...yes it is Harry - after the first two mentioned, the next five (l-r) are: Ashok, JF, Leo, Gary (MDog) and Jim....I think JF was kind of doing it in 2 loose rows....for a VERY loose group of old farts!!!!!
Nah...really nice guys.... JF's son took the picture and engaged in the contest making it 8 participants... Also, the second picture, those local seedlings that JF had just swiped (with owner permission....I think!!!!) were not ripe so we could not taste them - the gorgeous Poulitos, Red Manilas, the larger Manilitas, Tundidor,and the 3 little "Tomato" mangoes (as I named them
) looked rather intriguing sitting on the table
After everyone had arrived, JF gave a tour of his yard to those who hadn't seen it before. He sure does have a lot of varieties of mango, avocado, cherimoya, peaches, etc. packed into his not-so-large front and backyard. Everything looked very healthy. In fact, he has plans to very soon, pull out a bunch of plants to make room for the more sacred ones he wishes to keep and grow
Anyway, this non-blind taste test, based on the 4 categories of Color, Fiber, Taste and Aroma (with scores from 1-5, except taste which we weighted 1-10, with the higher number being the better quality) yielded these highly unscientific results, listed best to lowest score. All were grown by JF except where noted:
Malika
Lemon Zest
Spirit of 76
Kent
Alphonso
Haden
Glenn
Kensington Pride (from Leo's seedling tree)
Valencia Pride (from Florida)
Thomson (from Leo's seedling)
Keitt ? (Leo's - he felt this might not be one, but the rest of us thought it probably was)
Tomato (local seeding, unnamed)
Tundidor (local seedling)
Next year I think we will have blind tests, so there will no advantage to reputation, color, etc. Also, as always at these kinds of affairs, there will be some mangoes under and overripe, which was the case, allowing the judges an inferior product with which to rate. One other note, BestDay and I were the toughest judges for the most part, often yielding scores of 12,10 or even less, where Jim and Leo tended to score higher, often in the high teens and twenties, making the scoring probably quite representative of their overall appeal. And amazingly, with a couple of the lesser known to unknown varieties, the scores showed a wide range......which just goes to show you, there really is no standard or norm for subjectivity! There simply isn't....
After the tasting, the Mango Professor (Tim), gave a demonstration of a grafting method he developed using all three methods of cleft,butt and veneer. Ashok shot a video of it and will send to me and I'll post it here in the forum. It was rather brilliant (I thought) as it exposes the graft to twice as much cambium layer as a normal graft.
Tim also showed us how to...what's the word.....
cultivate scions by taking failed flower stems of the mango tree, removing the dead stem as well as all the leaves down about 8 inches from the end and then waiting a couple weeks for the nutrients to be sent into the nodes of those cut-off leaves to swell, making them very advantageous for grafting - Ashok also took a video of this which I'll post at some point.
Tim also said that one of the ten new mango varieties he has recently developed (which are currently in the patenting process I Believe) actually survived field trials in Camarillo, CA, with overnight temps down to 25 degrees Fahrenheit! with no protection! I thought that was pretty amazing. That variety is called the Antonio mango, which you can see on his website. I know he won't mind if I link it here:
http://www.socalplantbreeders.com/#!ventura-county-star-august-04-2013/cd5b
Afterwards, Jf gave a tour of the local neighborhood mango "scene" to Leo and Jim, having driven the Professor around prior to the start of the tasting event.....the rest of us having already paid and participated in the half hour nickel tour.
So that was it for 2013 as far as larger SoCal mango tastings. cuban007 might have a few things to sample at some point. Yes, Behl, you missed a large variety of the sweet stuff, Ethan you too, and sorry to anyone else from the area who couldn't make it. There's always next year folks. I'll be having mine in August again most likely, and this one probably about the same time as this year, depending on weather of course!
Gary
