The Tropical Fruit Forum

I am now extremely allergic  to mango sap.  When I start breaking out, I take 2 fexofenadine (i.e. Allergra) and 1 cimetidine (i.e. Tagamet HB200).  With severe reactions, I would take this 2-3 times a day.  This is what the dermatologist prescribed to me when I was having severe breakouts and could not figure out what it was from.  Nothing else helped.  Turns out it was touching mango plants and fruits.

At that size, it should definitely be able to produce. No idea on age, my BS has been in the ground since 2021 and was maybe 1.5ft tall when I bought it.  The width of the trunk is probably 1/3 the size of your tree. They grow slow, especially in the beginning.

Rob- I hope they are pollintated, but my blooms looked like that (and I thought they were pollinated), but they all dried up and fell off.

Julie - Thanks, that's helpful!  I still think my tree is too small to hold fruit and it probably didn't help that I didn't have other saps in the yard until this month.  Saps are tough trees and your tree will be ok.

Mike - That info is helpful, too--thanks!

I have had a Butterscotch in the ground for the past couple of years. It was small when I planted and it is approaching 6ft tall now, but still has a spindly trunk. It flowered last year (no fruits) and flowered this year again, but didn’t set any fruits. It seems to be dropping off in its flowering now. I think the tree is still too young to support a full size fruit.  I tried squishing flowers and it didn’t work for me.

I recently bought 7g Thomas and Hasya varieties to help with pollination. The Thomas and Hasya are flowering now. Seems a bit later than my Butterscotch. Neither of those have set fruit either, but I think they are still too small. The trunk circumference is similar to my BS.

I also picked up a 7g Alano and a tiny Silas Wood, so I think my sap collection is now complete. 😂

I have not tried anything other than Alano.

Julie - how big was your Hasya when it set fruit?

I looked through the forum via the search function and couldn’t find an answer.

Does anyone know the growth habit and vigor of this variety?  Trying to figure out best spot in my yard for it.

Thanks! 

So, I did buy the tree and I did plant it in my yard.  It was a small tree but it produced 2 fruit this past year and the fruit were good.  They were similar to Oro Negro but matured earlier.  Not sure if I would say it's better or worse than Oro Negro, I also have an Oro Negro tree.  It didn't set any fruit recently, probably b/c I let it carry fruit as a tiny tree (didn't want to wait years to try the fruit), but it looks very healthy and is growing well. 

Overall I think it was better than Monroe.  Choquette is good too, so it's hard to say, maybe a little better than Choquette.

When I first posted, I didn't realize this was an old post. 

Thanks for adding in your experience, Julie!  Makes me feel better about my Maria B purchase.  I know Oro Negro is a stingy producer, so I wanted to plant another variety that people had good experience with production, but also tasted good and could be kept at a manageable size.

Haven’t tried one yet, but I bought a 7g a couple of weeks ago.  From the Youtube videos, sounds like it is good tasting, a good producer, and can stay fairly compact.  Mine seems pretty vigorous in its 7g pot, will be planting it soon. The 3g Oro Negro I just planted doesn’t seem quite as vigorous, but it’s just starting to grow back it’s leaves after it flowered.  Planning to add Dupuis and Kampong and be done with avocados. 

I’m finding avocados to not be terribly vigorous in my yard, growing on shallow mucky topsoil and limestone rock.  Hard to find a spot in my yard that doesn’t flood during the summer rains.  My Catalina planted from a 3g a few years ago hasn’t grown much, but now has 2-3 baby avocados hanging on.

I can't answer that, I don't have any health issues, but I ate them in moderation (and always cut the green ribs off, which is where the most oxalates are). 

I think my favorite use for the carambolas (so far) is juicing.  I processed a lot of the fruit with my Vitamix, some ice, a piece of fresh ginger, and some lemon/lemon crystals (True Lemon).  Drain the liquid through a sieve to remove pulp/fiber.
 It takes a lot of fruit to make a decent amount of juice, but it helps solve the "what am I going to do with all this carambola?" conundrum. 

I have the Sri Kembangan variety and it is very sweet and juicy with no tartness when eaten very ripe.  You will know it's very ripe when it smells very fruity and floral, and the fruit will be slightly soft to the touch.  If you eat it before this time, I found the taste to be underwhelming.  I haven't tried any other tree-ripened varieties, so can offer no comparison.

I planted this SK last spring ('21) from a tall, spindly 3 gallon.

