Mango Varieties for CA Central Coast

[CharlieLoon]

I've seen some good recommendations on mangoes for SoCal but was wondering if anyone has advice on varieties that would grow best in coastal CA (San Luis Obispo), where it's a fair amount cooler.

I'm ok if the tree doesn't grow great--my wife loves mangoes and just trying to grow them would make her happy. I understand mangoes are a tropical fruit and we are not a tropical climate here. The goal is to try and make my wife happy And hopefully get a handful of mangoes per year.

I purchased an Alphonso Mango a few years ago. It got shorter the first year (I didn't know I needed to cover it when it gets near freezing. Now I know...). It's now about 4ft tall. In all fairness, it's actually the second mango tree I bought as the first one our new puppy (a beagle) ate four days after I planted it.

Our highs aren't too high here in SLO (70's-80's are the norm in summer) and lows aren't too low (40's-50's are typical, but we get a handful of days down to 31 or 32). Morning fog is common.

I intend to prune to keep them small, so smaller varieties would be ideal. I'm also planting them in front of a south-facing wall, so in winter with the low sun they will get quite a bit more heat from reflected sun/heat. Our siding reflects a lot of the low-angle rays (so my citrus espaliers up against the wall are very happy). I won't plant the mangoes right in front of the wall since my understanding is their root structure is much more aggressive, but they'll be about 5-15ft away or so and still get some of that reflected yeat. They'll also surround a large 600gal water tank, which will act a bit as a heat reservoir on those cold winter days. The location may get some early AM shade due to a nearby shade tree, but they'll have strong full sun from about 8-9am on.

Ideally I'd like three small varieties to surround the water tank, with the goal of growing them all inwards on top of the tank towards each other. My goal would be to keep things under 15 feet in height.

Any recommendations on what would grow well (or ok-ish) here?

My wife particularly likes the ripe mangoes served at Thai restaurants with mango and sticky rice, but I'm guessing those could be any mangoes. But she clearly likes the sweet fiberless ones.

[johnb51]

How cold do you get in the winter?  I wonder about the inland valley areas of SLO County.  Do they get quite a bit colder than you?  They definitely get hotter in summer!

[Jack, Nipomo]

We are in Nipomo (S San Luis Obispo Co) and are members of the central coast CRFG and have many sapotes, macadamias, avocados growing on 1 1/2 acres over the past 50 years.  Freezes have not inhibited our mangro growing(even tho they are now a rare occurance), but the typical low temps during the summer and spring.  I have two small mangos remaining (3 ft tall) that are not protected in the winter, however our 40 degree nights, even in the summer, induce repeated flowering.  Flowering greatly reduces any further growth.  Cutting off flowers results in more flowers, exhausting the plant.  Don't experience this with other tropical or subtropical plants.  Of course, limited heat during the day (78-80) does not help.  Harvested one mango a couple of years ago, picked too soon.  Having been told macadamias etc. would not grow here, I would never say that it is not possible to someone trying mangos. Our 45 macadamias, 52 avocados, and 24 white sapotes, among others, would probably provide incentive for others to try mangos.  I hope to be informed of someone's success.

[CharlieLoon]

How cold do you get in the winter?  I wonder about the inland valley areas of SLO County.  Do they get quite a bit colder than you?  They definitely get hotter in summer!

The inland areas get both hotter in summer and colder in winter. For us here in the city of SLO there have been only a handful of days each winter the last few years that reached 32 degrees. Perhaps 3 or 4 this past winter? I usually cover my mango tree when the low is predicted to be under 40, and I haven't covered it too much this winter.

