The Tropical Fruit Forum

Daily watering made all the difference for my small mango trees. Mulch heavily with grass clippings and wood chips as well. Fertilizer will help but heavy watering is what I use for fast growth of young trees. My mango trees are in a very well-draining and sun exposed area. Just make sure the soil doesn't get too mucky. If it does, go to every other day.

Also, remove that blue nursery tape. It's girdling your trees.

I was surprised (again) by actually tasting the fruit. I can just imagine someone who never tasted Sapodilla before having an Excalibur and freaking out If you like sweet fruit, Excalibur is an absolute winner with the flavor to back it up.

Because of the sweetness, I would shade towards eating it at the earlier stages of ripeness, basically as soon as it cuts easily. Then you get nice firm texture and limit the sweetness slightly. For my palate that works the best. I'm sure if you let it get super ripe it would ultimately soften and reach an overwhelming level of sweetness.

I prefer the less sweet and more complex varieties like Molix and Hasya but the Excalibur is such an intense experience that I will probably end up planting a tree.

mikesid, how productive is your Excalibur tree? Any thoughts on the growth habit?

Pineflatwoods, if you make the drive to Excalibur, be sure to visit Xain's World, Jack and The Beanstalk Nursery and Incredible Edible Landscapes. They are all within about 15 minutes of Excalibur and they all specialize in different rare items.

I found some Black Sapote for sale locally in Jensen Beach and bought a huge bag of them. They came from a food forest guy who found a Black Sapote tree in his neighborhood producing lots of large fruit. He thinks the tree is a seedling with no evidence of a graft line but that's not always easy to tell and I didn't see the tree myself. The fruit are very large and among the best Black Sapote I have tasted, so I wonder if it could be a known variety without a label or if it's truly a unique seedling?

After tasting some (but not all) named cultivars, I feel confident saying this one looks and tastes different to what I have had so far. At the risk of embarrassing myself (yet again), for the sake of this tasting I will call it Mocha Black Sapote. If it turns out to be Matt's Giant, then we can all have a good laugh.



General: The fruit are large and round, similar in shape to Bernecker but bigger and more spherical. They range in size from orange to grapefruit when picked, and get smaller as they ripen and deflate. Many of them had fewer than the maximum amount of seeds, usually 4 or 6 seeds. The skin is quite thin and I found it challenging to scrape out all the fruit without tearing the skin.

Texture: Light, fluffy, creamy, moist, perfect. Enough body to hold on the spoon, but feels airy in the mouth.

Sweetness: Slightly sweeter than any Black Sapote I have tasted. Sweetness level 6 out of 10, just right for Black Sapote.

Flavor: Mmmmmm. The sweetness hits immediately and enhances the flavor. I am tasting mocha against a faint background of prune. Chilling in the refrigerator enhances the flavor even more, it's rich and delicious. While still mild and milky like the typical Black Sapote base flavor, the Mocha is reminiscent of chocolate and coffee. A very clean, pleasant taste that is not overly complex.

Uses: I got into the habit of eating one for breakfast with a cup of coffee. Otherwise I blended them up with frozen banana and almond milk to emulate a Wendy's Frosty.

Rating: I bought ten pounds, we ate all of them, so I went back and got another 15 pounds. The fruit just disappeared and I found myself craving it. I was eating Mocha Black Sapote pretty much every day and really enjoying it. The flavor is not as complex as Reineke, but it's sweeter and very satisfying when you want a healthy treat. This Mocha could be the best I've tried so far. I will see about getting budwood from the tree.

Nope on Haden. If you want a vigorous mango tree with classic flavor, plant Valencia Pride instead of Haden.

Coconut Cream is the most delicious mango I've ever eaten, my favorite. Growing the tree is an absolute nightmare. The limbs go all over the place, the tree doesn't like being pruned, it is very reluctant to flower, and it doesn't bear a lot of fruit unless the stars align just right. My 4 year old tree has not fruited yet. A nursery grower near me has three ten year old Coconut Cream trees that give him just a handful of fruit each year. If that sounds appealing, then have at it 

I would plant Cac instead of Nam Doc Mai. I think Rose Creek has it listed as Cat Chu. A vigorous, productive tree with delicious fruit.

The trio of citrus mangoes are all distinct in flavor and disease resistance. You can tell them apart blindfolded by taste. Orange Sherbet is probably the most dependable producer, but with your limited options I would plant all 3. They fruit at different times too.

From the stock list at Rose Creek:

• Little Gem
• Cat Chu
• Fruit Punch
• Valencia Pride
• Nam Doc Mai (with your limited options, might as well plant it)
• Cotton Candy
• Sweet Tart
• Lemon Zest
• Lemon Meringue
• Orange Sherbet
• Pickering

See if you can find some Indonesian people in your area and find out where they get their mango trees. I would skip the old Australian varieties that everybody else in your area is growing - what's the point? The recent Zill varieties are mindblowing compared to the old school stuff named after people.

Jaboticaba45, I look forward to tasting more Guatemala Mamey fruit. I wonder how the wider public will react to the flavor and texture as it becomes more known and planted. It will be a few years.

JR561, glad your Excalibur ripens evenly. I hope mine does too. I'm pretty sure I heard from Alex about his issues getting it to ripen evenly.

