I introduce to you, Sir Edward the Second.

 

Here is the package I got from TopTropicals and Edward wrapped up like a closed umbrella.

Edward unfurled. Note the rootball. He has a nice thick trunk and leafy. I noticed the top had what looked like multiple branches, that had been cut off. Perhaps to make the plant smaller for shipping?
I hope that once Edwards show signs of surviving and get establish, I'll prune it down or try notching to encourage lower lateral branching.

Here is Edward's root mass. I washed off all the soil and bare-rooted him. Shocking no doubt but I wanted to go soilless completely.

Here is Edward in a Gro Pot. I soaked the fabric container until the water coming out the bottom was almost clear. I wanted to make sure I leeched out as much of the fertilizer that I used with Southern Blush. I hope there are no air pockets in the pot.

Here is Edward in a Home Depot bucket and placed in my kitchen; where the light levels are low, allowing Edward to conserve water.

Julie #1

After a year and all its set-backs, my first Julie might finally grow full sized leaves. It seems happy?

Glenn on its second flush of growth.

In just one day the leaves are bigger. I should have set up a camera to make stop-motion footage of the leaf growth.

Even the small twig is pushing growth. Nice.

Glenn is coming along nicely.

Pickering loosing second twig/branch

The dark stripe on the twig is showing signs of shriveling. This photo was taken on the 9th, and today (10th) the leaves are drying up. Sad.

I flushed all my mango's pots with R.O. water in the hopes of reducing the EC level.

Measuring Electrical Conductivity and Ph.

Well I finally read a couple of small articles about ideal Ph and EC (Electrical Conductivity) for soil.

A Ph of 6.5 is ideal for nutrient absorption.

For soil, it turns out that a reading between 200 - 1200 microSiemens per centimeter (µS/cm) is ideal for the EC.

Well I flushed my potted mango plants with a lot of R.O. water and measured (with my Hanna pocket meter) the water that drained out the bottom. It turns out that I have been over-fertilizing. Some of my mango tree had readings of over 2000µS/cm and one with a reading of 3000µS/cm! Good golly! Lancetilla and Pickering had these type of readings. Now I need to flush out my plants completely for the next couple of weeks. Two of my trees had reading of about 800 micorsiemens which was great but their Ph was pretty high (over 7.5).

I am hoping to adjust my watering from now on and watch my plants.

Growing

Glenn is pushing new growth.

Pickering doing well.

My first Julie is also putting out new growth.

Lancetilla's new leaves are holding. Three of the twigs died off.

Lancetilla. See the black necrotic tissue on the twig.

Graham.

Carrie pushing three buds.

Julie #4 had growth on three of its four branches.

Young (aka Tebow) is putting out a leaf bud on one of its mini branches.

The other Young mango isn't pushing any growth. I wonder why the other Young mango is?

Ordered Edward today

Update: TopTropicals shipped My Edward on Monday May 9th, 2001.

Today, I ordered from TopTropicals.com my second Edward variety mango.

I used my gift card I got from work to pay for the tree. How fun. This will be my second Edward mango and it will be called "Edward the second." Gives it an air of regality don't you think?

Edward will be potted in Southern Blushes' Gro Pot.

Image of delicious Edward mangoes thanks to Wikipedia.