How to increase yield on Lemon Zest Mango?

[simon_grow]

After much thought, I decided I won’t be spraying chemicals on my LZ tree. Mostly because I’m lazy when it comes to spraying but also because my Lemon Zest on Lavern Manilla and other random seedling rootstock is able to hold fruit to maturity.

Several months ago, I top worked every branch on my Florida Turpentine rootstock Lemon Zest with Sweet Tart, Pineapple Pleasure, Venus, E4, M4, E4 seedling, Pina Colada Seedling, CAC and Ice Cream. Over the past 5 years, I probably harvested only 4-5 full sized Lemon Zest from this relatively large tree.

I’m fairly confident this tree would have eventually produced more fruit as it got much larger but it is in a prime location with full sun and I want more production from it sooner rather than later.






Here’s a Lemon Zest fruit that fell off in my hand today. As soon as I see a yellow blush on the Lemon Zest, I gently palm the fruit until it is parallel to the ground and if it falls off, it will be perfectly ripe after ripening a bit more on the counter. This is one of the best techniques for harvesting many varieties of mango in SoCal.

This tree produced a cluster of 5 fruit in one bunch. Each fruit is approximately 1 lbs. I brought a ripe Lemon Zest to the fruit tasting and it only had a Brix of 22% but everyone that got a piece was saying it was the one of the best mango they’ve ever eaten.








This tree is shaded by a fence and two large trees on either side. It has grown past the fence line so hopefully the additional sunlight next Summer will help it grow larger and produce more fruit.
Simon

[simon_grow]

Here’s potentially, next years Lemon Zest fruit. This bloom/fruit set is a Lemon Zest grafted onto Fairchild seedling rootstock


Lemon Zest was the best tasting mango I had this year but it is not my favorite mango to grow because of disease and production issues. My overall best mango is Sweet Tart because it tastes excellent, grows well, produces well and is disease resistant.

Still, I just absolutely love love love Lemon Zest for the absolutely incredibly rich, sweet citrusy flavor and the smooth texture. The fruit that I just harvested today had a tiny bit of clear sap at the stem end that has an intense citrus zest aroma.

Simon

[Future]

Have any left?  If so, I’ll start looking at airfare...LZ, it’s that good.  The good Dr. Campbell says he trees take more than a decade to hit their prime.  I’m willing to wait.

[tropicalgalaxy3000]

So much resourceful  information Simon 🙂 A couple of walking enclycopedias around here!

[Johnny Eat Fruit]

Really cool Simon. You're doing a great job on your grafting and mango growth.

I plan to focus on vegetative growth on my Lemon Zest mango tree on Ataulfo rootstock for the next several years. The tree is still relatively small and only 8' tall but I hope over time it will really fill out and gain more height. Interesting I had no disease issues in 2020 and did not have to spray my Lemon Zest tree at all. Overall growth was good. Because of 2020/21 La Nina, we will likely have above-average temperatures this winter which is good for our sub-tropical fruit trees. The only downside of the La Nina is the lack of rainfall.   

Thanks for all of the useful information over the years.  Included in a photo of my Lemon Zest I took a few days ago.

Johnny


California Grown young Lemon Zest Tree

[simon_grow]

Have any left?  If so, I’ll start looking at airfare...LZ, it’s that good.  The good Dr. Campbell says he trees take more than a decade to hit their prime.  I’m willing to wait.

Future, there’s three more fruit hanging on my LZ on Lavern Manilla and you’re always welcome here. You can visit Leo too if you stop by. It must have been 5+ years since we all met up. I just wear a mask and avoid contact with Leo when I visit.

Simon

[simon_grow]

So much resourceful  information Simon 🙂 A couple of walking enclycopedias around here!

Thanks tropicalgalaxy3000, just collecting data so hopefully those of us living in more humid climates can fruit the wonderful Lemon Zest.

Johnny, your tree is looking great! If you didn’t get PM this year, maybe you live in an area that is a bit more arid and less favorable for PM.

I don’t want to scare people away from LZ, I have many issues with LZ because my climate is perfect for the spores. I get lots of moisture at my location and I’m in a flat area where there is very little wind. The stagnant air combined with the humidity and moderate temps seems to proliferate PM.

I believe that areas with better airflow will have better success with fruiting LZ.

Simon

[Oolie]

I planted LZ in an exposed location. Time will tell.

[Mark in Texas]

Very impressive Simon!  LZ is a winner fer sure.