Best tasting and most reliable Mangos for Southern California

[Johnny Eat Fruit]

Interesting your Coconut Cream mango tree died. I live near the coast too and my CC grows quite well. I constantly have to trim the tree to maintain form and control vigor. This issue I have will Coconut Cream is production or lack thereof. I have about 40% of the tree top worked to Seacrest which has grown well from a three-year graft and now has fruit on it. (See 1st photo)

Lemon zest has grown well for me. My five-year-old tree is now 9-10 feet tall. (See 2nd photo). Still no fruit yet but I am willing to give this variety more time but just in case I have already added Peach Cobbler and Cotton Candy grafts.

Johnny



(Coconut Cream-Seacrest Mango Tree 6-29-23)




 (Lemon Zest Mango Tree 6-29-23)

[gozp]

Interesting your Coconut Cream mango tree died. I live near the coast too and my CC grows quite well. I constantly have to trim the tree to maintain form and control vigor. This issue I have will Coconut Cream is production or lack thereof. I have about 40% of the tree top worked to Seacrest which has grown well from a three-year graft and now has fruit on it. (See 1st photo)

Lemon zest has grown well for me. My five-year-old tree is now 9-10 feet tall. (See 2nd photo). Still no fruit yet but I am willing to give this variety more time but just in case I have already added Peach Cobbler and Cotton Candy grafts.

Johnny



(Coconut Cream-Seacrest Mango Tree 6-29-23)




 (Lemon Zest Mango Tree 6-29-23)

I've seen his trees in person & they are nice. It all goes down to the roots. What are medium are they growing in?

I have started to tweak my mix on mangoes more on builders sand this time. My Mangoes that are on 50% sand does thrive better as oppose to dirt mixed potting mix & potting mix.

[palingkecil]

can anyone suggent good online or loca store for val-Carrie and Venus mango trees?

I always have good experience with everglades.farm
They don't have Venus right now but they have Val Carie.
Val Carie is productive and grows well for me, but the branches are droopy.

[Oolie]

can anyone suggent good online or loca store for val-Carrie and Venus mango trees?

I always have good experience with everglades.farm
They don't have Venus right now but they have Val Carie.
Val Carie is productive and grows well for me, but the branches are droopy.

Mine might have good rootstock, it's the most upright of my grafted trees.

[palingkecil]

can anyone suggent good online or loca store for val-Carrie and Venus mango trees?

I always have good experience with everglades.farm
They don't have Venus right now but they have Val Carie.
Val Carie is productive and grows well for me, but the branches are droopy.

Mine might have good rootstock, it's the most upright of my grafted trees.

Do you know what your rootstock is, Oolie?
I will take a pic of my Val Carie tomorrow. It looks ridiculous with the branches all over the ground even though the tree is really healthy and trouble free.

[palingkecil]

Interesting your Coconut Cream mango tree died. I live near the coast too and my CC grows quite well. I constantly have to trim the tree to maintain form and control vigor. This issue I have will Coconut Cream is production or lack thereof. I have about 40% of the tree top worked to Seacrest which has grown well from a three-year graft and now has fruit on it. (See 1st photo)

Lemon zest has grown well for me. My five-year-old tree is now 9-10 feet tall. (See 2nd photo). Still no fruit yet but I am willing to give this variety more time but just in case I have already added Peach Cobbler and Cotton Candy grafts.

Johnny



(Coconut Cream-Seacrest Mango Tree 6-29-23)




 (Lemon Zest Mango Tree 6-29-23)

Your LZ is really good looking!
Is it on Manila rootstock? My CC on Manila is half dead now, and I am thinking to replace it with LZ on turpentine rootstock.
Did your LZ have any flower in 5 years but just don't fruit because of PM?
I never spray my trees and my OS lost most of it's fruit to PM every year. It makes me hesitate to get an LZ.

[Oolie]

can anyone suggent good online or loca store for val-Carrie and Venus mango trees?

I always have good experience with everglades.farm
They don't have Venus right now but they have Val Carie.
Val Carie is productive and grows well for me, but the branches are droopy.

