Author Topic: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii  (Read 2390 times)

ChirimoyaNirvana

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Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« on: April 08, 2020, 05:47:43 AM »
Hi all,

I am new to this forum.  I was wondering if anybody had any recommendations for Mango varieties that I should plant in Hawaii.  I own a couple of acres on the Hamakua coast in Hawaii at 1,000 ft above sea level.  My property gets about 130 inches of rain per year and it is usually rainy every month with a few dry spells here and there.  I used to live in Florida and Mangos would grow fairly easily and when I moved to Hawaii full time and started planting the same varieties I grew in Florida, I noticed that none of the trees would ever produce fruit.  They would all drop their flowers from what seemed to be anthracnose.  So I ended up giving up on growing Mangos for a bit.  But now, I am getting sick of paying lots of $$$ for good quality Mangos grown on the Kona side and I would like to be able to grow my own Mangos again.  Anyways, could any of you please recommend Mango varieties that would do well in my growing conditions.  Very rainy, temperatures in the day time are 70-80 F and night times are 59-65 F, soils are a very deep volcanic loam that drains remarkably well, about 2 miles away from the ocean so very little if any salt spray, winds are usually 10 miles per hour on most days.
Mango varieties currently growing on my property: Keitt, Kent, Haden, Pickering, Carrie, Gary, Ice cream, and Valencia Pride.  Most have failed to produce any fruit and I would have no issue with top working them into new varieties that actually produce fruit here.

Brebarian

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Re: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« Reply #1 on: April 08, 2020, 01:05:55 PM »
Welcome!

I'm no expert, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but here are my recommendations:

If you want to keep the varieties you have, there are several copper-based anti-fungal sprays that a number of growers on the forum, especially in Florida, use to successfully combat anthracnose and get good crops of mangos. I'm sure there are several threads here you could dig up with product recommendations, and best practices for use. I live in a dry climate, so I don't have any personal experience spraying anti-fungals, but a lot of folks here do.

If you want to experiment with new varieties that should produce without spraying, I would start with varieties from Hawaii and Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, etc). Those varieties will have been selected in high-humidity environments, likely with a lot of anthracnose pressure.

Hawaiian varieties: Start with Rapoza and ST Maui. Both are excellent mangos, and one of best mangos I ever had was a Rapoza in Kailua-Kona (probably grown on-island). I'd also ask the local mango growers about what does well there, I bet there a lot of good, unnamed varieties nearby with owners who would share a scion or two. For example, there's a guy in Hilo with a YouTube Channel: GreenGardenGuy1. He put out a video about a great rain-proof mango variety he found in Kurtistown. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMCkKl1AksU. You might see if you can track him down and find out if that variety is being propagated or if scions are available. From the video, it sounds like that mango might be your best bet.

Southeast Asian varieties: I talked to a nursery on Oahu about SE Asian varieties that do well within 1/4 mile of the ocean, and they said people have had luck with Cac (Coc). In a similar veins, you might experiment with varieties like Maha Chanok (chanok, Chanok), Po Pyu Kalay (PPK), and other SE Asian varieties. Try fruitlovers.com (based on the Big Island, I think) for scions if local nurseries don't have any.

Although it's a Florida variety, Fairchild is listed by an old UH Manoa mango research paper as relatively anthracnose resistant. Fruitlovers.com lists Fairchild as an available scion on their website.     

Alternatively, I bet there's a thread somewhere on this forum that compiles a list of mango varieties people have found to be anthracnose-resistant. The potential issue here will be scion availability in Hawaii. Not sure how limited the pool is, considering how difficult it is to ship plant material there.

Hope this helps!

skhan

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Re: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2020, 02:12:00 PM »
Some good info above.

There are a few members from here from Hawaii, I'd first reach out to them for some first-hand experience.

In the meantime:
I'd first look into the typical Hawaiin ones.
Rapoza, White Piri, Mapulehu (Do a forum search for "Mangos Hawaii", there should be quite a few more)

If you are missing the typical Florida mango flavor, Ah Ping might be the best for your location.

