The question that nobody has asked or discussed & haven’t seen it in 6 years

[weiss613]

Whether you are new at growing mangoes or your planting is maxed out here it is.
If you had/have room for 300 mango trees would you rather have 300 different varieties or 5-30 varieties in any combination?
I personally prefer a small number of varieties of what I consider the best tasting and most productive but top heavy. Top heavy meaning for example a lot of my top 5-10 favorite varieties and a few that I love but have a reputation of not producing many fruit like Pineapple Pleasure. But I strongly and definitely appreciate what squam has created with his collection. It’s like a super valuable rare art collection that his quests and himself are in awe of. What a great accomplishment.

[AndrewAZ]

I think I would do mostly 300 different varieties.   I think one tree would enough for me to have my fill.  And after that, I would probably go for more rare and heirloom varieties.
But that's me, but no right or wrong answer here, but interesting to think about.

[Mike T]

If you planted out multiple varieties you could spread the crops over the maximum period by getting in the earliest to latest types and even the all year bearers. You could maximise genetic diversity also and get the widest range of styles and flavours.It would also allow the ongoing removal of the poorer ones and replacement with more fancied types. It would be location specific as different varieties have different preferred climates and this reflects on fruit quality.

[Galatians522]

What are your plans for labor? Once you get to that level of planting, you are really talking about a small commercial operation. 300 trees will likely cover 2-3 acres. Even at only 50lbs per tree average, the mature trees would produce 15,000 pounds of mangos (7.5 tons). You will likely need help to harvest that many mangos and will probably have to sell or give the majority of them away (unless you have a lot of freezer space and a huge family).

[pineislander]

Here on Pine Island we have a grower who is going big. They say the goal is 10,000 trees and looks like they will make it. I don't know how many they have yet. They are clearing another 200 acres. They have almost all varieties and sell retail and also by shipping. The owner is Canadian and we all see that he will flood the local market I expect it would be logical to ship to Canada.
https://www.stanleysmangos.com/

[bovine421]

Here on Pine Island we have a grower who is going big. They say the goal is 10,000 trees and looks like they will make it. I don't know how many they have yet. They are clearing another 200 acres. They have almost all varieties and sell retail and also by shipping. The owner is Canadian and we all see that he will flood the local market I expect it would be logical to ship to Canada.
https://www.stanleysmangos.com/

I had to modify my response for you reminded me of a few things so it's going to be a two sides of the coin reply. The heads-up side reply my regional reply is I feel lucky and blessed that someone has 300 varieties of mangoes just as I feel blessed that some folks have 300 acres of citrus corn and tomatoes. It takes a real passion to undertake such large-scale operations. Thank goodness ZILL family wasn't satisfied with the status quo mangoes. They really have made my life much more enjoyable thanks Gary and Walter The tale side of the coin that Pine Island der reminded me of. Is the effect of agribusiness and the inheritance tax. Farming and ranching is a passion and a lifestyle.. a family farmer in farm 50,000 acres and have a income a $50,000 that have to supplement that income by truck driving which a lot of farmers do. Just called being a land rich and cash poor did Insidious part of the inheritance tax is after three generations piece by piece the farm is sold. Agribusiness foreign money and lawyers are buying up most family businesses. I was told here in Florida that the lawyers are buying up the bankrupt plant nurseries and pushing legislation for marijuana. Apparently this has happened in California Philip Morris tobacco companies push legislation pushing all the small marijuana farmer's through regulations out of business. I for one will not be patronizing Stanley mangos

There may be a few typos I'm working off of small cell phone in there is glair the screen
I personally would not want more than 20 mango trees

[Vincent]

10,000 more mango trees wow. Would rather have fewer quality trees in a sustainable way that doesn't tax an aquifer quite so much. The market is there apparently and wants a lot of mangoes!

[Squam256]

Whether you are new at growing mangoes or your planting is maxed out here it is.
If you had/have room for 300 mango trees would you rather have 300 different varieties or 5-30 varieties in any combination?
I personally prefer a small number of varieties of what I consider the best tasting and most productive but top heavy. Top heavy meaning for example a lot of my top 5-10 favorite varieties and a few that I love but have a reputation of not producing many fruit like Pineapple Pleasure. But I strongly and definitely appreciate what squam has created with his collection. It’s like a super valuable rare art collection that his quests and himself are in awe of. What a great accomplishment.

