Growing mangos from seed, What to do next?!

[Vorguen]

Okay, I'm officially overwhelmed and I have no idea what to do next!

I grabbed three pots, and put 1-3 mango seeds in each (depending on size). One pot nothing germinated at all, in another one 1 germinated, and in the last one like 6 germinated even though I only planted three seeds..

so I found out the mango seeds have multiple seeds inside the one seed (they were not in the husk)..

well, now I have a weird mess I don't know what to do about

these are the pictures

[img]https://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j254/Vorguen/IMG00238-20110610-2041.jpg[/img]

Here you can see the main pot, there is one large shoot that is doing super good, and in the other end there are three shots right next to each other

[img]https://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j254/Vorguen/IMG00239-20110610-2041.jpg[/img]

this is a close up picture of the three shoots

[img]https://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j254/Vorguen/IMG00240-20110610-2042.jpg[/img]

this is the big shoot, something weird happened near it and there is a big stem coming out of the ground and goes right back in the ground, like if something germinated underground in a weird way, I don't know what to do about this if I should try to help it out of the ground or should I leave it alone? also its close to the biggest shoot

[img]https://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j254/Vorguen/IMG00241-20110610-20422.jpg[/img]

this is the only one that germinated in a different pot, it looks kind of weak and not very good




anyway, now that I have my mangos at this stage, I have no idea what to do with them and how to help them out... can anyone tell me whats the best course of action to take, thanks!

[Vorguen]

Oh also, the leaves have marks on them and it looks like buggies are eating them, anything I can do about that too?

[tomc]

The clorosis (yellowing) of leaves and the look of your soil sugests that you are using primarily potting soil. Loess based potting soil does not permit good gass exchange (to roots).

I am not that optimistic that even with a change of soil those seedlings will survive.

Woody plants need much faster draining soil.

[Vorguen]

What do you mean they won't make it? also it was used on some seed starting soil that I thought looked like it drained well I guess I didnt know what I was doing.

are you sure these seedlings are beyond repair? they are getting eaten I think, or what else is doing that to the leaves (the missing leave bits)..

also, what about the little stem popping in the ground? and the multiple stems emerging?

also one looks very sturdy..


So should I water them less? maybe until the pot appears quite dry? we're getting hotter late spring here, around the 90's

[TheWaterbug]

also, what about the little stem popping in the ground?

I've had a mango seed do this before. The shoot was stuck in the seed, but the stem kept growing, and it looked just like yours.

It eventually popped out, but by then the stem had woodified (is that a word?) a bit, and so the plant always had a kink in it at the bottom. It probably would have been an issue had the plant survived the week of heat and neglect that eventually killed it. <sniff>

I'd dig down and bit and see what's going on. As long as the root is still in the soil you're probably going to hurt it. If it's stuck you may be able to nudge it loose or even sacrifice a leaf to get it growing up again.

[Vorguen]

ah got you, thats really good to know, some of the mangos look iffy because I transplanted them, and I kept the big one in its original pot, that one seems to be doing okay, but something is eating them!

any idea whats eating them and what could help?

[TheWaterbug]

I'd dig down and bit and see what's going on. As long as the root is still in the soil you're probably going to hurt it.

Err, that should read "you're probably _not_ going to hurt it."

[TheWaterbug]

any idea whats eating them and what could help?

Unfortunately, no. Mine always attract bugs, too.