It's bloomed a few times and gave me a decent crop last winter.  It's blooming again, but not much fruit set (the recent nonstop rain everyday has not helped).  I'm curious to hear how productive this variety is as it matures.  I've contemplated planting another carambola tree to see if it helps pollination, but I don't think I need more starfruit.  I still have a bunch left over in the freezer.   

I live in SW Ranches, FL (SW Broward County, FL), and I'm trying to decide on what mango varieties to add.  I know there are some people in the area that read this forum, and I would love to get some advice based on their experience.    In short, I would like to stay away from planting poor producing /disease prone mangos (in our conditions).  I don't mind a poor producer here or there (like Ice Cream, which I love) if I really love that variety, I just don't want a whole yard full of them.

So far I have:

• Mystery tree (planted by previous owner): looks like a smaller/dwarf variety but it's probably 15 feet tall.  Has produced a few fruit, but they fall off before I get a chance to ID.  It was sickly when we moved in, but has been getting healthier over the years.
• Phillipine (Carabao) (mature, planted by previous owner): It had its best season last year.  I was selling fruits on FB at the end of its season and people were calling me for more  Fruit were were excellent. Anthracnose and BBS resistant.  Pretty much alternate bearing so far.
• Kent (mature, planted by previous owner): It tastes ok, produces well and reliably.  It's the mango I will happily share with friends/family.  Anthracnose resistant, not much problems with BBS the last couple of years.
• Sweet Tart: young tree, looks relatively disease free, but a definite favorite of thrips in dry, hot springtime.
• Ice Cream: one of my favorite mangos so far, prone to anthracnose and very prone to PM.  Has not held on to fruit so far, but I don't spray.
• Carrie: young tree, some anthracnose
• Orange Sherbert:young tree, some anthracnose
• Seacrest/Triplesec: young tree
• Honey Kiss: young tree, disease free
• M4: young tree
• Sugarloaf: young tree, just planted this year
• Pickering: young tree, disease free

Many of my young trees bloomed and set fruit, but I didn't let them hold fruit this year so they could get in another year of growth (ST, M4, and Seacrest did not bloom this year).   My trees were anthracnose free until the summer rains started.   In my yard, I have flooding/standing water frequently during the rainy season.  I have the typical mucky soil common in this area.

I just put in a grafting order for Cecilove at TA and am also considering adding these varieties for their disease resistance and productiveness in my conditions: Angie, Fairchild, Mahachanok.

I haven't been able to taste too many varities, but, too be honest, I'm not terribly picky.  I would say I like something more flavorful as opposed to mild, I don't mind tart, and don't mind the "piney-ness" of certain mango varieties.  I was able to buy some mangos from Hidden Acres, which is not far from me, and I liked them all: Angie (it was a bit overripe by the time I got to it, so had a bit of an off flavor, but it wasn't objectionable and I still ate it), Pickering, Cogshall, Lemon Zest, Fairchild, Ugly Betty, VanDyke, and Carrie.  Out of all those, VanDyke was my least favorite, but mostly just because it was boring, not because it was bad--it was a good mango and I was happy to eat it.

I liked the Lemon Zest and I've heard/read a lot about its productivity/disease problems, but I also read that there are some fellow SW Ranchers that have LZ trees that are doing well.  Should I take a chance, lol?  Those who are growing LZ in the area sucessfully, are you spraying them?

The other variety I was thinking about is Duncan, but I don't want to add another mild tasting mango like a Kent, that I will just end up giving away most of the fruit.

Nina

Is Vietnamese White prone to fruit drop?

I live in SE FL (near the Everglades) and have 2 Vietnamese white on trellises and fruit drop/flower pollination is about 50%.  It can get a bit of rust in cool, rainy weather, too, but it's manageable to to treat with a bit of copper spray.

I have a cutting of Sugar Dragon and Neon that I am debating replacing them with.  Should I just bite the bullet and replace the 2 above with them?

Quote from: sumognat on April 29, 2021, 09:04:44 PM

Had my first early mango of the season, there was a lonely Nam Doc Mai mango that was almost ripe, all the other mangoes on the tree are still a few weeks out, I think.

When I first tried these, I mistakenly ate them all yellow, which I did not like. Too sweet and floral. I spoke to someone not that long ago about this variety and he said to try it mostly green. Luckily, I caught this one in time. I like it much better this way (mostly green).  I am happy to have discovered this since the house we bought has a mature NDM tree with lots of fruit. 😋

Doesn’t look like Nam Doc Mai. Might be a Carabao

Alex, 

Wow!  You think so? I didn’t know what variety it was when we bought the house, just tried to narrow it down based on taste and fruit size/shape. Here are some better pictures.