Mango trees in zone 9 - 8 ?

[gabodymod]

This Sunday I was driving  north of Orlando Fl. and saw several mango trees ( 15 - 20 feet ) with lots of panicles. I would like to know from our members how far north have you seen mango trees and if poss the variety.


Guillermo.

[mangomandan]

I suspect that microclimate may be more influential than cultivar.  Inland lakes can add a few degrees of cold protection in central Florida.

[jb_fla]

I have no doubt that mango could be breed for cold tolerance.  I work in Tampa and there are hundreds of mango trees in this borderline climate.  Most are in areas near the water, like South Tampa and Palmetto Beach.  However, the two bad winters we had a couple years ago really proved the point to me.  In Palmetto Beach there is a mango tree in nearly every yard.  It got very cold and there were mango tree's 50+' tall that died out while some of the same height had no damage.  Same effect for smaller trees. 

Now most of the tree's are grown from seed.  The avocado has been a great sucess story for finding good tasting varieties that can resist cold damage.  Mango can be the same, but it needs to be realistic how cold they would be able to endure.

As far as named cultivars that can presently handle the cold, no clue.  They are almost all bred for taste, dwarfing and disease resistance.

[Squam256]

As far as named cultivars that can presently handle the cold, no clue.  They are almost all bred for taste, dwarfing and disease resistance.

Actually a study following the freeze of 1958 demonstrated that some named varieties have better cold tolerance than others.

One variety that has shown slightly better cold tolerance than average is the Bailey's Marvel.

Of course when we talk about 'cold tolerance' with mango, we're talking about a difference of maybe 1 degree F or slightly more.....but that small difference can wind up being very significant.

[Pancrazio]

how far north have you seen mango trees and if poss the variety.

44N, Glenn!