How Many Years Until a Potted Mango Bears Fruit? A Detailed Explanation of the Growing Timeline

Mango is one of the common fruits in daily life. Many people, because they like it, grow it as a potted plant, hoping that one day they can eat a mango they grew themselves. So, how many years until a potted mango bears fruit?

1. How many years until a potted mango bears fruit?

If it is a seedling grown from seed, it may not bear fruit even after 10 years; if it is a grafted seedling, it generally bears fruit in about 4 to 7 years. Natural flowering occurs from December each year to January-February of the following year, sometimes as early as November or as late as March of the following year, with full bloom around the Spring Festival and fruit harvest from May to July. The fruit is mostly kidney-shaped, with the skin turning yellow when ripe and the flesh bright yellow.

Mango flowers include bisexual flowers and male flowers. Bisexual flowers have normally developed stamens and pistils and can carry out normal pollination, fertilization and fruit set; male flowers have no pistils and cannot set fruit after flowering. In most cultivated varieties, bisexual flowers account for more than 15%.

2. How do you care for a potted mango?

1. Soil: Mango is not very demanding about soil, but to better promote mango growth, try to choose a soil with good drainage and aeration. Sandy loam or alluvial soil can be used, and the soil should be slightly acidic.

2. Light: Mango likes light and has a great demand for light, and after mango blooms it especially needs sufficient light. So during care, try to give the potted plant sufficient light, even in winter. In summer, when the light is intense, avoid the midday sun, or provide appropriate shade at noon.

3. Temperature: Mango is a tropical fruit that likes warmth and cannot tolerate cold or frost. The most suitable growth temperature is 25-30°C. Below 20°C growth slows, below 10°C the leaves and flower clusters stop growing, below 5°C seedlings, tender shoots and flower spikes suffer cold damage, and around 0°C the aboveground parts of seedlings, as well as the flower spikes, tender shoots and outer leaves of adult trees, are all damaged, while above 37°C small flowers and fruit suffer sunburn. During care, keep the temperature at 15°C and above.

4. Watering: Mango is relatively drought-tolerant and does not have a particularly great demand for water, but during flowering and fruiting it needs a sufficient water supply to keep the soil moist, though waterlogging must not occur.

5. Fertilizing: In addition to applying enough base fertilizer when potting, appropriate topdressing is also needed during the growing season. In October-November, apply a flower-inducing fertilizer; after the flowers fade, apply a post-bloom fertilizer; and 15 days before harvesting the fruit, apply a nitrogen fertilizer and a potassium fertilizer once or twice.

6. Pruning: Because it is a potted plant, prune appropriately to maintain a beautiful shape. During care, when you find branches growing too fast, be sure to prune them, cutting away the overgrown branches and leaves on the tree.

>>Recommended reading: Can mango be grown in a pot? What are the effects and contraindications of eating mango?