Author Topic: When and where are California Keitt's available?  (Read 13889 times)

Greg A

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #50 on: October 08, 2017, 09:01:02 PM »
There are also California Keitts at the Sprouts in Poway, as of last week. They're not conspicuously signed, and they're only $2each
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simon_grow

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #51 on: October 08, 2017, 11:00:24 PM »
Thanks for the tip, I’ll check out Sprouts next time I’m in the area.

Simon

Greg A

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #52 on: October 09, 2017, 08:20:55 PM »
P.S. It's so odd to me that Sprouts isn't marketing them as locally grown and charging a premium as WFMarket is. Not only that, but the fruit is in a bin that just says "Green mangos." If you didn't notice the Ava's USA sticker you'd never know.
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Clay

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #53 on: October 13, 2017, 02:40:00 PM »
I just got back from Trader Joe's in Costa Mesa, where I found some nice California Keitts for $1.99 each! The ones in the front by the avocados look a bit over-ripe, but back by the Deli case area, I found another group that was greener, firmer and fairly large. They will sit on my counter for a few days before I dig in.

Enjoy!
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mangomanic12

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #54 on: October 13, 2017, 03:25:49 PM »
Simon, I am thinking of planting some Keitt seeds in ground . In your opinion are these seeds worth propagating ? Are the rootstocks from this strain strong? I am going to try the "Organic" ones from Trader Joes' -  $3.99 per mango .... will these sprout???
We have been getting some HUGE Keitt's from Mexico here in AZ ....CALLED SUPER MANGO on the boxes for .99c .
The biggest and best Keitt's I have ever tasted ...just for .99c????

simon_grow

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #55 on: October 13, 2017, 03:38:05 PM »
Hey Mango Maniac12,

Yes, these Keitt seeds are definitely worth planting, I’ve planted numerous Keitt seeds myself. I haven’t updated my experiments in a while but so far I’m finding out that any Mango seeds whether they be Kent, Keitt, Haden, Tommy Atkins or Manilla all work well for rootstocks. When planted early enough in the season to take advantage of the Summer heat, they can grow at an extremely rapid rate.

Simon

mangomanic12

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #56 on: October 13, 2017, 05:24:33 PM »
Great news, thanks Simon. I will plant some. Yah, we are still in the 90's here in Phx. This is like a 2nd spring for us. LOL.
90'S HERE IS EXCELLENT WEATHER!

barath

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #57 on: October 13, 2017, 11:54:09 PM »
Hey Mango Maniac12,

Yes, these Keitt seeds are definitely worth planting, I’ve planted numerous Keitt seeds myself. I haven’t updated my experiments in a while but so far I’m finding out that any Mango seeds whether they be Kent, Keitt, Haden, Tommy Atkins or Manilla all work well for rootstocks. When planted early enough in the season to take advantage of the Summer heat, they can grow at an extremely rapid rate.

Simon

Do you think they work as well as La Verne trees as rootstock in So Cal?

simon_grow

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #58 on: October 14, 2017, 01:12:08 AM »
I have a bunch of random seedlings and it’s too early to say for sure but they all seem to grow as well as the Lavern Manilla Mango seedlings.

Simon

barath

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #59 on: October 14, 2017, 01:14:56 AM »
I have a bunch of random seedlings and it’s too early to say for sure but they all seem to grow as well as the Lavern Manilla Mango seedlings.

Simon

Interesting.  What do you think it is about the Turpentine seedlings they use in Florida that makes them particularly bad for California?  I ask because if so many different seedlings can work for us, but Turpentine doesn't, there must be something about it that makes it uniquely bad for us and good in Florida.

simon_grow

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #60 on: October 14, 2017, 11:58:13 AM »
I have a bunch of random seedlings and it’s too early to say for sure but they all seem to grow as well as the Lavern Manilla Mango seedlings.

Simon

Interesting.  What do you think it is about the Turpentine seedlings they use in Florida that makes them particularly bad for California?  I ask because if so many different seedlings can work for us, but Turpentine doesn't, there must be something about it that makes it uniquely bad for us and good in Florida.

I’ve been contemplating this fact for about the last six years and can’t say for sure what it is but there are several possibilities that do pop up in my head.

One of the possibilities is the fact that the trees are initially grown and potted in Florida and we don’t know how long they’ve been in the pots. They can be in the pots for extended periods of time because they need to be shipped to California and once they reach their destination here, they still need to be displayed at the Nursery where they may sit for another several months up to several years before they are sold. Based on my own personal experience, trees that are immediately planted into the ground as soon as they are purchased establish faster and appear to be much healthier than a tree that is purchased and kept in a pot for an extended period of time before planting.

Having stated the above, I was delivered several trees which were smaller and very healthy when I received them and I immediately planted them into the ground and they still died. They were Tebow, Carrie, NDM #4 and Mallika.

Another possibility is that there are disease pressures here that are not prevalent in Florida. Some of the major issues we get here is Phomopsis, gummosis and droopy branches that seem to lignify at a small diameter and not expanding much, or at all, after the lignification. I can pretty easily look at a Mango trees trunk and branches and tell whether it’s a Florida tree or not.

