Alphanso Seedling - started fruiting after 10 years

[sobars_machado]

At my in-laws place, they had planted a store bought Alphonso mango seed around 10 years ago. Last year it got the first fruit, only one and this year it got around 25-30 fruits.
Two weeks ago they picked 2 mangos, i believe were not mature enough, but according to them and my wife, the taste was same like an Alphonso mango - they tasted it side by side with a store bought Alphanso and there was no difference in taste.

Today they picked few moret. Unfortunately i am out of India at this moment so could not taste it but they have promised to keep a couple of then in the refrigerator so when i will be back home after 20 days, i could taste them. I had told them to let at least one mango ripe on the tree and then only start to pick the others, so not sure if they are really mature enough or not.

Here are some of the photos.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/18s6mqx4y/
https://postimg.cc/image/id47z15b7/

[sildanani]

That's cool! Were the seeds polyembryonic and maybe that's why the flavor was so similar? There are a lot of Atalufo mangoes at grocery stores in the Midwest. As well as Francine and some gross generic ones. I'd like to start growing mangoes, but I don't know if my greenhouse climate is humid enough for them to thrive. Its always 70-90 F year round. But it's rather dry and almost arid. I'm so tired of inferior mangoes from the store. Before you know it, you'll have more mangoes then your family can eat lol.

[spaugh]

That's cool! Were the seeds polyembryonic and maybe that's why the flavor was so similar? There are a lot of Alphonso mangoes at grocery stores in the Midwest. As well as Francine and some gross generic ones. I'd like to start growing mangoes, but I don't know if my greenhouse climate is humid enough for them to thrive. Its always 70-90 F year round. But it's rather dry and almost arid. I'm so tired of inferior mangoes from the store. Before you know it, you'll have more mangoes then your family can eat lol.

The mango experts would know better than me but I doubt humidity is a big requirement.  They grow them out in the desert near palm springs in CA.  Its dry as a bone and HOT.  They also grow in San Diego which is mostly low humidity and warm weather. 

[sildanani]

That's cool! Were the seeds polyembryonic and maybe that's why the flavor was so similar? There are a lot of Alphonso mangoes at grocery stores in the Midwest. As well as Francine and some gross generic ones. I'd like to start growing mangoes, but I don't know if my greenhouse climate is humid enough for them to thrive. Its always 70-90 F year round. But it's rather dry and almost arid. I'm so tired of inferior mangoes from the store. Before you know it, you'll have more mangoes then your family can eat lol.

The mango experts would know better than me but I doubt humidity is a big requirement.  They grow them out in the desert near palm springs in CA.  Its dry as a bone and HOT.  They also grow in San Diego which is mostly low humidity and warm weather.

That's good to know.😮 I want to grow some condo varieties if I can keep them under 13 ft. I guess Pine Island is my only choice to mail order.

[Tropicdude]

I think Alphonso will do better in hot arid areas than in humid conditions like Florida.   reason being that in a very arid region here my buddy the Kesar grower, has a couple Alphonso trees,  these were not put on the drip irrigation system,  and the trees were doing very well. had fruit on them also at the time, none ripe enough to try. 

[sobars_machado]

No, the seed was not poly-embryonic. I have personally not tasted the mango so i cannot tell 100% if the taste is same like Alphonso. For some people including my wife, mango = Alphonso - which means, mango tastes like mango :-), until we got married and that is when she got to taste different varieties and finally realized that there are better tasting varieties than Alphonso - for example Goa Mankur or Chausa or Dashehari or Amrapali.

No, this is not the only fruiting tree we have. From some of our big trees we dont even pick mangoes because those trees are too tall and we dont find anybody to climb them.

Yes, i agree with William, mango should grow well in hot/dry areas, especially the ones that are local varieties from such areas. For example some north indian mangoes like Dashehari or Chausa. Also, they will have less fungal issues that are normally caused due to humidity.

[mangaba]

Sobars
             I believe that in Vengurla  or nearby there is  a Mango Research Station . There they might be able to classify the variety you have.
ICAR in Goa have a publication on mango varieties of your region.

[nileshkwr]

Alphanso mango can not propogate through seed, it must be grafted. So that tree is not alphanso tree.
The first image you uploaded is corrupt.

[Orkine]

Important word in the title is "seedling."
Followed by a later post that confirmed monoembryonic.
I think OP has been clear this is not Alphonso, only that it is a seedling of Alphonso that is reported to taste like Alphonso.
Perhaps he will name it at some point.

[Oolie]

I was more interested in Mankur.

[Raulglezruiz]

Hi Sobars Congratulations on your Alfonso seedling tasting like Alfonso I bought a box from Indian grown in LA last year and even do they are on the small side me and my wife love them, Banganapalli disappointed us tasting bland Tart and very juicy, I have a small grafted Alfonso in the ground, Hopefully it performs well hear doesn't wants to perform very well in USA grounds

[EnglewoodFlorida]

I've had a decent fruiting Alphonso mango tree for 4 years now. in zone 10a Florida. Very tasty and no issues with it to date.