RS, that's an interesting theory, that the smaller Mamey fruit have a shorter ripening time. That's not always true for avocado but maybe it is for Mamey? If that's the case, you may want to look into Pozo Azul.

cgbills, I have thought about selecting varieties to have a nearly year-round harvest. The bigger problem is availability. I struggle to find mature, healthy Mamey trees that are ready to go in the ground, especially for the more recently released varieties. You can find a 15 gallon Magana at many nurseries, but nobody is propagating Pozo Azul. For many of the cultivars, the only option is a tiny 1 gallon tree from Lara Farms. Over this winter, I lost three of those 1 gallon trees (2 Tazumal and 1 Pozo Azul) to what looks like root rot, even though I was extremely careful. The next issue is how long the trees take to fruit, some of them take 5 years plus. To answer your question, maybe you could go with: Jamaica - Pace - Lorito/Cespeda - Excalibur.

Mango season might be more sweet and more sexy, but Florida Avocado season lasts longer. Let's document the complete cycle of 2025 Avocado Season in Florida.

I hope we can learn more about Florida's avocado calendar from flowering, fruit set, harvest and pruning practices. Submit your notes and photos on dates, productivity, flavor and ripening. I should have started this thread a couple months ago, but it's better late than never!

One last thing, this is Florida Only, sorry California bros. Don't want to mix up the data.


Super Hass blooming profusely March 3rd with bees pollinating


Choquette lagging behind, just starting to bud and show growth March 3rd

The fruit looks delicious Joe!

I'm pulling my Oro Negro and planting a huge 7 gallon Nishikawa I got at Incredible Edible Landscapes. I can't risk the spot on a potentially low-producing large tree when there are so many late season options.

Though I started shaping it at a 3 gallon.

That's encouraging that you like the fruit overall. Maybe the flavor will grow on my a little bit more. How long did it take your 3 gallon tree to bear fruit?

I love Mamey Sapote and have planted a number of trees. I hope to use this thread to assemble basic information and tasting notes on the varieties as they become seasonally available. Anybody is welcome to post their tasting experience - my only request is that you try to provide some detail on why you like or don't like a variety, based on the texture, flavor, sweetness or some other criteria.

The varieties fruit at different times, so direct comparison won't be possible. At least we can log more details on when the varieties are fruiting in Florida, fruit size, and other qualities. Planting a Mamey tree is a huge commitment of time and size, so any more info we can add will help. With "new" varieties entering the home grower's orbit, we need info on flavor and season to help decide on planting Jamaica, Guatemala 1-4, Pozo Azul, Akil Especial, Cepeda Especial, K-40, and others.

I will start with some very basic notes on varieties I have accumulated based on research and limited personal experience. Consider this a very rough draft, subject to correction and update.

• Akil Especial: summer, excellent flavor
• Campbell Red: Feb - Jul, from TREC, excellent flavor, not widely propagated
• Cepeda Especial: Summer, excellent flavor, productive & vigorous tree
• Excalibur: Nov-Dec, possible dwarf tree, uneven ripening?
• Florida: May-June, inferior flavor
• G1 aka Guatemalan #1: summer, from TREC
• G2 aka Guatemalan #2: summer, from TREC not yet propagated
• G3 aka Guatemalan #3: summer, from TREC, dry texture, small fruit
• G4 aka Guatemalan #4: summer, from TREC not yet propagated
• Jamaica: Dec - June, planted 1972 at TREC, superior flavor, large tree
• K-40
• Key West: Summer, delicious, old school variety from firehouse in Key West
• Lara
• Lorito: Summer, superior alternative to Key West
• Magana: Feb - Apr, largest fruit, more compact tree, ripening issues
• Mayapan: Xain has this one
• Pace: late Spring, opinions split on flavor, upright growth habit
• Papa: Oct - Dec, from Cuba, dwarf tree, excellent flavor
• Pozo Azul: Winter?, dwarf tree, small fruit
• Pumpkin Pie: May-Jun, Zill variety from Costa Rica, dwarf tree
• Tazumal: Jan - Feb, high quality flavor but uneven ripening
• Vidal Redondo
• Viejo: Winter, compact tree, small fruit, precocious, questionable flavor

Dwarf/Compact Trees: Pumpkin Pie, Excalibur, Pozo Azul, Papa, Viejo, Magana
Ripening Issues: Tazumal, Magana, Excalibur

Not sure why but the Fruitful Trees guy turns me off....some good info but I cant seem to get myself to sit through an entire video of his. My wifey cant take his voice

The "new" White Sapote came at the right time for me, I was ready to plant two trees. Anybody who didn't get a Younghans from Xain, they are in stock now at Lara Farms.

Maybe someday we'll get active youtube channels from Xain, Alex and a few other key people who really know their stuff. Paul at least brings together a lot of enthusiasm and information, without much editing or consistency. He's kind of all over the place, and if you are someone who is a stickler for clean food, clean dishes and correct pronunciation, just stop watching now

Will mango trees survive in the back of the truck driving back to Destin? That's a pretty long drive

Only if you lay them down under the tonneau cover to protect them. Standing up it's like putting them in a 70+ MPH wind storm for hours. Even a short drive at 35-45 MPH can cause damage.

The humble Banana has changed the world and impacted governments, politics and economy. Everybody, everywhere eats them.

The popularity has to mean something as far as world champ status, right?