We have noticed several details that should give us a clue as to why the Florida trees perform so poorly here. Several varieties such as Valencia Pride, Lemon Zest, Sweet Tart and a few others appear to grow very well here on Florida rootstock although they still get some dieback, gummosis and droopy branches. These varieties are all vigorous and seem to be able to outgrow whatever it is that’s inhibiting other varieties on Florida rootstock.

Another pattern that I have noticed over the years is that the Florida rootstock trees appear to grow much better in areas with more heat units. This should be obvious to most people but it can easily be overlooked when we are focused on a specific geographical location such as Florida Vs SoCal. In Palm Springs, Gary’s trees on Florida rootstock are growing very well and even his Lemon Zest on Florida Turpentine rootstock is growing excellent and producing lots of high quality fruit.

When we focus in specifically on SoCal, I have noticed a trend where all the microclimates with higher heat units such as La Habra, Anaheim Hills and other slightly warmer cities in SoCal have much better success with Florida trees than in cooler climates like mine.

I know we would like to keep it simple and find the one reason why the Florida rootstock trees perform so poorly here but nature is complex and dynamic and I believe the issue is a combination of all the factors I listed above.

If I were to make my best guess right now, I would say that the Florida trees perform poorly here because (1) of the long duration they are kept in their pots, both at the Nursery in Florida, the Nursery here in SoCal and also at the homeowners property before they are planted into the ground.
(2) there are disease pressures here, or acquired in Florida, that affect our trees much more severely because of reason (1) above and because our cooler climate does not enable our trees to outgrow the disease pressures as easily as if they were grown at a warmer climate with higher heat units such as that of Florida or warmer parts of SoCal.

A grower can better understand what I’m describing above if you track how many vegetative growth flushes we get here Vs what Floridians get. Some of my Florida rootstock trees such as Glenn, Edward, Spirit of 76 and Maha Chanok have been in the ground about 7 years now and on average, they only vegetatively flush twice a year.

This is partially due to the fact that they bloom and hold fruit for about 6+ months out of the year and we only get good vegetative flushes for the warmest 2-4 months depending on where you live.

In order to capitalize on this small window period of “Ideal” growing weather, the Mango grower must water and fertilize properly in order to take advantage of these conditions.

I will copy and paste this into my “Growing Mango trees in SoCal” thread as I am drifting off topic.

Simon

Charlie23

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #61 on: October 23, 2018, 03:34:35 PM »
It's $4 a pop at the TX Whole Food, man I'm debating if I should pony up....  some are pretty decent sized.

RodneyS

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #62 on: October 23, 2018, 04:20:12 PM »
It's $4 a pop at the TX Whole Food, man I'm debating if I should pony up....  some are pretty decent sized.

Wow!  I thought 2/$3 for a couple small ones at Stater Bros. was pricey

Oolie

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #63 on: October 24, 2018, 01:33:02 AM »
I'm getting really inconsistent ripening from the Mex Keitts this year, some are sweet creamy musky and lemony, others are fibrous, pulpy, and just lemony (taste, not aroma).

My guess is cultivation methods are to blame.

zands

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #64 on: October 24, 2018, 09:21:53 AM »
Last Keitt's came off my tree on October 15....a few years back the last date was October 10th

palmcity

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #65 on: October 24, 2018, 10:26:32 AM »
Last Keitt's came off my tree on October 15....a few years back the last date was October 10th

How about the friends tree at the pond? Doesn't it still have Keitts?

As long as I or the animals/hurricanes/bugs don't pick mine, I have consistently had Keitts until November. This year is no exception and I already picked one today. I intentionally leave enough for 1+ a day picking till November. The + is for the animals/ or bugs. If I see a crack, I immediately pick it to avoid bug invasion. I presently have 20+ on a few different trees... Maybe a few more...  :P ... gotta get my daily mango fix.

zands

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #66 on: October 24, 2018, 11:52:43 AM »
Last Keitt's came off my tree on October 15....a few years back the last date was October 10th

How about the friends tree at the pond? Doesn't it still have Keitts?

As long as I or the animals/hurricanes/bugs don't pick mine, I have consistently had Keitts until November. This year is no exception and I already picked one today. I intentionally leave enough for 1+ a day picking till November. The + is for the animals/ or bugs. If I see a crack, I immediately pick it to avoid bug invasion. I presently have 20+ on a few different trees... Maybe a few more...  :P ... gotta get my daily mango fix.

November is great. Amazing. My friend's keitt by the pond was knocked down by the hurricane in 2017. He should have  stayed loyal to it because it was recovering and sprouting new growth. Instead he planted two new mango trees.

And his huge old Keitt...the stump is still there and putting out limited sprouts. The sprouts looked lots better last Spring before he mostly dug it out.

His Keitt tree had August into Mid September fruits

Bush2Beach

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Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« Reply #67 on: October 25, 2018, 02:19:33 AM »
I'm getting really inconsistent ripening from the Mex Keitts this year, some are sweet creamy musky and lemony, others are fibrous, pulpy, and just lemony (taste, not aroma).

My guess is cultivation methods are to blame.

They are boiled first before shipped over the border to kill fruit flies. CA keitts do not require hot water treatment to kill fruit fly since they are grown in CA and not imported. Try a CA grown while they ate in season.