I'm quite attatched to my indoor mango tree, but it seems ill. The leaves are beginning to curl and go brown, and are withering and falling off, even the new ones, and this has gone on for about 1yr, before that it was a perfectly healthy tree. It's about 7 yrs old and approx. 7ft tall. what is wrong?
There are some pictures of it and its soil in the attatchment.
Also, when you pour water into the soil, small greyish, flea- looking bugs come out. could this be the problem? if so, what can I do about it?
It's grown out of the light into the dark, that won't help it. Also check for over- or under-watering. Looks like it could do with repotting too. Sorry, don't know about the insects.
thankyou, that helped. do you (or anyone else) know what i could do about it growing into the dark? As well as that, how often should i water it- at the moment it gets about 1/2 a litre of water a day
Last edited by rowenaravenclaw; January 29th, 2007 at 08:53 AM.
Reason: not enough question
I think that your mango is suffering from over-watering, due to the symptoms. I think it has Fungus Gnat, which are the flies you are seeing when you water it - they often develop in the soil when a plant is over watered. You can control this with an insecticide containing Imidacloprid (Brand name Provado in the UK). Letting the soil dry out between waterings will also help. I don't know how much water they require but I suspect no much.
You could try cutting the top half (or more) off, it should sprout again from dormant buds near the cut end; cut just above a leaf or leaf scar (where a leaf used to be). I guess that is something you'll have to get used to doing regularly; growing what wants to be a 30-metre-tall tree in a 2 metre space indoors is inevitably going to run into major problems. Try finding a bonsai forum and ask if bonsai treatment of mangos is feasible (sorry, don't know myself). If it is, it will mean a lot of care effort. The other option is to buy another mango, and start over with a new seed - I think that's what I'd be inclined to do.
Hello, I did not realise that you were posting from the UK! This should be available at most garden centres. Provado 'Ultimate Bug Killer' is the full name.
Yes. Please see my response in this related thread.
My tree was started from seed I believe sometime late in the last century. I've had success keeping its size in check by growing it in a small container. Amazingly, it is still in an 8" pot after all these years. Its roots don't seem to make any attempt to break out, unlike some other trees.
thank you, this does help a lot. we've stopped watering it and luckily, no more healthy leaves are going brown, but the already affected ones are continuing to die. I'm gonna try the trimming thing as soon as i get home. if we did repot it, would it try to grow any bigger?
