Author Topic: the "new" mangos, when to pick, when to eat  (Read 2360 times)

mangomandan

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the "new" mangos, when to pick, when to eat
« on: March 04, 2012, 10:39:23 AM »
It's raining, and my thoughts turn to July....

Several mango varieties that have come highly recommended are new to many of us. I'm thinking Pickering, Coconut Cream, Lemon Zest, Maha Chanok, etc.

To members who have had some experience with these, could you tell us how to determine the best time to pick them?
Some varieties are flexible, i.e. you can pick mature green, or you can let ripen on the tree.    I guess Mallika is an example of one where it matters a lot when you pick it.

Pickering, for example.  Can it ripen on the tree?  Should it be picked at the first hint of yellow?

Any hints would be appreciated, especially by those of us who may be harvesting only two or three fruits this year.

Carbo

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Re: the "new" mangos, when to pick, when to eat
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2012, 11:41:30 AM »
Good question, and I'm wondering the same thing about my lone Cogshall.  It's fruiting for the first time right now, and if I can pluck two or three mangos off of her I'll be a happy farmer.  So, when do I pluck?
By the way, today's wind storm is wrecking havoc with my the buckshot sized fruits.  I'm hoping they all haven't been blown off the tree.  :(

puglvr1

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Re: the "new" mangos, when to pick, when to eat
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2012, 12:34:06 PM »
I've had a few pickering fruits off my tree before it died.  I picked mine when it had some yellow on it. I was afraid the squirrels would eat it before me.

I picked this Pickering a couple of days after I took this picture...it was only slightly more yellow than on this picture.

 


Then, I figured out a way to keep the squirrels away from one of the members on GW using a "wrap" on the mango. This enabled me to keep the fruits on the tree much longer than I would have if I didn't wrap it.

This is my Cogshall...I usually pick them when they start to color up nicely like this one. As a matter of fact with this wrap, I've actually found some fruits had fallen off the stalk but it stayed in the wrap since I tied it to the actual stem or branch. Then, I knew it was ripe.

Cogshall from last summer...You can see the fruit had fallen and the wrap caught it and kept it from falling on the ground and getting eaten by varmints!





Also found this video that tells you how you can tell when a mango is close to being ripe.
http://trec.ifas.ufl.edu/fruitscapes/Fruitscapes-videos/mango/playlist3/mango_harvesting.shtml



Pancrazio

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Re: the "new" mangos, when to pick, when to eat
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2012, 01:44:10 PM »
Good question. I'd like to have this kind of information too.
Since my season is so short, i can't afford to try a new variety wich bears too late in the year. With this information i can concentrate my efforts of varieties that actually have a chance ripen their fruit here.
Italian fruit forum

I want to buy/trade central asia apricots. Contact me in PM if interested.

HMHausman

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Re: the "new" mangos, when to pick, when to eat
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2012, 08:27:19 PM »
My rule of thumb for picking mangoes is that most can be picked while still hard with no color break if they are fully mature.  I usually wait until the first fruit of a season falls or the first fruit of a particular tree is munched on by the local creatures (four legged variety that is). Then you can usually harvest all the similar sized fruits and they will ripen fine, with full flavor.  The problem comes when you only have a very few or only one fruit. When that happens, use the method that Nancy (Puglvr1) suggests, by bagging the fruit and awaiting the fruit to fall off into the waiting bag.  Of course, you can harvest when color breaks as well and will usually get a perfectly ripened mango as well.  Pickering, in specific does fine either way....either fully tree ripened or picked at maturity and ripened off the tree.

Harry
Harry
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USA