I'm trying to experiment with new mango rootstocks for Southern California and would like suggestions on what are the most vigorous growing and disease resistant mango varieties? I've performed searches on google and on this forum and have found that Tommy Atkins and Valencia Pride are often mentioned.
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=3858.25Are there any newer, perhaps Zill varieties, that you guys/gals in Florida have noticed that appear to have greater resistance to disease? Did you happen to notice that in a particularly bad disease year, a specific variety still produced well even when other nearby varieties had poor crops?
I'm hoping to find new rootstock combinations to use in my Double Stone Grafting experiments (
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=16549.0) which may impart disease and/or pest resistance, especially Anthracnose and Powdery Mildew. It has been stated in some articles that Phillipine and Indo Chinese varieties may be more resistant to Anthracnose
https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/mango_ars.html so I'm hoping to find at least one great disease resistant polyembryonic and one great monoembryonic variety. My next multi rootstock experiments will likely end up having three rootstocks. One polyembryonic variety for Anthracnose resistance, one Monoembryonic variety for Powdery Mildew resistance and one variety for growth in high pH soils such as Lavern Manilla, Corriente or one of Leo Manuels seedlings which have proven to grow very well here.
I am especially interested in newer varieties such as Lemon Zest, Sweet Tart and Pineapple Pleasure because these newer Zill releases tend to have high Brix and may impart this characteristic onto the scion. This has been proven on other crops already. Thanks in advance, I appreciate any thought or suggestions even if the evidence is only anecdotle.
Simon