The Tropical Fruit Forum

Taste-wise, it does have that spicy, resinous twang to them which I am not a big fan of

I like spicy and resinous because those were the first only (almost only) backyard mangoes I had access to for years. Well actually I did get a lot of big purple mangoes from a neighbor which were sweet and non-resinous. But the curse of that tree (and it drove me nuts) was that neighbor B would strip neighbor A's tree bare of mangoes as a favor to Mr A who was in his 90s. Instead of letting the fruit ripen naturally over a four week period. The stripped fruit would fill 20 large brown paper shopping bags with handles you used to get at supermarkets. Ridiculous Whole Foods Mkt still has them.... Anyway those 20 bags of fruit were given away. That huge tree got half uprooted by Wilma. It was laying half on its side and still gave up tons of mangoes the next year with only half the roots. The house was sold and next owner demolished the tree instead of setting it right. So now you have green grass there and no beautiful mango tree. Neighbor A lived to 98 in that house but his daughter finally took him to live with her because he was getting senile. He and his wife spent WW2 hiding out from the Nazis in Poland. They came here as refugees after the war. He had lots of stories about what a murderous bastard Leonid Breshnev was during WW2 serving as a Russian Army general.

Lets leave out the supermarket mangoes.

Hello Friends,

Could those of you that have a "Jakarta" Mango tree comment on the fruit, size, taste, etc.... As well as the growth habit of the tree.

I read somewhere that the flavor has "Lychee" undertones or nuances.  Any thruth?

Thanks,

Jacob

Never had one but I know it is rarely discussed at gardenWeb or here. I never hear it mentioned so maybe this tells you something. If I lived out there I would get a LaVerne nursery Manila mango or a Nam Doc Mai

Sleepdoc--
Your trees are burdened down with blooms
What I like is how leafy they are. So filled in. Not scraggly at all. You must be doing some intelligent pruning and management. Foliar nutritional sprays? Your Haden has lots of nice low branching out ....unlike mine at least. And Haden is an upright grower. I like Hadens and hope I get a good crop this year

Orale SWR!  Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens. LOUIS JORDAN - AIN'T NOBODY HERE BUT US CHICKENS- 1956Whats the new potted mango on the right? And what's the mango in the background covered w panicles?

@happyisland
Proper tip pruning can stimulate mango tree graduating into the fruiting stage of its life ... I will dig up the reference--->>>  http://www.aalfs.org/descargas/7.pdf  Please read the part " shortening the juvenile period of small trees"

3 years I emailed Richard Campbell at Fairchild about mangoes and he said mulch them and feed them 0-0-50 fertilizer. This is his general recommendation... But they like their mango trees small (condo mangoes) with lots of fruiting. I feed my small young mango trees a good NPK with minors each month except November-January. So I did not listen 100% to Richard Campbell. My three large mango trees ....I actually don't want them too large and crowding out the young ones so I will be feeding them mostly potassium

Zands, your Mango trees are just beautiful! To me there is no better sight than a blooming mango tree, SO pretty and the anticipation of great things to come is very exciting. My mango trees are starting to bloom now in various stages...will post some pictures once they start to really take off and start opening, as long as we don't have any more Cold snaps that is. I've actually been following Zill's directions on fertilizing my Mango trees monthly (lightly) during the first 3 years I had them...they would have been your size by now "if" the freezes didn't force me to "Pug" them every single year!!


May I ask you where you buy the 4-4-8 fertilizer that Zills recommends for fruiting trees. I also use Vigoro Citrus on my inground tree the last year or two...I've been using Dynamite slow release for the first 3 years and have been happy with the results...but have switched to Vigoro since the cost is much cheaper.


Null, Mfajar and Jeff...VERY nice trees also!

IIRC you mulch your trees a lot so they are getting fed that way. You can feed them some of this Vigoro from HD http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202052194/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=Citrus%20&%20Avocado&storeId=10051 which is 6-4-6. But feed them straight potassium too http://www.ebay.com/sch/?_nkw=potassium%20%20fertilizer&clk_rvr_id=316116666854

Richard Campbell director at Fairchild feeds his big enough mango trees only potassium. You have freeze related reasons for wanting condo mango sized trees (or a bit bigger) which is what Fairchild promotes

#2 scheme you can contact these people who might sell 4-4-8  or know who has it http://hatchermangohill.com/Trees.htm

#3 scheme is my own. I have straight potassium fertilizer and use this on my larger trees along with the HD citrus avocado mango 6-4-6. On smaller trees I use only  that HD Vigoro citrus avocado mango 6-4-6

I would also be really interested in hearing from anyone who's had positive experiences forcing blooms/fruiting using the methods listed above or others. I have a bunch of trees here that are growing very well, but have had nary a blossom. My patience is wearing thin...

