The Tropical Fruit Forum

Chainmail mangoes

Those look like pretty good size mangoes how wide are those bags

This are 15 inch chainmail

I have a friend over in the Lake Nona area I don't like to be specific about people's whereabouts. I refer to it as the Nona Repository but it's not really in Orange County. Anywho he raises some very large varieties of mangoes that get decimated by the squirrels and birds. I came across these gopher 5 gallon root protection bags on Amazon so I made a purchase. After receiving them I started to think wow I can use these on my cantaloupe melons to keep the roof rats from chewing on them. Apparently the melons give off a very strong smell that attract them from afar. The lesson I learned this season is deploy the Tomcat early. So this upcoming season after Happy New Year when I turn on the grow lights on to start the new gardening season. I will have a plan and the tools I need to be more successful with my adversary the pickle worm and Ricky rat. I'm going to use no-see-um patio screen and the wire mesh bags to protect my vertically grown melons. Last season I grew 20 beautiful melons but I lost 19 of them to the pickle worms even after spraying BT weekly. Maybe a half dozen of them were chewed on by the rats some minor some penetrated the rind. Any one else use these wire mesh bags for root, mango, or Melon protection. Always trying to up my game but I'm not so arrogant that I can't learn from others🙂

I've had pretty good success refrigerating mangoes after they are picked. After reading this article I think I can improve my game. Recently as September 1st I put Venus mangoes in the refrigerator for about 3 weeks and then set them on the counter and after 4 or 5 days of ripening we're delicious. Next season I'll do more of a controlled experiment with different varieties and take notes. This article discusses humidity temperature and oxidizing mangoes for better success. What has been your experience with different varieties.This was in my lunch box the last day of September. A thought had occurred to me maybe that mangoes with a higher sub acid content such as Venus have a higher cold injury tolerance


https://www.ecu.edu.au/newsroom/articles/research/from-orchard-to-fridge-helping-mangoes-stay-sweet-for-longer

Ya'll are making me jelly, had to order a box of late season mangoes.

It's not too surprising, it sort of echoes the internet consensus. I would imagine that Orange Sherbet and Lemon Zest split some votes, I only voted for one of the two even though I love both.

Quote from: bovine421 on September 23, 2025, 12:20:28 PM

The rest of us have to work much harder but because of Zhpp that Paradigm is changing.

I'm curious to hear more of your thoughts on this. Do you mean that Zill has slowed down the introduction of new varieties?

I'm saying if you live in South Florida how hard is it to find mangoes. If you live in Central Florida 10 years ago there wasn't many mango trees here. Because of Zill and Facebook marketing these trees are abundant  in Central Florida. Now with Montura Gardens and Hani they will deliver it to your doorstep. If I ask Hani To pick a tree Up At truly tropicals Or Tropical acre farms She will do so and deliver it cheaper than they can ship it.

Pineapple pleasured delivered last Saturday

Thanks so much.  I've been given a lot to consider thanks to your kindness in answering my question.  I'm down to Maha, P-22 and M4.  Sadly, I just have a normal sized 1/4 acre residential yard so space is at an ultra premium.  How is the production for P-22 and M4?  Are those trees fairly disease resistant?  I know Maha ticks the boxes for a lot of things (including disease resistance), but I haven't known anyone to rave about the flavor of that mango.   Am I wrong?  I know it's a good mango, but no-one says it's a top ten from what I've seen.  Anyway, I'm headed out to a nursery in Tampa to pick up my new tree for the recently cleared 'prime spot.'   

Any other votes?