Thanks for the comments Rich, we’re proud of it.

I would say in the vast majority of instances where someone is planting that many trees, there’s some commercial purpose to it, and in which case they’re better of planting less than 20 varieties unless they have  a terrific location for doing it and plan on managing them intensely as well.

[bovine421]

John51 read an article that the queen is quite the mango connoisseur. Maybe someone could get one of their Limey friends to get Alex an audience with the Queen. If Elton John and Paul McCartney can get Knighthood for their music. I would think Alex should be knighted Sir Alex knight of mango. I wonder if Walter has a round table.Lol 

[weiss613]

In reference to Alex’s comments. I sort of look at this “hobby” or even for some “business “ as so much more than work or “farm” but more like a living breathing and alive constantly changing project that’s been created by each individual according to their own desires. Almost like works of art that we can change and adjust and modify and all the time we are having loads of fun as we sit back and dream of what’s to come. And for most it’s the greatest therapy as we go season to season with plenty of ups and downs that seem to balance each other out more to the upside.
So no matter how or why we planted our own collections G-d bless us all in this quest of ours to make so many other people soooo happy when they bite into our delicious mangoes!!!

[Mike T]

Big plantations in Queensland and Northern Territory with many 1000s of trees typically are focussed on the domestic and Asian export market so have few varieties. Commonly it is Kensington Pride and its derivatives and a few 'boutique' varieties in smaller numbers.The August to March, 8 month availability of mangoes in Australia is mainly due to the latitudinal range they are grown over. They earliest districts have ripe mangoes just after winter and the latest have them in Autumn.

[Tropicdude]

I would have a couple dozen personal favorites, and the rest of a single variety, that can be marketed commercially.  in commercial operations, the last thing you want is, multiple harvests, labor is expensive, unless you plan on doing all the work yourself.  picking, cleaning, sorting, and packing, mangoes from 250 trees. is a lot of work.

commercial operations, usually only have 1-3 varieties, in the D.R, they use potassium nitrate to trigger flowering ( synchronize ) the goal is to get all the flowering at the same time, so you don't have fruits in all stages of development.

harvesting is typically done in three stages.  the early fruit, are picked by lot hands. and sold locally to markets.  the main harvest is done next, this is their main export, they hire hands to get things moving fast,

the last mangoes, are sold to street vendors, they come and pick them, and clean off the tree of whatever was left over.

300 trees is a difficult number,  its way too much for a single person to handle unless you have a lot of time on your hands, and not very profitable as a business if you have to hire people.

[Orkine]

Here on Pine Island we have a grower who is going big. They say the goal is 10,000 trees and looks like they will make it. I don't know how many they have yet. They are clearing another 200 acres. They have almost all varieties and sell retail and also by shipping. The owner is Canadian and we all see that he will flood the local market I expect it would be logical to ship to Canada.
https://www.stanleysmangos.com/

....... I for one will not be patronizing Stanley mangos .....

My curiosity got the better of me on this one.

Do you mind expanding on why you would not patronize Stanley mangoes?  Is it because you have all the mango you need on your trees? or because there is something wrong with their business model (big mango)? Or fear they will put the little growers out of business?

We certainly appreciate the Zill's and I assume buyers like these who want hundreds of trees at a time is good for their business and what's good for them keeps us in new varieties to chase.  I will venture to guess the majority of Stanley's plants came from Zill performance.

Don't get me wrong, I like the mom and pop (small growers) and have patronized a couple of the more familiar names on the forum, but I don't see anything wrong with a big player coming to town.  Please help me understand why, and perhaps I might want to join you in not patronizing 'this' big mango.

[Orkine]

To OPs question.

If you had/have room for 300 mango trees would you rather have 300 different varieties or 5-30 varieties in any combination?

I will very likely chose the later. Below, a little more context.

What I will do depends on why I am growing the trees.  If it is a business, 70 to 80 percent (210 to 240 trees of the 300) will be in 2 or 3 varieties that are money makers that I can reliably produce and sell. The goal is revenue generation to keep the business going. The rest, 60 to 80 trees, will be my collectors or exotic more limited market mangoes for the enthusiast who will pay premium to get something special and for those I will have as many varieties, maybe even two varieties on some trees.  My math leaves up to 10 trees which I would use to chase the dream - test out varieties of my own, give classes to school kids, donate fruits to charity events or food collection drives, anything that floats my boat and make me happy.