Mine might have good rootstock, it's the most upright of my grafted trees.

Do you know what your rootstock is, Oolie?
I will take a pic of my Val Carie tomorrow. It looks ridiculous with the branches all over the ground even though the tree is really healthy and trouble free.

Turpentine, but even poly are not 100% true to seed, there is variability.
Your description sounds like my old alphonse tree RIP.

There are strategies to combat PM in the susceptible trees. If the tree is well established and not go into shock from repeated pruning/hedging, you can continually remove blooms until the rainy season is past, but this only helps if you don't have early morning marine layer. I you're closer to the coast or at a lower elevation then the best bet is to spray sulfur or skim milk.

Calcium can help the tree if that's what the issue is, and I know of at least one case where LZ did start holding onto fruit with Gypsum application.

[gozp]

Priyoor aka guava seedling



M4 seedling

[love_Tropic]

I really Love Kent, very classic!  can it grow well in Socal with Florida rootstock? Though, I can get from stores, sometimes those are just Haden. thinking to add Val Carrie and Kent

[Oolie]

I really Love Kent, very classic!  can it grow well in Socal with Florida rootstock? Though, I can get from stores, sometimes those are just Haden. thinking to add Val Carrie and Kent

I love Kent as well, but it's gotta be picked at full maturity/ swoll shoulders. This is an extreme rarity, and the really good ones are pretty unusual to find.

[FruitFool]

“Farmers best” brand Kent mangoes are really good.
I think those are Mexico grown.
I buy them at Indian grocery stores in San Diego.
It hasn’t made appearance yet this season though.

Fruitfool

[SDPirate]

“Farmers best” brand Kent mangoes are really good.
I think those are Mexico grown.
I buy them at Indian grocery stores in San Diego.
It hasn’t made appearance yet this season though.

Fruitfool

Which store?

[FruitFool]

Miramar cash and carry

[simon_grow]

My E4 seedling that produced fruit last year is holding fruit again this year. This variety is resistant to the crazy strain of powdery mildew that I have here. My tree is still blooming because it’s cooler where I live and it’s partly shaded. The fruit tastes just like E4 but there were some phenotypic differences that may be caused by sunburn. I’ll try to bag the fruit to see if there are any differences this year. For those of us in San Diego, E4 is an excellent variety to grow from seed.





Simon

[Johnny Eat Fruit]

Hey Simon,

Nice looking Sugarloaf (E4) fruit on your tree. My grafted E4 has such low vigor I will likely not try any more grafting attempts with this cultivar. Seedling trees are a much better choice in this situation.

When I select a variety now I look for at least Medium vigor. High vigor is preferable for California's growth. Val-Carrie is an example of a medium vigor tree that seems to grow and produce well at my more coastal location. No major issues with powdery mildew.

Johnny



Val-Carrie/Mallika Mango Tree with Fruit Set (7-7-2023)

[Malhar]

@Johnny Eat Fruit: Which one would you consider to be "high vigor" at your location?

[Johnny Eat Fruit]

I am growing over 25 varieties of mangoes and evaluating which ones have high and medium vigor. It's a long-term learning process. Listed below are my estimated high vigor varieties. But keep in mind this may change with more time and experience growing. Note: all of my mango trees are on Manila or Ataulfo rootstock. No turpentine due to lack of vigor. The soil is sandy loam with 10% pumice. No heavy or clay soil as this reduces the growth rate and vigor.

I do everything I can to increase vigor and that starts with the soil type then moves up to the rootstock and finally the cultivar. All are very important to maximize mango tree growth in my opinion.

1.  Cotton Candy - Just moved to a larger #25 pot and thus far is growing very well. The root completely filled the smaller #15 pot after only one year.

2.  Fruit Punch - Every graft I have done has grown well. Even the 2022 graft onto my Lemon Zest mango tree is trying to hold fruit. Will remove the Fruit Punch fruit to focus on vegetative growth for the young graft.   

