- 2 days ago
If you want to grow a mango tree from seed, the first mistake to avoid is planting the mango pit the wrong way. The key is that the flat outer shell is not the real seed at all; inside it is the true kidney-shaped seed that germinates much faster once it is freed. This guide shows how to wash, dry, crack, and plant a mango seed correctly so it has the best chance to sprout.
It also explains which side should face down, how deep to plant it, and why warm, moist conditions matter for germination. A simple plastic bottle greenhouse is used to create a small humid, heated space, then the young plant is moved to a pot with well-draining soil and careful watering. The video also covers common mango-growing mistakes, the red copper-colored new leaves, and why mango is best grown as a tropical houseplant in colder climates.
Created for viewers searching for mango seed germination, how to plant a mango seed, grow mango from seed, fruit tree propagation, and beginner gardening tips. Useful for home gardening, tropical plant care, and anyone looking for a practical seed-starting tutorial with clear, searchable advice on mango tree growing and common planting errors.
It also explains which side should face down, how deep to plant it, and why warm, moist conditions matter for germination. A simple plastic bottle greenhouse is used to create a small humid, heated space, then the young plant is moved to a pot with well-draining soil and careful watering. The video also covers common mango-growing mistakes, the red copper-colored new leaves, and why mango is best grown as a tropical houseplant in colder climates.
Created for viewers searching for mango seed germination, how to plant a mango seed, grow mango from seed, fruit tree propagation, and beginner gardening tips. Useful for home gardening, tropical plant care, and anyone looking for a practical seed-starting tutorial with clear, searchable advice on mango tree growing and common planting errors.
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00:00Here is a mistake that ruins near half the mango seeds folk try to grow, and it is right there
00:05in how they plant it.
00:07They take that big flat mango stone, push it in the soil, and wait, and it rots or struggles or
00:14never comes up,
00:15and they give up sure a mango cannot be grown from seed.
00:18But the trouble was not the seed, it was two things they never knew, that they planted the wrong part,
00:24and they planted it the wrong way up.
00:27Today I am going to show you the right way, and one trick that makes a mango sprout fast and
00:32sure where most folks fails,
00:34and I will start it for you in an old plastic bottle that was bound for the bin.
00:39So keep up, for by the end you will grow a mango tree from the stone you are about to
00:45throw away.
00:46I am Elias, and growing a tree from the seed of the fruit you ate is a fine, thrifty wonder,
00:52and the mango is a grand one to try it with,
00:55so let me hand you the whole honest way of it.
00:58Quick word before I go further.
01:00The old methods my family uses, there is more of it than fits in any one video.
01:05I gathered the whole of it into a book at EliasYoder.com.
01:08The book is the long version. If you want it, it is there. I will not mention it again.
01:14A mango was a rare and wondrous thing when I was young, tasted but seldom, and I remember an old
01:20traveled friend of the family showing me once how to grow the tree from the stone,
01:25prying that hard husk open with his knife to show me the secret seed hid inside, like a nut in
01:31its shell.
01:32Most folk throw away the very thing that would grow them a tree, Elias, he said, for they never look
01:37inside the shell.
01:39I never forgot the wonder of that hidden seed, so let me hand you what he showed me.
01:43Now here is the first thing near everyone gets wrong, and it is the whole secret, that the big flat
01:50stone you dig out of your mango is not the seed at all.
01:53It is only a hard husk, a shell, and the true seed is inside it, a kidney-shaped kernel, tucked
02:00within that fibrous stone.
02:02And that is why folks' mangoes are so slow and so patchy to come up, for they plant the whole
02:08hard husk, and the true seed inside must fight its way out of it, and often rots first.
02:14So the trick, the real trick, is to open that husk and free the seed.
02:19You take your mango stone, wash it clean of the flesh, and let it dry a day so you can
02:25handle it.
02:25Then take a sturdy knife or your kitchen shears, and carefully pry and cut along the edge of the husk,
02:32the seam of it, and split it open like a shell, and mind your fingers, for it is tough.
02:37And inside you will find the true seed, that kidney-shaped kernel. Free it out of the husk.
02:43And now that it is bare of its shell, it will sprout far faster and surer, days instead of weeks,
02:50and you can see plain that it is a good sound seed, and not a dead one.
02:54Open the husk, take out the true kidney seed, and you have won half the battle already.
03:00Two helps in the opening. First, if the husk is too hard and tight to pry, soak the whole stone
03:07in a bit of warm water a day or two first, which softens the husk and makes it give easier.
