Mango

Mangifera indica

Family Anacardiaceae

TreeZones 10-11

Botanical illustration of Mango

A mango picked from your own plant, ripened on the counter to dripping sweetness, is the tropical flex almost no mainland gardener attempts — and breeders quietly made it possible: 'condo' mangoes fruit at 4 to 6 feet in a large pot. The full-sized tree remains a zones-10-and-11 monarch.

It asks for maximum sun and heat, a bright warm room for winter, and it grows fast and blooms toward a summer harvest. One family quirk to respect: the sap and peel carry urushiol, poison ivy's compound, so sensitive folks should let someone else do the peeling — the flesh itself is fine. Dream crops start in one big pot.

Where to buy mango — 1 nursery compared

  • Full Sun — maximum heat
  • Moderate water
  • Fast in heat growth
  • Excellent edible
  • Attracts bees
  • None winter chill
Mango — a print from the Plant Library collection

From the print shop

Growing mango? Hang it.

Our Plant Library collection carries mango — Mangifera indica, print Nº 292, “Mango.”

526 designsfrom $12.99white or black backgroundmatte poster, unframed

Shop Plant Library botanical prints →

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Will it fruit where you are?

Enter your ZIP — we look up your USDA hardiness zone (2023 map) and check it against what mango actually needs.

Life cyclePerennial zones 10–11, annual elsewhere
Winter chillNone
PollinationSelf-fertile

Mango · Common problems

Common mango problems

Pests, diseases and weather to keep an eye on.

Pests

3 problems on file

Diseases

3 problems on file

Mango · Growing & propagation

Growing mango

Light, water, soil, propagation and the season’s jobs.
What it needsThe details
Light
Full Sun

Maximum heat

Water
Moderate

DRY winter rest triggers bloom

Soil
Deep, well-drained · pH 5.5 - 7.5
Fertilizer
Low N

Excess = leaves, no fruit

Pruning
After harvest

Tip-prune potted trees to force branching and stay small; a 'Condo Mango' fruits at 4 ft.

Spacing
20+ ft

Dwarf types in pots

How to plant & propagate mango

Propagate
Grafted, or from cuttings/layering

Seed won't come true

Mango · Harvest & keeping

What you get from mango

How long before it bears, how much it gives, how you know it is ready, and how long it keeps once picked.
Botanical illustration of Mango
Years to first harvest
3 to 5 years
Typical yield
50–150 lbs
What you eat
Fruit
How to tell it is ready
Shoulders fill and rise above the stem, blush deepens, fruity smell at the stem

Finishes ripening off the tree

How long it keeps
Ripens about a week off the tree

Refrigerate ripe fruit briefly

Mango · Seasonal care & spray guidance

The mango growing playbook

Field-tested instructions for every job mango asks of you, compiled from university extension guidance — in the order the season brings them.

While it is dormant

winter, before growth starts

1 job
ProtectionIn winter

Cover for cold - the flowers give up long before the tree does

Watch the forecast through bloom. A mature tree takes 25F for a few hours with damage limited to leaves and small branches, but open flowers and small fruit can be lost below 40F. Cover or heat trees under three years old whenever 29F to 30F is possible. Mango blooms in winter, so its most cold-sensitive tissue is out in the coldest part of the year. The threshold that kills the crop is nearly fifteen degrees warmer than the threshold that hurts the tree, which is why a grower can lose an entire year to a night that left no visible mark.

As growth begins

early spring

3 jobs
WateringIn spring

Water a young tree, mostly leave a mature one alone

Water at planting and every other day for the first week, then once or twice a week for the first couple of months, and about weekly in dry spells until the tree is three. From year four, irrigate only during a very prolonged spring or summer drought. Keep water off the flowers and fruit - run a low sprinkler or drip, not an overhead. Mature mango trees do not need frequent watering and overwatering produces poor-quality, watery fruit. Wetting the panicles is worse than useless - anthracnose needs free water on the flowers to infect, so an overhead sprinkler manufactures the disease you are otherwise spraying against.

