Most Reliable Mango Varieties for South Florida (Not Dependent on Cold Weather)

[Squam256]

We actually look to have a pretty good Sweet Tart crop this year. Most of them did not fruit well in 2022.

[bovine421]

I currently have 5 grades for ease of flowering for mango in south Florida:. A few examples provided with each category. Some are disputable as to which group they belong but this is a rough projection based on recent past behavior. Stem age plays a major role as well, and I can’t emphasize enough that you want to get your pruning done before the end of August here to avoid late flushes of growth, and to avoid over feeding the trees to lessen the likelihood of that as well.

Grade 1/Very Easy : These are precocious, and frequently blooming before the New Year regardless of what kind of weather we see. Rosigold, Edward, Dwarf Hawaiian, Rosa

/Grade 2/Easy : these can achieve decent blooms off less than a week below 60F depending on the age of their stems. A solid week will make most of them achieve majority blooms.
Angie, Pickering, Ah Ping, Jean Ellen, Ice Cream, Super Julie

Grade 3/ Medium some bloom after a week or less but not majority of canopy depending on stem age. 10 days with lows below 60F is typically enough to get a majority bloom.
Haden, Bailey’s Marvel, Glenn, most Thai mangos and most old Florida varieties

Grade 4/ Difficult Will flower inconsistently unless they receive multi-week cold fronts. Usually very unprecocious. Sweet Tart, Alphonso, Mulgoba, Peach Cobbler, Bombay

Grade 5/ Extremely Difficult/ Near Impossible These likely require 2+ weeks *untinterupted* lows in the 50s/40s plus optimal stem age and 6+ years of total tree maturity to achieve full blooms here(growth flush needs to be hardened off before end of August and cold front must be January or later). In reality, Most winters here they’ll either fail to bloom completely or just throw a couple panicles here or there. Sindhri, Dasheri, Gilas, Anything from northern India or Pakistan.




Groups 3 and 4 are the problem for people in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade, and maybe even the Treasure Coast now too. Due to a lot of trees in the nursery trade being in those categories.

On the other hand, trees in group 4 and 5 should do well in California and some group 4 maybe central /West Florida

I have grafted Ah Ping and taking a look at Jean Ellen. Is there any other varieties that could be added to grade 2 maybe Cecilove?

[Mark B]

Florigon

[EddieF]

Peach cobbler- mine, no flowers, 5' tall, in ground 2yrs.  It's definitely growing, but no panicles.. yet.
M4- dozen fruit & 2 flowering panicles
Pickering- dozen fruit

Alex, how's Bombay with mbbs & anthracnose for you?
Thanks for your great post.

[Squam256]

I currently have 5 grades for ease of flowering for mango in south Florida:. A few examples provided with each category. Some are disputable as to which group they belong but this is a rough projection based on recent past behavior. Stem age plays a major role as well, and I can’t emphasize enough that you want to get your pruning done before the end of August here to avoid late flushes of growth, and to avoid over feeding the trees to lessen the likelihood of that as well.

Grade 1/Very Easy : These are precocious, and frequently blooming before the New Year regardless of what kind of weather we see. Rosigold, Edward, Dwarf Hawaiian, Rosa

/Grade 2/Easy : these can achieve decent blooms off less than a week below 60F depending on the age of their stems. A solid week will make most of them achieve majority blooms.
Angie, Pickering, Ah Ping, Jean Ellen, Ice Cream, Super Julie

Grade 3/ Medium some bloom after a week or less but not majority of canopy depending on stem age. 10 days with lows below 60F is typically enough to get a majority bloom.
Haden, Bailey’s Marvel, Glenn, most Thai mangos and most old Florida varieties

Grade 4/ Difficult Will flower inconsistently unless they receive multi-week cold fronts. Usually very unprecocious. Sweet Tart, Alphonso, Mulgoba, Peach Cobbler, Bombay

Grade 5/ Extremely Difficult/ Near Impossible These likely require 2+ weeks *untinterupted* lows in the 50s/40s plus optimal stem age and 6+ years of total tree maturity to achieve full blooms here(growth flush needs to be hardened off before end of August and cold front must be January or later). In reality, Most winters here they’ll either fail to bloom completely or just throw a couple panicles here or there. Sindhri, Dasheri, Gilas, Anything from northern India or Pakistan.




Groups 3 and 4 are the problem for people in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade, and maybe even the Treasure Coast now too. Due to a lot of trees in the nursery trade being in those categories.

On the other hand, trees in group 4 and 5 should do well in California and some group 4 maybe central /West Florida

I have grafted Ah Ping and taking a look at Jean Ellen. Is there any other varieties that could be added to grade 2 maybe Cecilove?

Cecilove appears to be in group 2 yes.

We actually had some significant drought stress bloom on some of our Cecilove trees this month.

[Squam256]

Peach cobbler- mine, no flowers, 5' tall, in ground 2yrs.  It's definitely growing, but no panicles.. yet.
M4- dozen fruit & 2 flowering panicles
Pickering- dozen fruit

Alex, how's Bombay with mbbs & anthracnose for you?
Thanks for your great post.

Bombay is very resistant to MBBS and doesn’t have anthracnose problems in our location. It is extremely prone to powdery mildew but given how easy that is to control, it wouldn’t be what would deter me from growing it.

Its big drawbacks are that it develops into a hyper vigorous tree (even with no N or irrigation) and struggles to bloom consistently in SFL. We have two mature Bombay trees, one had a full bloom and looks to have a very good crop, the other larger one had very little bloom at all.

In areas that receive more cool weather than us (west coast and central FL) it will have a better opportunity to fruit more consistently as long as the grower has space for it and is willing to make a few anti-PM applications in winter.

[EddieF]

Thanks Alex, appreciate it, saved me from powdery m. flurries 5yrs from now lol.
I'm after Kent type flavor kicked up a notch.
Love the perfect Kent but my 20yr old tree's not loving me back lately.

[johnb51]

I'm after Kent type flavor kicked up a notch.
Love the perfect Kent but my 20yr old tree's not loving me back lately.

Have you considered Carla?  I bought a Carla tree for my nephew's new house, based on everything we've heard about it.  I had a Providence tree at my old house, which for me had no issues and was definitely "Kent flavor kicked up a notch."  Huge fruit, too.  But I think Carla may be more disease resistant and productive.