Mango
Growing a mango from a seed is a strange experience. It is one of the weirdest plants I have grown so far.
You can grow a mango from the seed in the middle of a supermarket purchased mango fruit. The first thing to realise is that once you have removed the flesh, the slippery pale thing that is left over is not the seed. This husk needs to be carefully split in two, to reveal the mango seed inside.
To get this to germinate, I wrapped it in kitchen towel and wet this with some water. This was then placed in a plastic bag and sealed. I then placed it in a warm place and checked it every few days. Each time I checked it, I replaced the kitchen towel, to avoid any mould forming.
After just 5 days, the seed had started to expand and turn green in colour. It had also put out a small root. The green part is called a cotyledon.
Once the root was about 2cm long, we decided to pot the seed in compost and use a plastic container over the top of it, to keep the humidity very high. This is when the seed starts to look like something out of a Harry Potter movie! As it turned more green, it also appeared to have veins. Eventually a looped over stalk started to appear, with wispy 'fingers' or tendrils at one end.
These 'tendrils' unfurl to reveal narrow leaves and this is the first time it starts to look like a normal plant.