[CharlieLoon]

We are in Nipomo (S San Luis Obispo Co) and are members of the central coast CRFG and have many sapotes, macadamias, avocados growing on 1 1/2 acres over the past 50 years.  Freezes have not inhibited our mangro growing(even tho they are now a rare occurance), but the typical low temps during the summer and spring.  I have two small mangos remaining (3 ft tall) that are not protected in the winter, however our 40 degree nights, even in the summer, induce repeated flowering.  Flowering greatly reduces any further growth.  Cutting off flowers results in more flowers, exhausting the plant.  Don't experience this with other tropical or subtropical plants.  Of course, limited heat during the day (78-80) does not help.  Harvested one mango a couple of years ago, picked too soon.  Having been told macadamias etc. would not grow here, I would never say that it is not possible to someone trying mangos. Our 45 macadamias, 52 avocados, and 24 white sapotes, among others, would probably provide incentive for others to try mangos.  I hope to be informed of someone's success.

I'm glad to hear you're growing a lot of those other subtropical plants and that they're doing ok, as I also planted two avocados and a guava. Unfortunately here in SLO properties aren't large enough for the kind of orchard you have, so I wouldn't even try growing macadamias.

Sounds like mangoes will be a stretch, but it'll be worth a try. Do mangoes not grow much at all in size here? How old are yours? If they really don't grow much perhaps it's worth planting one right by the foundation and espaliering it. I've seen lots of photos of people with a mango tree in Hawaii or elsewhere that was planted to close to the home and the roots are causing foundation issues, but if a mango tree will never grow anywhere near that size here then I suppose I don't need to worry about that.

[Jack, Nipomo]

My mangos are about 4 years old, size is approx 3 ft.  New growth appearing now (leaves), but probably be joined by flower buds.  With our essentially lack of winter freezing, if the plants would put on stems and leaves instead of flowers, there might be a chance. There might be a method of encouraging growth without flowers and gaining a more sizable tree that could sustain fruit.  These are grafted plants ordered out of Florida.  Might try seedlings to attain vegetative growth initially.

[spaugh]

Why not grow some stone fruits that will actually make a good load of fruit for you?  I am not trying to pee in your cheerios but even here in a hot area of San Diego mangos are a stretch. 

[CharlieLoon]

Why not grow some stone fruits that will actually make a good load of fruit for you?  I am not trying to pee in your cheerios but even here in a hot area of San Diego mangos are a stretch.

I'm on a small city lot, but I already have about 20 apple espaliers in a Belgian fence, two asian pear, one persimmon, 8 mandarin (my personal favorite fruit), two orange, two avocado, a multi-budded peach, two olive, two cherry, one guava, two pomegranites, 3 lemon, and maybe a couple others I forgot. 

Clearly I got carried away. But I'm enjoying it.

The apples won't fruit great as quite a few are shaded, but they're growing and hiding the ugly fence, which was the point of them. Most of these trees are 1-4 years old, so I expect in a few years to have decent production and at a certain point I will have a lot of fruit to give away/donate.

The mangoes are obviously a reach, but I thought it worth trying. The worst case scenario is I fail right? It's my wife's favorite fruit, hence the reason to try. I've heard of folks as far north as the Bay Area having some "reasonable" success with mangoes.

[CharlieLoon]

My mangos are about 4 years old, size is approx 3 ft.  New growth appearing now (leaves), but probably be joined by flower buds.  With our essentially lack of winter freezing, if the plants would put on stems and leaves instead of flowers, there might be a chance. There might be a method of encouraging growth without flowers and gaining a more sizable tree that could sustain fruit.  These are grafted plants ordered out of Florida.  Might try seedlings to attain vegetative growth initially.

I think mine is the same situation--it has put on a foot of grown total over the last few years (losing a foot and a half that first year) and does produce quite a bit of flowers. I'm not sure where mine came from, but I'm guessing FL. Back then I wasn't quite as into gardening culture and I paid less attention to the sources of things, so I just ordered it from one of the few places that would ship a fruit tree to CA after a quick google search (fastgrowingtrees.com--which has certainly been quite the misnomer in this case...) I know better now

We're heading down to San Diego next week, so I thought I'd stop by one of their tropical nurseries to pick up a CA-grown mango tree. I'm guessing since they grow them here they must tolerate our dry/arid climate better than something that's raised in FL, which is where the bulk of mango trees I can order online seem to come from. The guy I spoke with said he has Manila Mango trees in up to 25gal containers, so maybe if I start with a large enough tree it'll get past the initial hurdle that it seems both you and I are running into here?