Other than that you'll basically have a better chance of a fruiting tree with more tropically adapted varieties (SE Asian, Caribbean, etc)

HIfarm

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Re: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« Reply #3 on: April 08, 2020, 03:25:46 PM »
I'd say if you want reliable mango production along Hamakua, you probably want to look at kuini (M. odorata) rather than indica clones.  The flavor is pretty good (but I am sure not up to the standards of a good indica), although the fruits are somewhat more 'fragrant' than regular mangoes.  Others like lalijiwa and kasturi are also probably good choices but are probably less "mango-like".

 I have put in some indica clones despite the weather being challenging for them here, figuring I may get occasional crops.  I've got Rapoza, Keitt, Fairchild, Nam Doc Mai, and Florigon as all these got at least some positive reviews for anthracnose resistance.  The trees are still relatively young.  Year before last, Keitt set a good amount of fruit but it all gradually blasted from anthracnose, some of it getting fairly large before dropping.  Last year, all flowered well but few set anything noticeable.  The only one that held fruit to maturity was a single fruit from Rapoza.  It was quite good.  I did try spraying a few times with a silica spray that was supposed to inhibit fungus but I think that the rains were just too frequent and washed away the spray before it could do much good.  I've got a couple of other grafts coming along & we'll see if they fare any better.  I am hoping that Cac will also bloom this year - not counting on that being any more reliable.  The others are blooming well now, hopefully rain will hold off a bit.

When I was buying some of my trees from a supplier along Hamakua, I asked what clone would bear reliably in the area.  He commented Brooks Late.  I didn't remember that one as a potential winner in my research so I asked him about quality.  He reply was something like "Uhh .... it's not one of my favorites".  So Brooks Late could also be a good candidate.

John
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ChirimoyaNirvana

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Re: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« Reply #4 on: April 08, 2020, 07:32:12 PM »
Thank you all for your advice!  Yes, I have used quite a bit of copper based fungicide on the flowers and fruit of the Mangos and it does not do anything (probably because it rains so often and it all gets washed away before it does much).  Another issue I’ve noticed is that the rain droplets fall down so hard sometimes, that the flowers seem to fall off I think.  As for M. Odorata, I have never thought about planting but it definitely seems like something I should look into.  It’s not even that I want Mangos from Florida, I just want to grow my own Mangos consistently...I have a Neighbour that has a few very old Mango trees and she told me that they produce a decent crop every 10 years.  She even has giant turpentine Mango trees which in Florida produce like crazy and she says that she’ll have years where the trees will make 3 or 4 edible fruit.  I was actually looking into buying a Cac sapling but with this social isolation going on I am trying to stay in my house as much as possible.  Brooks late has a decent flavor from what I remember from Florida...I’ll look into planting that too.  And yes, it makes sense to you plant the SE Asian Mangos that are grown in places like Vietnam and Thailand.  As far as the availability of scion material on the island, it can be hard to get nearly as much variety as in Florida...how I wish we had nurseries like Excalibur here.  I have friends in Florida that have offered to ship in scion wood, I just have not gotten around to asking the DLNR about what type of paper work needs to be filled out.  The first time I visited the land I brought some Passiflora ligularis seeds in my book bag and the DLNR at the airport got very unhappy with me and made me throw away all the seeds(lesson learned).  Thank you so much for your advice.  I really appreciate it. 

knlim000

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Re: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« Reply #5 on: April 08, 2020, 11:35:39 PM »
you might want to look up varieties in Cambodia. Cambodia get two fruit season a year.
Also , it rains very hard in Cambodia too. They are hot and humid. might be similar to your weather.

mangokothiyan

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Re: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2020, 11:43:46 PM »


I'd get a White Pirie. ST Maui is said to have great flavor as well. Florigon is really good with disease resistance, but the flavor isn't the best. PPK is an outstanding mango and a really good producer.  If Honey Kiss does well there, get that tree as well..stays small and is very productive, at least in Florida.

