Kasturi mango ?

[8ofGac]

Anyone own a kasturi mango tree ? They say it's not an actual mango but a type of mango it's origin is Indonesia.

[Sleepdoc]

I have one.  Hasn’t fruited until this season.  Holding a whopping 3 fruit 😂

[Finca La Isla]

I have one and it’s growing nicely, probably more than 5m high and maybe a 4” trunk.  It’s about 3 years old and still no fruit.
How old is the one with 3 fruits?
Peter

[fruitlovers]

I have several trees. They have all been fruiting for several years. They are all laden with fruit right now, bus still green. Its a good tasting fruit, very similar to mango, but quite a bit smaller. Best thing about it is it does not get anthracnose, so will fruit dependently, without spraying, in rainy areas.

[Sleepdoc]

I have one and it’s growing nicely, probably more than 5m high and maybe a 4” trunk.  It’s about 3 years old and still no fruit.
How old is the one with 3 fruits?
Peter

3 gallon grafted from Fairchild planted in ground 2012.

[Kona fruit farm]

Is kasturi true to seed?

[Future]

Is kasturi true to seed?

I acquired a seed from Sleepdoc and it has three sprouts, is polyembryonic. In my climate, no dry season, I look forward to decent flowering and fruit set.  I have seen reports of seedlings fruiting within 4 years. Tipping, girdling, bending branches to vertical should all help. I also thought the fruit tasted good, although tiny.

[Kona fruit farm]

Hi Future... i'm trying to decipher your answer. haha  is that a yes it is true to seed??  i got a seedling tree from my friend micah here in Hawaii and just planted it..  feels weird planting a seedling "mango" thats not grafted.. but i was under the impression they grew true to seed.

[fruitlovers]

Hi Future... i'm trying to decipher your answer. haha  is that a yes it is true to seed??  i got a seedling tree from my friend micah here in Hawaii and just planted it..  feels weird planting a seedling "mango" thats not grafted.. but i was under the impression they grew true to seed.

There might be some variation, but you will definitely get a good fruit. When Future says they are polyembryonic he means seed will make multiple sprouts, some of the sprouts will be identical to mother plants. , others will have variation.
I have both a seedling kasturi and a grafted kasturi. My seedling kasturi produces better quality fruits and more of them. I think right now the only reason to graft kasturi is to get faster production. In the USA nobody has yet selected improved cultivars. That is possible in the future. It sure would be nice to see cultivars with larger sized fruits. It's a very nice fruit, but they are a bit small.
So definitely plant Micah's tree. It's especially good at your higher elevation. Much more consistent bearing there than mango.

[Tropicdude]

Has there ever been a hybrid cross with indica ?  that sure would open up a lot of possibilities.

[Kona fruit farm]

Thanks Oscar.  I can’t wait. Seems like a delicious fruit. Micah also mentioned that the fruits fall off the tree when they are ripe which kind of confused me. Cause don’t regular mangos do that too?   He made it sound like the fruit was easier to harvest cause ait falls off when it’s ripe. But wouldn’t it bruise like a mango does?

[Mike T]

The trees get as big as standard mangoes and they taste pretty well like a mango.A friend has a couple of trees that have fruit a bit larger than usual and they should be small and green on the trees right now and ripening in December.

[roblack]

Growing a grafted kasturi, its about 6 feet tall or more. In ground.

Not sure if it will work or not, but planning on grafting kuini on top of kasturi.

[fruitlovers]

Thanks Oscar.  I can’t wait. Seems like a delicious fruit. Micah also mentioned that the fruits fall off the tree when they are ripe which kind of confused me. Cause don’t regular mangos do that too?   He made it sound like the fruit was easier to harvest cause ait falls off when it’s ripe. But wouldn’t it bruise like a mango does?

You can pick them off the tree when purple, or wait till they fall off the tree. They don't break down like mangoes. If you will for a mango to fall it is usually moosh, or it is full of fruit flies, or full of bug, or bruised. The kasture is a lot more resilient. I can pick them up off the ground a few days after they fall and they are perfectly fine. I think that may be because they don't get the fungus (anthracnose), and are smaller, lighter, and harder to bruise. Also they don't fall when totally soft, they will still be a little bit hard textured.
I like them a lot. They have a very intense mango taste and smell that is very appealing to most people, and little fiber. But the biggest advantage is consistent fruiting in rainy climates.

[fruitlovers]

Has there ever been a hybrid cross with indica ?  that sure would open up a lot of possibilities.

Yes that would be the ultimate type of hybrid, to give mango total or partial resistance to anthracnose, and expand the growing areas to more  wet-tropical  climates. I think there has been very little work on this. Dr. Zee here explained to me that the mangifera flowers are very small, have to be hand pollinated, and very few set fruit....so it is extremelly labor intensive.
I believe that Fairchild Garden's Richard Campbell and Noris Ledesma were doing some hybridization work? But i don't know the details?

[Future]

Some details of their caging to create crosses has been posted...somewhere. At a Fairchild festival Dr. L talked about tricking bees by placing the wild mango flowers at the hives base. Apparently one smells sweet and the other musky. If I recall, bees prefer sweet but would go for musky by strategic cut flower placement...and then reverse to the other plant creating opportunity for a cross.