[Malhar]

Vast majority of mangoes available in the nurseries here are Florida grown with the exception of Manila mangoes. Many people have grafted better varieties on to manila rootstocks and they seem to do better. However, even these mangoes have issues with constant flowering which affects their growth. It seems that locally grown seedlings of better varieties may do better. If you want to grow some thing, it will be best to try to grow vigorous varieties which are fungal disease resistant e.g. sweet tart.

[Eggo]

As other mention I would try to grow the most vigorous and disease resistant varieties.

I would recommend 2 approaches in your area.  Firstly and the simplest approach is grow them in pots. The grafted mango plants especially those from Florida rootstocks will make good potted plants. They grow a bit better in pots.  You can move them around from frost and fungal pressures. Just a little overhead protection saves blooms from fungal issues. You must make sure you use inert and real soil medium that contains no bark or mulch. It should be comprise a compositiin of peat, perlite, pumice, dg, sand. This should last you years and years.
https://youtu.be/IuGwJCOXuzY?si=KjbEJVSVOf_lx4M4

The 2nd approach is to grow out seedlings either to let that fruit if it's a good quality clone from a poly seed. Or grow it with the intention to topwork it. In our cooler weather, seedling flowers fast and can flower in as little as 3 years. You will need all those years of vegetative growth to get some size on them.

[ScottR]

Welcome to the form Charlie, I'm a friend of Jacks and CRFG member and live on Arroyo Grande Mesa I'm growing many avocado varieties, white sapote varieties -50,guava,paw paw,mulberries-8+, plum, pluots, apple-over 100 varieties, citrus-half dozen var.,medlar-3var., walnut,almond,cherimoya-20+ var. Macadamias, had mangoes at one time in Green house but all died from root rot. Have older plum and pluots espaliered for over twenty years. Also have few varieties of eugenia-Cherry of Rio Grande, Surinam Cherry, Nelita, Orange fruited eugenia, many Plinia= Jaboticaba -5 var. not fruited yet but multi-grafted paulista hoping for fruits!
If you have a warm sunny spot maybe Southern exposure next to wall could surely try a mango maybe espaliered on wall or fence worth a try. Used to be folks in local CRFG chapter that lived on slope of foothills to east of SLO that grew mangoes that were seedlings from Costco and fruited for them for many years. Jack, has been pushing the Zone in Nipomo for may, many years and is one of two who founded CRFG Central Coast Chapter he is a mentor and very knowledgeable at growing many tropical and sub-tropical fruiting trees.
Sounds like you have been busy growing many fruiting plants yourself you should check out CRFG.org -Central Coast Chapter we have monthly meetings with a Orchard at Cal Poly with hands on experience.
Also, get to know folks on Tropical Fruit Form because it's a great source for scions and cuttings of hard to find varieties

[Bush2Beach]

The area's north of you in the Bay Area get 80's and 90's in summer.
If your above and beyond the norma fog line there's a chance.
Plant it surrounded by concrete, stucco , rocks , whatever thermal insulation.
Don't waste your money on a $500 25 gallon Manila Mango unless it will make your lady extremely happy, You'll likely have better luck planting your own Manila seeds or a Manila from LaVerne.
Lots of SoCal nurseries stock FL Mango tree's. Check the label to make sure .

[CharlieLoon]

The area's north of you in the Bay Area get 80's and 90's in summer.
If your above and beyond the norma fog line there's a chance.
Plant it surrounded by concrete, stucco , rocks , whatever thermal insulation.
Don't waste your money on a $500 25 gallon Manila Mango unless it will make your lady extremely happy, You'll likely have better luck planting your own Manila seeds or a Manila from LaVerne.
Lots of SoCal nurseries stock FL Mango tree's. Check the label to make sure .

Will definetely check labels/ask questions.

Can you buy trees direct from LaVerne, or are they a grower whose trees I should look for at SoCal nurseries? I don't see a website for LaVerne.