If I am not doing this as a business but as a hobby that may perhaps make some sales to fund the hobby, and especially if I get to 300 trees slowly, over time, my approach may be different.  I will go for the variety.  But, 300 is a whole lot of hobby trees ....

As a collector, I want as many varieties as I can get and may get multiples 2 or 3 of a particular variety if I like them or believe one tree could be at risk and I really want the variety int he collection.  But, even with that goal, 300 varieties is a lot.  SO modified option 2, 100 varieties, 3 trees deep.

[bovine421]

Here on Pine Island we have a grower who is going big. They say the goal is 10,000 trees and looks like they will make it. I don't know how many they have yet. They are clearing another 200 acres. They have almost all varieties and sell retail and also by shipping. The owner is Canadian and we all see that he will flood the local market I expect it would be logical to ship to Canada.
https://www.stanleysmangos.com/

....... I for one will not be patronizing Stanley mangos .....

My curiosity got the better of me on this one.

Do you mind expanding on why you would not patronize Stanley mangoes?  Is it because you have all the mango you need on your trees? or because there is something wrong with their business model (big mango)? Or fear they will put the little growers out of business?

We certainly appreciate the Zill's and I assume buyers like these who want hundreds of trees at a time is good for their business and what's good for them keeps us in new varieties to chase.  I will venture to guess the majority of Stanley's plants came from Zill performance.

Don't get me wrong, I like the mom and pop (small growers) and have patronized a couple of the more familiar names on the forum, but I don't see anything wrong with a big player coming to town.  Please help me understand why, and perhaps I might want to join you in not patronizing 'this' big mango.

You are absolutely right hopefully Jeff Bezos will come to town and buy out the Canadian and all the small Growers. We can all just sit at home and wait for our Amazon Prime packages of mangoes to come to the door. There will be absolutely no reason to go out and visit with anyone.

[bovine421]

To OPs question.

If you had/have room for 300 mango trees would you rather have 300 different varieties or 5-30 varieties in any combination?

I will very likely chose the later. Below, a little more context.

What I will do depends on why I am growing the trees.  If it is a business, 70 to 80 percent (210 to 240 trees of the 300) will be in 2 or 3 varieties that are money makers that I can reliably produce and sell. The goal is revenue generation to keep the business going. The rest, 60 to 80 trees, will be my collectors or exotic more limited market mangoes for the enthusiast who will pay premium to get something special and for those I will have as many varieties, maybe even two varieties on some trees.  My math leaves up to 10 trees which I would use to chase the dream - test out varieties of my own, give classes to school kids, donate fruits to charity events or food collection drives, anything that floats my boat and make me happy.

If I am not doing this as a business but as a hobby that may perhaps make some sales to fund the hobby, and especially if I get to 300 trees slowly, over time, my approach may be different.  I will go for the variety.  But, 300 is a whole lot of hobby trees ....

As a collector, I want as many varieties as I can get and may get multiples 2 or 3 of a particular variety if I like them or believe one tree could be at risk and I really want the variety int he collection.  But, even with that goal, 300 varieties is a lot.  SO modified option 2, 100 varieties, 3 trees deep.

[fliptop]

In reference to Alex’s comments. I sort of look at this “hobby” or even for some “business “ as so much more than work or “farm” but more like a living breathing and alive constantly changing project that’s been created by each individual according to their own desires. Almost like works of art that we can change and adjust and modify and all the time we are having loads of fun as we sit back and dream of what’s to come. And for most it’s the greatest therapy as we go season to season with plenty of ups and downs that seem to balance each other out more to the upside.

I feel this way about my space--it's like a giant installation piece that's constantly getting tweaked here and there as needed or desired.

Thanks for providing insight on how a commercial farm operates. Tropicdude!

[Saone]

jealous you guys could possibly have 300 different kinds to buy. Looking around in Vietnam I can only seem to find maybe 5 or 6 different varieties for sale through online fruit tree sites. whats some good sites to look at for mango trees in the states? 

[Pasca]

Even with 300 or more varieties, most are hidden from the general public.  Even connoisseurs of mangos have a tough time finding them.  There are good reasons for that (rarity, poor production, weather conditions affecting production, shyness in tree production, etc...)

