New Zill Mangos Info

[GrassFlats]

are pina colada dwarf or semi dwarf trees?  Im thinking of getting another mango but needs to be dwarf or semi dwarf so i can protect it from the cold.  Other than Cogshall or Pickering are there any other "not common" or new varieties worth planting?

[mikesid]

are pina colada dwarf or semi dwarf trees?  Im thinking of getting another mango but needs to be dwarf or semi dwarf so i can protect it from the cold.  Other than Cogshall or Pickering are there any other "not common" or new varieties worth planting?

It's not a dwarf like the Pickering or Cogshall...it's more of a 'floppy' grower like Coconut Cream...mine has been growing steady and has developed a large trunk and nice canopy rather quickly...I believe Angie is supposed to be a semi-dwarf tree and it's become pretty popular now...

[Mr. Clean]

are pina colada dwarf or semi dwarf trees?  Im thinking of getting another mango but needs to be dwarf or semi dwarf so i can protect it from the cold.  Other than Cogshall or Pickering are there any other "not common" or new varieties worth planting?

Hope you like Pina Colada as an ornamental tree.  Three members already posted that it puts out lots of flowers, but sets little or no fruit.  Angie is supposed to be a dwarf.  My NDM #4 seems to be dwarfing.  Carrie dwarfs. 

[Mr. Clean]

My results so far:

Sweettart - 20 mangos  Planted:  4/17/2012
Coconut Cream - 4 mangos  Planted:  3/17/2012  (mangos may drop before ripe)
Lemonzest - 6 mangos   Planted:  3/26/2012  (mangos may drop before ripe)
Pineapple Pleasure - 1 mango   Planted:  4/17/2012

Ornamental Mango Trees:
Sunrise - 0 mangos  Planted:  4/17/2012
Harvest Moon - 0 mangos  Planted:  7/15/2012  (2 fruit set, all dropped)
Pina Colada - 0 mangos  Planted:  4/17/2012  (massive bloom, no fruit set)

Too Young:
Peach Cobbler  7/14/2013
Ugly Betty  7/14/2013

[bsbullie]

Ignore the comment above about certain varieties being ornamental,  all of the trees this member has planted are far too young to judge productivity.   

I suggest somebody should take up a new hobby...

[TropicalFruitHunters]

Read thru all of these posts again.  Some really good observations.  I'm in the process of top working an old NDM in the greenhouse...with mixed success so far.  The info here will help me determine a few other varieties I will try and add onto the tree.  I've tasted a bunch of different ones last year while visiting, but not many of the newer ones mentioned by Rob, Jeff, and some others. 

So far I have Edward and Lemon Zest which has been on the tree since last year.  I just tried a few others and so far St. Maui is pushing growth while a few others have potential.  The thing that concerns me is the growth.  Flushes coming from the NDM look fine while new and old growth coming off the Edward and LZ look like shit.  I'll have to get some pics.  The old NDM used to grow like crazy but these two have been very shy about it.  My grand experiment is not turning out so grand!   
Thanks.

[Mr. Clean]

Read thru all of these posts again.  Some really good observations.  I'm in the process of top working an old NDM in the greenhouse...with mixed success so far.  The info here will help me determine a few other varieties I will try and add onto the tree.  I've tasted a bunch of different ones last year while visiting, but not many of the newer ones mentioned by Rob, Jeff, and some others. 

So far I have Edward and Lemon Zest which has been on the tree since last year.  I just tried a few others and so far St. Maui is pushing growth while a few others have potential.  The thing that concerns me is the growth.  Flushes coming from the NDM look fine while new and old growth coming off the Edward and LZ look like shit.  I'll have to get some pics.  The old NDM used to grow like crazy but these two have been very shy about it.  My grand experiment is not turning out so grand!   
Thanks.

I have heard one variety will eventually dominate on a Cocktail mango tree, so such trees are not often grown. 

[cwojo]

Read thru all of these posts again.  Some really good observations.  I'm in the process of top working an old NDM in the greenhouse...with mixed success so far.  The info here will help me determine a few other varieties I will try and add onto the tree.  I've tasted a bunch of different ones last year while visiting, but not many of the newer ones mentioned by Rob, Jeff, and some others. 

So far I have Edward and Lemon Zest which has been on the tree since last year.  I just tried a few others and so far St. Maui is pushing growth while a few others have potential.  The thing that concerns me is the growth.  Flushes coming from the NDM look fine while new and old growth coming off the Edward and LZ look like shit.  I'll have to get some pics.  The old NDM used to grow like crazy but these two have been very shy about it.  My grand experiment is not turning out so grand!   
Thanks.

I have heard one variety will eventually dominate on a Cocktail mango tree, so such trees are not often grown.

One variety will dominate on a multi grafted tree if not cared for properly or pruned, or if you get a vp along with a coconut cream and a cogshall on the same tree, of course the most vigorous will take over. Same with grapefruit (very vigorous) grafted with lime and orange... It's a no brainer

[Sleepdoc]

Read thru all of these posts again.  Some really good observations.  I'm in the process of top working an old NDM in the greenhouse...with mixed success so far.  The info here will help me determine a few other varieties I will try and add onto the tree.  I've tasted a bunch of different ones last year while visiting, but not many of the newer ones mentioned by Rob, Jeff, and some others. 

So far I have Edward and Lemon Zest which has been on the tree since last year.  I just tried a few others and so far St. Maui is pushing growth while a few others have potential.  The thing that concerns me is the growth.  Flushes coming from the NDM look fine while new and old growth coming off the Edward and LZ look like shit.  I'll have to get some pics.  The old NDM used to grow like crazy but these two have been very shy about it.  My grand experiment is not turning out so grand!   
Thanks.

