What are the top 5 best Mango Varieties for Southern California?

[BonsaiBeast]

I have 6 mango seedlings in pots. I want to order some scions and graft them on.

I'm sold on getting Sweet Tart from many people here saying it grows well in SoCal. What are your top 5 mango varieties?

I have not tasted many mangos, so I would love a top 5 that sort of covers the range of flavors these elite mango varieties come in.

[simon_grow]

Are you worried about production at all or are you only focused on best tasting?

Sweet Tart is great because it tastes great, is vigorous and it’s disease resistant. Lemon Zest is one of my all time favorite Mangos but it can have issues with Powdery Mildew. Lemon Zest is also a vigorous grower and once it establishes, it will produce excellent quality fruit in years where PM is not too heavy. You can always control the the PM with Fungicides, even organic Fungicides like Magnabon CS 2005.

As for a top 5, I can’t come up with it right now but I can give you a list off the top of my head of varieties that I have considered to to taste phenomenal and also grows well here. ST and LZ already mentioned.
CAC, Kesar or Jumbo Kesar if you want a nice Indian resin flavored mango, PPK- perhaps a better alternative to LZ if you are worried about production, Piña Colada a small mango that lacks a big punch of flavor- very very sweet with great pineapple acid balance and a coconut nuance, Pineapple Pleasure in my opinion thastes like a giant Piña Colada but PP lacks the Coconut nuance.

NDM is not a flavor bomb but it grows great here, the seedlings is what I’m talking about, the grafted NDM #4s are slow grower here and I don’t recommend them. Valencia Pride is also not a flavor bomb but it grows well on Florida Turpentine rootstock and the flavor is good with a Coconut nuance when grown in SoCal. It is also very vigorous and disease resistant. I’m sure I’ll think of more later.

Simon

[wslau]

You probably should taste these before you decide.
But Simon had good recommendations, as long as your palate agrees.

I made a chart on flavor profiles using information from Squam's lectures and then added some of my own info to it based on his descriptions.

You have to click on the picture twice to see the leftmost column.

[simon_grow]

Warren, thanks for the list. It can save people a lot of time sorting through all the different flavor profiles.

Simon

[wslau]

Warren, thanks for the list. It can save people a lot of time sorting through all the different flavor profiles.

Simon

If you have any corrections, please let me know.
Or if you think we should create a new category too.

[CA Hockey]

Simon kind of covered it. I would add that fruit punch grows extremely well for me here in orange.

Kesar however is always flowering with minimal vegetative growth. I have 2 branches that are growing from around the graft union that are probably kesar and not suckers but hats about it For growth. Otherwise it has slowly been dying back or flowering for 18 months.

Orange sherbet is growing like lz for me. Loving the heat.

[Goyo626]

Simon kind of covered it. I would add that fruit punch grows extremely well for me here in orange.

Kesar however is always flowering with minimal vegetative growth. I have 2 branches that are growing from around the graft union that are probably kesar and not suckers but hats about it For growth. Otherwise it has slowly been dying back or flowering for 18 months.

Orange sherbet is growing like lz for me. Loving the heat.

I had constant flowering with a mallika (on turpentine) and then it just died.

[BonsaiBeast]

Are you worried about production at all or are you only focused on best tasting?

Sweet Tart is great because it tastes great, is vigorous and it’s disease resistant. Lemon Zest is one of my all time favorite Mangos but it can have issues with Powdery Mildew. Lemon Zest is also a vigorous grower and once it establishes, it will produce excellent quality fruit in years where PM is not too heavy. You can always control the the PM with Fungicides, even organic Fungicides like Magnabon CS 2005.

As for a top 5, I can’t come up with it right now but I can give you a list off the top of my head of varieties that I have considered to to taste phenomenal and also grows well here. ST and LZ already mentioned.
CAC, Kesar or Jumbo Kesar if you want a nice Indian resin flavored mango, PPK- perhaps a better alternative to LZ if you are worried about production, Piña Colada a small mango that lacks a big punch of flavor- very very sweet with great pineapple acid balance and a coconut nuance, Pineapple Pleasure in my opinion thastes like a giant Piña Colada but PP lacks the Coconut nuance.

NDM is not a flavor bomb but it grows great here, the seedlings is what I’m talking about, the grafted NDM #4s are slow grower here and I don’t recommend them. Valencia Pride is also not a flavor bomb but it grows well on Florida Turpentine rootstock and the flavor is good with a Coconut nuance when grown in SoCal. It is also very vigorous and disease resistant. I’m sure I’ll think of more later.

Simon

Production is pretty important to me. I don't have a lot of room. That's why I'm completely sold on Sweet Tart. It tastes high tier, and is productive.

I was thinking of going with Sweet Tart, Lemon Meringue, Maha Chanok/Nom Doc Mai, Orange Sherbert, and some cocount flavored one.

What is the best coconut option for Southern California?

[simon_grow]

I’m not a big fan of Maha Chanok in SoCal. It’s a good Mango, not great and it has a slow growth habit and has due back issues when grown on Florida Turpentine rootstock. It looks good and often has an early and late Fruit set but I prefer NDM over Maha but I prefer CAC/COC over both varieties by a big margin.