[sobars_machado]

Alphanso mango can not propogate through seed, it must be grafted. So that tree is not alphanso tree.
The first image you uploaded is corrupt.

Yes, that is correct. That's why it is mentioned as Alphanso Seedling. This seedling will be a new variety. I can name it as Napol Alphanso (Napol is a short name of my father in law - who planted that seed) - something similar like the variety called Bennett Alphanso.

The taste for me is better than Alphanso, it is not much acidic like the Alphanso. Also, the skin is think compared, so not getting attacked by fruit flies - whereas the Kesar tree standing next to it - 90% were having fruit fly larvae in them - the same year.

[sobars_machado]

Important word in the title is "seedling."
Followed by a later post that confirmed monoembryonic.
I think OP has been clear this is not Alphonso, only that it is a seedling of Alphonso that is reported to taste like Alphonso.
Perhaps he will name it at some point.

See the photos here, with description
https://www.facebook.com/sobars.machado/media_set?set=a.10213552039178964&type=3&uploaded=3





See the dark orange color compared to the yellow of Alphanso


The top one is Alphanso and the bottom one is Napol - kept in the refrigerator for more than 1 month, the skin color changed but the flesh remained good.


The skin is thick, so no damage from Fruit Flies

[sobars_machado]

I've had a decent fruiting Alphonso mango tree for 4 years now. in zone 10a Florida. Very tasty and no issues with it to date.

Hi Raul,
Nice to know that you liked the taste of Alphanso. I am not sure which poart of India they were exported from, but the best tasting Alphanso are grown in Devgad and Ratnagiri coastal belt. They even have GI registered, so that nobody else can sell Alphanso grown in different parts of India as Devgad Alphanso or Ratnagiri Alphanso. They get a special taste due to the red laterite soil and coastal climate in that region, and as a result most of their A and B grade Alphanso are exported, local market receives only C grade and below - still they fetch the highest price among all other varieties. That is the reason, Alphanso grown in some other areas / states label their boxes as Devgad Alphanso in order to get high price - but the professional mango eaters can easily differentiate the taste.

Banganpalli is not a very good tasting mango, however it is popular because it is one of the first variety to hit the Indian market - mostly picked before maturity in order to fetch higher price. Once Alphanso and Kesar hit the market then nobody buys Banganpalli. But the taste of Bangapalli grown at home and harvested at proper maturity is not bad tasting. If you have possibility then give a try to Kesar, Dasheri and Chaunsa mango as well, those are worth having varieties in your garden. None of them will have attractive color, but definitely very good taste.

If you have enough farm land then you could possibly plant Alphanso seeds, you might get lucky and get a good size/quality fruit - like my In-laws got. Many people in India do that and as a result they get really good tasting varieties of their own - we have at least 9 big fruiting seedlings out of which 7 are excellent tasting - out of them 2 have the potential to be commercial variety. See one tree that started fruiting 4 years ago, first fruiting was around 3-4 fruits, then next year 13-15 fruits, then 1 year gap and see the fruits this year, this is only what is visible from one side, there are many more inside the canopy and other side. In our village measuring from 500 x 500 meters approximately, i could find at least 500 seedling fruiting trees and if i search in our town then the number will easily go above 50000 and some of them are really excellent tasting.

 
This is our newly started fruiting seedling - excellent tasting fruit and very good size.




This is fruit from my cousin's seedling tree - excellent tasting fruit with very thin seed and attractive yellow color (with red/pink blush on sun exposed fruits). I have given it his name "Lester". I have grafted the scions of that variety to my multi grafted seedling and it started fruiting the next year (last year) and also got fruits this year. These photos are from the fruit that we got on our grafted tree last year. Unfortunately the fruit fell down during some stormy wind we had last year, but even after that it got ripe and was of excellent taste. The small one in this photo is Lester - the big one is Golden Queen - not so good taste compared to Lester

[sobars_machado]

Hi Sobars Congratulations on your Alfonso seedling tasting like Alfonso I bought a box from Indian grown in LA last year and even do they are on the small side me and my wife love them, Banganapalli disappointed us tasting bland Tart and very juicy, I have a small grafted Alfonso in the ground, Hopefully it performs well hear doesn't wants to perform very well in USA grounds

Goa Mankur is an excellent tasting mango, i like it better than Alphanso. It fetches very high price in Goa and is very difficult to get hold of, it disappears as soon as the market open.
Goa and Vengurla are the only places where you find that variety fruits. It is not very popular commercially because of it's low shelf life and well as shy bearer and probe to diseases due to humidity, if it gets slightly overripe then the taste goes down quickly. There exist very few old trees and nobody is planting them now - i do have one tree at home, not started fruiting yet but in the next years i will plant few of that trees in the farm for commercial production.

[sobars_machado]

Important word in the title is "seedling."
Followed by a later post that confirmed monoembryonic.
I think OP has been clear this is not Alphonso, only that it is a seedling of Alphonso that is reported to taste like Alphonso.
Perhaps he will name it at some point.

Yes, definitely it is worth registering this variety. It is still under observation and if it does good productivity wise as well as fruit fly resistance, then i will for sure make it popular commercially by growing it myself first in my farm.