Author Topic: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??  (Read 1816 times)

Kona fruit farm

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Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« on: February 17, 2022, 10:34:54 AM »
Hi guys.  This may sound like a silly question.  Since more than likely anything that fruits in Florida will probably fruit in Hawaii just as easily.   But I stumbled across Lara farms website recently (super cool and very fair prices I might say).  And they have like 75 varieties of grafted mangos for sale.    I’ve always been so curious why Florida has all the coolest types of mangos.   Peach cobbler and lemon zest and fruit punch and all these crazy names that truly sound amazing. But In Hawaii you really only find 7-10 varieties that are sold here.   Weird.   

Long story short I wanna buy a bunch of these grafted trees and plant at my other place in kona.  Just wondering if there is anything I’m missing….  Will they grow and fruit here for me as well as they do in Florida??   
With 3 acres of prime real estate for growing tropicals... why not create my own garden of eden?? Work in progress

ben mango

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2022, 01:15:27 PM »
Some may produce well some others wont. it’s like asking how is black thorn going to produce in Hawaii? No one knows until they have tried it. The thing you are curious about has a simple explanation. People like Richard Campbell have been growing , selecting and breeding new varieties of mango for decades in FL. Whereas the efforts in Hawaii to develop new varieties has been sort of lost and most of the varieties there have been around since the 80s or 90s. Steph on Maui is experimenting planting FL varieties on a dry part of the island, but the trees are still young
« Last Edit: February 17, 2022, 02:07:24 PM by ben mango »

johnb51

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2022, 02:17:31 PM »
Some may produce well, some others won't. No one knows until they have tried it.
You should trial them in Hawaii.
John

ben mango

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2022, 02:43:32 PM »
I would if I had a million or millions of dollars  :P

Orkine

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2022, 03:55:40 PM »
Florida has so many varieties because in addition to the other factors which are present elsewhere, someone or a few people made an investment a few decades ago to breed and select mango varieties and they happen to be based in Florida.  The varieties they selected were picked because they did well in Florida.

Think Zills.

Gone tropo

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2022, 06:09:58 PM »
I wonder also why here in Australia we only have a few varieties of mangoes yet they are grown on a large scale im guessing way more mangoes are grown here then florida.

In my area mangoes dont perform as well due to high rainfall they prefer drier districts hawaii might be the same.  I have planted only 2 grafted mangoes nam doc mai and Maha Chanok i chose these as i believe they perform well in thailand ? which im guessing is a more similar climate to here and hawaii then florida is.

MasonG31

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2022, 09:02:18 PM »
I’m pretty sure Haden is a Florida variety, and it seems like it’s the favorite for a
Lot of Hawaiians.  I saw a lot of Haden trees all over the Big Island.  I also saw some loaded
Carrie and Keitt trees out there. Both of those are Florida varieties, I believe.

Kona fruit farm

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #7 on: February 18, 2022, 02:42:31 AM »
You guys are all correct.   I am going to trial about 10-12 Florida varieties at my place here in kona.   Luckily the mango experiment will be faster to yield results than the durian experiment.    So I’ll have some answers for us all I about 4-5 years I believe.   

But yes here on big island the standard mangoes we see are Keitt. Rapoza. Haden.  Tommy Atkins.   Then we less frequently see some Carrie.   Mapalehu.  Golden glow.   Pirie (which is incredible).  Some nam doc Mai.  Etc etc.  few others. But not many.     You absolutely never see a lemon zest.  Or sweet tart. Or peach cobbler.   Or cotton candy.   Good lord those all sound so yummy.    Very good job to whoever named these.   Lol.  It’s working. 
With 3 acres of prime real estate for growing tropicals... why not create my own garden of eden?? Work in progress

fruitmonger

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #8 on: February 18, 2022, 08:19:41 AM »
   I’ve always been so curious why Florida has all the coolest types of mangos.

