I am looking for a specie of mango that is called "broken" around the Makurdi - Gboko Area. I have no idea of the actual name but its one specie I would like around my house.
Meanwhile, I went hunting for information on how to graft mangoes and this is what I found out:
(1) Create rootstock growth using the seeds of a successful mango tree. Water and fertilize the seed until growth occurs. Allow the new seedling stem to grow to a thickness of about 3/8 to 1 inch in diameter. If the seedling is green in color, without rot or disease, and it produces healthy leaves and buds, it will be useful as a rootstock. The proper age for rootstock is typically between 6 months and 1 year old.
(2) Cut the rootstock off about 4 inches above the soil using a pair of very sharp pruning shears or a grafting knife. Make the cut level, and avoid any damage to the stem below the cut. Use your grafting knife to split the remaining stem in half from the top down to about 1 inch above the surface of the soil.
(3)Locate a scion, or new growth shoot, on an existing mango tree. The scion should be taken from a successful tree that produces regular quality fruit and flowers. The scion should have a thickness equal to or slightly smaller than the rootstock to which it will be grafted and should have fresh buds and healthy leaves. Use your grafting knife to cut the scion from the tree, then trim back the topmost leaves.
(4)Cut the open end of the 5- to 6-inch-long scion in a wedge shape. Slice away the bark along each side of the scion to create an angled point at the center. Slide the scion wedge into the slot you have cut in the rootstock so the respective cuts line up. Use your grafting tape to wrap the rootstock tightly to the scion so that all is held firmly in place.
(5)Place a plastic bag over the new graft from the top down, and tie it off at the bottom. The bag protects the graft from insects and pests and provides a mini-greenhouse effect by raising the temperature and moisture levels. If the graft sits in direct sunlight, cover the plastic bag with a second paper bag for a bit of shade.
(6)Remove the bags once the grafted tree has started growing, and remove the tape when the tree starts to produce new leaves. Water the grafted tree as you would a normal mango sapling.
There are several grafting methods that may be employed. The cleft grafting method as described above is one of the simplest and most effective.
Warnings
Do not allow dirt, chemicals or organic matter of any kind to come into contact with the open edges of the scion or the rootstock can result in disease and a failure to graft properly. Keep the area and the components clean throughout the process.
Mango tree leaves are poisonous to humans. Do not eat or burn the leaves.
Wear work gloves when using sharp garden tools. Serious injury otherwise may occur.
Got from: http://homeguides.sfgate.com/graft-mangoes-20428.html
Grafting Mangoes
Re: Grafting Mangoes
I did say that I was looking for a specie of mango called broken. So I went Internet hunting and came across this sorry article that made me sad and optimistic at the same time. Sad cis huge opportunity is allowed to slip by and optimistic that there is huge potential for orchard farming in the benue belt.
Mapping Mangoes: First Stop, Benue.
We’ve all heard at least one sad tale of the ‘large quantities’ of fruits in ‘X’ state rotting by the roadside. The prevailing view is that Nigeria has ‘vast’ quantities of raw materials that are available for processing. In our last post, we posited that “There are no mangoes for processing and there’s no processing for mangoes.” So, what’s the real story? Well, we’ll tell you what we found out when we visited the “mango belt” of Nigeria.
First things first, quick intro; my name is Dami Bolaji, I am the Project Lead for ‘Markets and Mangoes’. I have worked in the Agribusiness sector for over three years now with a good portion of my experience in operations, market linkages and research. I have been working with ReelFruit since 2015, trying to map fruits that are suitable for processing. In 2016, we decided to focus on mangoes to figure out price variances, quantities (the most difficult task of all), logistics, etc. According to the FAO in 2015, Nigeria produced 850,000 tonnes of mango. Certainly, these 850,000 tonnes would be visible even to the blind.
The goal was to get actual pictures of what I imagined to be orchards across the middle belt, producing ‘large quantities’ of mangoes. I also tried to corroborate this research from local government research institutes. A quick trip to Ibadan to visit the National Horticultural Research Institute, confirmed our suspicions; no one could accurately tell us what quantities & varieties, mangoes were grown locally. We were however told ‘ there are large farms in Benue and Kaduna’- so off I went.
In Benue, under my supervision, we sent researchers to 7 mango-producing areas, and the results were pretty confusing. It was notoriously difficult to estimate the costs/ KG among other issues. Tracing these ‘orchards’ seemed like a going on a wild goose chase, and even getting the names of the species felt like PhD-level work. For all the times, I had been promised ‘Benue was the place for Mangoes,’ the trip was an anti-climax. I didn’t actually see any established plantation with my eyes, a quality assurance red flag! What I found were inconsistent quantities of odd varieties of mangoes that are neither popular in the world market or in Nigeria, for that matter . Varieties such as Peter, John, Julie, were found, but poor farm management practices had resulted in irregular harvests and poor taste. Most of these mangoes are sour and are unusable for processing.
In one instance, I was directed to a ‘big orchard’ in one village; after a 2-hour car and an ‘okada’ ride later said ‘orchard’ was a bunch of scattered trees in people’s backyards! It was hard to get anyone to speculate about harvest volumes because everything was in the hands of God — and the rains. No one I spoke to pruned trees, few applied fertilisers, and most did not water their trees during the dry season.
Logistics was another problem; at peak season, it would take about 6 days to load a 30-tonne truck, excluding delivery to Lagos, which entails numerous checkpoints en route.
All in all, nothing bore any semblance to organized production of mango in Benue. We tried our best to crunch whatever reliable numbers we got, and we still weren’t able to reliably approximate how many mangoes- or trees-were in Benue. What we can conclude, is that the varieties and quantities of Mangoes in Benue are not as many as people think, and they certainly do not work for our purposes (and we suspect for any other forms of processing.)
But before we go, some of you may be asking, ‘what about the famous “Ogbomoso”/ “Sheri” mango?’ Ogbomoso has mainly local varieties, with very little ‘flesh’ and a massive seed. These mangoes are quite stringy and fibrous. Not only would it a lot of time and effort to process, the yields would be too small for the effort required to process them. Unfortunately, not useful for us.
So, Is it all bad news?
Well, no. We did find (by chance) a ‘secret’ farm in Ekiti, growing what we consider high quality, Keitt and Kent mangoes. This was definitely a pleasant surprise. We hope to stumble on more ‘surprises’ as we continue our mapping, so if you know any farms growing, small, medium or even ‘large quantities’ of Keitt and Kent mangoes, please let us know in the comments section.
As usual, thanks for reading.
