Should be interesting to compare the mangoes if they size up.

good luck,
-Ethan

Thanks all. It should Ethan be Haden like or Bombay..Wikipedia says B.M. is a dna cross of the two.

Bailey's Marvel (BM) at my house, at least, is not at all like either Haden or Bombay. I see that the Wikipedia article sites some scientific literature that indicates that BM is "estimated" to come from a Haden/Bombay cross. It is hard for me to believe that this is acurate...unless the genes from the repective grandparents became dominant in BM. BM is much larger than Haden and a multiple in wieght and size from Bombay. Bombay has no fiber in the flesh while Haden has significant fiber. BM is fiberless like Bombay but doesn't taste at all like either of the supposed parents. Its academic, really, as to the actual parentage.....BM is an excellent mango. Its one that I consistantly have to fight the local animals for.....and which I never seem to be able to get enough of.

Harry

Stan

Harry's description of the Bailey sounds wonderful and your little green fruitlings look very promising.Let's cross our fingers and hope that they ripen by Nov.

JF

Bailey's Marvel was almost certainly a Haden seedling.....this was confirmed to me by the people who own the original tree. It was planted in an orchard that is almost entirely Haden trees, at a time when Haden was really one of the only 'superior' cultivars available commercially. The 'Bombay' cross is more debatable....that was what the USDA people found when they did that pedigree analysis 6 years ago. I've found a lot of different opinions on that. Dr. Ray Schnell has a lot of confidence in it and is defensive about it, but Richard Campbell (whose name is on the report) distanced himself from it when I asked him about it last year. I myself have found some discrepancies in the study. Bombay is one of the older cultivars in Florida though (brought from Jamaica in the early 20th century I think), so its possible the Bailey brothers had a Bombay tree somewhere on the property.

Harry, while Bailey's Marvel doesn't seem to have the characteristics of either supposed-parent, that's not too unusual for mangoes......Valencia Pride is a Haden seedling too, but you'd never guess it based on its characteristics. Edward is a Haden seedling also but I shudder to compare Haden to it in anything.

Thanks Jay,all. I'm seeing that those mango's below the graft are still growing,above are still growing. ALL on very short flower stalks. What do you think of those ? Isnt that unusual too? Mangoes that grow like grape clusters?
And again,below graft fruits are straight off the trunk-not a bit of branch. The tree looks healthy-turned an even darker green in over a week of ~90f temps.

Stan I have the samething inflos below the graft on my Carrie, I'm going to cut it off.

JF

On the positive side..here's the tree "T Fernandez" put his whole reputation on in saying it wouldn't-DON'T grow in the bay area. Why you have to listen to your instincts at times. 7' as I write.