3.  Guava - My 2020 Guava graft is now over 1.5" thick and holding numerous fruit. Appears to be vigorous.

4.  Lemon Zest - After a few years in the ground this takes off vertically.

5.  Orange Essence - Appears to be a strong grower. (Orange Sherbet is of Medium Vigor but a more attractive tree.)

6.  Peach Cobber - Every PC graft I have done has grown well.  So far so good. I also have fruit set from a 2020 graft.

I need more time to ascertain with other cultivars have vigor. This list almost certainly change with more experience growing mango trees in California.

Johnny

[simon_grow]

Thanks Johnny!

Here’s E4 seedling #2. This is different than my other E4 seedling (it came from a different seed) but it could be a clone so they could actually be the same. This seedling was grafted onto a larger tree and you can see that it still holds fruit even though it is completely covered in powdery Mildew.

Simon

[Elijah]

My E4 seedling that produced fruit last year is holding fruit again this year. This variety is resistant to the crazy strain of powdery mildew that I have here. My tree is still blooming because it’s cooler where I live and it’s partly shaded. The fruit tastes just like E4 but there were some phenotypic differences that may be caused by sunburn. I’ll try to bag the fruit to see if there are any differences this year. For those of us in San Diego, E4 is an excellent variety to grow from seed.





Simon

Will E4 growing from a seed taste like its parent fruit ( true to seed)?

[simon_grow]

I’ve only fruited one E4 seedling which I presume was a clone because it tasted about the same as the real E4. When you grow an E4 seedling, it depends if you grow out the clone or the zygotic seedling. If you grow out the zygotic seedling, it may not taste the same as the real E4.

Simon

[Malhar]

Great. Thanks for sharing your experience.

I am growing over 25 varieties of mangoes and evaluating which ones have high and medium vigor. It's a long-term learning process. Listed below are my estimated high vigor varieties. But keep in mind this may change with more time and experience growing. Note: all of my mango trees are on Manila or Ataulfo rootstock. No turpentine due to lack of vigor. The soil is sandy loam with 10% pumice. No heavy or clay soil as this reduces the growth rate and vigor.

I do everything I can to increase vigor and that starts with the soil type then moves up to the rootstock and finally the cultivar. All are very important to maximize mango tree growth in my opinion.

1.  Cotton Candy - Just moved to a larger #25 pot and thus far is growing very well. The root completely filled the smaller #15 pot after only one year.

2.  Fruit Punch - Every graft I have done has grown well. Even the 2022 graft onto my Lemon Zest mango tree is trying to hold fruit. Will remove the Fruit Punch fruit to focus on vegetative growth for the young graft.   

3.  Guava - My 2020 Guava graft is now over 1.5" thick and holding numerous fruit. Appears to be vigorous.

4.  Lemon Zest - After a few years in the ground this takes off vertically.

5.  Orange Essence - Appears to be a strong grower. (Orange Sherbet is of Medium Vigor but a more attractive tree.)

6.  Peach Cobber - Every PC graft I have done has grown well.  So far so good. I also have fruit set from a 2020 graft.

I need more time to ascertain with other cultivars have vigor. This list almost certainly change with more experience growing mango trees in California.

Johnny

[jdrudnick]

I am in 10 B by the coast in El Segundo.  I love this list of mangoes and understand the growth rates.  Fundamentally, I just wanted to see whether we can break down the list to the trees that grow best by the coast versus inland.. just trying to see what I should focus on.  Thank you

[Ivy]

