Saving a Mango tree : Trunk is dead but Root partially alive.

Question

I have a 30 yr old mango tree in my backyard. There was a fire in my backyard 1 yr ago. The lower part of the tree was hurt , but the leaves and upper trunk remained green. Few months ago , I saw ants and mud stains ( probably white ants) on the trunk. All the leaves have fallen , and there was fungus growing on the the branches. Bark on the lower part of the trunk has separated from the cambium.

I scraped the trunk at various places to see if it is alive. I couldn’t see any green. I saw brown bark and then the inner layers were white.

I scraped the roots. The roots exposed out of the soil are dead. I dug the soil ( around 2 inches ), and scraped an inner root , it was still green.

Is their any way to save this plant ? I would invest any amount of energy and money on it.
Is it possible to graft the trunk/ branch of another mango tree on its root ?

Answer 1

You will have to wait for a growth response from the root system. If it was a grafted tree then the suckers from the roots will not be true to the desirable grafted variety. But once you have a viable sucker grown up then you can graft onto that.
There could be future problems related to the dead trunk. Wood rot fungi can infect the old stump and eventually weaken the new tree’s structural integrity.
The damage was severe and the prospects are uncertain. Consider planting a new tree.