Sugarloaf/E4 Thread

[bovine421]

My E4, went in ground as a 10 gal in May 2017.  Was in heavy bloom when hit by frost.  All blooms were toasted.  Mist of my trees that were in open bloom when the frost hit have nothing but evidence of toasted pannicles.

I hate to hear about your toasted blossoms as much as you've hated to burst your bubble LOL
I am bewildered because my fruit punch on the northwest corner of my house was completely unprotected. It received no Frost damage so I am quite shocked that you had so much misfortune down in Wilmington

[bsbullie]

From my small experience with different varieties I can second this sentiment. Smallest tree that has ever flowered on my property by far is e4/sugarloaf beating some trees that actually have been in ground for few years and this one only been in ground for few months. Too early to tell as far as actual productivity etc I most likely will remove all fruit if any set.

Longing to get answers to long term questions about Sugarloaf is not possible at this time. The only person who can answer these questions is Mr Zill or someone who worked along side of him with the mother E4. The first grafted E-4’s went into the ground around November-December 2018. I bought 13 trees from the first batch of grafted E-4’s and my subjective observational comments are worthless so I won’t even utter them. I got real lucky the summer of 2018 and was in the Zill office when they had E-4 fruit in the boxes. Mr Zill asked my to taste one and I thought it was at that point the greatest tasting mango along with Pineapple Pleasure. So every month after that I called the office to ask if the trees were on sale yet. So far this year is looking like the greatest mango season in years so with that being said if I said that Sugarloaf trees seem to be the most flowering young trees I ever saw, it really makes that statement meaningless. As far as how fast it grows....what’s the rush so long as it’s healthy. With 13 of them in the ground I honestly haven’t seen a pattern where I could say fast or slow up or out. They were 18” or less when I took them home and they’ve been in my solid limestone (except for the holes I jackhammered) for 2 years 2 months.

Most likely remove all fruit?  No tree that size should be allowed to hold any fruit.  Its very common for small trees to bloom when the conditions are right (our cool to cold winter).

[Tiberivs]

Most likely I will: yes there is always a chance one gets busy and forgets to remove fruit. Also a chance the fruit falls by itself which would imply I didn’t remove the fruit. As far as very common for trees this size to flower I’m sure it is but I’m speaking my yard and my small sample size. I have trees bigger that are not flowering same conditions. And I have never had any trees flower this small.

Remember when you read someone’s post it’s only supposed to be taken as they are stating it not as any sort of representation of all trees or cases. Sometimes if you have nothing good to say it’s better to keep to yourself @ bsbullie

[bsbullie]

Most likely I will: yes there is always a chance one gets busy and forgets to remove fruit. Also a chance the fruit falls by itself which would imply I didn’t remove the fruit. As far as very common for trees this size to flower I’m sure it is but I’m speaking my yard and my small sample size. I have trees bigger that are not flowering same conditions. And I have never had any trees flower this small.

Remember when you read someone’s post it’s only supposed to be taken as they are stating it not as any sort of representation of all trees or cases. Sometimes if you have nothing good to say it’s better to keep to yourself @ bsbullie

Well aren't you the asshole (I was giving advice but your skin must be thinner than wet tissue paper).  Do what you want, I truly don't care.  I don't even care if your tree dies, cause you are too busy   You are obviously way more knowledgeable than anyone here.

Oh, and don't pretend you know me or anything about me...cause you DON'T.

[Honest Abe]

Rob, too bad some higher power has deleted your mango crop for the year. Being super negative about everything is undesirable. Please stay positive on this thread and leave the name calling for children that don’t know any better. You have this uncanny power to turn a great thread into a schoolyard fight.

Weiss, how big are your trees now?

All others, please keep great info coming.

I’m not  longing for answers, but I’m thirsty for knowledge. Thanks

[bovine421]

I say let Rob be Rob. He has a gift at bringing out the best in people. He makes them defend their thoughts and ideas. I enjoy his unpredictability. Just when I think he's going to rain down fire on me. It ends up being someone else. The one thing that I will say is predictable about Rob. He rains on the flowers and the weeds.

[bovine421]

Please post pics or updates on Sugarloaf/E4 Mango trees here:



This one is my tree.  I got in 2019 planted in ground august 2019. Every branch has a panicle in bloom. Lucky!

It has rained every day for the last week. Today huge major downpour as a cold front came through. Tomorrow I will spray Sugarloaf Bloom's for they have not opened yet.
I do not really have any useful information for you and I am not a mango prophet but I believe in the next couple of years your tree will give you a Bountiful Harvest. To start some good mango Karma here is a song by Sugarloaf.
https://youtu.be/i_i7PKdQJU4

[FruitGrower]

I have 3 Sugarloaf trees. An older one planted in August 2019 from 7 gal and 2 younger ones planted April 2020. The oldest one partially flowered in January and then again on almost every remaining branch in February. I have two little fruit set from that Jan bloom. I didn’t spray and it got hit really bad with powdery mildew on that first bloom, but I’m okay with that because I want the tree to focus on vegetative growth this year. Of the two younger ones, the smaller one is blooming now and the bigger one is getting ready to push.  I can report on fruit set in a few weeks but I won’t be spraying these either.

[Honest Abe]

Fruit grower, EXCITING NEWS dude I’m
Stoked for you. Please report back and let me know what happens! That older tree looks promising for a few beautiful green nuggets. Thanks for the awesome pics
-Abe

[Squam256]

I suspect Sugarloaf will be a perfectly fine performer for most once the trees get a few years of seasoning age. But there could be some situations where the male flower problem persists much like it can with Carrie and other varieties prone to the issue.

I think we have around 10 of them at this point so I’ll be able to document how they do this season. A number of them have set some fruit while also still having plenty of open bloom.

Our largest one is a topwork that has performed reasonably well the last several years.

[Honest Abe]

Alex, that sounds promising coming from you! I’ll Check back in with you to see how the crop was. Thanks for the great info, hoping the male flower thing is not a prevalent trait.

[Squam256]

Alex, that sounds promising coming from you! I’ll Check back in with you to see how the crop was. Thanks for the great info, hoping the male flower thing is not a prevalent trait.

Another thing to consider: fruit set, while absolutely necessary to get fruit, isn’t the end-all-be-all when it comes to total production. Some mangos set very heavily but end up dropping a huge quantity of fruit (Pickering and Graham for instance)-, while some mangos rarely set heavy and often set low numbers of fruit, but still end up decent producers because their *retention* is excellent. Edward is often an example of this and so are Carrie and Julie actually. From what I’ve seen from the Sugarloaf trees they appear to do a good job with retention also.

[Honest Abe]

Alex, VERY interesting info, thank you!

[johnb51]

   (Pickering drops the majority, but still holds a lot of fruit.)