I am like some of the sentiments here.  Take mangos for examples, I know a good mango that I like but may not be able to appreciate the nuanced taste flavours.  Mangoes are like people, a new variety always is on the way (it seems).  I am happy with having just a handful of varieties that I like.

[palmcity]

I am like some of the sentiments here.  Take mangos for examples, I know a good mango that I like.  Mangoes are like people, a new variety always is on the way (it seems).  I am happy with having just a handful of varieties that I like.

Some funny stuff in this long thread.... Mangos are not like art to me as copies are easily obtained.... Art appreciates mush faster than mangos and does not usually disappear in our lifetime and climate change etc. etc. etc.

Although I like mangos and especially those that meet my individual taste bud preference, I would personally not want 300 varieties as many would not meet my taste  preference.

I am more concerned about picking and eating a mango a day that I enjoy from May to November and I have accomplished my task.

Art has limited supply... Let's hope your not collecting mangos that you like don't... However as in art, you can obtain copies... lol...

The value of mangos has increased over the past 15 years... But noting like the price of rare art work...

If you want to try to say your mangos are rare and valuable.... Well, if mangos are cross pollinated and seeds sown out like Zills... The value IMO does not significantly go up until everyone has access to the variety and if it stays hidden to only one person it has very limited value until taste preferences are determined for this new varity being sold and put in production.... Creating your own valuable variety would only be valuable to you..... Until you give/sale samples and trees to a large number of people...   Nothing like creating a beautiful painting IMO that could be individually displayed in an art museum and recognized for its beauty and Value could quickly be determined..
 

[fruitlovers]

Is this a purely hypothetical question? Or do you really have room for 300 mango trees? If you have the room then the question is then is it a commericial venture or just for "fun"? If it's a commercial venture then obviously Squam is right and you should just have at most a couple dozen of the best tasting and best producing types. If it's just for fun, then maybe you should consult a psychologist, because unless you have the money to hire several employees you will have a massive amount of work on your hands and it will no longer be fun.
If it's all just hypothetical, then how about one tree with 300 grafted cultivars? Like the famous guy in India? That seems like a lot less work and you could still get to taste 300 different types of mangoes?

[bovine421]

Is this a purely hypothetical question? Or do you really have room for 300 mango trees? If you have the room then the question is then is it a commericial venture or just for "fun"? If it's a commercial venture then obviously Squam is right and you should just have at most a couple dozen of the best tasting and best producing types. If it's just for fun, then maybe you should consult a psychologist, because unless you have the money to hire several employees you will have a massive amount of work on your hands and it will no longer be fun.
If it's all just hypothetical, then how about one tree with 300 grafted cultivars? Like the famous guy in India? That seems like a lot less work and you could still get to taste 300 different types of mangoes?

Brilliant! I would stand in line and pay money to see that tree

[zands]

xxx

[Orkine]

Is this a purely hypothetical question? Or do you really have room for 300 mango trees? If you have the room then the question is then is it a commercial venture or just for "fun"? If it's a commercial venture then obviously Squam is right and you should just have at most a couple dozen of the best tasting and best producing types. If it's just for fun, then maybe you should consult a psychologist, because unless you have the money to hire several employees you will have a massive amount of work on your hands and it will no longer be fun.
If it's all just hypothetical, then how about one tree with 300 grafted cultivars? Like the famous guy in India? That seems like a lot less work and you could still get to taste 300 different types of mangoes?

A little smile flashes across the face on reading this.   ... but more seriously, if you have been following weiss613's postings, you will have learned this is not out of the realm of possibility.  Search and you will find topics like this from a couple of years ago when he was at 250 trees.  We have a super motivated, high density, planting mango loving forum member.  It is a condition, no different that we all have with our collections .
 
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=31044.msg343909#msg343909

[zands]

fliptop says----I feel this way about my space--it's like a giant installation piece that's constantly getting tweaked here and there as needed or desired.

Now I get it thanks to you/ My mango trees and some avo-s and one sapodilla and some grapes are an installation art piece. As in lower Manhattan Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and other artists Used to be. Now I get it and thanks/ no sarcasm/ We are all struggling artists on our land. Though real mango farms must make money

I do charge $$ for mangoes. They are not free from me.  Though I gave away prime ripened (deep yellow) star fruit to two perennial mango customers last month