FeedingIn spring

Feed young trees six times a year, then cut the nitrogen once it bears

For the first three years, make about six applications a year, starting at a quarter to a half pound per tree and working up toward 1 to 1.5 lb, using a 6-6-6-2 or 8-3-9-2 type mix. From year four on, drop to four applications a year at 1.5 to 4 lb each, drastically reduce or eliminate the nitrogen, and raise the potash to 9-15 percent - 6-3-16 and 0-0-22 are the mixes UF/IFAS names. Nitrogen buys leaves, not mangos. A bearing tree fed heavy nitrogen puts its energy into vegetative flushes instead of flower panicles, and the fruit it does set eats poorer.

FeedingIn spring

Iron and micronutrients if your soil is alkaline

On high-pH or calcareous soil, drench the root zone with chelated iron in the FeEDDHA form two or three times through the growing season, and add an annual foliar spray of copper, zinc, manganese and boron. On neutral or acidic soil, iron sulfate watered in two or three times a year is enough and costs far less. Above about pH 7 the ordinary iron chelates fall apart and the iron locks up as an oxide the roots cannot take, so leaves go yellow between green veins while the soil is technically full of iron. FeEDDHA is the one chelate that holds on at high pH.

While it flowers

at bloom

2 jobs
SprayingAt bloom

Anthracnose: copper on the flower panicles, then stop

Spray copper when the panicle is about a quarter of full size and again 10-21 days later. Sprays should continue at the recommended interval only until the fruit is about 1.5-2 inches long - then stop. Anthracnose infects the flowers and small fruit; the black spots that appear on a ripening mango are an infection that happened at bloom, months earlier.

SprayingAt bloom

Powdery mildew: sulfur preventively as the panicle expands

Time this to the panicle, not the calendar. UF/IFAS calls for one to two applications of sulfur and copper beginning when the panicle is about 1/4 full size, with a second 10 to 21 days later. Do not wait for the white powdery growth to appear: infection happens days to months before symptoms show, and sprays applied after infection have no effect on disease already established. If mildew does appear on flowers, young fruit, or leaf midribs, sulfur will still limit spread into new growth, but the crop-saving application is the early one. Unlike anthracnose, this fungus works in dry, mild spring weather rather than rain. A severe infection destroys the flowering panicles outright, so you lose the whole crop at set rather than losing fruit quality later - which is why UF/IFAS times the spray ahead of symptoms.

Through summer

the growing season

1 job
What to watch forIn summer

Look for pests, but do not spray on principle

Walk the tree through the growing season and look for bud mites, red-banded thrips, scale insects such as false oleander and Florida red, spider mites, and ambrosia beetle entry holes in the trunk and limbs. Treat only when you find a large infestation, and ask your local extension office what is currently labeled before you buy anything. UF/IFAS is explicit that mango insect infestations are not predictable and control measures are justified only when large infestations occur. A calendar insecticide on a home mango mostly kills the thrips and flies that pollinate the panicles.

Harvest time

as it ripens, and picking

1 job
HarvestingAt harvest

Pick mature-green, ripen on the counter at 70-75F

The fruit is mature when the shoulders and nose broaden and fill out. If you are unsure, cut one - mature flesh next to the seed has turned from white to yellow, and that happens before any color break in the peel. Pick firm and hold at 70F to 75F; mature fruit ripens in three to eight days. Mango ripens off the tree, and the internal color change at the seed is a truer maturity signal than skin color, which varies by variety and by how much sun the fruit saw.

After harvest

autumn, and putting it to bed

1 job
PruningAfter harvest

Prune soon after you pick the last fruit

Once the last fruit is off the tree, take out a few upper limbs back to their crotches to hold the height down and open the canopy. UF/IFAS says pruning should be done soon after harvest; get it done early enough that any regrowth hardens off before the tree sets panicles. Severe pruning does not injure a mango, but it reduces production for one to several seasons. A mango sets its flower panicles on shoots that hardened off after the summer flush. Cut late and you are removing the wood that was going to bloom, or forcing a soft flush that will not be mature enough to flower.