[Malhar]

Most (if not all) Manila mango trees found in commercial nurseries (home depot, lowes etc) are laVerne grown seedlings.

[CharlieLoon]

Does anyone recommend a particular nursery? The ones I've been able to find that sound reputable are (of which many appear to be small businesses run out of people's homes/yards):
 
Atemoya Tropical Fruit Tree Nursery
Exotic Rare Fruit Nursery
Tropical Galaxy
Organic Fruit Tree and Herb
California Tropical Fruit Tree Nursery

I'd like to try buying a 5-15 gallon plant before trying something from seeds. Mostly because I'm impatient. Maybe I go for one 25 gallon tree if price isn't too ridiculous, as it probably would make my wife really happy...

I'll likely buy a few trees and plant in a few different micro-climates in the yard (espalier one along a hot partial southern wall but with limited sun after 2pm, another along the 600gal water tank for heat reservoir in winter (limited sun here before 10am), and then a larger one to put in a central full-sun (from 8am on) part of the yard with a little bit of reflected heat from the home. And I think I'll just see which one(s), if any, grow/produce.

[CharlieLoon]

Most (if not all) Manila mango trees found in commercial nurseries (home depot, lowes etc) are laVerne grown seedlings.

That's interesting. So am I actually better off going to a Home Depot/Lows/etc than any of the nurseries listed above?

My wife would be happy with a Manila Mango, which sounds like a fairly common variety.

[CharlieLoon]

Welcome to the form Charlie, I'm a friend of Jacks and CRFG member and live on Arroyo Grande Mesa I'm growing many avocado varieties, white sapote varieties -50,guava,paw paw,mulberries-8+, plum, pluots, apple-over 100 varieties, citrus-half dozen var.,medlar-3var., walnut,almond,cherimoya-20+ var. Macadamias, had mangoes at one time in Green house but all died from root rot. Have older plum and pluots espaliered for over twenty years. Also have few varieties of eugenia-Cherry of Rio Grande, Surinam Cherry, Nelita, Orange fruited eugenia, many Plinia= Jaboticaba -5 var. not fruited yet but multi-grafted paulista hoping for fruits!
If you have a warm sunny spot maybe Southern exposure next to wall could surely try a mango maybe espaliered on wall or fence worth a try. Used to be folks in local CRFG chapter that lived on slope of foothills to east of SLO that grew mangoes that were seedlings from Costco and fruited for them for many years. Jack, has been pushing the Zone in Nipomo for may, many years and is one of two who founded CRFG Central Coast Chapter he is a mentor and very knowledgeable at growing many tropical and sub-tropical fruiting trees.
Sounds like you have been busy growing many fruiting plants yourself you should check out CRFG.org -Central Coast Chapter we have monthly meetings with a Orchard at Cal Poly with hands on experience.
Also, get to know folks on Tropical Fruit Form because it's a great source for scions and cuttings of hard to find varieties

I'll take a look at CRFG. Would love to come to some of the meetings as Cal Poly isn't far at all.

My folks live in the foothills east of SLO. Large hillside with full south-western exposure. It is a notably warmer part of SLO. Maybe what I need to do is just plant a mango at their home...

[SHV]

Manila seedling mango trees from the big box stores make good enough rootstock, but my Manila tree and another family member’s tree makes stringy, uninspired fruit.  If your wife likes the mangos used at Thai restaurants for sticky rice, they are typically using the yellow Ataulfo aka Champagne mangos you can buy at the grocery store.  I would suggest growing several of those from seed in a pot for the first several years, protecting them, then planting in the ground when they are large enough to handle your winters.  I have grown a lot of these from seed and they are fairly vigorous and disease resistant once they get going. 

[Brebarian]

I'm on the central coast, at the base of the foothills, probably a few degrees warmer than Arroyo Grande. Here my two cents on varieties from my trialing experience thus far. Your mileage may vary.

