | | Nitrogen | 0.105% |
C. F. Kinman1 says:
"A
shallow soil underlain with stone or hardpan, although sufficiently
deep to produce shrubs or other low-growing wild vegetation, will not
satisfy the needs of the deep rooted mango, whose growth in such ground
will be slow and its yield poor, at least after the first few years.
The application of fertilizers, however, will materially decrease the
depth of the soil required. . . . Mango trees are often found on very
light, unfertile sand, which may be a few feet in depth, and still
produce flourishing growth if the subsoil is suitable. As the mango,
like most other fruit trees, thrives best on a deep loose loam with
good drainage and a high percentage of humus, those who intend planting
it commercially should secure, if possible, this type of soil."
1 Porto Rico Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull., 24.
Much
more important than the mechanical or chemical composition, in most
cases, is the drainage of the land. The mango avenue in the Botanic
Garden at Rio de Janeiro illustrates this. If the subsoil is
permanently wet or poorly drained, the tree cannot be expected to fruit
profusely.
While the mango is more susceptible to frost than the
hardier races of the avocado, mature trees have withstood temperatures
below the freezing point without injury. In general it may be said that
most varieties, if not in active growth at the time cold weather
strikes them, will withstand 28º or 29º above zero, provided
such temperatures are not of long duration. Young trees in vigorous
growth may be injured seriously by a temperature of 32º. At Miami,
Florida, five-year-old trees of one or two varieties were killed
outright by a freeze of 26.5º. Old seedling trees have gone through
temperatures lower than this without losing more than the smallest
branches. The cultivated kinds show slight differences in hardiness.
Observations have been made at Saharanpur and lists drawn up showing
the relative susceptibility to frost of many varieties. The vagaries of
the 1917 freeze in southern Florida, however, have resulted in an
impression that such lists are not altogether dependable, and that much
depends on local conditions, the physiological state of the tree, and
other factors as yet not understood.
The mango resists heavy
winds much better than does the avocado. The wood is tough, and
ordinarily the tree (except in the Cambodiana group) assumes a low
compact form if not crowded. It is not essential, therefore, that the
young tree be trained with a view to making it of such form that it
will be able to withstand a hurricane or cyclone.
Mango culture
in California presents some unusual aspects. Although experience is
limited, it is apparent that the great variations in temperature
between night and day, coupled with the comparatively cold winters,
have the effect of retarding the growth of the tree, as well as
preventing the rapid development of the fruit. The dryness of the
climate, on the other hand, makes the tree bear at an early age and
yield very heavily. In certain situations near the sea, the summers are
so cool that the fruit does not ripen properly. This has proved to be
true of Santa Barbara, Hollywood, and San Diego. In the foothill
regions, where the summers are warmer than near the sea, good mangos
have been produced. It is necessary to protect the trees from frost
while they are young; even large trees are sometimes injured by an
unusually severe winter. All of the mangos which have fruited in
California up to the present time have been seedlings or inferior
budded varieties: only recently have budded trees of choice varieties
been planted. Localities such as Glendora and Monrovia, which have warm
summers and are comparatively free from winter frosts, are probably the
most suitable for mango culture. The hot summer weather of such
districts hastens the development of the fruit and brings it to
maturity before the onset of cool weather in autumn.
Commercially,
mango culture has never been considered promising in California. It
should be possible to produce good fruit on a limited scale in a few of
the most protected situations, but the greater number of mango trees
which have been planted in the state have been killed by frost.
In
Florida, commercial mango culture is successful from Palm Beach on the
east coast and Punta Gorda on the west coast down to the southern end
of the peninsula. There are a few trees as far north as New Smyrna on
the east coast and Tarpon Springs on the west, but the hazards are
great in any except the warmest parts of the state.
The largest
commercial plantings have been made in the vicinity of Miami. There are
a few small groves near Palm Beach and Fort Myers. At Oneco, near
Bradentown, the Royal Palm Nurseries have one of the best variety
collections in the state, but it is necessary to protect the trees
during the winter. They are grown within a large shed whose top is made
of thin muslin which can be removed in the summer.
In southern
Florida the weather is normally dry during the flowering season.
Sometimes there are light rains in this period, or many cloudy damp
days. In such seasons many of the Indian mangos, notably Mulgoba, fail
to bear good crops, although the seedling mangos which are found
throughout this region fruit abundantly. Mangos differ in their ability
to flower and fruit under adverse climatic conditions. Some of the
Indian varieties will only flower after a period of three or four weeks
of dry sunny weather; certain Cuban seedling races (and those of other
countries as well), on the other hand, will insist on flowering even
though the spring months are unusually wet; and if one crop of flowers
is destroyed by the anthracnose fungus, as is often the case, they will
flower a second and even a third time in an attempt to produce fruit.
Methods of encouraging the Indian varieties to flower and fruit are
discussed in a later paragraph.
The soils of the Fort Myers
region produce larger trees than those of Miami. The latter, which are
mainly light sands underlaid with oolitic limestone, are nevertheless
satisfactory when properly fertilized. The mango requires much less
fertilizer than the avocado or the citrus fruits, but it only reaches
large size when grown upon reasonably deep soil.
Cuban soils are
well suited to the mango. In commercial orchards near Habana, however,
the anthracnose fungus has caused great damage and discouraged some of
the growers. Methods of combating this pest are discussed under the
heading diseases. In Porto Rico at least two orchards of considerable
size have been planted with choice Indian varieties. Both of these are
on the north side of the island, where the soil is excellent but the
climate somewhat too moist for the best crop results.
The Mango
Botanical
Description
History and
Distribution
Composition
And Uses Of The Fruit
Climate And Soil
Cultivation
Propagation
The Mango Flower
And Its Pollination
The
Crop
Pests And
Diseases
Races and
Varieties
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The Mango Page
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