fruitlovers

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Re: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« Reply #7 on: April 09, 2020, 12:38:55 AM »
I have an orchard in Hamakua. Have been testing over 50 varieties for around 20 years. My orchard is right at sea level, so in a much better location for producing mangoes than yours. Sorry to tell you but you are probably in one of the worst locations in Hawaii for getting consistent fruiting of manoges. Your location is way too rainy. Honestly your best bet would be to try to plant some trees along the coast somewhere if at all possible.
If that is not possible then HiFarm gave you a good suggestion: Mangifera odorata (Kuini). However he is wrong in saying that species is the one that tastes most like mango. Actually Mangifera kasturi tastea a lot more like mango. I like kasturi a lot more than the kuini. The kuini has a very strong odor and turpentine taste. The lonly drawback with the kasturi is that it is small and a bit stringy. You should also try lalee jewo.
If you still want to try mangoes at your location i would suggest planting them under plastic cover. Maybe put them in very large pots, and in the winter when they flower move them under clear plastic. You will still get some anthracnose due to very high air humidity.
The cultivars i have found to be most anthracnose resistant are: Fairchild, Florigon, Brook's Late, Neelam, Nam Doc Mai, Rapoza. If you combine placing them under plastic cover with spraying copper sulphate then you could get a decent fruit set. If you are like most you will probably revert to buying Kona mangoes.
If you want to get scion wood i do sell it, check out my list at http://fruitlovers.com/Scions.html
Oscar

skhan

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Re: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2020, 09:19:36 AM »
You could also try the Kolomban mangos from Sri Lanka, they are said to fruit even in heavy rains.
You'll likely have to graft it yourself though

HIfarm

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Re: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« Reply #9 on: April 09, 2020, 04:59:03 PM »
I have an orchard in Hamakua. Have been testing over 50 varieties for around 20 years. My orchard is right at sea level, so in a much better location for producing mangoes than yours. Sorry to tell you but you are probably in one of the worst locations in Hawaii for getting consistent fruiting of manoges. Your location is way too rainy. Honestly your best bet would be to try to plant some trees along the coast somewhere if at all possible.
If that is not possible then HiFarm gave you a good suggestion: Mangifera odorata (Kuini). However he is wrong in saying that species is the one that tastes most like mango. Actually Mangifera kasturi tastea a lot more like mango. I like kasturi a lot more than the kuini. The kuini has a very strong odor and turpentine taste. The lonly drawback with the kasturi is that it is small and a bit stringy. You should also try lalee jewo.
If you still want to try mangoes at your location i would suggest planting them under plastic cover. Maybe put them in very large pots, and in the winter when they flower move them under clear plastic. You will still get some anthracnose due to very high air humidity.
The cultivars i have found to be most anthracnose resistant are: Fairchild, Florigon, Brook's Late, Neelam, Nam Doc Mai, Rapoza. If you combine placing them under plastic cover with spraying copper sulphate then you could get a decent fruit set. If you are like most you will probably revert to buying Kona mangoes.
If you want to get scion wood i do sell it, check out my list at http://fruitlovers.com/Scions.html

Glad you weighed in on this Oscar, I was hoping you would.  I haven't tried kasturi yet (tree is still too young) so I was hesitant to say it tasted like mango without first hand knowledge.  I haven't had lalijiwa for probably a couple of years but my recollection it was very good but a bit different flavor from an indica mango.  The kuini I had definitely had a strong odor (but, like some other fruits, seemed better if you peeled it and enjoyed the flesh somewhere away from the peel).  There was definitely some turpentine component but didn't seem too bad (I've had noname mango here that was as bad or worse for turp).

Glad to hear that the clones I selected are among your best performers, Oscar, maybe I'll get a mango or two on rare occasions.  Year before last, I thought I had it made with my Keitt.  The first flush of flowering resulted in dozens of set fruits, even with the frequent rain.  A second flush came, again with frequent rain, with about zero fruit set.  Then the first fruits gradually began getting fungused, despite spraying and drier weather.  A lot of them got bigger than a walnut, maybe duck egg size and then poof, they all dropped shortly thereafter.

