Getting to the Root of Mango’s Problems

QUESTION: I have a 3-year-old mango plant, and since last year its leaves have been shriveling and turning brown. Is there a cure for this condition?

--F.V., Montebello

ANSWER: What you describe sounds like too little water, though if the leaves first turn yellow, it could be too much water. This is always a tough call, checkable only by actually probing near the roots to see if the plant is wet or dry.

Or give the tree a gentle tug and see how well rooted into the soil it is. The roots could still be in the root ball and not in your garden soil and be drying out too fast. I killed a new citrus this way, not realizing that the root ball was going dry even though the soil around it was moist.

If the tree pulls right out of the ground with virtually no root, then too-frequent watering has rotted them off.

If the leaves get crinkly and the tips and edges turn brown first, it could be a nutrient deficiency or salts in the soil or water. As are citrus and avocados, mangoes are sensitive to too much boron or too little manganese, zinc and iron.

Readers shouldn’t be surprised to hear that someone is growing mangoes in a backyard. In the warmer, nearly frost-free areas, they have been grown for years.

According to David Silber, proprietor of Papaya Tree Nursery in Granada Hills, mangoes will grow where a ‘Haas’ avocado will (where temperatures seldom go below 28 degrees) and, in time, attain the size of a Valencia orange. Fruit ripens in fall in Southern California when there are very few in markets, an added bonus.

Don’t plant a pit from a store-bought fruit. Grown from seed, plants take up to 10 years to produce; grafted kinds produce right away, though baby fruit should be stripped off the trees until their trunks are about an inch across, measured a foot above the ground. Silber says they’ll even grow for years, and produce, in a 15-gallon container.

He sells several kinds, but his favorite is what’s called a “California variety,” named ‘Thompson.’ ‘Reliable’ is another, and he’s had good luck with ‘Edward,’ a Florida variety.

All of these fruit heavily in the Southland. There are also Philippine and Indian types (mangoes are native to India). Trees are self-fruitful, so you’ll need only one. Picked ripe off your own tree, the fruit are delicious.

Sow Bugs Don’t Harm Living Plants

Q: Those cute little roly-poly sow bugs are destroying my garden. They are killing daisies and poppies and are even eating my strawberries. What can I do?

--L.O., Simi Valley

A: Sow bugs and pill bugs (pill bugs roll up into tight little balls, sow bugs don’t) shouldn’t be harming living plants. They primarily feed on rotting or decaying matter, though they will nibble on young seedlings. If they really are doing the damage in your garden, you have an epidemic-sized problem that is probably cultural.

An excellent University of California publication called “Pests of the Garden and Small Farm,” (No. 3332, [800] 994-8849, $30) says that sow bugs and pill bugs “get blamed for more than they do,” because they are often found on fruit or flowers that were initially damaged by some other creature. Snails, for instance, may eat the plants at night, but by morning all you see are the sow bugs feeding on the already damaged and decaying sections.

First check to make sure other creatures are not doing the initial damage, then look at environmental factors such as irrigating too often or some kind of chunky mulch where they can hide and breed in excess. Sow bugs are soil-dwelling crustaceans, breathing through gills and related to crayfish, and they require moist conditions. A thick mulch that keeps the soil moist encourages breeding. Watering too often also keeps the ground too moist (and may actually cause some of the initial decomposition), encouraging their activity.

Don’t spray or use poison pellets. It most likely isn’t necessary, and these little creatures actually have an important role to fill in the garden--helping old vegetable matter break down. Cut back on watering, water early in the day, encourage good air circulation in the garden and consider using another kind of mulch. Figure out how to elevate fruits lying directly on the moist ground so they do not rot.

Strawberries are particularly susceptible; mulch with black plastic or clean hay and keep it on the dry side, or put berries in little raised beds so the berry clusters can hang over the side, off the ground, and dry out.