Best tasting and most reliable Mangos for Southern California

[CA Hockey]

Fruit punch. It dropped a lot of fruit but it is growing problem free in the shade of a large fig tree. Only a few fruit now but at one point it held so many.

It's also entirely possible that rats and such climbed this tree on their way to get the figs and caused fruit drops

[CA Hockey]

Gary seedling. May be a clone, not sure. Very very sweet and refreshing. Citrus and coconut from what I remember. Ripe in November for us.

[CA Hockey]

Orange essence

Good size tree, maybe 12 feet tall. Sets fruit every year but suffers from easy drops. It's possible my tree is too big for the root system to support well as my irrigation lines are only 6 inches from the base of this good size tree. It drops after hot hot days.

The fruit are sizing up now. The largest one feels over 1.5 pounds and is about 8 inches end to end.

[CA Hockey]

Lemon zest. I had mentioned the lemon zest because someone asked about spraying. With an early regular spraying regimen, you can get lz to be a top performer.

These are photos from 3 different angles showing different sides of the tree. I think it too suffers from narrow root structure (probably all my trees do) as I haven't modified my irrigation lines since 2018.

[CA Hockey]

Orange sherbet. Original tree was from Lynn many years ago when os was first released along with M4. There are 3 os seedling os planted around the os tree that all make fruit that tastes identical and appear to be clones. I just treat them as one tree except when I harvest wood then I get it from the original.

Last year it gave a ton of fruit but this year only a few. It's not as tall as my orange essence or some seedlings, but it is quite wide and dense. It has a bad habit of looping back on itself with longer branches curling in.

[CA Hockey]

O-15 seedling. I call K-13 (seedling 13).

Medium size fruit, pretty purple coloring on top, sweet but not too overwhelming with a pleasant piney resin aspect, fiberless, etc.
I've tried it the past 2 years and really look forward to it. Alas before it ever fruited I grafted the strongest branches with other varieties that are going strong so the remaining mother tree branches are weaker and not as vigorous, but I am now grafting K-13 onto other trees.

[CA Hockey]

Carla - grafted 2 years ago like Giselle. Initially it grew fast then slowed down. I removed 1 fruit and will let 2 branches fruit and 1 push growth this year. Seems to do well otherwise. Tried fruit for the first time this year.
Melon like. I had one that tasted orange much more strongly than any other mango I've yet tasted but Im not sure if it was a mislabeled orange essence or if I can replicate that taste as it was a bit mushy

[CA Hockey]

Mohan
Heavy fruiting. Small graft. I may sacrifice this graft to try the fruits. Reportedly sweet and piney.

[CA Hockey]

Hando
Someone asked about parson earlier. I forgot to take a picture of parson but...
Hando is the partner to parson.
Parson = Par(do) +(Han)son, seedling of Juliette
Hando = Han(son) + (Par)do, seedling of son pari


These are some of JF's amazing socal seedling collection. Kudos and credit goes to him for his tireless efforts to develop these. Hando specifically sets a lot of fruit pretty effortlessly for me and is problem-free.

[CA Hockey]

Ndm
For the most part I have grafted over this tree but the NDm is slowly taking over again and making clusters of fruit.

[Eggo]

Hando
Someone asked about parson earlier. I forgot to take a picture of parson but...
Hando is the partner to parson.
Parson = Par(do) +(Han)son, seedling of Juliette
Hando = Han(son) + (Par)do, seedling of son pari


These are some of JF's amazing socal seedling collection. Kudos and credit goes to him for his tireless efforts to develop these. Hando specifically sets a lot of fruit pretty effortlessly for me and is problem-free.

Wow thanks for sharing and updating us on your awesome mango collection! Very cool!

[Goyo626]

Seedling Mango Project started in 2024 is going well. The seedlings definately grow much faster than rootstock trees.



Mesk mango. Really vigorous.



Pina Colada. Healthy but slower growing.



Sweet tart. Vigorous healthy.



Venus. Vigorous planted later than the others didnt seem to get stunted eventhough it was past prine planting season.



peach cobbler. Vigorous.



CAC#1 Vigorous. Only one shoot eventhought it was supposed to be a poly seed.




CAC#2 Vigorous multiple shoots



Orange Sherbet. Vigorous Healthy.



Cotton Candy. Healthy. Least vigorous seed planted.





Lemon Zest. Vigorous healthy.

[Johnny Eat Fruit]

Good luck with your mango seedling project.

I started in 2016 with mainly Manila rootstock and grafting top tier varieties. Knowing what I know now I would do what you’re doing growing seeds.

My Pina Colada seedling tree is Very slow growing at my location. Will give it one more year to improve otherwise it will be gone.

Johnny

[CA Hockey]

Johnny how slow is it? I'm imagining yours is really slow if you're thinking of getting rid of it after 9 years. Pc is typically slow growing. Mine got supercharged by the rootstock and seems to grow faster than other pc trees friends have, or it's because it's planted next to the turf and sprinklers. It flushes several times throughout the season, each flush about 6 inches though (sweet tart flushes seem to be 8-14 inches by comparison)

I found my Manila rootstocks are hit and miss. I have about 10 of them. Some do fine while others seem to reject grafts or push grafts but try and grow around them. It's a frustrating problem for me.

My best growers have been my own seedlings and plants grafted on my seedlings.

