Mango varieties worth planting and those to stay away from

[yoski]

Hi all, I am looking for some varieties with good to outstanding disease resistance, excellent flavor and at least ok production. Here are all the varieties that do good in my yard (Sebring, FL):
Mangos that are absolutely outstanding and disease free:
1. Pickering, best producer and a small tree, outstanding fruit, no loss to wind, despite being very exposed. If you are growing for $$, this is it.
2. Orange Sherbet, medium producer of outstanding fruit  (my favorite fruit)
3. M-4, heavy producer, outstanding fruit
4. Super Alphonso, medium producer, outstanding fruit (wife's favorite fruit)
5. Karen Michelle, light producer, but large outstanding fruit
6. Angie, heavy producer, very good fruit, minimal loss to wind as this tree is very exposed.
7. Fruit Punch, medium producer of very good fruit
8. Honey Kiss, heavy producer, of very good fruit
9. Gold Nugget, heavy producer, good fruit

... and some I wouldn't plant again. Those I actually pulled out and replaced.
1. Malika, poor production, very susceptible to MBBS
2. Keitt, 100% loss to MBBS
3. Lemon Zest, 100% loss to MBBS

problematic ones:
1. Venus, MBBS
2. NDM, poor production, many lost to wind
3. Edward, poor production, many lost to wind
4. Valencia Pride, about 1/3 lost to MBBS, some to wind
5. Pineapple Pleasure, poor production, some MBBS
6. Sugar Loaf, poor production, some loss to wind
7. Cac, poor production, loss to wind
8. Sweet Tart poor production
9. Peach Cobler, poor production
10. Choc Anon, low production, some MBBS, some loss to wind
11. Fairchild, just an ok Mango, otherwise no problems
12. Yehangir, poor production but good fruit and no problems otherwise
13. Lemon Meringue, big MBBS problem, 60% loss

Mangos that are kind of good:
1. Maha, no disease, ok production, good fruit
2. VP, good production, some MBBS
3. Rosigold, loss to wind, some MBBS, but early crop in April, good producer
4. White Pirie, Powdery Mildew on flower
5. Son Pari, some MBBS, ok production, excellent fruit
6. Neelam, heavy producer, late of small ok fruit
7. Glenn, poor production, at least in my yard

Curious about:
Orange Essence
Fruit Cocktail
Coco Cream
Guava
Juicy Peach
Cotton Candy
Triple Sec
Valcarrie
Emerald
Ugly Betty
Tara Lay
P-22 (just planted 1 year ago)
Phoenix (just planted 1 year ago)
Butter Cream  (just planted 1 year ago)
Little Gem (just planted 1 year ago)

[Woodinitbean_ice]

This is an excellent list already. Little Gem is considered to be pretty bullet proof. I've heard that it's decently vigorous, however.

[yoski]

Keitt was the premier late season Mango and a reliable producer, but MBBS completely wiped out 2 consecutive crops. M-4 is an outstanding substitute, the season is from early-August into early-September, heavy producer, problem free and outstanding quality fruit. If you want to extend your Mango season with a trouble free and great Mango, this is it. Neelam is even later and a good producer, but doesn't reach the fruit quality of M-4.
On the early end Rosigold is awesome, usually from mid-April into May. Then Angie will be the next in line in mid-May, before most other varieties mature.

So for maximum length of season:
Rosigold (mid-April to early-June)
Angie (mid-May to June)
<tons of other good varieties>
Gold Nugget (late-July to August)
M-4 (early-August to early-September)
Neelam (late-August to early October)
The End.
Choc Anon is said to produce in November from a summer bloom, but it has never done that for me.

[FL Boy]

That's a great list yoski.  I would be amazed to see your yard as a future inspiration.  I have bookmarked this page for future reference.  Thanks!  Are you in 9b, or 10a?

[yoski]

That's a great list yoski.  I would be amazed to see your yard as a future inspiration.  I have bookmarked this page for future reference.  Thanks!  Are you in 9b, or 10a?

https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/
According to the map 9b, 10a starts right across the street from me. Actually those maps are not entirely accurate, on the south and south-east of the lake (lake Jackson, Highlands county) you're about 4-7 degrees warmer than on the NE side or outlying areas. On the coldest night since 2019, I think 1/30/21, the bananas on the NE side were frozen, my neighbors were just fine. We dropped down to 32F, the Mangos at Top Tropicals, that were in the open were all frozen dead. There it hit 25F, only about 4 miles from the lake. Once you get to the airport/race track you're in zone 10a according to the map, but it is easily 5 degrees less there during cold nights because you're far away from the lake. In Avon Park, Sebring and Lake Placid you find very large Mango trees near the lakes, but not in outlying areas.

[BurkTheMangoLover]

highly recommend Phoenix and Fruit Cocktail. Only if you have space or are going to keep up with pruning. These trees do well on their own, grow and produce very well for my father and I in central Florida (Tampa 10A). Both medium to large fruit. Phoenix gets some blush. Phoenix is candy sweet with some citrus and spice notes. Fruit cocktail is so juicy and sweet with some depth in flavor i cannot describe. Like a mixed frozen pina colada or tropical drink. no issues with disease on either so far.

