Productivity of the NDM Mango Tree

[Honest Abe]

Hi fellow Mango-obsessors,
Please share your experiences with the productivity of your NDM trees. I have a 3 year old grafted NDM, the non-dwarf variety. Maybe it’s called “sia tong”.. everything I have in ground is in full bloom, except my 6.5x4 ft NDM. Are they usually later to start producing? Are they very productive early, or when more mature? I’m in the Miami, Fl area. Thanks so much
-Abe 

[weiss613]

I don’t know if this will be helpful.
I loved the taste of NDM. I had / producing 5 year old trees that set a lot of fruit. That last year before I Topped them to graft something else about 80 beautiful fruit that were about 1 month from being mature just fell off the trees. So I decided then that NDM would not mature properly in Miami. At first I thought it was maybe caused by a downspout from my gutters pouring too much water near the trees but recently I figured out why the fruit fell off.
I live in a residential area and I always tried to keep my yard perfect even under every fruit tree and I regularly sprayed weed and grass killer. Took me 8 years to figure this out. The leaves and fruit looked like they had signs and symptoms of Anthracnose but it was the weed and grass killer that made them look like that. So with this knowledge I now say yes NDM is a great tree to have. In fact my ex business partner has a 20+ year old NDM in Pinecrest and his Fruit are delicious and he has a nice crop every year. As far as the slow start for your tree be patent if it doesn’t wake up this year it should in the future. Before the great Zill’s NDM was a top 5 and that’s pretty darn good.
This is my ex partners tree
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0QbfnNO761_aSwnTi4yomlYMw

[canito 17]

Question my my friend .you love it too much ? To force a mango to produce you have to stress it. Perfect way is no water during the dry season in the north .hemisphere. NDM  from Martexfárms .One year from grafting.

[Honest Abe]

Thank you both for your replies! I fertilize my trees once a year with osmocote plus, and i water only when they look very dry. Full sun. Thanks so much
—Abe

[skhan]

Hi fellow Mango-obsessors,
Please share your experiences with the productivity of your NDM trees. I have a 3 year old grafted NDM, the non-dwarf variety. Maybe it’s called “sia tong”.. everything I have in ground is in full bloom, except my 6.5x4 ft NDM. Are they usually later to start producing? Are they very productive early, or when more mature? I’m in the Miami, Fl area. Thanks so much
-Abe

It's my understanding that the non NDM4 types not really precocious.
I wouldn't worry much

[bsbullie]

Thank you both for your replies! I fertilize my trees once a year with osmocote plus, and i water only when they look very dry. Full sun. Thanks so much
—Abe

If in ground, that is not the proper fertilizer.   Especially being in Miami-Dade,  they are probably lacking key minor elements.

There are a couple or few possibilities of what variety NDM you have.

[roblack]

NDM4 is flowering great this year. 5 years in ground, from a nice sized 7 gallon. It took a while to get going compared to other mangoes.

[Honest Abe]

Roblack, did your tree flower for the first time this Year, after 5 years In ground?

BSbullie, do you mind listing the possible NDM varieties? I was told by shangri-la farms in homestead that it was the “regular one” but I know there is no such thing now.

[roblack]

This is the 3rd year flowering. Just a couple of fruits held each of the previous years.

[Honest Abe]

Thanks for response...sounds like a tough variety for an impatient grower like myself 😂

[canito 17]

The clue is to stress the tree . I have 1 1/2 Yr. orange sherbet and lemon meringe and are begin to bloom. The picture is from a  wild mango . It speak for itself.

[skhan]

Roblack, did your tree flower for the first time this Year, after 5 years In ground?

BSbullie, do you mind listing the possible NDM varieties? I was told by shangri-la farms in homestead that it was the “regular one” but I know there is no such thing now.

I bought and planted a "regular" one in 2013. I finally had a good crop in 2019.
Not precocious at all for me and I don't have much splitting issues so I think it might not be ndm4.

I regret planting it based on taste, I began topworking it but most of the tree is still ndm

[Honest Abe]

Thanks Khan! Might have to do a little grafting...

[JoeP450]

Hi fellow Mango-obsessors,
Please share your experiences with the productivity of your NDM trees. I have a 3 year old grafted NDM, the non-dwarf variety. Maybe it’s called “sia tong”.. everything I have in ground is in full bloom, except my 6.5x4 ft NDM. Are they usually later to start producing? Are they very productive early, or when more mature? I’m in the Miami, Fl area. Thanks so much
-Abe

Hey HA,

In my experience, I have seen that my mango trees don’t always flower in the same order every year. Generally trees are early, mid, late, while this can vary and some trees have multiple blooms. For ex this year my lemon zest is pushing flowers now, while last year it was first to flower among others I grow. Why this is the case, I wonder if it has to do with when I pruned the trees possibly, or fertilized, I’m not sure. I’m also growing NDM and mine is very slow growing and compact (somewhere on the forum I posted pics of the tree holding three fruit at maybe 3ft tall). NDM is sweet and fiberless mango, though not too complex in flavor. My NDM has not flowered yet this year, but It’s tips are very swollen like it’s on the verge of pushing bloom, I think soon. One thing, if you prune your tree too heavily it may skip a year or two in flowering, so be careful when pruning, try to tip prune. There is still time for your tree to push flowers, stay patient and keep the faith 👍

-Joe

[Honest Abe]

Thank Joe, you could be right. Time will tell. I’m
Just trying to get a feel for the production potential of NDM trees in the first 5 years or so. So far sounds like it’s not great.

[Squam256]

There are around 30 different types of Nam Doc Mail. Many of them have numerical designations in Thailand.

The first ones introduced to Florida by Robert Knight were #8 and #11. Most of the older NDM trees were either one of these. They have a more vertical growth habit and aren’t very precocious. Once they start producing some are decent producers and some are disappointing.

By far The most common one in the Florida nursery trade now is the #4, which is more compact than most NDM’s and a lot more precocious. It also splits worse than any of them as far as I’ve observed.

Some others whose numerical designations I’m unsure of are NDM Sia Tong and NDM Mun. We’re growing these. Sia Tong fruit turns a golden hue and doesn’t get as large as #4 fruits. It’s production has been lagging the last couple years but generally they fair well.

The Mun is kind of a strange tree and I speculate it may have genes from another Thai mango other than just NDM (although the fruit certainly look like NDM). It’s born some pretty good crops for its size.

[Honest Abe]

Alex, as always, thank you for the awesome mango-education. I’m your number one fan dude. Your website is on my favorites and I read your mango descriptions all the time.

I suppose time will tell, but if she doesn’t bloom this year I’m going to be quite dissatisfied considering her size and aesthetic health.


See you in a couple months with my track shoes on and a pocket full of cash.

[pineislander]

By far The most common one in the Florida nursery trade now is the #4, which is more compact than most NDM’s and a lot more precocious. It also splits worse than any of them as far as I’ve observed.

I know of a person who really liked the fruit and planted a grove of them. The amount of split fruit was very disappointing... The location was flood prone, maybe the cause?