Some more

Cashews and Jakfruit should be starting as well.

Congrats!! I had to see where you live,lol...I was a bit confused when you said they were flowering early in July?? Till I realized you are in Australia...

My mangoes are not quite ripe yet...about another 2-4 weeks and its a late season for us here...

2 to 4 weeks is a long time when you're hanging out for a taste of mango, LOL. Mine are ready end of September or early October. But most of my neighbours are a couple of weeks ahead of me.

Enjoy yours. I'm looking forward to mine.

Here's mine waiting to ripen...those are Clam shell plastic covers trying to protect them from being eaten/attacked by the many animals/Critters here in FL...not 100% effective but I have to try to protect them...Enjoy yours as well...

Fruits before they were covered....

Puglvr,

Is that your Pickering or Cogshell? Wow, imagine you're going to eat all these yummy mangoes soon. So, do you pick them as they ripen, otherwise it would seem you'll have so many to eat all at once.

I wish mine will bear fruit soon, but for now I'll just have to be waiting and learning to take care of them first. I have finally settled on a few spots to plant them, though I have this temptation to plant them in the same hole, but it seems too weird. I guess I'll just have to plant them a little closer than usual. One thing nice is that they're all flushing, so I'm glad to see them setting new growth. It will be a while before I finally see some some fruit from them. I'm still a little sad that my Coconut Cream mango died :(

By the way, how old is your mango and how many fruit is it setting right now? It looks like you can look forward to an abundant and healthy crop REAL soon. Enjoy your fruit of labor :)

Tropicalbreeze,

It seems the picture is showing a branch from a huge mango tree? So, how old is your mango tree and what variety is it? If you have a huge tree, you can look forward to a huge crop too. That's the nice thing when your fruit trees are all mature :)

Hi Banana, Hopefully... will get to enjoy "most" of them. I've already had at least a dozen of the fruits (which is anywhere from fully green to semi ripe) that have been eaten/attacked by probably squirres, raccoons, posums and gosh knows what else are looming around the yard,lol...

The picture with the "bags" and clam shells is my Glenn and the photo above (not covered) is my Cogshall...

Here's a picture I found laying on the ground...Fully GREEN!!
Argggg....

Ate right through the aluminum bag :o(

One more....

Oh no ... Puglvr! I'm so sorry to see all those nice fruit being destroyed and wasted in that manner. Those critters are not only hungry, but they have sharp teeth and claws. I remember once when my Cogshell had a few mature fruit, the Raccoon came to devour it and left a completely clean seed. Another time, something came to claw on the immature fruit of my Carrie and I only had a few that time. It was so heart wrenching. These critters are all so disgusting. We have trapped the raccoons some time back, but they keep coming.

I sure hope we all can come up with something to keep them away. This year though, they seem not to have bothered us--probably it was due to the construction noise coming from our immediate neighbor.

Don't know what else can help you between now and then, but I sure hope you'll be able to harvest the rest of them before they get to them.

Bananafan, I've got a lot of mangos, ranging in age from about 8 to 15 years old. A few maybe older. Those in the photo are Kensington Pride (KP). Size is really relative. Mine are small trees. They're grafted, which keeps them short, and they were always pruned to keep them down as well. It's common to do that to make the fruit easier to harvest. Ungrafted trees can get up to about 20 metres tall. They tend to produce a lot of fruit but it's smaller than what the grafted trees produce. This is the size of most of my KPs, around 5 metres tall.

NICE Mango orchard!! I'm totally in agreement in keeping them short/small...I'm shooting for a little shorter than yours, ideally I would love to keep them between 6- 8ft...but try not to go over 10 ft maximum whenever possible so its much easier to maintain the tree and pick the fruits...I don't want the trees to get too large...

Banana, it is SO frustrating to walk outside every day and see one or 2 eaten/chewed up the worst part is almost most of them are still GREEN, so its not even like I could have picked it and let it finish ripening on the counter...which is my plan. But, they are ALL too green to pick right now...as soon as I see some coloring on the fruit I will pick it so I hope I'll be able to taste them...keep fingers crossed for me....

