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HOW TO PLANT A MANGO SEED

Besides being beautiful and delicious, mangoes are very interesting fruits!! Did you know that more mangoes are eaten every day than any other fruit in the world? Or that they were first grown in India 5000 years ago? In India, giving someone a basket of mangoes is a sign of friendship! In their culture they also represent love and are believed to be able to grant wishes! Now that you know that, let's see if we can plant one ourselves!
By: JD

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Before you start

Mango trees can be grown from the mangos you buy at the grocery store if the seed is healthy and you plant it correctly

  • Some seeds are viable, some have been treated to sterilize, some are chilled so seed dies

  • You can tell if it is not viable if the seed is grey, but even the healthy tan seeds may not sprout if they were chilled

  • If you can, plant more than one mango seed for better chances of success

  • Another way to improve chances is to plant it quickly after taking out the seed

  • Do not let them dry out!! They won’t sprout

  • Wear gloves when you touch the seed (they have latex sap that can cause your skin to be irritated)

Getting the seed

  1. Use a peeler to take off the layer of skin on a ripe mango

  2. Cut the fruit away without cutting through the husk

  3. Eat the fruit!!

  4. Make sure no more fruit is left on the husk

  5. Cut the husk open with a sharp knife (don’t damage the seed inside)

  6. Take out the seed and throw away the husk

  7. The seed looks like a lima been with an area on top that is lighter (called “the eye”)

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Germinating the seed

In soil:

  1. Fill a pot (with drainage holes) with potting soil

  2. Wet the soil a little

  3. Dig a small hole in the soil, put the seed inside (make sure “the eye” faces up!!)

  4. Cover the seed with half an inch of soil

  5. Seed should sprout in a few weeks

In a plastic bag:​

  1. Soak the seed in warm water for 24 hours

  2. Wrap it in damp paper towels

  3. Place wrapped seed in plastic bag (leave corner open for air to enter and leave)

  4. Seed will sprout in 1-2 weeks if towels are kept moist

I will be germinating my seed using the plastic bag method, then transfer it to a pot. For now, I'm waiting 24 hours for the seed to soak! Will update you later!

Checking in on the Seed

It's been a few weeks in the plastic bag and the seed has sprouted! You can see the little sprout (the beginning of a plant beginning to form!) poking out of the seed coat. I'm going to wait a little longer before I put the seed in soil though, just to allow the root to develop more. Check back later to see the bag to pot process!

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Checking in on the Seed part 2

A couple of months later and it is clear that the seed is ready to be planted! You can see how the seed is already sprouting leaves and how much greener it has gotten since the last time we checked in!

Planting the Seed

To plant the mango seed, I filled a medium sized pot with soil and put the seed in so that its leaves could stick out. Then, I (gently) patted down the soil over the seed, making sure not to hurt or bend the leaves! I can't wait to see how much faster the mango plant starts to grow now that it has a better source of nutrients to grow from!

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