I am a newbie in growing mango. I got a Keitt mango 7 years ago from the Home Depot as a new garden enthusiast having no idea at all about mango growing.  The tree is about 9 ft now, looks healthy but if I get any fruit they are usually the size of walnuts or I get no fruit at all.  I have a spot  in my small yard just for 1 more  mango tree that is why I followed the discussion here hoping  that I will make a better choice this time. It looks that Peach cobbler is a winner.
Summarizing what was said I got a following ranking: (The number before the variety is a total number of votes). I hope it might be helping other newbies. Thank you all for valuable information.
Most productive:
9  Peach cobbler
5 Coconut Cream
5 Sweet Tart -
5 Lemon Zest - PM
3 Fruit Punch
3 Guava -
3 Honey Kiss
3 Venus- low fiber
3 Parson
3 Maha Chanok
3 Cotton Candy
2 Orange Essence
2 NDM- sweet
2 Edward
2 Valencia Pride- coconut flavor
2 CAC
2 Fairchild
2 Villa Clara
2 Thompson
2 Ivory
2 Ugly Betty
2 Cypress
2 Magcom
2 Dale
2 Sunrise
2 Juicy Peach
2 Imam Passand
2 Kent
2 Harvest Moon mutant
2 Okrung Tong,
Sindhri- Pakistani
Glenn
Kesar
Peggy
Leo 2- sweet
Leo Z
Gary- coconut flavor
Leo Keitt Seedling
Pickering
Ice cream
Galaxy
Val-Carrie
Mallika
Lancetilla
Alphonso
E4,
Pina Colada,
Pineapple Pleasure.

Least productive :
alphonso (blooms like crazy and has lots of vegetative growth but very little fruits)
lemon zest (powdery mildew problem)
Venus (powdery mildew problem but it may be because of the location )       
Coconut Cream:  grow very well no fruits
Nam Doc Mai:  blooms constantly but has mediocre fruit quality,
Poor On Turpentine :
Guava
Cotton candy
Ice cream
Carrie

[Johnny Eat Fruit]

There are many great tasting mangos that grow well in Florida but are they suited for Southern California?

Here is my new criteria for selection in SoCal.

1.  Vigor - Preferably at least medium vigor but high vigor is best. Seacrest, Coconut Cream, Cac, Guava, Lemon Zest, Orange Essence, Peach Cobbler and 0-15 are examples of vigorous grower.

2.  Disease resistance - Based on what I am seeing at my location Orange Sherbet is better than Lemon Zest. OS flowers later and has fewer disease issues relative to Lemon Zest. This is just one example based on my observation at my location.

3.  Earlier ripening varieties of mango are better than late ripening in general in California and I would also add smaller mangoes are better than larger mangoes as the larger ones take longer to grow and ripen in general.  Kiett is a example of a mango that is not well suited in California due to it’s large size and late ripening except for the warmer inland desert areas. I love the “Angie” mango grown in SoCal. It is not a high vigor mango but it ripens early and produces consistency and if you like the Carrie (Alfonso)  flavor class you will really love this mango. It also has no major disease issues in my area. Between Seacrest and Peach Cobbler I would choose the Seacreast mango.  It ripens earlier. Peach Cobbler ripens late and in 2023 my PC never fully ripened. My Seacrest did and they were delicious.

4.  Early Production – Coconut cream is a great mango but based on my experience it takes seven years to start producing consistently. In contrast Angie starts to produce after three years. Peach Cobbler, Val-Carrie and Seacrest also appear to produce early at my location. My Son-Pari is a modest grower but I have high hopes my young tree will produce early based on the experience of others.

5.  Unknown factors – this is a interesting variable. Sweet Tart is a great tasting mango but has a major problem at my location with fruit split. My ST is seven years old and I lost over 50% of the fruit in 2023 due to this issue.  I am hoping with more age (10 years) this issue will be less of a problem. Lemon Zest has Powdery Mildew problems in a wet winter and spring and many mango trees flower too early resulting in lost flowers and production.  So many potential problems many of which you will soon discover if you grow in this area.

It is best to pick mangoes that have the fewest problems. This will give you the highest probability of success in California.

Johnny

[johnb51]

There are many great tasting mangos that grow well in Florida but are they suited for Southern California?
It is best to pick mangoes that have the fewest problems. This will give you the highest probability of success in California.
Johnny

So, Johnny, it looks like so far your strongest recommendations are Angie, Seacrest, and possibly Orange Sherbet?  Have you or anyone you know of tried growing PPK/Lemon Meringue?