CAC is vigorous, super delicious, excellent size and disease resistant for me on seedling rootstock.

E4 and M4 are still under evaluation here in SoCal and if you are ok with just a nuance of Coconut, Valencia Pride is a good one that is an excellent producer that’s also disease resistant.

Gary is a smaller Mango but grows well here and appears to be disease resistant from what I’ve seen.

Coconut Cream, if top worked to a taller( greater than 4 foot) rootstock does ok. It has a super droopy scraggly growth habit but the fruit is excellent quality.

Simon

[BonsaiBeast]

I’m not a big fan of Maha Chanok in SoCal. It’s a good Mango, not great and it has a slow growth habit and has due back issues when grown on Florida Turpentine rootstock. It looks good and often has an early and late Fruit set but I prefer NDM over Maha but I prefer CAC/COC over both varieties by a big margin.

CAC is vigorous, super delicious, excellent size and disease resistant for me on seedling rootstock.

E4 and M4 are still under evaluation here in SoCal and if you are ok with just a nuance of Coconut, Valencia Pride is a good one that is an excellent producer that’s also disease resistant.

Gary is a smaller Mango but grows well here and appears to be disease resistant from what I’ve seen.

How productive is coconut cream?

Coconut Cream, if top worked to a taller( greater than 4 foot) rootstock does ok. It has a super droopy scraggly growth habit but the fruit is excellent quality.

Simon

[BonsaiBeast]

And how does Pina Colada do here?

[BonsaiBeast]

And one final question: Can I graft onto an established mango tree this time of year?

[wslau]

And one final question: Can I graft onto an established mango tree this time of year?

Yes.  August is the best time to graft in SoCal.  The high humidity is excellent for grafting.

[simon_grow]

Coconut Cream produces ok here, not huge crops but it’s pretty consistent. There are not enough grower here with large trees to draw conclusions but so far production is similar to Edward. It is quite a large Mango and larger Mangos typically don’t produce as many number of Mangos but poundage is good.

Simon

[simon_grow]

Venus is a good Mango but I much prefer Sweet Tart. Venus has some of the same flavor profiles as Sweet Tart but not quite as intense. Early indications show that Venus is disease resistant and highly productive but sample size is low in terms of who’s growing this variety.
Here’s a picture of a single branch holding 6 decent sized fruit.





Since you want high production, Honey Kiss has already proven to be very productive here in SoCal.

Simon

[wslau]

And how does Pina Colada do here?

Piña colada does relatively poorly here in SoCal.  Definitely a shy bearer for all my friends reporting in.
But sampled two small ones today and the sweet and pineapple tart flavors were excellent.  The brix was about 25.

[behlgarden]

Based on my experience in So Cal growing in my yard successfully:

1. Sweet Tart
2. Lemon Zest
3. Honey Kiss
4. Peach Cobbler
5. Waiting on production, have over 100 varieties, need to see which one would match taste and production in years to come to get into top 5.

Disclaimer: I like complex flavors that has some acidity. Honey kiss was exception due to very unique flavor.

[behlgarden]

Are you worried about production at all or are you only focused on best tasting?

"Piña Colada a small mango that lacks a big punch of flavor-"

Simon

Simon, I think you meant "Packs" and not "Lacks"

[BonsaiBeast]

I was really hoping to get coconut cream as my third choice. But honeykiss seems to be an interesting variety.

How much more productive is honeykiss in so cal? How much better does coconut cream taste?

[simon_grow]

Yes, Behl, thanks for catching that. Stupid auto correct! Piña Colada is super super delicious and packs a flavor punch!

My friend has an orchard and reported to me that his Honey Kiss is very productive and can produce fruit in bunches.

I prefer the flavor of Coconut Cream over Honey Kiss.

Simon

[BonsaiBeast]

I have 2 of my 3 choices completed. I have an early season variety and a mid season.

Now I just need a good late variety, hence why I was thinking about honeykiss instead of coconut cream.

[behlgarden]

I was really hoping to get coconut cream as my third choice. But honeykiss seems to be an interesting variety.

How much more productive is honeykiss in so cal? How much better does coconut cream taste?

Honey Kiss bears in clusters like Sweet Tart. Coconut Cream is poor producing here and has droopy attitude, with fragile branches, and could snap in santa ana winds. taste wise, both are excellent but different.

You should taste them before making up your mind.

[BonsaiBeast]

If I'm looking for preferably late season, coconut-tasting mango, do I have any good options?

[behlgarden]

If I'm looking for preferably late season, coconut-tasting mango, do I have any good options?

'

CA is all late season, we get these mangoes starting Sep and well into Jan-Feb. note that you dont want anything past Oct as chill hours kick in end of Nov and blooms could tart in Jan/Feb. now sure how late were you looking for. Our season barely starts when Florida has well ended.

[wslau]

If I'm looking for preferably late season, coconut-tasting mango, do I have any good options?

For California: For coconut taste, you are currently limited to Coconut Cream, Pina Colada, Pickering, and M-4.