The animals around here have really been a nuisance and they are out of control...wish there was a humane way to deal with them...but trapping them and releasing them doesn't do any good like you said they just come back there's just too many of them now!!

The only way around the animal problem is volume. Perception of ripness of fruit amongst animals is far different to that of people. They mainly go for the starchy taste before it becomes sugary.

We have flocks of Magpie Geese here that number in their thousands. Because the mango season starts when the flood plains are still dry the geese are foraging where ever else they can find anything. With the development of mango orchards here as a major industry the geese moved in and have now become attuned to the mango cycle.

Hunting season for geese also starts during mango season. The geese get driven away from the permanent waterways by hunters and of course move into the mango orchards. Strictly speaking the orchard owners aren't allowed to discharge firearms on their properties (legally too small for hunting by firearms).

The geese go to one of my neighbour's place first, his mangos are about 2 weeks ahead of mine. Then they descend on my place. I'm away at work for a fortnight at a time so they have free reign.

Of course, that's only the geese. Then I have Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Red-winged Parrots and White-cheeked Rosellas. Nightshift is done by flocks of Flying Foxes and possums. My contribution to maintaining the local wildlife is huge, LOL.

One funny story involved a Collared Lorikeet. They're nectar feeders so prefer sweet fruit. They normally don't come around for my fruit. So when I found one laying on the ground it was a bit surprising. There's no major road near my place where cars can speed, so not a vehicle impact. No external signs of injury, the parrot was alive but out to it. I took it to a wildlife park where they have a resident vet. Turns out the bird was blind drunk. Apparently came across a part eaten mango which had ripened on the ground and fermented. There's an expression here, "Pissed as a parrot". I really know what that means, LOL.

Tropic...Wow!! And I thought I had problems with animals/birds eating attacking my delicious fruits...it sounds like you have it worse than I do.

Lol, funny story about your intoxicated Lorikeet :o)

Good luck!

Interesting, but tragic thread, on the poor victims of fruit violence - Nancy and TropicBreeze!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nancy - have you ever thought of trying the "scarecrow" device? You hook it up to your hose and when it senses movement it shoots out a 4-5 second stream of water that sweeps accross the landscape (from like 5 - 180 degrees in angle) to spray critters. It might work if you had your trees all in one area. Maybe use a couple of them for both sides....But you've probably heard of them before. TB - you've just got to play the numbers game, like you said - some for them and some for you - wow, what a hit parade of thieves!!!!!

I'm lucky - I've got a 6 foot fenced in yard and where raccoons used to get in, in the back two corners of the property, I've laid a couple wires of that low voltage electric fence device - forget the name of it.....And that's been very effective. Haven't seen one in months. No tree squirrels live out here, so I don't have that problem and rats, which we have a few, haven't discovered them yet - only like 6-7 trees I'm aware of in my town. A real rarity as there are special challenges to growing them here....

Anyway, Nancy and TB - good luck. Oh, Nancy I just happen to have a young ChocAnon with tiny mangoes on it as we speak - must have come from Australia!

HA!

Gary

This post was edited by mangodog on Sun, Jul 14, 13 at 13:26

Hi Gary...I guess I just have to learn how to "share" my precious mangoes with others,lol...something I don't like doing!!

Congrats on your late fruiting ChocAnon, NICE!!...you should be eating mangoes till November at the rate you're going :o)

Lucky you!!

Tropicalbreeze,

You have a hidden treasure in your backyard! That is one impressive view of a private orchard you have there! Besides, what exotic animals too in that natural environment--some of them I haven't even heard or encountered myself. Albeit they're there to compete for your crops ... , but hopefully you'll find some ways to deal with them. If you have more pictures to share of your tropical paradise, send them along this way :)

Mangodog,

Is ChocAnon also known as Miracle Mango? I got one not too long ago along with a Coconut Cream mango, but the latter died due to drowning. I wasn't careful when I placed the original pot in another pot with a bottom dish to protect my patio. Now I'm trying to look for another Coconut Cream to purchase, but it's not easy to source out one.