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Re: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« Reply #10 on: April 09, 2020, 10:45:27 PM »
I have an orchard in Hamakua. Have been testing over 50 varieties for around 20 years. My orchard is right at sea level, so in a much better location for producing mangoes than yours. Sorry to tell you but you are probably in one of the worst locations in Hawaii for getting consistent fruiting of manoges. Your location is way too rainy. Honestly your best bet would be to try to plant some trees along the coast somewhere if at all possible.
If that is not possible then HiFarm gave you a good suggestion: Mangifera odorata (Kuini). However he is wrong in saying that species is the one that tastes most like mango. Actually Mangifera kasturi tastea a lot more like mango. I like kasturi a lot more than the kuini. The kuini has a very strong odor and turpentine taste. The lonly drawback with the kasturi is that it is small and a bit stringy. You should also try lalee jewo.
If you still want to try mangoes at your location i would suggest planting them under plastic cover. Maybe put them in very large pots, and in the winter when they flower move them under clear plastic. You will still get some anthracnose due to very high air humidity.
The cultivars i have found to be most anthracnose resistant are: Fairchild, Florigon, Brook's Late, Neelam, Nam Doc Mai, Rapoza. If you combine placing them under plastic cover with spraying copper sulphate then you could get a decent fruit set. If you are like most you will probably revert to buying Kona mangoes.
If you want to get scion wood i do sell it, check out my list at http://fruitlovers.com/Scions.html

Glad you weighed in on this Oscar, I was hoping you would.  I haven't tried kasturi yet (tree is still too young) so I was hesitant to say it tasted like mango without first hand knowledge.  I haven't had lalijiwa for probably a couple of years but my recollection it was very good but a bit different flavor from an indica mango.  The kuini I had definitely had a strong odor (but, like some other fruits, seemed better if you peeled it and enjoyed the flesh somewhere away from the peel).  There was definitely some turpentine component but didn't seem too bad (I've had noname mango here that was as bad or worse for turp).

Glad to hear that the clones I selected are among your best performers, Oscar, maybe I'll get a mango or two on rare occasions.  Year before last, I thought I had it made with my Keitt.  The first flush of flowering resulted in dozens of set fruits, even with the frequent rain.  A second flush came, again with frequent rain, with about zero fruit set.  Then the first fruits gradually began getting fungused, despite spraying and drier weather.  A lot of them got bigger than a walnut, maybe duck egg size and then poof, they all dropped shortly thereafter.
Hi John, for me the Keitt has been one of the worst with anthracnose. The whole tree got it. The results i gave are not really final as some cultivars have not fruited yet or have not fruited enough times to really tell how well they will do with anthracnose.
About kuini, they are better if you don't wait for them to drop, eat them a little bit on the hard side.
Have not had lalee jewo yet, but have heard from others that they are pretty good.
I'm really fond of the kasturis. They have an intense mango taste, produce very well and very consistenty. Now if we could just find one that makes slightly bigger fruits...
Oscar

ChirimoyaNirvana

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Re: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« Reply #11 on: April 10, 2020, 04:46:31 AM »
mangokothiyan, funny you mention PPK...I used to grow a few of those in Florida.  It is an incredible producer and I never had any issues with anthracnose with them.  They are annoying to harvest though and the trees like to get big.  I'll see if I can have a friend from Florida send me some bud wood for them.  Florigon produces like crazy...if only it tasted good but if I could get it to produce on this rainy slice of paradise I won't complain about the flavor! 

ChirimoyaNirvana

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Re: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« Reply #12 on: April 10, 2020, 04:48:04 AM »
knlim000, I will look into Cambodian varieties for sure.

ChirimoyaNirvana

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Re: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« Reply #13 on: April 10, 2020, 04:54:08 AM »

fruitlovers, I am starting to realize that I chose a bad location for Mangos  :(  I will definitely try putting tarp over the trees, maybe the trade winds can help with some of that built up humidity under the tarp?  Thank you for offering to sell me budwood, I will definitely look into that.  Thank you for your advice. 

ChirimoyaNirvana

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Re: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« Reply #14 on: April 10, 2020, 04:55:36 AM »
skhan, I will have to look into Kolomban Mangos.