Because of people like this guy.  (Edward Simmonds in the pic when he was the head of the USDA Plant Introduction Station in Miami Florida....early 1900's)

I know Zills has produced a lot for recent mango cultivars (and super cool names) but even they would have to admit that it was the OG Tropical fruit guys that did the heaviest lifting

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." Chinese proverb

Dmaxx69

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2022, 10:47:56 AM »
Stewheart from mango mana was selling at least 10-12 varieties of mangoes last season at makuu market. I was buying $50-80 worth a week lol but he may be a someone worth talking to since he is also based in Kona.

ben mango

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #10 on: February 19, 2022, 12:52:19 PM »
Stu hearts heavy hitters are r2e2( Kona gold), Keitt, haden, julie, rapoza (they get whacked by fruit flies really bad), pirie, white pirie, Maha Chanok and mapalehu


fruitlovers

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #11 on: February 21, 2022, 12:15:02 AM »
I think they will all fruit for you Jeff at your location. The real question is how the quality going to hold up? Growing mangoes in Florida limestone soil and Florida climate is not the same as growing in Hawaii volcanic soil and Hawaii climate. I just posted same remark in thread about Rapoza inf Florida. Many people think that it's going to taste and perform the same in Florida as it does in Hawaii, and that's probably not true. And that's probably why many are dissatisfied with Rapoza mangoes in Florida.
BTW, you won't have results in 4-5 years.  What you might have is a few tree starting to fruit. Results take at least 10 years, and sometimes more.
BTW, same applies to durians. Just because Musang King and Black Thorn are top notch in SE Asia does not necessarily mean they will be top notch or even fruit well in Hawaii.
Oscar

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #12 on: February 21, 2022, 05:42:53 PM »
I hear you there oscar. I also wondered/assumed the same thing.   Honestly it really is an experiment.   I don’t know if it’ll work or not and even when/if they do fruit how they’ll taste.    But I’m
Committed to the process and will see it through.  Not only for myself but for future generations of mango growers here in Hawaii.    I’ll probably plant about 30 varieties.   20 Florida and 10 Hawaii types.   

I’m not at all saying Hawaii mangos are no good. Mapalehu is amazing. Pirie is unreal.   Rapoza same.    And carrie here is also one of my favorites.  Just really wanna try that orange sherbet and peach cobbler and lemon zest.  To name a few.    See how they taste here. 
With 3 acres of prime real estate for growing tropicals... why not create my own garden of eden?? Work in progress

Woodbert64

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #13 on: February 21, 2022, 11:50:24 PM »
What elevation are you trying to grow the mangoes at? I’ve read that they don’t fruit well above 1500 feet here…

I’m at 2100 feet and I have three mango trees and not one of them has produced any fruit.

BohicaBob

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #14 on: February 22, 2022, 12:00:03 PM »
In Olinda, Maui you will see large and old mango trees ... but no fruit. Elevation there is 3,500' for so. :)

fruitlovers

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #15 on: February 22, 2022, 07:53:33 PM »
I hear you there oscar. I also wondered/assumed the same thing.   Honestly it really is an experiment.   I don’t know if it’ll work or not and even when/if they do fruit how they’ll taste.    But I’m
Committed to the process and will see it through.  Not only for myself but for future generations of mango growers here in Hawaii.    I’ll probably plant about 30 varieties.   20 Florida and 10 Hawaii types.   

I’m not at all saying Hawaii mangos are no good. Mapalehu is amazing. Pirie is unreal.   Rapoza same.    And carrie here is also one of my favorites.  Just really wanna try that orange sherbet and peach cobbler and lemon zest.  To name a few.    See how they taste here.
Good experiment. I was trying the same in Hamakua with some of the Florida varieties. But gave up after even the Hawaii varieties didn't do so well. You stand a much better chance in your area with much lower rainfall. I'd plant as many as possible on your lower property as no doubt they will do much better there.
Oscar

Kona fruit farm

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #16 on: February 24, 2022, 08:45:55 PM »
Phase 1 is complete.   All grafted mangos have arrived and been transplanted to 3 gallon pots.    26 of them so far. 











With 3 acres of prime real estate for growing tropicals... why not create my own garden of eden?? Work in progress

mangoba

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #17 on: February 25, 2022, 07:30:49 AM »


They're looking great, very nice selection. I hope they all fruit for you, shipping to Hawaii must have been quite pricey.

Kona fruit farm

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Re: Florida mangos in Hawaii. All good??
« Reply #18 on: February 25, 2022, 05:58:07 PM »
Yeah I got them all from Lara farms.    I was shocked that shipping wasn’t more.   Bout $500 in total for 27 trees
With 3 acres of prime real estate for growing tropicals... why not create my own garden of eden?? Work in progress