Goyo, I wonder if your pc seedling is a new variety. Curious how it turns out. 👍

[Goyo626]

No clue. I kept all the seed clumps together and just planted them as to not disturb the roots. I think it has 2 or 3 plants in the clump.

[Ivy]

I would like to get an advice on grafting . I am planning to graft  with recommended  here varieties  : Peach cobbler, CAC, Cotton Candy, Sweet Tart and M4 . I have a manila mango from HD that I planted last year which is about 5 feet now  and about 2 inch trunk diameter and I have 8 y/o Keitt with many nubbin fruit on it.  Do you think that manila mango is ready for grafting or should I wait longer and let it have more vegetative growth  and graft my mature Keitt?  Is grafting in September still ok ? Thanks

[spaugh]

I would like to get an advice on grafting . I am planning to graft  with recommended  here varieties  : Peach cobbler, CAC, Cotton Candy, Sweet Tart and M4 . I have a manila mango from HD that I planted last year which is about 5 feet now  and about 2 inch trunk diameter and I have 8 y/o Keitt with many nubbin fruit on it.  Do you think that manila mango is ready for grafting or should I wait longer and let it have more vegetative growth  and graft my mature Keitt?  Is grafting in September still ok ? Thanks

It seems to be better to let the trunk get bigger than the soda can before top working.  Also grafting this late a lot of grafts will probably fail.  The best time to graft mango in so cal is around May-July. 

[Ivy]

Thank you. I am going to wait with grafting until spring.

[CA Hockey]

Your mature keitt has so much fruit on it that I don't think it will push growth through any graft this year. You may have enough potential for 1 more push this year depending on the weather. We will have a heat wave next week so I expect a flush soon afterwards. My experience is that when there's lots of fruit, the tree doesn't really grow much.

The Manila is probably just fine for grafting if you have a couple of scions. I don't think it's ready for 8 or 10 grafts, but 2-4 grafts it looks like it can handle.

The mangos seem to do just fine during Santa Ana's although long slender grafts can snap (happened to me twice).

If you have the wood now I would just graft it. If you don't have the wood, then it kind of depends on how easy it is for you to get the wood. I've grafted as late as October and November with good success but the wood came from a neighbor who lives on a south facing hill. It was fresh and primed to grow. Some grafts will stay green all winter and push in spring.

I've heard some guys with more experience stress that grafting into blooming trees can give really good success due to flowing bloom sap being very effective at forcing growth. The pictures I have seen are impressive and the resulting growth were not blooms. It will take me a few more years to sort out for myself what do think iof that idea

[Johnny Eat Fruit]

In terms of the Best tasting and most reliable Mangos for Southern California here are some of my new favorites.

1.  Orange Sherbet - I grafted (3) OS scions in 2022 onto my existing mango tree and now half of the tree is this variety. Looks like a have about a dozen hanging fruit so it produces at a young age with no disease issues I can see. My OS is now staring its summer flush. See attached photos.

2.  Son Pari - This is a slower growing tree but for me it is highly productive. I had many small fruit on the tree several months ago but I removed all of them to focus on vegetative growth.   

3.  Angie - I have one graft on one tree but it is loaded with fruit. This variety seems fairly consistent but his year it has more fruit than normal. This is also a slower growing cultivator. 

4.  Zill P-22 - I wacked this tree to harvest (10) scions for grafting this year but even after that this mango tree is putting on very healthy growth. So far about 75-80% of my P-22 scions have taken and the growth seems fairly vigorous. Can wait to try this mango in a few years.

Johnny

 

Orange Sherbet Mango Tree starting to flush (8-28-2025)



Son Pari Mango Tree



Angle Mango Branch with Fruit (8-23-2025)



Zill P-22 Mango Tree

[spaugh]

Thank you. I am going to wait with grafting until spring.

You should let the manilla tree grow for several years so it puts all its energy into growing.  Since its a seedling tree.  As soon as you graft it, it will start flowering and slow down. 

[Goyo626]

Update since last time.



Mesk. Monster grower. The fruit was rather bad tasting but maybe the ones I had were not properly harvested and ripened. Even if its just good for rootstock its worth it. Flush after flush. No signs of stopping.



Pina colada. Seems to be getting stronger. More growth flushes. Healthy.



Peach Cobbler. Definately second most vigorous. Very happy.



Venus Seedling. Vigorous. Healthy.





CAC mono? seedling. Healthy vigorous.



CAC poly. Healthy vigorous






Cotton Candy. Least vigorous. Healthy.



Lemon Zest. Healthy.



Sweet tart. Healthy.





This is fruit from a grafted sweet tart tree. Nubbins. All sweetness Rich flavor. Outstanding.

[greenerpasteur]

Here is Sweet Tart in El Monte. My highest brix fruit. It's very productive and vigorous. I have 7 fruits on a 2 year old grafts.

[CA Hockey]

Man, my early season drops are low 20s for brix. What am I missing? Maybe less water? More gypsum or potassium?

[Goyo626]

Man, my early season drops are low 20s for brix. What am I missing? Maybe less water? More gypsum or potassium?

Just water. I dont fertilize at all. I was hoping to get pointers on when and what to fertilize with. The grafts are almost 10years old and the tree is not producing alot of fruit (although it seems its finally getting more vigorous and productive. The main problem I have is that it gets random dieback on major branches sometimes which obviously retards the trees development.

Maybe the cause of the higher brix fruit is weather related. Is Orange Ca significantly cooler that el monte during the critical ripening stage?