Leo called me up last week asking me if I’d like some Mangos and of course I said yes. Many of his Mangos were knocked off the tree by the last couple thunderstorms we had a couple weeks ago but he still had plenty hanging on his large trees.
The great thing about Leo’s trees are that they produce fruit without any spraying. Not all his varieties produce consistently, some hardly produce, but these are mostly the named Florida varieties like Lemon Zest. I put on a few small Lemon Zest grafts on his trees about two years ago and this is the first year they held any fruit although they were nubbins. If his LZ grafts progress the way my LZ tree did, he should get full sized fruit in the coming years.
Leo’s trees are pretty tightly packed in considering their size so he gets quite a lot of fungus issues. Because he doesn’t spray, he uses pruning to open up the canopy and allow for proper air flow to minimize moist stagnant air.
The seedling varieties he has selected over the past several decades are excellent eating quality and SoCal growers should take note because they grow well in our climate here. Leo and I both live in what is considered as coastal inland and we get dense heavy fog that makes it look like it just rained, most of this is around winter time where our mango trees, especially their blooms, are especially susceptible to damage by pathogens. The varieties that Leo selected will get hit with lots of fungus that is clearly visible to the naked eye yet his varieties still produce excellent crops.
About 10 years ago, I asked Leo why he doesn’t spray. I mentioned the obvious and said “you would get so much more fruit if you had a spray regimen”. Leo replied that he had so much fruit already that he couldn’t eat them all.
Anyways, I picked up some excellent tasting Gold Nugget tangerines along with his Leo Keitt seedling, Leo 2, Maha Chanok, and Peggy.
The first one we sampled was his seedling Keitt. This variety was one of the top picks from a mango tasting about two years ago. It had a perfect balance of sugars and acidity. The sugar acid balance reminded me of a milder Sweet Tart. This fruit has an aborted seed and a Brix reading of 23%.
The next fruit we sampled was the Leo 2. This fruit was a beautiful yellow with a blush of red. It was very sweet and my daughters loved it. It had a Brix reading of 23%. I like this Mango a lot but wished it had a bit more acidity to balance out the high sugars. If I ate this mango a day or two earlier, i would imagine it would taste even better.
The last Mango we sampled was the Peggy. This mango has a yellow base color with just a very slight pink blush. This mango is fatter and more rounded than the Leo 2. It also has more prominent lenticels. This mango was the best tasting of the three we sampled so far. It had a stronger flavor and perfect sugar acid balance. It also had a Brix reading of 23% but the added acid balance and slight mango turpene flavor components pushed it over the top.
Simon
