Author Topic: 4-5 Best Mango Varieties for Compactness, Flavor Profiles, and Extended Season  (Read 11318 times)

bovine421

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As someone with limited space and who had advice from BSbullie through my planting, these are my experiences. PPK, first tree we planted, did well for about 5-6 years with a very heavy pruning. But it was definetly affecting total number of fruit. After last couple years the growth was so upright and it was flushing at faster rates to this year had to pretty much pug it back to start it over as we had lost the pruning battle. Takes more than an annual decent pruning to keep I in check. Second tree we planted was coconut cream. While the overall size has been manageable for now, like Rob said, the growth is freaking erratic as hell, and hard to give it a good shape. And the lower branches tend to shoot straight to the ground and either need to be propped up significantly or pruned off. Pickering has been easy to maintain and truly compact. Still takes a good pruning to keep it maintained, but responds well to one pruning. Honey kiss about the same as pickering, although it does seem to grow a hair faster. Fairchild has been easy to maintain at medium sized tree with annual pruning. But the Fairchild has not fruited heavily. Pickering is always a monster producer and the honey kiss does 2nd best. Coconut cream has been super unreliable and has never produced more than 30 fruit on a good year, about a dozen on bad year. PPK always 30-60. Pickering every year has increased crops, this year about 100-120 mangoes and the tree is about 7 ft tall by 7-8 ft wide.


I would like to hear more about your struggle with PPK. What was the size of it before you plugged it? What size would you of ideally liked to of maintain it? If you have other producing trees and are just producing for your immediate family. I think the heavy pruning trade off of lower crop yield would be justified or okay to have that quality fruit. :)
« Last Edit: September 05, 2020, 01:54:46 PM by bovine421 »
Tete Nene Julie Juliet Carrie Ice Cream Coconut Cream Little Gem  Dot  Mallika PPK  OS  Pina Colada Cotton Candy Buxton Spice Karen Michelle M-4 Beverly Marc Anthony White Pirie Lychee Cherilata Plantain Barbados Cherry

johnb51

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Pickering has been easy to maintain and truly compact. Still takes a good pruning to keep it maintained, but responds well to one pruning. Honey kiss about the same as Pickering, although it does seem to grow a hair faster. Pickering is always a monster producer and the honey kiss does 2nd best. Pickering every year has increased crops, this year about 100-120 mangoes and the tree is about 7 ft tall by 7-8 ft wide.
Yup, that's why I feel it's one tree everyone should have.  And the very best Pickering mangos are a solid 8.5 in flavor and 10 in appearance!
« Last Edit: September 05, 2020, 06:30:54 PM by johnb51 »
John

fisherking73

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Bovine, the PPK had a very upright growth, and the under canopy was just getting higher and higher by the year. Pretty much got to 15ft even with me fighting to keep it under 15 ft. Yes it is worth the heavy pruning and low yield since only for us. But it was just getting to big to control. Decided to restart it and that will let me reshape it etc...… it has much longer internodes than all my other mango trees.

johnb51

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Bovine, the PPK had a very upright growth, and the under canopy was just getting higher and higher by the year. Pretty much got to 15ft even with me fighting to keep it under 15 ft. Yes it is worth the heavy pruning and low yield since only for us. But it was just getting to big to control. Decided to restart it and that will let me reshape it etc...… it has much longer internodes than all my other mango trees.
Do you think Orange Sherbet would be a better tree to grow?
John

fisherking73

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From my understanding, no experience as I have not grown OS, is that OS has a bit more compact growth than PPK and LZ, also has better disease resistance than LZ supposedly.

roblack

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Neelam is a good late season variety.

* can't spell with a "u" evidently, keeps editing my edits, lol
« Last Edit: September 05, 2020, 10:51:49 PM by roblack »

johnb51

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From my understanding, no experience as I have not grown OS, is that OS has a bit more compact growth than PPK and LZ, also has better disease resistance than LZ supposedly.
This is my understanding as well.
John

chris1

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Are there any fans of Duncan?