Year three is the trick how old are these?

Do you have any studies supporting "potassium grows the blooms"? I was reading through the mango botany production and uses book today and it did not link potassium to flowering conclusively. I would like to know because I am trying to write an FAQ on fertilizing and taking care of mango trees and I want to have as much of the information correct as possible.

The book says that Potassium Nitrate promotes flowering but more recent studies have shown that is may be the N and not the K causing the flowering. In the FAQ I would like to add the specific forms of the fertilizer that will do each thing. I guess it doesn't matter as much if its the K or N in the KNO3 thats causing the flowering as long as I say that the KNO3 helps.

"potassium grows the blooms" is more accurately phrased as potassium promotes fruiting and blooming

Best thing is ask Jeff Hagen directly. He cited from Hawaiian university research that this is the case for mangoes though perhaps not for Northern fruit trees. This was on GardenWeb last year.    Potassium for fruiting, nitrogen for branch and leaf vegetative growth and phosphate for root development. This is Jeff's breakdown for mangoes

Oscar--- I can sere you juiced some
Firm Carambola can be run through a juicer...unlike most  other tropical fruits. My limited Carambola eating says that all ripe Carambola are enjoyably juicy and  sweet....you  really have to grow them or steal them    Not saying anything new here....but Carmbola in supermarkets are picked way too  unripe so are sour

JF--
Your Glenn has lots of nice blooms. It must be your first of the year fruiting mango. Last year my first edible mango was a Glenn on May 25th.
Cutting off panicles---I have seen mangoes go either way. You cut off panicles and it will grow new ones, but sometimes it doesn't. Not helpful to you I know.  I have cut off panicles on young mangoes so instead of wasting resources on fruiting they would grow larger quicker. But then they disobey and send out new panicles.


To everyone-- Thanks for the compliments. My Carrie and Glenn look the blooming best....my other mangoes are more shy and restrained

It's mango bloom time in South Florida. I would be just as happy if I lived up North and had apple and cherry blooms in my backyard.

Here are my best
#1 is my large backyard Glenn   ( I also have a stunted Glenn blooming out of proportion)
#2 is my Carrie in front yard  (background is blooming PSM (Pim Saen Mun)







This Glenn has weak spreading limbs that will need post harvest pruning

I was doing research into controlled bloom techniques, seems you can force bloom on any mango tree, using saltpeter ( potassium nitrate ). you spray this on your tree, and bam 1 week or two later you have blooms.  this does not harm the tree, I do believe you need to allow the tree at least 8 months "rest" , but in theory you could have your mango produce fruit out of season.



I have no idea if KNO3 is organic, I eventually will try this someday once I have more mature trees, and probably use the smoke method.
I believe KNO3 is also hard to get now because of the Oklahoma incident and homeland security because you can make explosives with the stuff.

anyone have experience with this?

Can buy potassium nitrate on ebay and it is organic enough in my book. It is used as a foliar spray to stimulate mango blooming and make mangoes fruit each year not just alternate years. Done in countries like Philippines , Taiwan and Thailand where growing mangoes is serious business to bring in foreign money to poorer counties. So rich Japanese and Koreans are paying premium for good Thai and Philippine mangoes

I say Coco Cream tastes the best, with LZ a close second.  Harvest Moon is a very good mango.  Pina Colada is very similar to Gary.  If both are at their peak quality wise it would be a toss up.  Here is the kicker with Pina Colada, pick it too green and it will not properly ripen, and will have a pasty texture and sour flavor, basically inedible.  Pick it at the right time and let it get a nice yellow/orange/rosy color and taste is outstanding.  Let it get too ripe before eating, texture turns to absolute mush, worse than a Carrie (Gary does the same think if let go to a stage of over ripeness).

To me, Sweet Tart is a love/hate...either you are going to love it or hate it.  It was not one of my favorites but then again neither is Carrie.

Thanks much for all that intel. I don't have a coco cream. Like I said...never tasted the Sweet Tart or Pina Colada. I'm pretty good at eyeballing fruit as to ripeness and will wait for Pina Colada to turn colors like you say. Probably won't even get a taste of PC or Sweet Tart until 2013 season. I like Carrie and it's one of my best trees...So I'll like Sweet Tart