For me it would be kohala and chompoo tied for first with biew kiew next.
however if you plan to graft together just remember that kohala has a very upright fast growing habit, especially compared to chompoo. You wouldn't want a misshaped tree would you?

I have a huge Kohala here in south Orange County. It gives me good fruit every year. Its over 15 years old and 20 feet tall. I was impatient and wanted a tree as fast as possible so I actually planted 3 trees in one hole, but you would never know it looking at the foliage. The three trees grew together into one quite quickly. You might want to try growing all three of your choices in the same hole, but you'd have to be careful and prevent the Kohala from taking over and crowding out the others. I'd just get a Kohala.

{{gwi:543582}}

If I were you in CA, I'd go with Kohala, it seems to better survive adverse conditions, like cold weather. Thais would be very unlikely to have tasted a Kohala in Thailand. Ronald and I have a mutual Thai friend, and he rates Biew Kiew above even See Chompoo, and those above Kohala in taste. They all taste wonderful to me.

Gary

Thanks Ronald, Cagary and dghays. If I decide to graft I will make sure to graft Kohala on a smaller, higher up branch. I live in a special microclimate of San Diego CA where we get very light frost only occasionally, we can even get Indian and mixed mangoes to grow here. I live really close to Leo Manuel of the CRFG and he has tons of fruiting Mangoes at his house.

I'm really leaning towards the Kohala because of all the recommendations but I wish I could taste all the varieties for a direct comparison. I have only tasted the Kohala from Exotica Nursery but they didn't cull the fruit so the fruit was kinda small and the fruit I did taste were picked early but still sweet. The seeds were small but the flesh wasn't fully developed yet because the flesh is supposed to develope when the Longan are fully mature. I was probably 1-2 weeks early.

I recently came across an article that says a new variety of Longan called "Egami" is very much prefered in Hawaii. The fruits are smaller than Kohala but it is supposed to be superior to Kohala and other varieties by the people who have tasted Egami.

Thanks for everyones input, please keep the suggestions comming:)

The problem is it's unknown if Egami would do well in sub tropical areas out of Hawaii. I realize Kohala did though. My Kohala was barely affected by a frost, and my See Chompoo and Biew Kiew are struggling afterwards. I'd like to try Egami myself just because I collect longans. I harvested Chompoo and Kohala a couple years ago and loved them both. My Kohala is in flower now, re-flowering a month after 28F frost.

Gary

Hey Gary, If you could only choose to keep either your Chompoo or Kohala, which one would you choose and why? I would think that small longan plants will be very sensitive to winter frosts but hopefully all your longans will be much more resistant once they are fully grown. I think the occasional light frosts in San Diego and Florida will actually help the longan and lychees flower and fruit better.

Not sure what low temps you actually get, but I typically barely reach freezing, or don't every year. No doubt, mature trees are much more cold tolerant than young ones. My chompoo and kohala both had around 4" trunks. Frost itself I don't think is a positive factor, but chill hours can help if it's not a variety with true tropical heritage. Based on what happened this winter, I'd choose Kohala, but it's hard to know what effect the direction from my house each plant is had on how harshly the cold affected them. They're both about 25' from my house, but different directions.

Thanks for the information Gary, yeah, what I should have said is that the Chill hours we get are beneficial to flowering out lychee and longan plants. I'm really leaning towards Kohala now!

TENGO CUATRO VARIEDADES SEMBRADAS EN SAN SEBASTIAN,Puerto Rico y por mi experiencia las variedades Biew Kiew y Haew son mis preferidos por su sabor y jugosa fruta!

Paso Robles Ca.

I planted Biew Kiew & Kohala longan & it survived the winter in West Paso Robles on top of the mountain. But for three weeks last winter I have wild pigs broked in & kill my Kohala & almost killed my Biew Kiew. I replanted the Biew Kiew three times because the pigs come in every night & dig them up and it survived. I did end up killing the pigs. But they multiply faster than I could kill them. I did planted more longan but I also planted Sri Chompoo. Have to wait till next year to see Sri Chompoo doing. Most of my Kohala should be producing fruit next year. I have about a dozen longan trees & lychee trees. At the moment I am looking for Diamond River. Diamond River produce twice a year in Florida.