Mango · Calculators & field guides

A little help in the garden.

Calculators for the figures. Field guides for the hands-on work.

Mango · Yearly calendar

The mango year, month by month

What mango asks for, month by month.

Jan

BloomDecember to May

MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Bloom
Prune
Harvest

BloomDecember to May

PruneJuly to August

HarvestJune to August

What each band means

  • Bloom — flowers open — pollinators working, frost on blossoms is the danger.
  • Prune — shape it now — cuts heal cleanly and structure is visible.
  • Harvest — picking time — check ripeness every few days.

These are the species' typical months — expect them a few weeks earlier in warm zones and later in cold ones. Watch the plant, not just the calendar.

Mango · Ecology & uses

Ecology & uses

What it does for the garden, and what it is grown for.
Botanical illustration of Mango

Mangifera indica

Mango in the garden system

  • Canopy layer tree
Attracts
Bees
Moisture
Facultative / average
Deer
Browsed

Protect young plants

Origin
Introduced

What mango is grown for

! Some parts toxic — see notesSAP + peel contain urushiol (poison-ivy family) — sensitive people react; flesh is fine

Use
Fresh eating
Use
Chutney
Use
Smoothies
Edible value
4/5

Harvesting & storing mango

Summer: pick mature-green and ripen on the counter.

Edibility, identification, and traditional-use notes here are general reference — not medical or veterinary advice, and not a claim that any plant treats or prevents anything. Medicinal ratings record how strongly a plant features in herbal tradition, nothing more. Never eat or dose a plant you have not positively identified. More on how to use this library.

Mango · Varieties & cultivars

Best mango varieties & cultivars

There are far more than these — the ones below are the named varieties of mango people actually plant.

Named varieties of mango differ in winter-chill needs, ripening time, hardiness, and whether they set fruit on their own — pick one that fits your climate.

20 varieties

Glenn

Also known as Glen

Self-fertile

Ripens
June-July
Zones
9b-11 (marginal, protect in 9b)
Disease
good (moderately anthracnose resistant)
Size
moderate vigor, easily kept 8-12 ft

sweet, mild, nearly fiberless - excellent fresh — Classic reliable beginner mango - consistent early crops, disease-tolerant, and stays manageable for small yards. Self-fruitful; fruit set improves with insect pollinators.

Where to buy ‘Glenn’

Story Thyme Farms may earn a small commission from these links, at no cost to you — it never changes what we recommend.

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Sources & plant identity

Know what you’re growing.
See where the knowledge comes from.

Botanical illustration of Mango

Mango

Mangifera indica

The plant, at a glance.

Botanical name
Mangifera indica
Plant family
Anacardiaceae
Growth habit
Tree · Tender Perennial
Origin
Introduced
USDA plant symbol
MAIN3
Invasive risk
Low
Every garden is different.

Hardiness, size and timing vary with your cultivar, soil and climate.

Rooted in research.

University extension research, brought together with hands-on growing experience at Story Thyme Farms.

Explore Mango’s sources3 reference links
for Mango

Research from these sources

US EPA Pesticide Product Label, Kocide 3000 (copper hydroxide, EPA Reg. No. 91411-2)University of Florida

Publisher marks identify sources, not sponsorship or endorsement.

Questions

Mango questions, answered straight.

Do I need two mango plants to get fruit?

No — mango is self-fertile, so a single plant will set a crop. A second one usually improves yields, but it isn't required.

Is mango safe for kids and pets?

With care. SAP + peel contain urushiol (poison-ivy family) — sensitive people react; flesh is fine Site it accordingly if children or pets roam the garden. This is general reference, not medical or veterinary advice — call a vet or poison control if something has actually been eaten.

When do you harvest mango?

Summer: pick mature-green and ripen on the counter.

How do you propagate mango?

Grafted, or from cuttings/layering (seed won't come true).

Elsewhere

Where mango sits in the library.

Where mango sits in the library

Fruit trees31Self-fertile fruit trees20All collections

Grows in the same world

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