How to Clone a Mango Tree
- 1). Grow the seedling until it is the diameter of a pencil. Grafting should take place when temperatures are warm, with nighttime temperatures above 64 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 2). Harvest a terminal twig from the mature mango using a sharp knife that has been wiped clean with alcohol to prevent disease transfer. Cut a 2- to 3-inch piece of wood that is just beginning to swell but whose buds have not yet broken. Make sure the piece includes at least three bud nodes.
- 3). Use the knife to make a thin shaving-type cut down the side of the seedling trunk. The cut should be approximately 2 inches long and the layer cut away will still be attached at the bottom of the seedling. The part that peels away should be about the thickness of three or four pieces of paper and expose the cambium layer of the seedling.
- 4). Prepare the harvested twig by shaving away one side of the wood. Pare just enough off to expose green wood. At the end shape the wood to a point.
- 5). Put the pointed end of the shaved twig into the seedling cut. Match cut wood to cut wood on the seedling and twig. Nestle the pointed end in the V of the cut piece of seedling.
- 6). Wrap the union of the two pieces of wood with grafting tape starting at the bottom. Wind the tape all the way up the seedling trunk. Tie the tape off at the top.
- 7). Pinch off the terminal bud on the seedling at the top. This will stop it from putting energy into vertical growth so it concentrates energy into growing the graft union. The plant will graft in about two weeks. Place the grafted seedling in bright indirect light and care for the seedling as usual during this time.
- 8). Prune the growth of the seedling off at the top of the graft once the grafted twig has produced two new sets of leaves. Keep the grafted seedling moderately moist as it sprouts a new top.
