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| I had the great fortune of being gifted a bounty of mangoes by a friend who has a very productive tree in her yard and she doesn't care much for mangoes. The tree is of average height (maybe 20 feet)and growth habit. Perfect size for a small yard!
It was grown from a seed of unknown origin. The woman who planted the tree passed away and took the secret of the seedling origin with her when she departed. I am guessing by the size of the trunk to be about 20 yrs old. Below is a picture of the mangoes. They are very large... ranging from 3-4 lbs. They are super juicy, sweet with a slight hint of spice and almost no fiber. I have sprouted a few already for root stock and below are pictures of my very first attempt and adventure into the world of grafting. Lord knows I read A LOT and watched enough videos to get enough nerve to try it. I got budwood today and grafted two side veneer grafts onto a 2 year old seedling and cleft grafted a younger root stock. I have to propagate this tree, give it a name and get it out there because it is just that amazing!! I hope the first grafts take...sitting here with fingers crossed and prayers. Then I can get some help from the experts in trying to guess at the parentage of this gem. The Bounty...a small seedless watermelon in the back for size comparison:
The Largest of The Mangoes:
My Tools:
The 2 yr old root stock:
The First of the Veneer Grafts:
With the second graft added above the first:
The Cleft graft on the young seedling:
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by hmhausman FL 10B (hmhausman@aol.com) on Fri, Jul 29, 11 at 19:43
| Looks like good work......you sure this is your first time?? Regarding the mangoes, they look very nice....no anthracnose stripes. Where were they grown? How far away from the ocean? What is the soil like where they were grown? I assume they were not sprayed with any fungicide. If that assumption is not correct please let me know. Based on the time of the year and size they look very Keitt like. Are you sure they are from a seedling?? Harry |
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| Looks like a great mango, love the coloration. Wish you luck with the graft taking. Keep us all updated on the progress. |
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- Posted by hmhausman FL 10B (hmhausman@aol.com) on Fri, Jul 29, 11 at 19:56
 Might not be....but it might be. I'd be interested to see the inside and, of course, would love to try one. Harry |
Here is a link that might be useful: Keitt mango
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| Wow Harry coming from you I will take that as a great compliment :) No I have no experience with grafting ever, but I am a fast learner and I think I watched every last video on you tube that exists on every grafting technique that has has been videotaped!!! :)Then I ordered every tool/supply I saw used in the videos. When I received everything today I got busy. This tree is fertilized with complete NEGLECT! No fungicide sprays or active care in any way. The tree is on the Margate/Coral Springs borderline so I am guessing maybe 8-9 miles inland. The soil is kinda typical North West Broward sandy well draining with seashell fragments and the property backs up to a canal. I am going to attempt to contact the daughter of this woman and try to ask her some questions about what she may remember and I will let you know what I find out. |
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| Wow Marin...AWESOME grafting techniques!! You look quite experienced to me,lol...Please keep us posted! Marin was NICE enough to mail me a couple of those HUGE unknown Mango and I have to say its probably the BEST mango I've ever had...very rich in flavor, sweet and absolutely Fiber free! I LOVE this mango...Thanks Marin for sharing!! |
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- Posted by red_sea_me (My Page) on Fri, Jul 29, 11 at 21:20
| Wow, congrats and good luck all in one! Mangoes look great, can wait to see them cut open. |
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| I believe those are Keitts. |
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| I will cut one open this weekend and take some pics of the inside. There is going to be a mango taste-off at the beginning of the week.... Marin's Mega Mango VS. Keitt to see how they compare. We will report the findings Monday evening. Who knows maybe it is a Keitt or may possibly be a seedling of Keitt parentage. Stay tuned!! AHHH- here is a question for those familiar with Keitt... is the seed of a Keitt wafer thin and when you cut open the husk the embryo inside it the smallest itty bitty little thing??? |
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| Some pics of Keitt from around the net:
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| It does resemble the Keitt. Keitt has a fairly thin seed. You should take pictures of the tree. Jeff |
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| PS, make sure you check the tree for a graft line. I can't count the number of times that I've had folks tell me that their tree was grown from seed and are shocked when I point out the graft line and name the cultivar for them. That's not to say that the tree is not a seedling, but it's a always a good idea to double check. There are a lot of uninformed folks out there. Jeff |
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| They look like Keitts to me!...a very sweet, excellent mango. If so, the tree should be have an open growth habit and look sort of scraggly. |
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| With the looks, size and season we are having/had in SFla this year, I would go with Keitt also. Not to contradict bluepalm, as taste can be somewhat subjective, but I would say a Keitt is sweet, not super sweet, with a slight bit of tang to it. |
