Just getting around to posting on my seedling Ivory:
This year the tree produced 9 mangos and they were the best the tree has produced yet. Previously the few mangos that would come off the tree suffered from internal breakdown and squirrel attacks so it was really difficult to get an impression and when the tree would only produce 3 mangos some years. I am learning more and more about this tree each year so just sharing what I’ve learned this year. On the internal break down side, I loaded the tree couple years back with 200 lbs of crushed oyster shell a the base, then a heavy prune. The heavy prune caused it to not flower last year and I threw down 100 lbs of gypsum on it and tip pruned it. The tip pruning definitely made a bushier tree. These measures I took over past two years set it up for better success this year. If reading this your probably saying WTf is all that calcium supplementation for isn’t Fl basically all coral and limestone? Two theories I have on this: the tree is a seedling and possibly needs more calcium supplement and is unique in that regard and/or the man made lot my tree is planted on just happens to be in some funky soil in that particular spot, among any other unknown unknowns. I firmly believe though that the calcium supplementation directly fixed the internal breakdown issue this mango has struggled with previously.
So what do I know based on the fruit obejectively: it’s large and can get near 3lbs, it’s totally fiberless, the flesh to seed ratio is great with a thin monoembryonic seed, it can accrue blush colors though mostly a yellow mango, the fruit are clean and seems disease resistant, the tree is an upright lanky grower, as far as production the fruit can come in clusters like the original ivory, though it is not currently productive. I have a theory on this that the low production is due to me not properly pruning the tree in its juvenile years. To test this I’ve grafted this and planted another in my yard to employ a more intensive tip pruning program at a much smaller tree to see if I can shape the tree better and since it’s grafted from a fruiting branch it might produce better. Sweetness, one fruit was measured and registered at 20.
Subjectively: I brought a fruit over for Alex to try at tropical acres and he said it tastes like maha chanock. I gave a fruit to my buddy Duy (Vietnamese) and he said it tastes like nam doc mai. I brought a fruit to mike at trees n more, (in the above pics that is my seedling ivory next to his grafted ivory) he remarked it’s delicious, sweet and complex. I brought in a fruit to work and did a sampling between it and super Julie, 11 employees were asked to chose between two plates of cubed mango, and the winner was the seedling ivory. The quirky thing about this work taste test was that every vote for it was of Latin/Cuban origin, while the super Julie votes were more African American/Haitian……I find this incredibly interesting 🤔. In my view it definitely tastes like an Asian mango though the flesh texture is not as gel like in an Asian mango, it’s definitely a hybrid possibly between ivory x Valencia pride maybe?
-Joe
