Fiber in a Valencia Pride mango

[sandiegojoe]

I have what I believe to be a Valencia Pride that has been in the ground for four years and it's now a large tree, maybe 12 feet tall with a six to eight foot spread. (I got it from a reputable nursery and it was tagged as a VP.) It looks like a Valenica Pride and has the flavor profile of a Valenica Pride, but it's been giving me mostly fibrous mangos. More fibrous than any of the other ten types of mangos I have on the property. It isn't growing from beneath the graft. This is San Diego. My understanding has been that VP's have scant to no fiber. I haven't fertilized it, the tree is big and healthy and gives plenty of fruit. My questions are first if there could be environmental conditions that make these mangos more fibrous than they're supposed to be, and what those are. Second, is there any hope that the mangos will become less fibrous in time? It had 18 mangos this year and 2 or 3 were less fibrous than the rest.

[Oolie]

I've never had a fibrous vp that was locally grown.

You may consider a fertilizer regimen rich in calcium, but even still it seems odd that a VP is producing fibrous mangoes.

Do you have pictures of the fruit?

Mislabeling is rampant even at "reputable" nurseries.

[sandiegojoe]

No pictures, unfortunately, and we just ate the last fruit for the year. I had thought it might be something different or maybe a mutant as that seemed like the easiest explanation and I've bought mislabeled trees before. It does look and taste just like a VP though, except for the fiber. It also has a larger seed to flesh ratio than I expected.

Thanks for your advice.

So calcium can decrease fiber? Or not enough calcium creates too much? Does potassium have any impact to your knowledge?

[Oolie]

Both are important, though it's often stated that the ratios are key.

Since calcium and potassium compete for uptake, as well as with nitrogen you get problems exacerbated by applying the wrong ratios.

The ratios of the nutrients in the fruit changes during the ripening process, and these nutrients affect ripening factors such as how large the fruit achieves as well as how the fruit will breakdown/ripen.

Cheap mangoes in stores are often valuable for comparison, as you can buy excellent examples that ripen well, and terrible examples of decent (normally fiberless) varieties with all kinds of nutrient deficiencies.