Hi,

I don't have a Nam Doc Mai, but Fairchild gardens has pics of ripe yellow ones at:

http://www.fairchildgarden.org/uploads/images/Fruit%20Program/Mango%20Festival/Nam%20Doc%20Mai.jpg

Jupiter, I don't grow NDM either...but I did find a few pictures on Yahoo that shows the skin green yet the inside was yellow (ripe). One of the ways you can check to see if its ripe is by the feel of the fruits..if you gently squeeze it and it has a little give it should be close to being ripe as opposed to being rock hard. You can pick it when it has a little color and let it ripen on the counter for a few days. Also the more exposure to direct sun the fruits get the more likely they will color up nicely. Another way is when you pick the fruit and sap flows out of the stalk when you break it off that means its not ripe yet...if you break off the stalk and no sap flows out then it is ripe or very close to ripe. Hope that helps.

Thanks Puglvrl.... sap dripped out like crazy. I must wait .

Nam Doc Mai's are basically cooking mangos, so mostly they're picked 'green'. I have several trees but they never get a chance to colour up. The Magpie Geese set on them and clean them up. Some fruit I've managed to protect did get yellowish with even a slight reddish blush. I've never tried eating them, either given away or taken away by the geese.

To add to what puglvr has said regarding the sap flowing when picked, make sure to notice the color of the sap that is flowing. A mature fruit will often have a clear sap while an immature mango will have a more milky white sap. If the sap is clear or close to clear, the fruit will usually ripen off the tree.

A good way to avoid the sap damaging the fruit or flowing too much when you're picking the fruit and making a mess is to cut the fruit off the tree, leaving an inch or two of stem along with the fruit. It halts the sap flow from the fruit.

tropicbreezent, i take it you've never try a fully riped NDM before? WHere did you get the idea it's a cooking mango? Maybe when it's still green or unripe?

One rough ripeness gauge for any mango is this----
Wait until the first mango falls from the tree. Don't pick any before then

After this first fall you know your mangoes (Nam Doc in this case) are worth eyeballing and possibly picking off the tree before they fall. To prevent animals eating them etc

Charleslou23, Nam Dok Mai's are the 2nd or 3rd largest mango export from this area, all sold as cooking mangos. (KP's are the major export and R2E2's either 2nd or 3rd.) Also in the Asian markets here they're sold as cooking mangos. And all the agricultural notes put out on them categorise them as cooking mangos. Of course, any mango can be cooked, and any mango can be eaten raw/fresh, depending on personal tastes. I also know people who eat raw green mango dipped in soy sauce. There's no accounting for taste.

I did actually try a fully ripe Nam Dok Mai (off my own trees) but it didn't appeal to me. I prefer one I have called Strawberry mango, but I don't know if that is an official variety name or not. The other really good one is an unnamed variety which the previous owner of my place developed but never registered. So there's only one tree of that, at my place. But I still eat and enjoy other varieties of mango as well.

Eat them green! We in Thailand eat them green! Green mangos is very popular! We eat them with a salt and sugar mixture and some chili pepper. So good!!!

The only time I'd cook a mango is when they're ripe and pulverize the flesh, then cook it in a big pot, then lay some dollops and flatten them down on some wax paper and let them dry up in the sun, and voilà, dried mango old school, fruit roll ups! http://youtu.be/DcAMtZCZx6I

or with Mango sticky rice ;)

Hello everyone, i have a young Nam Dok Mai plant but as i am new to this i would like to know your general thoughts about feritlizing. Is that ok to fertilize now or should i wait for the spring. Also i dont know how often should i water it. Any feedback would be apreciated.

My mango buds/flowers that sprang like 6 months ago also are getting witheres i am worried that the plant will not bear any fruits this year.

Depends on your location. I normally throw in time release fertilizer end of Feb. I'm in Orlando FL where March temps can get to 80s w humidity

Elton where do you live? I'm in Central Fl south of Orlando and we've had quite a bit of rain lately...the blooms are very far and few between, most of my trees haven't pushed any flowers yet. Just a couple/few blooms on 2 of my trees, the rest haven't done anything. The wet climate is not good for blooms, causes fungus and makes for very few fruits :o(...only time will tell how this mango season goes?