03:12And second, mind your knife of the seed within. Work the blade in at the seam and pry. Do not
03:19stab down into the middle, for a seed cut or gouged is a seed spoiled. So open the shell gentle,
03:26and leave the kernel whole. Soak if it is stubborn, pry at the seam, and keep the seed unharmed.
03:33Now here comes the second thing folk get wrong. The very thing in the name. Do not plant it upside
03:39down. For that kernel has a top and a bottom, and it matters.
03:43Look at the kidney-shaped seed, and you will see it has a curve to it, an inner curve and
03:49an outer, and along that inner curved edge toward one end is a little eye or pale spot, and it
03:55is from near there the root comes.
03:57So the rule is this. That curved edge lies down and to the side, and the end where the little
04:03eye is points down and out, for that is where the root will go, down into the soil. Lay it
04:10flat on its side, curved belly down, and it settles the right way for the root to go down and
04:16the shoot to come up.
04:17Plant it standing on end, or flip the wrong way, and the root must waste itself turning around, and it
04:24struggles or fails. So lay the kidney seed flat, curved down, eye end down and out. Never plant it upside
04:34down.
04:36Now to sprout it, and here is where your bottle comes in, for a mango seed wants warmth and damp
04:43to sprout, and an old plastic bottle makes the perfect little warm damp chamber for it, free from the bin.
04:51You take a plastic bottle and cut it around, most of the way, leaving a hinge so the top folds
04:58back like a lid, or cut it clean in two to nest one half in the other.
05:04In the bottom, you put a couple inches of moist soil, or even just a damp cloth or damp paper,
05:11and you lay your freed kidney seed on it, curved down, and cover it with just a little more moist
05:19soil, barely covered.
05:21Then you close the bottle up over it, and there you have a snug little warm damp glass house that
05:28holds the moisture and the warmth in around the seed, poking a hole or two for a bit of air.
05:36Set it in a warm spot.
05:38Warm is the great thing for a mango, a warm windowsill or atop the warm cellar, and keep it just
05:46damp, and in a week or two, freed of its husk and kept warm and damp so, it sends out
05:53its root and then its sprout.
05:55A bottle for a warm damp cradle, and it sprouts quick.
06:01And do keep an eye on it in that closed bottle, and open it now and again for fresh air,
06:07for a chamber kept too close and warm and wet with no air can turn moldy, so a bit of
06:15air keeps it sweet while the damp does its work.
06:19Now once it has rooted well and sprouted up, you pot it on into soil, and here again a bottle
06:27serves.
06:27A taller bottle, cut down with good drainage holes poked in the bottom, filled with a rich but well draining
06:35soil.
06:36Plenty of compost, but loose so it never sits soggy, for the mango, like most of these, rots in a
06:44swamp but wants steady moisture.
06:47And you plant your sprouted seed in it, gently for the root, setting it so the top shoulder of the
06:54seed sits just at or a touch above the soil, not buried deep.
07:01Water it in, and set it in the warmth and light.
07:05Now it grows on.
07:07And it grows fast, a mango.
07:10And here is a fine and curious thing you will see, that the new leaves of a young mango often
07:17come out not green, but a coppery red or purple, soft and drooping, and folk fear their plant is sick
07:26or dying.
07:27It is not.
07:29That is just how a mango throws its new growth, soft and red and hanging, and in a few days
07:36those leaves stiffen and turn up and go green and all is well.
07:42So do not fret the red, drooping new leaves.
07:46They are the sign of a mango growing well.
07:50Now the growing on, plainly, and it is much the same as the other tender, potted trees I have shown
07:58you.
07:58It wants all the warmth and bright sun you can give it, a sunny window and outdoors in the warm
08:06months.
08:07But the mango is a tropical tree, warmer even than most, and the frost kills it dead and even a
08:15good chill sets it back.
08:17So in the cold country it is a house plant, a tub tree, kept warm indoors and brought in well
08:25before any frost, out and in with the seasons and always kept from the cold.
08:33Water it steady but never soggy, letting the top dry a little between.
08:39Feed it gently with a bit of compost or compost tea.
08:44And a word on the water, that the mango, like the avocado, does not care for a hard, salty, limey
08:52water.
08:53So if your tap runs hard, give it caught rainwater when you can, soft from the sky, and it rewards
09:02you with greener leaves and no burnt brown tips.
09:06And here is a shaping tip, for like the avocado, a mango can shoot up leggy.
09:13So when it is a foot or so tall, you can nip its top to make it branch and bush
09:19out fuller.
09:21Nip it to bush it, keep it warm, and it grows a handsome tree.