I think Duncan may be my favorite mango I grow. Flavor is a 9 out of 10 for me. Disease resistant. Very productive. Season this year was long for me with first fruit being eaten first week of April and last being in July. There are other better tasting mangoes out there but for an all around workhorse it wins for sure. I know a lot of people plant Glenn for this reliable productive role but I think Duncan wins the title. I will likely be moving to a different house within a year or two and the first I plant will be another Duncan.

Satya

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Are there any fans of Duncan?

I think Duncan may be my favorite mango I grow. Flavor is a 9 out of 10 for me. Disease resistant. Very productive. Season this year was long for me with first fruit being eaten first week of April and last being in July. There are other better tasting mangoes out there but for an all around workhorse it wins for sure. I know a lot of people plant Glenn for this reliable productive role but I think Duncan wins the title. I will likely be moving to a different house within a year or two and the first I plant will be another Duncan.

Later season Duncans were surprisingly superb tasting for me this year had a combo of classic and indochinese flavor. Earlier ones in the season were a bit washed out but never had any bad taste. Agree with the disease resistance. Is the tree compact or vigorous upright grower ?

johnb51

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Are there any fans of Duncan?

I think Duncan may be my favorite mango I grow. Flavor is a 9 out of 10 for me. Disease resistant. Very productive. Season this year was long for me with first fruit being eaten first week of April and last being in July. There are other better tasting mangoes out there but for an all around workhorse it wins for sure. I know a lot of people plant Glenn for this reliable productive role but I think Duncan wins the title. I will likely be moving to a different house within a year or two and the first I plant will be another Duncan.
Did you find a big difference between early and late Duncans, as others have mentioned?
John

roblack

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will have to retry Duncan; all I've had in the past were mediocre at best

chris1

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Are there any fans of Duncan?

I think Duncan may be my favorite mango I grow. Flavor is a 9 out of 10 for me. Disease resistant. Very productive. Season this year was long for me with first fruit being eaten first week of April and last being in July. There are other better tasting mangoes out there but for an all around workhorse it wins for sure. I know a lot of people plant Glenn for this reliable productive role but I think Duncan wins the title. I will likely be moving to a different house within a year or two and the first I plant will be another Duncan.
Did you find a big difference between early and late Duncans, as others have mentioned?

To be honest very little difference. They get awfully close to tree ripe wince the yellow on one side touches the bottom of the fruit it is about to drop. Take it off the tree and it’s ready in as little as 24-48 hours inside. The early ones if picked early can have a slight washed out taste but it’s all in when they are picked for me. I had maybe 2 that were a little bland the rest were excellent.

As for growth habit mine has not been in ground very long and I never topped it or tipped it until this season. I got it as a 7 gallon from Excalibur and it has grown well and fruited with about 20 fruit the second summer it was in ground. I would love to see what it looks like for some other people that have had them in ground for a while.

achetadomestica

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I recently bought a 7 gallon Duncan and planted about 3 months ago.
It flushed once and now has four panicles each holding 6-7 small fruit.
My nam doc mai is also flowering now but hasn't held any yet. The Nam Doc Mai
is not a recent plant and held fruit last season.

PBm4nG0

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I had a later Duncan from Truly Tropical and it was delicious. Not to bitter close to the skin like some are.
Sweet pleasant Indochinese flavor. I was trying it along side with a K3 Kathy and I was actually liking the Duncan a little more for my taste buds but the Kathy was still good.

Honest Abe

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I had a Duncan from Alex this summer in Late April. It was washed out and bitter close to skin. I had a Duncan from the same Alex in June and it was OUTSTANDING. Beautiful, big, and DELICIOUS. I asked Alex about it(I respect Alex very very highly) and he said Duncan kept him in business this year. It was by far his best producer and the second crop is always very good if not excellent. He said first is usually mediocre. For production, I’d say Duncan wins by a landslide in Near coastal south Florida, based on what Alex Told me.

