mango seeds

when is the best time to collect mango seeds? can you use the ones from the grocery store or do you need to get them from a farmer's market? how do you send them through the mail? i want to send some to england and don't know whether to leave them in the husk or take them out and let them dry. some of the seeds i am collecting now look like they have already started trying to germinate and some of them have brown spots...don't know if these parts of the seeds dried up or what happened.

Momma here is some pics of mango seeds I googled

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=mango%20seeds&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

You might find out some info thru clicking on the pics

Connie

My other half is a mango farmer, you plant the husk but you cut a corner off it to allow the seed to germinate inside.

i am so mad that i can't get plants from australia. lol. annette, can i take a mango that has come from the supermarket and plant the seed with any hope of germination? or would it be better to try and get a fresh one at the farmers market? that is a place here where people bring fresh produce together in one place to sell. it's usually produce that is grown somewhere close enough so that whatever it is usually is picked when it's time instead of weeks ahead of time so it can be shipped.

Just happened to be looking at this old thread, and wanted to mention that I had a seed from a store-bought mango germinate once, so it's possible! The fruit was very ripe. Of course, by now, you've surely tried it...LOL

yes and i will try again this summer when i can get mangoes fresh from the farmers market. lol.

One thing to remember; when the plants start to bear, you may not get anything like the fruit they came from. Depending on the parent's' genetics, you could possibly get a tree that bears something wonderfully soft and sweet or a fibrous little lump that's like eating a washcloth soaked in turpentine. I've seen a few volunteer seedlings in SE Florida with fruit that were like ambrosia, but many others that were horrid enough to make me shudder and wish I'd brought dental floss. Have you considered grafting?

thanks for the information. sounds like a rooted cutting might be the best plan. when i started this thread i was only wanting to grow the plant but if i grow the plant and get bad fruit i will be disappointed.

By now you may have done a lot of experimenting with mango rearing, but I figured I'd get my 2-cents in, in the event I offer some useful experience.

Is your intention/hope to eventually grow fruit--and/or are you interested in the beautiful foliage (which is also fragrant---smells of mango when it's crumpled)? I've grown several mango treelets from the embryos inside the husk-y seeds. It's not true that the 'donor' mango has to be squishily ripe; if it's ripe-ish that's good enough--in other words, it can still be extremely palatable to eat flat-out.

I particularly favour--and sometimes practically live on--the flattish, oval, buttercup-yellow Manilla variety---but the same principle applies to any mango. I'll eat every fibre down to the husk; I then take a serrated knife and start to 'saw' open the seam of the husk. When it's open enough for you to pry it open the rest of the way with your fingers, do so and gently pull out the embryo. Sometimes the embryo already has rudimentary leaves--sometimes not--but I've found that nearly any mango embryo--but particularly the heftier ones that are plumper in the center--can develop into a treelet.

Use some moistened, peaty germinating medium---put the embryo on the surface of the medium and gently press in leaving most of it exposed. Put the container with the embryo embedded in the germinating medium in a plastic bag to retain the moisture and put it on a sunny windowsill and wait. It should take a few weeks at the most for you to see the formation of leaves. Use your judgement and prior experience to decide when to remove the treelet from its plastic bubble for placement in its next home (pot of your choice).

Please let me know if this info was of any use to you!

blue cherry, that was great information. originally i just wanted to grow the plant but now i do want to eat the fruit as well. it will just be for my family so it doesn't have to be commercial grade quality. thanks for letting me know how you got the seeds to germinate. barb