[Amel]

highly recommend Phoenix and Fruit Cocktail. Only if you have space or are going to keep up with pruning. These trees do well on their own, grow and produce very well for my father and I in central Florida (Tampa 10A). Both medium to large fruit. Phoenix gets some blush. Phoenix is candy sweet with some citrus and spice notes. Fruit cocktail is so juicy and sweet with come depth in flavor i cannot describe. Like a mixed frozen pina colada or tropical drink. no issues with disease on either so far.

Can you compare these to best tasting mangos? How high would you put these on the list

[BurkTheMangoLover]

highly recommend Phoenix and Fruit Cocktail. Only if you have space or are going to keep up with pruning. These trees do well on their own, grow and produce very well for my father and I in central Florida (Tampa 10A). Both medium to large fruit. Phoenix gets some blush. Phoenix is candy sweet with some citrus and spice notes. Fruit cocktail is so juicy and sweet with come depth in flavor i cannot describe. Like a mixed frozen pina colada or tropical drink. no issues with disease on either so far.

Can you compare these to best tasting mangos? How high would you put these on the list

For me, they're both at the top of my list. I don't like to get carried away with the whole variety comparison thing because most mangoes are heavenly to me and its all subjective but these are undisputed standouts. I've seen several people on different facebook groups as well as this forum claim both of them in their top choices as well. That was part of the reason i looked into acquiring these varieties. Of course I've read some not so favorable opinions about these varieties but for the most part they are acclaimed amongst the newer varieties. They will hold their own against other favorites such as Lemon zest, ST, maha, NDM, Haden.

[yoski]

highly recommend Phoenix and Fruit Cocktail. Only if you have space or are going to keep up with pruning. These trees do well on their own, grow and produce very well for my father and I in central Florida (Tampa 10A). Both medium to large fruit. Phoenix gets some blush. Phoenix is candy sweet with some citrus and spice notes. Fruit cocktail is so juicy and sweet with some depth in flavor i cannot describe. Like a mixed frozen pina colada or tropical drink. no issues with disease on either so far.

Thanks, Fruit Cocktail is at the top of my wish list, but first I have to ax some chronic underperformers to make room.

[tropical_rag_g-fruitforum]

Yoski- what is the season for Honey Kiss? I am thinking of doing  three-in-a-hole with Rosigold, Son Pari and Honey Kiss. I want to keep them small, I am leaning away from M-4 as it’s a bigger tree. The son pari is already planted.

[yoski]

Yoski- what is the season for Honey Kiss? I am thinking of doing  three-in-a-hole with Rosigold, Son Pari and Honey Kiss. I want to keep them small, I am leaning away from M-4 as it’s a bigger tree. The son pari is already planted.

Relatively late, here July into August.

[Squam256]

Thank you for sharing your experiences. We’ve had nothing but problems with Venus, LZ and  Keitt with MBBS as well.
Surprised to hear Cac hasn’t done well, that’s a shame.

Rosigold is extremely prone to wind losses for us also, mostly due to weak panicles. Fortunately they usually make so much fruit that we still end up with good crops from them.

Pineapple Pleasure is notorious for us for dropping size able fruit that most other mangos would hold to maturity. Also has issues with weak panicles.

[pineflatwoods]

My neighbor has a Rosigold where almost every branch is supported by a 2x4, it rivals some of the pickerings and duncans i've seen. I may have to add one. Wind has been a major problem this year blowing off a fair amount from smaller weaker trees. Larger trees with denser canopies have fared better.

I don't have MBBS near me- the keitts have always been machines here, my Venus looked promising but the flowers were damaged by cold.

I've never been impressed with Gold Nugget, horrible post-harvest anthracnose, small fruit and bland taste. Over a dozen fruit tried from various places. I got rid of mine

I have noticed Pineapple Pleasure has smaller weaker branches and panicles- seems to set fruit fine by me- but tree is small. Angie can have breakage problems too, I've seen.

Cotton Candy and Coconut cream take their sweet time before making a decent crop. Not sure about disease yet

Phoenix has some disease concerns, but flowers very easily.

Fruit Cocktail has been almost a dwarf tree for me, I suspect it is one of those that makes many male flowers like Sugarloaf or Carrie.

LM or OS have yet to flower for me; trees are still smaller. I know larger LM can take a year off.

My Maha had a promising crop, but dropped the fruit one by one.

P-22 appears to be an aggressive tree, but wants to flower and fruit readily

Orange Essence has been slower growing, flowers easily. I've seen a little anthracnose and PM problems, but it's not a disaster like some others

I have a few others in the ground, but it will be some time before I can make a judgment call.

There's too many to list, but I saw these discussed. Hope this helps

[yoski]

Thanks pineflatwoods for the input. Pinapple Pleasure is a slow grower in my yard. It flowers a lot, sets an ok amount fruit, but the vast majority drops and in the end is left with little to nothing.