johnb51

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Ok, y'all, I'm gonna keep Duncan in mind!
John

johnb51

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A year and a half later...this is what I finally went with: Orange Sherbet, Sugarloaf, Honey Kiss, Little Gem, and I ordered a Cecilove from Alex.  I still may find a spot for Pickering.  I had also considered Amrapali.  Covering early season right now, my good friend has PPK, and my neighbors have propagated a seedling (let's call it "Edmundo") with an Indian/West Indian flavor profile and an excellent sweet/acid balance.
« Last Edit: February 27, 2022, 08:53:53 PM by johnb51 »
John

bovine421

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A year and a half later...this is what I finally went with: Orange Sherbet, Sugarloaf, Honey Kiss, Little Gem, and I ordered a Cecilove from Alex.  I still may find a spot for Pickering.  I had also considered Amrapali.  Covering early season right now, my good friend has PPK, and my neighbors have propagated a seedling (let's call it "Edmundo") with an Indian/West Indian flavor profile and an excellent sweet/acid balance.

Cecilove seems to be precocious

« Last Edit: February 28, 2022, 06:38:31 AM by bovine421 »
Tete Nene Julie Juliet Carrie Ice Cream Coconut Cream Little Gem  Dot  Mallika PPK  OS  Pina Colada Cotton Candy Buxton Spice Karen Michelle M-4 Beverly Marc Anthony White Pirie Lychee Cherilata Plantain Barbados Cherry

johnb51

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Cecilove seems to be precocious

So is Little Gem!  The 3-gal. tree that I bought at Truly Tropical had blossoms, which I removed.
John

JulianoGS

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A year and a half later...this is what I finally went with: Orange Sherbet, Sugarloaf, Honey Kiss, Little Gem, and I ordered a Cecilove from Alex.  I still may find a spot for Pickering.  I had also considered Amrapali.  Covering early season right now, my good friend has PPK, and my neighbors have propagated a seedling (let's call it "Edmundo") with an Indian/West Indian flavor profile and an excellent sweet/acid balance.

Great choices John! May your trees grow and produce.
Be very careful and mindful of what you sow, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

johnb51

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Thanks!  I'd like to try and get creative and at some point add M-4 to the Sugarloaf and Lemon Zest to the Orange Sherbet, and something else to the Honey Kiss.
John

Heather Florida

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A year and a half later...this is what I finally went with: Orange Sherbet, Sugarloaf, Honey Kiss, Little Gem, and I ordered a Cecilove from Alex.  I still may find a spot for Pickering.  I had also considered Amrapali.  Covering early season right now, my good friend has PPK, and my neighbors have propagated a seedling (let's call it "Edmundo") with an Indian/West Indian flavor profile and an excellent sweet/acid balance.

Awesome choices, John!

I loved the info on this thread. I am am looking for 3-4 mango trees that match your criteria. Can you tell me why you settled on your final choices?

I already got a Mallika because we tried the fruit and it was amazing! I also read that they can be kept small and are more disease resistant. However, after reading about the difficulty in knowing when to harvest, I may have gone with something else. However, I bought it so in the ground it went. We will see how it goes.

My other picks were: Carrie, Pickering, Fairchild, Orange Sherbet, Cotton Candy, and Honey Kiss. If I could go with only 3 of those which ones should I pick for compact, productive, disease resistant, and longer mango season?


johnb51

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Awesome choices, John!

I loved the info on this thread. I am am looking for 3-4 mango trees that match your criteria. Can you tell me why you settled on your final choices?

I already got a Mallika because we tried the fruit and it was amazing! I also read that they can be kept small and are more disease resistant. However, after reading about the difficulty in knowing when to harvest, I may have gone with something else. However, I bought it so in the ground it went. We will see how it goes.

My other picks were: Carrie, Pickering, Fairchild, Orange Sherbet, Cotton Candy, and Honey Kiss. If I could go with only 3 of those which ones should I pick for compact, productive, disease resistant, and longer mango season?
My final choices were based on each one having a different flavor profile and also ripening at different times.
I don't think Mallika was a bad choice.  You'll figure out when to pick them and how to ripen them.
Pickering is early season, and Honey Kiss is late season, and they're both compact, so they might be obvious choices.  In between, maybe orange sherbet for the intense citrus flavor?
John