Anyway, it's nice that your ChocAnon is now blooming. I heard that it will bloom twice a year. Hopefully it will give you some fruit soon. Is this the first time it's blooming for you?

Can you teach the thieves by conditional response: give an electrical shock when they eat the mango? Have a 24â x 24â chicken wire mesh, cut out a square 6âÂÂx6â at center. Trim out the material at the border so you have a gap of 1â between the center piece and the outside piece. Stake down the two piece so the center piece is 1â isolated from the outer piece. Place a bait mango on the center piece, then wire up 110V wires, one wire to the center piece and one to outer piece. The idea is the thief walk on the outer piece first, unharmed, but as soon as its front pawns, nose, tongue touches the inner piece, it will jump and cry out loud. It hates mango from now on. Just be very careful with other pets and people. This worked for me when I had my corn stolen by raccoons.

Sapote

Appreciate your reply and suggestions on your fencing...wish I could do something like that,lol...but I'm not that handy I'm afraid, plus I do have a dog and my luck I would electrocute myself instead of the Critters, ha, ha!!

Sounds like a great way to teach them to stay away though...

bananarama - Yes, I believe the Choc Anon is also called the "Miracle" mango, and yes, in the tropics at least, it is known to flower/fruit twice a year, though if I had to guess, there is probably a heavy bearing time, alternating with a light bearing one.

Me, where I live, it would be difficult because of our winters to have it bear twice in a year...but....I AM delighted it is bearing at an off time from the rest of its clan - I'm actually very excited to see how many mangoes, IF any, decide to hold .....

These are good times, amigo.....

MangoPerro

Hmmm ... I sort of think that Banana + rama sounds exotic and it rhymes too .. lol ... , MangoPerro.

If you have tasted the Miracle mango fruit before, how is the taste like? By the way, do you have a large collection of the different mango varieties? If so, what are they? Do you happen to have Coconut Cream mango? If so, what's the taste like? I'd really like to find out before I go all out to source out another one. I love coconut flavor a lot. If I had a wish, I would like to have my coconut tree to fruit for me, but I won't push too far as to expect any fruit from it. If I can keep it alive ... it would be a miracle. I already had two died on me and I'm still trying ... go figure.

banana, there's a vendor in South FL that listed Coconut Cream mango trees for sale...if you go to the "other forum" I mentioned to you before there's a few vendors I think that offer this Mango tree variety...but it is a long way to go to purchase one, unless you can call them and ask "if" they will ship it to you?

BananaJama - I have not tasted the Miracle mango before - with ANY luck (or I should say LOTS of luck) I may taste one this late fall if these little ones hold on. Same story on the Coconut Cream - have one, too young though - no fruit this year, maybe one or two next...much of it in fate's hands of course.....

Patience is a virtue - NOT!!!!!

MDoggie

This post was edited by mangodog on Fri, Jul 19, 13 at 16:54

Mangos everywhere are flowering like crazy, looks like it's going to be a big year for mangos. Mine are already developing 'pinhead' fruit'.

It's always a wonderful feeling to see new blooms popping up. So, this must be Spring for you in your planting zone? How many mango trees do you have and what varieties are they? How many fruit have you been able to reap from them in the past years?

As for me here, I'm just now trying to plant all the mango trees I've acquired into the ground. I don't know if it's the best time to plant them, but since I've cleared room for them, I thought might as well just go ahead with it. The ones I have now are Pickering, Cogshall, Miracle Mango, Nam Doc Mai, Carrie and Coconut Cream which was the second one I've got since the first one died.

It's good that you're updating from another tropical growing zone. It makes things more interesting here as our blooming season here for most fruit trees has long gone.

