The quest for a coconut cream Mango in northern CA

[Draak]

Hi all!

I'm hoping to grow a coconut cream mango in a protected area of my yard in the CA bay area. I've never had any of the new Zill mangos, but they just sound awesome, and the coconut cream mango sounds superb! Mangos have survived in the bay area before with some protection, though it is indeed a bit risky. Provided that I'm not gambling with large amount of money on these mango trees, it would be fun to try! I appreciate any comments or pieces of wisdom that people have to offer to aid me on my quest .

First, let me say that Gary Zill did an awesome job developing all of the mangos that he did, and I would like to do my part to support his work. Zill worked intensely hard to breed all of the mangos that he did from his thousands of seedlings, and I believe that he absolutely deserves every penny of royalties due to him. The coconut cream mango is the only mango that Gary Edward Zill patented to my knowledge https://patents.google.com/patent/USPP22989P2/en, and I would like to legally purchase this mango. Cloning the plant in any way, including from planting the poly-embryonic seed, is illegal without purchasing it from a nursery that is licensed to sell this mango and provides a portion of the profits as royalties to Gary Zill. It is my understanding that each licensed tree you purchase grants you a single tree that you may own. If you wish to own multiple of the same tree, you must purchase multiple licenses.

Due to simon_grow's extremely helpful thread http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=c1b0b8cdd279ee5281f1eb92032e5324&topic=20816.0 as well as the recommendations of others on many other threads, it seems that the Florida rootstock 'Turpentine' is not the rootstock of choice for growing mangos in California. Growing mangos in the bay area will be hard enough; I don't want to worry about protecting it from infections as well! Growing a polyembronic seedling without grafting seems to often do better from some of Simon's comments.

I've currently seen 2 places that is willing to ship me these mangos: PlantOGram and Bob Well's. PlantOGram is a Florida based businesses, and likely uses Turpentine mango as its rootstock. Despite previous information that Bob Well's nursery grafts their mangos with a seedling rootstock http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=38832.msg384493#msg384493, they told me in email and on the phone today that they purchase their mangos from florida already grafted. The mangos in the previous thread are listed as being 2 years old, while the mangos they have available now are 1 year old. So, they may have recently changed their practice.

As simon_grow once observed, it seems that growing coconut cream from seed may be the best option for CA folks at this time! I talked with the California department of agriculture, and they have explained to me that CA residents may import mango *seeds* from southern Florida without any problems, though any edible material that fruit flies are interested in must be cleaned off and stripped away. So, getting a seed into CA is perfectly fine!

I'm now left with an interesting predicament on how to legally purchase a coconut mango tree license. Buying from either of the two nurseries above would get me an expensive license. However, I'm wondering if a more economical way to would with would be to call a local Florida nursery and purchase a plant from them for $40 (https://caromaicatropical.com/products/coconut-cream-mango?variant=7146616782913), have them throw the tree in the trash, and then separately acquire and plant a coconut cream mango from seed. This bizarre arrangement would benefit the local FL nursery, benefit Zill, and grant me a relatively inexpensive license to legally grow a coconut cream mango.

Has anyone tried to do something like this before?

[Bush2Beach]

Where in the Bay area?

[Draak]

Where in the Bay area?

East bay, right on the edge of zone 9a/9b. It will be planted next to the house in a location that is shielded from wind. It will also be covered during the winter months.

[Bush2Beach]

So many microclimates I don’t really pay attention to the generalized zone’s. Berkeley way different than Fremont different than Vallejo , near the bay or 1/2 way up a hill above the fog line. In the flats or on slope. You can maybe pull it off in the east bay depending on where your at. Better luck if you get scion and graft onto a Manila seedling. Still dicey and may not hold fruit. Covering with greenhouse panels in winter would help keep it from root rotting while its cold and still getting light when the sun is out.