How To Take Care Of Mango Plant In Winter?

Mango trees / plants are one of the ideal addition to your garden, for their beauty, shade and tasty fruit. Tree or plant that grows well in tropical climates, usually planted outside, can grow in other climates also. Protecting the mango tree from winter/ frost is very important thing otherwise you will be loosing your plant/tree.

Mango plant can be taken care of in winter or frosting by mulching, placing in frost-resistant place, covered with tarps, blankets before nightfall, by wrapping mango plant with blankets, moving it to indoor, removing weeds under the plant, and thorough watering.

Here are the steps that you can follow to take care of mango plant in Winter.

1. Mulching the Mango plant

Start Mulching around the base of the plant in mid-frost before the first fall, use waste wooden chips, straws make a thick layer of mulch about 3 inches to protect from winter.

Extend the mulching to 3 to 4 feet around the mango plant to protect it better.

wood chip mulch prevents soil moisture loss and insulates roots to absorb more heat.

Water the mango plant once every week late fall throughout the winter before the freeze, water the soil, and put some more mulch on top of that this helps in warming the ground, making more warmer for the plant.

2. Placing of Mango plants in Frost resistant spot

It is true for plants as it is for real estate, good location plays an important role. keep the seedlings, mango plants in areas that are less likely to experience damaging cold.

cold air moves from higher ground to lower ground so it will pass the plants located on the higher side of the ground or slopes. That’s why the best place to keep plants in a less susceptible place to frost in these elevated regions.

Keeping the plant near benches, walls where there is a dark color, particularly if they are south or west facing provides additional protection.

During the day structure absorb heat from the sun and throughout the night they radiate the heat. This helps the mango plant

PRO TIP

Smart placement of plant near other plants, wall especially if the structures are south or west facing will protect to some long extent from frost.

3. Covering the Mango plant

Mango plants or trees are native to India, so when you try to grow these plants or trees where it freezes in winter, need to take additional protection for the plant.

Here are some of the items which you can cover the mango plant in winter

• Bed sheets / blankets
• drop clothes
• cloches
• milk jug with bottom cut out
• inverted flower pot or bucket
• frost clothes
• Garden blankets such as reemay

Remember that covers need not be expensive, just cover the trees with a blanket upside down and you will be good to go. If you need you can connect sticks on the ground to make a blanket not to slide off from the plant or tree.

4. Covering the Mango plant before Nightfall

If you are planning to cover the mango plant before the hard frost, or coldly winters. Do it before dusk so that heat will not be dissipated in your garden. if you do it after dusk most of the heat will be dissipated before you even put up the blankets or any material that you are trying to cover.

make sure you are extending the blanket till it reaches the soil on each side, if you can it is advisable to use stakes to keep the material, especially plastic from touching the foliage.

In the morning after the frost have thawed, remove the blanket. otherwise it will cause the plant to break dormancy and starts growing again. which makes the plant more likely to frost damage in future.

5. Warming up Mango plants with Water Jug

Fill up the water jug with water in the morning and keep it outside.

Idea is to get the water heated and before dusk, you cover the jug with plastic which will help the water to get cold slowly and emits hotness and keeps the plant warmer.

6. Protecting Mango plant with Cloches

strictly speaking cloches are made of glasses or plastic cover that protects plants from cover. most often it covers individual plants, sometimes also covered for whole row.

These are placed on plants before the sun go down. removed back in the morning once the sun rise up.

Plastic cloches are less expensive compare to glass ones. They are also less weight but they must be staked on the ground to prevent them from blowing away from high winds.

Pro Tip

Keep Cloches Staked Down
Stake lightweight cloches into the ground to prevent them from blowing over.

7. Wrap Mango Plant

Be sure to wrap the trunk of mango tree/ plant in the fall with burlap strips or tree wrap. Most tree have thin barks so when the temperature drops drastically there are chances of splitting. so this tree wrap help the mango plants to not split when temperature drops drastically.

You can wrap up with many layers depends on cold temperature, wrapping should touch the ground to till the limbs, branches of plant/tree. don’t keep the cover too tight.

Unlike covering the whole tree wrapping can be kept whole winter season.

8. Moving the Mango plant to the indoors

If you planted your plant in pots if there is a chance to move your plant inside, move inside and give south-facing sun to warm up the plant, cut down on the water.

once the frost is over you can keep it back mango plant outside

9. Removing weeds under Mango Plant

Remove turf / weeds from under tree canopies, this helps the plant or tree to absorb more heat.

Bare soil absorbs and reflect soil best compared to which have weeds.

10. Thoroughly watering Mango Plant

• Watered soil (moist soil) absorbs more solar heat than dry soil.
• Reflect the heat during the night.
• If you have large/big tree watering, sprinkling the water at the most coldest time of the day. Maybe from 4AM to 6AM this strategy works on latent heat released when water changes from liquid to solid. when the ice crystal forms on leaf surface they draw moisture from leaf tissue. Damage from this dehydration is less when plant is not draught stressed.

Pro TIP

To save plant, Pruning should be avoided just after the frost.

FAQ

Q. How to protect mango tree from frost?

A. Mango plant can be protected in winter or frosting by mulching, placing in frost-resistant place, covered with tarps, blankets before nightfall, by wrapping mango plant with blankets, moving it to indoor, removing weeds under the plant, and thorough watering.

Q. How to care for mango plant?

A. Mango plant can be taken care by mulching, placing in frost-resistant place, covered with tarps, blankets before nightfall, by wrapping mango plant with blankets, moving it to indoor, removing weeds under the plant, and thorough watering.

Q. Will a mango tree survive winter?

A. yes, Mango tree survive winter by mulching, placing in frost-resistant place, covered with tarps, blankets before nightfall, by wrapping mango plant with blankets, moving it to indoor, removing weeds under the plant, and thorough watering.

Final Thoughts

I have used many of the above steps to protect my mango plant from winter, Please give your views in comments.