Dani Arica

Wow, Fred! I'm super jealous of your mango trees! I may need to add some more nutrients to my soil... the compost might help but it sounds like you've got the magic scenario with it being near the septic system. That's not really an option in my suburban backyard, unfortunately.

Well, it doesn't sound like anyone *really* knows whether or not this will be a problem. I have heard, as another poster cautioned, that grass around young trees is a bad idea, but grass is notorious for competing with trees, and I was thinking squash might be different (being a part of the whole "3 sisters" planting scheme).

And Su Ba, I appreciate your first hand experience with it, and it sounds like so far, so good there. So I guess I'll keep them for now and monitor the tree really closely over the next few weeks.

If anyone else has any knowledge, please chime in!

Hi everyone!

I live in the tropics, and have a small mango tree (maybe 2-3 feet tall) that I planted about 6 months ago. It's doing well, but growing slowly, as I guess mangos do.

I just harvested some nice compost and surrounded the tree with a 6-inch layer of it about 2 feet around the entire tree. Then I planted some butternut squash seedlings in it.

Now, I'm kind of new at gardening, but my reasoning was that the squash leaves would shade the soil, since it's in a relatively sunny spot. My husband, however, is concerned that the squash will compete for nutrients with the tree and ultimately kill it. His reasoning is that a squash seedling sprouted in the pot of one of our baby avocado plants (from our vermicompost), and the tree died soon after.

Does anyone have any knowledge on this issue? I really don't want to kill my mango!

Thanks!