Sugarloaf seedling thread

[Honest Abe]

Hey y’all

So sugarloaf/Zill e-4 is my favorite mango. I have a 4/5 yr old tree planted in the ground in my yard and it’s fruiting with pea-size fruits. It’s fruited the last 2 years also but none reached maturity before dropping. This year hopefully better results but it always has full bloom and it always has a poor fruit-set due to vast majority of flowers being male.

That all being said, I planted a couple
Sugarloaf seeds from fruits a purchased from Alex last year and one of them is now healthy and about 2 ft tall.

I’m hoping its polyembryonic reputation holds true as I plan to grow it out to fruiting age. I’m
Doing it to see if the seedling has better luck with flower ratio and maybe it’s even precocious as a seedling? Just very interested to see if the seedling is any different.

Has anyone tried growing one from seed yet?

Thanks

[Honest Abe]

Forgot to add image.
Beautiful little tree. Leaves look very similar if not same as my mature sugarloaf tree.

[fliptop]

I have three Sugarloaf seedlings in the ground.

Two are from a 2021 fruit from my tree. This one's leaves have an Indian-Alphonso scent, so I tried unsuccessfully to graft a Kathy scion onto it. I trimmed under the failed graft and will try again this upcoming summer.


This next one is from the same seed, but the leaves smell pineappley to me:


This last one is a 2022 seedling that came from a fruit we got from shot--easily one of the best mangos we've ever had. Two sprouts came from one seed. One sprout's leaves had an Indian-Alphonso smell to them, so it didn't get planted. This one's leaves have an Indochinese smell to them, so it's in ground now.

[Honest Abe]

Thanks Fliptop, that’s exciting. I knew I wasn’t alone in this venture. Have not pruned my seedling yet to get a good sniff-test on leaves but will give it a shot. Either way I’ll put it in ground and hope
It’s a similar mango in 7-10 years(hopefully less!)

[simon_grow]

I fruited an E4/Sugarloaf seedling. See page 8,9 of this thread.

https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=41307.175

Simon

[Honest Abe]

Thanks Simon! Awesome.

[Honest Abe]

Simon, do you recall how long it took from seed to fruit? Thanks

[simon_grow]

I can’t remember offhand but I believe it was 3-4 years from seed.

Simon

[Honest Abe]

Thanks Simon, that’s exciting.