09:28Now here comes the honest word about the fruit, for I will not sweeten it, you deserve the plain truth.
09:35Do not grow this, counting on a crop of mangoes, soon, or in the cold country, likely ever.
09:43A mango from seed takes long years to fruit, five, eight, and more.
09:48And a mango kept as a potted houseplant in the cold north, where it can never reach its great size,
09:55nor its tropical warmth, will most likely never fruit at all.
09:59So grow it for the fine, handsome tree it makes, a grand green thing for your window and porch, grown
10:06for nothing from a stone,
10:08and a joy to raise, but not counting on the fruit.
10:12Now here is a thing about mango seed that is genuinely different from the others, and it is worth the
10:18knowing, so mark it.
10:20With most fruit, I have told you the seed does not come true, it is a lucky dip.
10:26But the mango is a curious exception, for many kinds of mango have a seed that holds not one, but
10:33several little plants in it,
10:35and all but one of those grow up an exact copy of the mother tree, true to the fruit you
10:41ate.
10:42So with those kinds, if your seed sprouts several shoots from the one seed, you keep the strong, true ones,
10:50and you have the very mango you started with, not a lucky dip at all.
10:55Now not every mango is of that kind.
10:58Some are the ordinary, single seed sort that is a lucky dip like the rest,
11:03and you cannot always tell which you have till it grows.
11:07But it is a real chance with a mango, more than any other, that your seed grows true.
11:13So a mango seed is the best bet of all the from seed fruits for coming true,
11:19though still a long wait to prove it.
11:21And if you want a known mango for certain and sooner, the sure way, as ever, is a young grafted
11:29tree,
11:29which fruits true and years sooner than any seed.
11:33Now let me say a small, plain word, not a who-profits sermon, for a mango stone is no one's
11:41scheme.
11:42But notice what grew this fine tree, a stone you were about to throw in the bin,
11:47an old bottle that was rubbish, too, a bit of soil, and a little warmth and patience.
11:53Not a pot bought, not a thing spent, a whole, handsome, tropical tree grown on your window sill
12:01from two things bound for the rubbish.
12:04There is a great trade in selling folk fine green houseplants at a dear price,
12:09the very sort of tree you just grew for nothing from your fruit.
12:13So folk come to think a grand plant must be bought, when it rides inside the mango they eat
12:20and grows in the bottle they throw away.
12:23That old thrift, of growing a whole living tree from what the world discards,
12:29is worth more than any bought plant.
12:32So there is the old way to grow a mango from its stone, in a bottle.
12:36Know first that the flat stone is only a husk, so pry it open and take out the true kidney
12:44-shaped seed within,
12:46for it sprouts far faster freed.
12:49Lay that seed flat, curved down, its eye end down and out, never upside down.
12:56Sprout it warm and damp in a cut bottle for a little glass house, and it roots in a week
13:02or two.
13:03Pot it on into soil in a drained bottle planter, shoulder above the soil,
13:08and do not fear its red drooping new leaves, for that is health.
13:13Keep it warm and bright, bring it in from all frost, nip its top to bush it.
13:19And know the honest truth, that it makes a grand free tree, but a long shot for fruit in the
13:25cold,
13:26though of all seeds the mango has the best chance of coming true.
13:30And graft a known tree, if you want the fruit for sure.
13:35Do these, and from a stone and a bottle you both would have thrown away,
13:40you will grow a fine mango tree, for nothing.
13:44Now I want to hear from you.
13:46Tell me down below whether you had ever known that the flat mango stone is only a husk with the
13:53true seed inside,
13:54and whether you had planted yours whole and upside down before, for those two catch near everyone.
14:01And tell me your county, and how warm or cold your place, for the mango loves the warmth and dreads
14:08the frost,
14:09and in the cold it is a treasured house plant.
14:12I read every one.
14:14Next time, I want to show you the old craft of grafting a fruit tree,
14:19the sure faster way to grow a tree that truly fruits, and fruits true,
14:24an exact copy of a known good tree bearing years sooner than any seed or stone.
14:30The answer for when you want the fruit, and not just the tree.
14:34The old people saw a whole tree folded up in the stone of the fruit they ate,
14:39and grew green and beauty and the wonder of a living thing from what others threw away,
14:46patient over the years, asking nothing of any store.
14:49There is a quiet wisdom in that, in raising a grand tree from a thing bound for the bin,
14:56in a vessel bound for the bin, and treasuring the growing of it as much as any fruit it might
15:02one day give.
15:03The people who built this country with their hands knew that,
15:06and we are only just starting to remember it.
15:10and we want to watch the tree with the tree that was called the tree.