Orange Sherbet on Manila: Vigorous, easy blooming, somewhat resistant to anthracnose/mildew. Fantastic fruit.
Manila rootstock: Fairly vigorous, upright, cannot speak to fruit quality yet.
Turpentine rootstock: This was a big surprise, but vigorous, upright, nicely shaped tree. Blooms readily, good quality fruit, but a bit small. It was a Pickering from Champa or Mimosa but the graft died and I let the water sprouts come up.
Guava on Manila: Vegetatively vigorous on a couple massive flushes each year, leggy as a result. Small, weak flowers followed by fruit prone to splitting. Cannot comment on fruit quality.
Lemon Meringue on Manila: Less vigorous, disease resistant than Orange Sherbet. I'd just go with Orange Sherbet.
SweetTart seedling: Entering its second year of growth. Seems vigorous and forgiving to the cold and wet, will push flushes in the cold.
Cac seedling: Entering its fourth year of growth. Same size as a seedling entering its second year, tough and forgiving plant but unimpressive growth.
Valencia seedling: This was also a big surprise, not vigorous at all.
Buttercream seedling: Falls somewhere in the middle between SweetTart and the other seedlings in terms of vigor.

My favorite named variety: Orange Sherbet



My favorite seedling (so far): SweetTart

My favorite rootstock: Believe it or not, Turpentine. No idea why this particular tree does so well.

[Eggo]

Most (if not all) Manila mango trees found in commercial nurseries (home depot, lowes etc) are laVerne grown seedlings.

That's interesting. So am I actually better off going to a Home Depot/Lows/etc than any of the nurseries listed above?

My wife would be happy with a Manila Mango, which sounds like a fairly common variety.

There are 2 varieties usually called Manila that are commonly found here in California.  Both are NOT true Manila.  One of the variety found in the large box stores like HD, Lowe's & Armstrong which is sometimes referred to as the La Verne(Everde) Manila. These seedlings mostly produce fibrous ripe fruits and on a very rare occasion u get a fiberless fruits.  They make excellent green eating sour mangos if that's ur thing.  The other are the Ataulfo mangos we get from Mexico. Many times they are referred to as Manila and many mom & pop nurseries will call these Manilas.  Most seedlings produce identical fruits to the store.  They are fiberless fruits just like what u find. They are however I would say one of the worst for eating sour green. Both make excellent rootstocks here.
https://youtu.be/vIY5BYgK0d0?si=eY47uALLUA4CouUY

[CharlieLoon]

I'm on the central coast, at the base of the foothills, probably a few degrees warmer than Arroyo Grande. Here my two cents on varieties from my trialing experience thus far. Your mileage may vary.

Orange Sherbet on Manila: Vigorous, easy blooming, somewhat resistant to anthracnose/mildew. Fantastic fruit.
Manila rootstock: Fairly vigorous, upright, cannot speak to fruit quality yet.
Turpentine rootstock: This was a big surprise, but vigorous, upright, nicely shaped tree. Blooms readily, good quality fruit, but a bit small. It was a Pickering from Champa or Mimosa but the graft died and I let the water sprouts come up.
Guava on Manila: Vegetatively vigorous on a couple massive flushes each year, leggy as a result. Small, weak flowers followed by fruit prone to splitting. Cannot comment on fruit quality.
Lemon Meringue on Manila: Less vigorous, disease resistant than Orange Sherbet. I'd just go with Orange Sherbet.
SweetTart seedling: Entering its second year of growth. Seems vigorous and forgiving to the cold and wet, will push flushes in the cold.
Cac seedling: Entering its fourth year of growth. Same size as a seedling entering its second year, tough and forgiving plant but unimpressive growth.
Valencia seedling: This was also a big surprise, not vigorous at all.
Buttercream seedling: Falls somewhere in the middle between SweetTart and the other seedlings in terms of vigor.

My favorite named variety: Orange Sherbet



My favorite seedling (so far): SweetTart

My favorite rootstock: Believe it or not, Turpentine. No idea why this particular tree does so well.

I appreciate the specific details. Beautiful trees! Where did you get them from?

[CharlieLoon]

Most (if not all) Manila mango trees found in commercial nurseries (home depot, lowes etc) are laVerne grown seedlings.