Mangos here start flowering mid winter. Harvesting begins at the start of spring. I don't have a lot of varieties. My neighbour has a lot more. One of the previous (neighbour) owners got in heaps of different ones but sadly later he got cancer and passed away. The new people don't do much about them, it's turned into a forest of large mango trees. Mine are mainly Kensington Pride and R2E2, with some Nam Doc Mai, Strawberry, and one unnamed that the previous owner (of my place) developed himself. The unnamed one has very nice fruit and bears heavily. I've only got one tree of that.

Keep in mind though, I grew them commercially a number of years back but gave up because it was a losing business. There's a saying here, "If you want to make a little bit of money out of mangos first start with a lot of money and soon you'll have a little bit of money".

Some of the trees still in full flower at the moment. The sun was at a good angle to show them up.

And the fruit starting to get a bit bigger than 'pinhead'.

NICE pictures...thanks for posting!!

Thanks. Another couple of months and it'll be a feast for all the Magpie Geese, Cockatoos, Lorikeets, Flying Foxes, etc., etc. I might even manage to get a few for myself, LOL.

I really enjoy the pictures of your mango groove--very nice pictures indeed! Sorry to hear that your commercial planting didn't work out, but it's nice that you will still continue to do it as a hobby. With so many trees you have there (how many by the way?), I'm sure the critters will leave you with more than enough to enjoy .. lol. So, which one of these varieties is your favorite and among them all, which is a better fruit producer?

All up I'd still have a bit over 500 trees, but slowly becoming less. The majority are Kensington Pride, the most popular one in Australia. There's slightly less R2E2, which is becoming a bit more popular but good quality fruit is in high demand for functions/banquets in Asia because of the size and look of the fruit. Got about 6 Nam Dok Mai, they're a cooking mango and have a low price. Also about 6 Strawberry Mango which are not a commercial one. They're probably my favourite but very closely followed by Kensington Pride. R2E2 is not bad, but it's a late one so is around when the others are finished.

There's basically over supply of mangos plus I'm in a remote area and transporting them to the markets was becoming expensive (over 4,000 kms). Then in the off season they started importing them from Mexico. It took the novelty out of mangos which had previously only been available for a short time during the year. Of course there's no more Mexican mangos now, they weren't much good and people stopped buying them, even though there was no competition from the local ones that time of year. Funny that, even when the Mexican were the only ones available no one wanted them. But by then only the big operators stuck with it, big operators as in having 10's of thousands of trees. I had never wanted to get into mangos, it was only because the property I wanted had them on it. So I thought I'd give it a try. Now I know. But I don't mind, I always kept my own job, and I've got the property I wanted.

That is sure a lot of mango trees there! I'm not able to visualize how big the land area it needs for that amount of trees to sit on. As for me here, with a double lot which is a quarter of an acre, I'm finding it quite amazing the number of plants I can pack in it, but of course I do wish for more land area that is ... lol. I sometimes find that even with this limited space I have, I'm still unable to keep up to maintaining the different corners of the yard. So, what's your secret for managing and keeping such a huge place in control?

I think I've seen Kensington Pride at the stores here before, but I have no idea that Nam Doc Mai is a cooking mango. All I've heard is that the name in Vietnamese means "sweet water" and that to me suggests that the fruit is sweet for eating off the tree.

My fruit starting to get some size, although still a fair way to go. The earliest here are usually picked mid September. I usually start picking mine beginning October. I'm in a colder microclimate. Todays photo.

Only just got home after being away for a bit over a month. The mangos have come on well. All the animals are quite happily munching their way through the trees, quite a lot of part eaten fruit on the ground.

I've been picking mangos for a few weeks now, but won't last long. The Magpie Geese are coming in bigger numbers as they strip a lot of the other orchards/trees in the area. I've managed to get some frozen so should have a supply for a while. This is one of my larger fruit I picked the other day, size is 15 cms long, 13 cms wide, and 11.5 cms deep. Looks quite impressive and I'm expecting it to be delicious.