[yoski]

Thank you for sharing your experiences. We’ve had nothing but problems with Venus, LZ and  Keitt with MBBS as well.
Surprised to hear Cac hasn’t done well, that’s a shame.

Rosigold is extremely prone to wind losses for us also, mostly due to weak panicles. Fortunately they usually make so much fruit that we still end up with good crops from them.

Pineapple Pleasure is notorious for us for dropping size able fruit that most other mangos would hold to maturity. Also has issues with weak panicles.

Anything that helps against MBBS? My Venus loses most of the fruit (like 70%) to MBBS, not as bad as Keitt or LZ was, which lost 100%.
Rosigold is also mildly susceptible to MBBS, I lose about 20-30% of the fruit. My tree are planted 15 - 30 feet apart, but I guess once it is in the area there's nothing that can be done.

[pineflatwoods]

Thanks pineflatwoods for the input. Pinapple Pleasure is a slow grower in my yard. It flowers a lot, sets an ok amount fruit, but the vast majority drops and in the end is left with little to nothing.

Pineapple pleasure has been slower growing, I'll probably try to let it hold fruit next year, I'll keep notes.

From what others have said, if losses are consistently that high, I wouldn't bother keeping the variety around. There should be enough cultivars that resist it much better.

Ceceliove, Sweet Tart, and P-22, and maybe Buttercream can replace Venus.

For Keitt, you have Little Gem, Honey Kiss, and M4, not quite as late as Keitt, but all three seem productive.

[Mia the turtle lady]

Can Karen Michelle be maintained as a compact tree?

[John Travis]

I've had a lot of success with Guava Mango. It's very productive here in Orlando, with very little disease issues. It's a somewhat vigorous tree but if you can manage that it's a great option.

[DocTropical]

John, nice to see another Orlando mango grower! I’m a bit north of you in Lake Mary.

I also have a guava mango and am a big fan of the fruit. However this year I lost virtually all of my tiny fruitlets to anthracnose. Have you encountered something similar, and if not, are you spraying your tree?

Curious what else you have planted and what is working well for you up here.

[Galatians522]

Thank you for sharing your experiences. We’ve had nothing but problems with Venus, LZ and  Keitt with MBBS as well.
Surprised to hear Cac hasn’t done well, that’s a shame.

Rosigold is extremely prone to wind losses for us also, mostly due to weak panicles. Fortunately they usually make so much fruit that we still end up with good crops from them.

Pineapple Pleasure is notorious for us for dropping size able fruit that most other mangos would hold to maturity. Also has issues with weak panicles.

Anything that helps against MBBS? My Venus loses most of the fruit (like 70%) to MBBS, not as bad as Keitt or LZ was, which lost 100%.
Rosigold is also mildly susceptible to MBBS, I lose about 20-30% of the fruit. My tree are planted 15 - 30 feet apart, but I guess once it is in the area there's nothing that can be done.

I think there was a video where Chris from Truly Tropical talked about limiting MBBS by spraying copper and destroying diseased fruits while they were small.

[DocTropical]

Pineflatwoods— as a data point — I have a maha chanok tree that is about 15 feet tall. Maybe 5” diameter trunk. And it is absolutely loaded with pristine fruit. I’m talking 75-100 large sized gorgeous fruit. It has zero disease issues, at least in central FL. And does not lose its mangos easily to wind.

[ben mango]

A big factor for me is wanting to plant visually appealing mango for market. If anyone can comment on that, what newly Introduced varieties are pretty as well as tasty and reliably productive ? Seems many of the zill varieties are too ugly for commercial production, even despite them having other issues. maybe ceci love, orange sherb, fruit punch and honey kiss are a few that would make the cut for commercial production ?

[johnb51]

A big factor for me is wanting to plant visually appealing mango for market. If anyone can comment on that, what newly Introduced varieties are pretty as well as tasty and reliably productive ? Seems many of the zill varieties are too ugly for commercial production, even despite them having other issues. maybe ceci love, orange sherb, fruit punch and honey kiss are a few that would make the cut for commercial production ?

CeciLove turns yellow when ripe, and Honey Kiss has nice coloring.  And like DocTropical has said, Mahachanok is a gorgeous mango.  PPK turns an attractive yellow when ripe, and Pickering has a pretty pink blush.  Angie fruit looks nice, too.

[Rmck22]

How old are your cac and sweet tart I’ve heard from pretty much everyone that the are branch breakers?

[yoski]

How old are your cac and sweet tart I’ve heard from pretty much everyone that the are branch breakers?

About 5 years. That's why I hear, but not in my yard. Maybe a bad tree? They look healthy, about 15 ft tall, but production is very poor. I have other Mangos near by that perform very well, most notably Pickering, Honey Kiss, M-4, Karen Michelle, Super Al., Angie, but Cac and Sweet Tart, I got only 4 or 5 fruit of a 15 ft tree. Didn't meet expectations.