Frequently asked questions

The scientific name of the mango tree is Mangifera indica L., and it belongs to the cashew family, Anacardiaceae. In Hindi it is आम (aam), and the tree is आम का पेड़.

Aam (आम) is called mango in English, and the tree is the mango tree. Other Indian names include amb in Hindi, amra in Sanskrit, amba in Marathi, mamidi in Telugu and ma in Tamil.

Plant a healthy grafted sapling from a reliable nursery at the start of the rains, in a pit on deep, well-drained land. NHB suggests a pit of about 0.5 m each way in deep loamy soil and 1 m in shallow soil; refill it with soil mixed with well-rotted manure, plant at the depth the sapling stood in its bag, keep the graft union above the soil, make a basin, water at once and stake the plant. For spacing, NHB gives about 10-12 m between orchard trees, so leave room for a wide crown; this is only a rough starting point, not a safe distance from a house or pipes, so ask your local horticulture office.

Plant a mango in the monsoon, which NHB calls the best time all over India. As a guide, that means July-August in the north, central India and the east, towards the end of the rains on the very wet west coast, and October-November only on the Tamil Nadu coast, where the main rains come with the north-east monsoon. Plant when the rains have wetted the soil in your district, and avoid April-June.

Yes, a mango stone will usually sprout if it is fresh, but the tree may not give fruit like the one you ate and may take many years to flower (ICRAF). Clean the pulp off the stone, sow it soon in a bag of loose, moist soil, and do not let it dry out, because ICRAF notes that mango seed dies within about 7 days in open storage at 30 °C. For good fruit, nurseries graft a known plant onto such seedlings.

Only for a while: mango is naturally a large tree with a deep root system that needs deep soil (ICRAF), so it is not a true pot plant. A grafted sapling can be kept in a large, well-drained container on a sunny terrace for some years, with regular watering and pruning, but expect few fruits, and move it into the ground if you want a full tree. Our sources give no tested pot-growing method for India, so ask your local KVK or horticulture office for advice.

A mango usually flowers in late winter and early spring, and the fruit ripens a few months later. In a Bihar study (Tiwari and colleagues, 2019) the first flower clusters appeared between late January and late February and fruit took roughly 98-109 days from full bloom to maturity; TNAU gives the harvest season in Tamil Nadu as March to June. Grafted plants start bearing at about 3-4 years (NABARD), but TNAU advises removing the flowers for the first three years; seedlings take longer and vary.

Look for a large evergreen tree with a dense, dark green, umbrella-shaped crown and long, narrow, leathery leaves (ICRAF gives about 16-30 cm) set one by one and crowded at the branch tips; new leaves are red (ICRAF). In late winter it carries big branched clusters of tiny greenish-white or pinkish flowers, later the familiar fruit on long stalks. Jamun looks similar but has shorter leaves in opposite pairs and small purple-black berries (ICRAF).

Whether it is shubh or ashubh is a matter of belief, not something our sources can settle, but mango leaves are widely used in auspicious Hindu rites, on the kalash and as door torans. The practical answer depends on space: a mango grows into a large tree with a wide crown, so plant it only where it has room to spread, away from walls, pipes and overhead wires; this is only a rough starting point, not a safe distance, so ask your local horticulture office if space is tight.

The fruit is widely eaten, but the sap and peel can cause an allergic skin rash in sensitive people; a 2021 review in Medicina says this is rare and usually comes from the peel. ICRAF also warns that large amounts of mango leaves fed to cattle can kill them. Effects on dogs and cats are not well documented, so keep pets from chewing leaves, bark or the stone, and see a doctor or vet if a reaction appears.