That's interesting. So am I actually better off going to a Home Depot/Lows/etc than any of the nurseries listed above?

My wife would be happy with a Manila Mango, which sounds like a fairly common variety.

There are 2 varieties usually called Manila that are commonly found here in California.  Both are NOT true Manila.  One of the variety found in the large box stores like HD, Lowe's & Armstrong which is sometimes referred to as the La Verne(Everde) Manila. These seedlings mostly produce fibrous ripe fruits and on a very rare occasion u get a fiberless fruits.  They make excellent green eating sour mangos if that's ur thing.  The other are the Ataulfo mangos we get from Mexico. Many times they are referred to as Manila and many mom & pop nurseries will call these Manilas.  Most seedlings produce identical fruits to the store.  They are fiberless fruits just like what u find. They are however I would say one of the worst for eating sour green. Both make excellent rootstocks here.
https://youtu.be/vIY5BYgK0d0?si=eY47uALLUA4CouUY

Oye. So most Manila Mango trees out there aren't actually Manila? My understanding is a Manila mango should taste quite sweet and be fiberless. I would hate to put a lot of work into growing one if it's not actually going to taste like that...

So is Manila a variety I should avoid in general?

[Eggo]

Most (if not all) Manila mango trees found in commercial nurseries (home depot, lowes etc) are laVerne grown seedlings.

That's interesting. So am I actually better off going to a Home Depot/Lows/etc than any of the nurseries listed above?

My wife would be happy with a Manila Mango, which sounds like a fairly common variety.

There are 2 varieties usually called Manila that are commonly found here in California.  Both are NOT true Manila.  One of the variety found in the large box stores like HD, Lowe's & Armstrong which is sometimes referred to as the La Verne(Everde) Manila. These seedlings mostly produce fibrous ripe fruits and on a very rare occasion u get a fiberless fruits.  They make excellent green eating sour mangos if that's ur thing.  The other are the Ataulfo mangos we get from Mexico. Many times they are referred to as Manila and many mom & pop nurseries will call these Manilas.  Most seedlings produce identical fruits to the store.  They are fiberless fruits just like what u find. They are however I would say one of the worst for eating sour green. Both make excellent rootstocks here.
https://youtu.be/vIY5BYgK0d0?si=eY47uALLUA4CouUY

Oye. So most Manila Mango trees out there aren't actually Manila? My understanding is a Manila mango should taste quite sweet and be fiberless. I would hate to put a lot of work into growing one if it's not actually going to taste like that...

So is Manila a variety I should avoid in general?

It will depend on what it is you are trying to accomplish. If u do not plan to graft.  The La Verne Manila will produce very sweet but very fibrous stringy fruits.  The Ataulfo seedlings which you can start your own produces sweet fibor free ripe fruits.  The true Manila from the Phillipines we never get here and I have never tasted is probably the Carabao.  All the long yellow mangos we get whether it's the brand Honey, Bunny, Champagne, Phillipines, etc. are all Ataulfos.  If grafting is not your thing try to obtain some seedlings of poly varieties like Sweet Tart.

[Brebarian]

I appreciate the specific details. Beautiful trees! Where did you get them from?

Thanks! I got the Orange Sherbet from a fellow forum member in SoCal, JF. Unfortunately, I think he moved and is no longer very active on the forum. 

I got the Turpentine (originally a 3 gal Pickering) from Champa Nursery, who sourced it from a commercial mango nursery somewhere in Florida.

I think your best bet is to buy a grafted mango off of a forum member, like I did with the Orange Sherbet. For example, there was a Peach Cobbler on SweetTart rootstock that sold last September that I'm still kicking myself for not getting to in time. Peach Cobbler is a well-regarded variety for SoCal and is a phenomenal tasting mango. Echoing Eggo's advice, you could put a seed or seedling in the ground, but it's fairly slow going, at least in my experience, and grafting onto a 'Manila' rootstock tree might also be tough because of the short window of good grafting temps in SLO.