From what I understand P22 is very vigorous and some say it's very similar to
Zinc which would be more manageable. M4 is classified late season and also very late. If you like Malika you might want to give White Piri consideration

Ocoee white clover is a new release from the University of Florida. Ocoee is an intermediate type with spreading growth habit that has tolerance to southern root-knot nematode (RKN) (Meloidogyne spp). Drought conditions in Florida accentuate the effect of nematodes on clover establishment, production, and persistence

I'm off Wednesday and I have to go by the feed store so I will stop in and find out what they know. The timing is good so I'll give it a second try. This time with proper irrigation

Gift Horse was a workhorse this year once again:



Had some ripening issues this year, which I attribute to hurricane damage and the fact that the fruit stayed green and I haven't dialed in harvesting time. Fruit when it was on was the best it's ever been. West Indian/Indian Alphonso with a touch of coconut this year. (Oddly enough, even our Neelams had a coconut undertone).

I thought Area 51 was in Nevada??

To stay on topic (ha!), Alex's write-up on Pineapple Pleasure makes it sound more challenging than anything else mango-wise I have in the yard except for Ice Cream. But the chance to have another Pineapple Pleasure at peak flavor makes the pursuit worth the effort.

I have no issues with ice cream matter of fact I was overloaded with abundance of ice cream. Since I have to spray dot With commercial fungicides Pineapple pleasure will be a pleasure to spray. Also lemon zest is a powdery mildew magnet so I will treat it the same. Area 51.2 is the 51st tree by the  Barn next to the beehive. Where they keep the mason jars

All my fruit are clean
fliptop the forum is kind of dry so I add humor. Also some people don't want their forum identity known so I speak in code and they know who I am speaking of🙂
AKA work horse 🍺

Growing season is best time to transplant mango trees. In my experience, they are easy to transplant during growing season but easily killed during the winter.

I've always trusted Cookie Monster's wisdom when it comes to Mango. For the last several seasons of transplanted several large trees for myself and others usually In the Heat of the summer. My neighbor has a tree about 6 ft tall that wasn't planted in an ideal location but now after removing a pear tree some better Real Estate is available. I was contemplating moving it now or waiting until after next year's Harvest. Which would be in July so after reading Cookie Monster post I will wait until next season.

The date this mangɔ was picked on was July 13th . This tree is a vigorous grower that is disease resistant. Blooms well doesn't need spray.
Very pleased with this tree Carpe Diem. Going to be transplanted for my neighbor's yard into my yard now that it meets my standards

Many years ago I purchased a dwarf guava from plantagram which I believe is located in Winter Park Florida. The proprietor I think was an old forum member. Maybe Winter Park Phil. Anyhow that dwarf guava bush was everything advertised. It got 6 ft tall and 6 ft wide and had wonderful pink fairly medium size guavas. Wife who is Caribbean said it made excellent juice. Not quite as big as Ruby Supreme. Anyhow because of mango I transplanted it in August and killed it. Because I had a large pink guava there was no need to replace it. Now after 15 or 20 years the pink guava has slowly died back and is not producing. Wife said take it out so I did and ordered two dwarf guavas. So as I sit here drinking my coffee I remember doing an extensive Google search in fairly distant past to find information on dwarf guavas. The best I could find was a reference to Hawaii. So as I was here contemplating on it I remembered how useful a tool AI is. After asking her the question this is what she had to say.

Dwarf guava varieties suitable for limited spaces and container gardening include Dwarf Hawaiian Rainbow, Tikal Guava, and Dwarf White Nana (Psidium guajava nana), a compact cultivar with yellow-skinned, off-white-fleshed fruits. Other options like the compact, larger-fruited Tikal and the hardy, seedless Thai White Guava are also excellent for container growing.
 
Specific Dwarf Guava Varieties
Dwarf Hawaiian Rainbow (Psidium nana):
This low-growing tree reaches 5-6 feet tall and produces aromatic fruits with white, yellow, and pink flesh, making it ideal for pots and small spaces.
Dwarf White Nana (Psidium guajava nana):
A small, high-yielding cultivar found in Maui, it produces round, yellow-skinned fruits with a creamy, off-white interior and a sweet, juicy pulp.
Tikal Guava:
This compact tree is a great choice for beginners, yielding large, yellow-skinned fruits with sweet, pink flesh.
Thai White Guava:
A large, crunchy variety that can be grown in a container and is adaptable to different soil conditions.
Bambina™ Pineapple Guava:
A dwarf variety of the pineapple guava that is uniform in growth and perfect for small areas.