I have heard one variety will eventually dominate on a Cocktail mango tree, so such trees are not often grown.

I have a multi grafted tree that is over 20ft tall.  I do very little in the form of pruning/shaping the tree.  It has consistently produced crops for the past 3 seasons.  In the past it has sort of an alternate bearer, with some of the portions taking a year off.  This year it has strong crop of all 4 main varieties on it.  Khun See, Tong Dam, Glenn, and Florigon. 

If I get a chance I will go snap a few pics later today

[Patrick]

My multi-grafted mango with several varieties that I grafted last year have all grown to nearly seven gallon size in a even fashion.  The San Felipe, Fernandin, Lemon Zest, and Angie all set and held fruit on the grafts from last year. 

My three year old Lemon Zest has about 70 mangoes on it.  My two year old Pineapple Pleasure has about a dozen. 

I would think that nurseries would shy away from selling multi grafted trees for several reasons.  Try to meet the customers demands on which varieties they would want, which of those would actually be compatible, growing out the grafted trees for sale (after grafting onto a healthy 15 gallon size at least), and just dealing with the general public.  People just don't want to pay for the labor and work involved in getting that all together.  I have advertised 15 grafted mango trees for $50 before and sold three in two weeks.  I would think a 15 gallon custom multi grafted tree would require a retail price of about $125 per variety or more.  That in a market place that people shy away at $15 grafted one gallon trees?

[Guanabanus]

Multi-grafting or braiding small mangos (1-gallon) has not proven to be practical.

Top-working 3-gallon or larger can be done, but is challenging, and it produces a "higher maintenance" plant.

[bangkok]

I had an offer on my cocktail ndm tree from 600 us$ but i didn't sell. I will make one for that price though but not my own tree.

125us$ for each variety is well paid, i wonder why there are no retired people who make them tree's. They probably don't need the money.

They easy pay 1000 $ for some striping or rims on the car so then why not pay well for a very special tree?

[Mr. Clean]

Conceptually, it would be cool to have a multi-grafted mango tree with Rosigold, Keitt, and a mid season mango, so a single tree could have a mango season potentially from March to October.  But with 30+ mango trees in-ground, I personally do not need such a tree.  But as Har pointed out (it would become high maintenance).   My Keitt is much more vigorous grower than my Rosigold.

[dongeorgio]

A cocktail tree is high maintenance assuming you want to keep all varieties equal.  If you don't mind a disproportionate split, would it still be considered high maintenance? 

[Patrick]

I would think that balancing would be required with varieties that are different in their growth habits.  I only have all0owed room for ten mango  trees on my .4 acre lot so I will have to maintain an active pruning regimen anyway to create more potential flowering sites.  For me it will be just a matter of balancing and tipping/pruning at the same time.  If I see a variety taking major dominance I will either lop it off or maybe add to the top of it with another variety using it as another inter stock.  Again, it is very easy to add varieties, much easier than grafting onto rootstock in a pot.

[jbaqai]

Excellent write up

My guide for the Zills varieties

Thanks Bsbullie

Any changes to the following info or any new discovery

Your trees are not that old to be making decisions based on production.  Jeff, Alex and myself have more first hand info on people who have these trees that are much older than what the general public have from purchases.  Yes, there seems to be some varieties that may not be super productive,  but then again neither is Edward.  Alphonso is even worse in South Florida.

There are factors that can effect production.   Location can cause climate and soil to vary greatly which can have a tremendous effect on the trees.  Care is another factor.  These factors can also have an effect on taste, size and overall quality of the fruit.

with that being said, yes it is known at thiz point that Harvest Moon and Pineapple Pleasure are shy to moerate bearers (I would say on the shy side of moderste at best).  The saving grace with these varieties is they produce large sized fruit.  Coconut Cream may have a similar bearing issue however since it seems to flower heavily,  set small fruitlets and then dropan aabundant amount, that it may need more years till better production sets in.

I would put Pina Colada as a moderate to very good bearer.  I know Marlys has her opinions but Ugly Betty seems to have similar issues as Coconut Cream.  Again, age may allow the tree to prevail.  Peach Cobbler aka O-2 may be moderate but I have a feeling it may be more of a nutrient issue.  Gary seems to think it may have better production with better tree care.

Sunrise is one that seems to possibly be a very good bearer.   It produces a nice growth habit, flowers well and flowers and sets fruit young so I can only surmise that it will get even better with age.

Sweet Tart does not seem to have a production issue from what I have seen but possibly a cracking issue, especially if left on the tree to long to ripen.  The catch with that is it must get some color to be of excellent quality.   If picked too early, like with Pina Colada,  it will not ripen properly and quality will suffer to put it mildly.

Now, to Lemon Zest and Orange Sherbert.  Both appear to be very good to nearing heavy producers.   This did not, however, happen from the beginning.   It took some age for this to show.  The bad traits with these trees is that they are prone to jelly seed, especially Orange Sherbert.   The trees are also very vigorous upright growers.

I cant comment that much on the traits of Juicy Peach at the moment.

with all of these, remember they are seedlings or crosses.  A lot of them seem to take some of their habits, good and bad, from their parents.

Now I know many have seen me talk about these varieties the way I do...just so you know, I currently have Lemon Zest, Sweet Tart, Peach Cobbler (long live Oh Too), Ugly Betty, Juicy Peach and a few other unproven or pending experiments.

Be patient and stay tuned...