This is much heavier than it looks. This came from a plant sell at Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando many moons ago.
More room for mango🙂


Don't have room for a full size guava. These will go in close proximity to my two dwarf June plums

https://youtu.be/qN_aOOjF4q0?si=gFG-jW26cJWoaePg

Hawaiian Dwarf Guava (a type of Tropical Guava) is a more tree-like plant with 2-inch round, sweet fruits, while Cattley Guava is a smaller, hardier shrub known for its red, grape-sized fruits and cold tolerance. The Dwarf Guava is a compact version of the tropical guava, producing larger fruit, whereas Cattley Guava offers a more ornamental and cold-hardy option

Quote from: bovine421 on August 31, 2025, 04:51:43 PM

As a backyard gardener I really dialed in on growing cantaloupes specifically Athens vertically. My goal is to have a dozen cantaloupe melons at peak flavor in  early may before my mango season starts. Last season even after spraying BT weekly I still only had one melon to enjoy out of the Many because of the pickle worm. Yesterday as I was working on this squirrel mango protection with the steel mesh bags it dawned on me why not rap the melons in mosquito screen since I hang them in nylon bags anyways. So I will get some patio screen cut some squares wrap it around the nylon bags as the melons hang and see what happens. Pickle worms have teeth like a saber tooth tiger. We'll see if they can chew through the patio screen. Was contemplating not even going through the effort. I know that time of year I will have spring fever so this idea has given me motivation to try again.Hopefully I'm successful wish me luck🙂

AI
For insect prevention, use a heavy-duty screen material like aluminum or polyester over standard fiberglass or thin nylon, and opt for a tighter mesh, such as a 20x20 mesh (No-See-Um screen), to block even the smallest pests. Stronger, pest-resistant mesh is the best choice to prevent insects like crickets and grasshoppers from chewing holes

AI if you ask the right questions in the right way this is totally revolutionary in  extracting knowledge. As the youngest of the Baby Boomers I appreciate this access to mainframe computers Versus Walking a couple miles to the library  to get an outdated book with cobwebs. Whether AI ultimately destroys humanity. I have no clue but I'm going to ride that horse off the abyss.

Quote from: achetadomestica on August 31, 2025, 11:23:37 AM

I got a couple Super Alphonso trees March of 2023. I planted one and got one for a neighbor
down the street. They were very small sticks in 3 gallon pots from Zills
My tree looks ok and I pulled the fruit off this year. Until I see my neighbors
tree. It fruited and had 25 fruit on it this year. It is 12' high and the trunk is at
least 8". It's amazing how fast the tree grew on pond muck. He left town this
Summer and told me to go by and pick a few if they were ready. They were still green
and hard but the stems were brown and I picked 5. They took 4-5 days to soften and
I thought they were fantastic. The reminded me of Carrie but a little sweeter. Also
Carrie always seems a little mushy and the flesh was firmer. I saw a video of a guy
tasting one and it was yellow and he said it was classic flavored? I am pretty sure
his was tree ripened. I can't wait until my tree produces. My neighbor likes it so much
he bought another one this year and put it on another mound of pond muck.

Thanks for that review. I have an Amigo that collects mangos trees like we used to collect bubblegum cards back in the day. I used to collect Chopper cards. Anywho after watching some videos and reading. I kind of lost interest. One reviewer said that it's 90 percent classic with 10 percent this that and the other. I remember many seasons ago getting one at Zills high performance. It was mature green and after it ripened . I remember it was pretty darn good. That was a long time ago. So I got with my compadre today and we discuss a location to plant it. She will be in close proximity to Carpe Diem which I'm very impressed with. I am sure my wife's Caribbean clientele will be pleased.🙂