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| ...whatever it is Marin, you are the caretaker for this tree's future! The grafting does look quite sound - I'm still 0 in 12 attempts....keep us posted PLEASE..... |
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| Great grafting job, thanks for posting pics. Man, those mangoes are huge! |
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- Posted by mangomandan 10 FL (My Page) on Mon, Aug 1, 11 at 9:31
| Harry, are both of the mangos in that photo Keitts? My Keitt tree never gave me anything to compare to that larger mango. |
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- Posted by hmhausman FL 10B (hmhausman@aol.com) on Mon, Aug 1, 11 at 12:24
| Dan: I am assuming that both are Keitt. That wasn't a picture I took.....its just one I found on the internet. I have seen tremendous variability in size of Keitt fruits. Tree size and culture definitely affect how large the fruit will be. Even on the smae tree in the same season, there can be fruits that are twice as large as others on the same tree. Harry |
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| Here are more photos of the mango cut open: Cut in half:
In half & sliced: The seed well cleaned (with the embryo removed & displayed) I took one of these mangoes by to visit Harry and get his opinion. It was great to have met him (and his really nice staff) and sample some of his varieties that I have never tried before. His fairly well trained taste buds have concluded until proven otherwise that this is most likely a Keitt. I am going to investigate father with attempting to get some more information from the daughter of the lady who passed. I did check the tree and could not find a graft line but the tree is fairly old and has an impressively large sized trunk diameter which could be camouflaging a grafting line. Either way this is one fantastic tasting mango.... from a tree that consistently produces really really big fruit that have an amazing flavor (in my humble opinion of course) So it is a win/win all the way around-whether it's a Keitt or a seedling of one is ok with me! |
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| The good news is that if by chance the grafts don't take, you should be able to buy a Keitt tree from a nursery. |
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- Posted by hmhausman FL 10B (hmhausman@aol.com) on Tue, Aug 2, 11 at 15:42
First let me say that it was pleasure meeting you, Marin. and that I really appreciated you dropping by with one of your "monster mangoes" for my staff and I to try. Here are pictures of the other fruits we tried.
There is an Abiu from my tree and a few mangoes including Maha Chanook (the second to last one of the season on any of my trees), San Felipe (first time being tasted, Neelum, and Pettigrew (which ended up in the mulch pile as being picked too soon). Unfortunately, as a result of leaving very early in the morning to head to a court hearing, I grabbed only some of what I intended to bring to the office. There was a ripe Keitt at home I didn't find while groping around in the dark garage on my way out. I was able to send you home with some unripe mangoes which included Keitt, Golden Lippens and Valencia Pride. Turning to the tasting, I do believe that your "monster mango" is a Keitt. However, I must confess that I am not 100% sure. Only about 95%. The reason you may ask? Your mango was one of the best tasting mangoes of the season and frankly tasted much better than my recollection of Keitt in previous years. It is difficult to remember how a particular mango tastes, from year to year, especially since mangoes can vary from year to year in flavor. In reviewing my Fairchild book of mangoes, Keitt is rated Good to Excellent on the Poor, Fair Good, Excellent scale. I planted it out many years ago because it was a very nicely flavored mango and was big, late and disease resistant. I haven't experienced a tasting where Keitt fared as well as this one did. In this tasting, it compared favorably with Maha Chanook and was the felt to be the winner of the taste test by at least a couple of my well experienced mango tasting staff. So.....maybe this is something different.....a seedling, lets say? I wouldn't think that to be likely. The reasons are that the mango looks like a Keitt, is maturing in the season of a Keitt, and has excellent characteristics of a Keitt (at its best and includes meatiness, seed size and fiber content, or lack thereof). Seedlings would tend to be different in some regard....especially with regard to fiber. This is the single most common difference between mango cultivar parents and their progeny. The genetic variability that comes with all sexual reproductions of mango by seed are likely to include some increased fiber. This mango was no more fibrous than a Keitt...or, I guess more correctly said, it was just as fiber free as a Keitt. In any case, this mango was obviously grown on a tree that was very, very happy. I will be interested to find out how my Keitt, which I gave to you, Marin, tastes and appears as compared to your mangoes. Truth be told, I haven't eaten any of my Keitts this year as of yet. I do have one in the refrigerator and will try it tonight. Stay tuned for further analysis. Harry |
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| Harry, how did the San Felipe turn out? |
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| I have a grafting update: The picture below is the very first graft I attempted IT WORKED!!!! It has a couple of small buds that look like they are going to try to push out and the entire length of scion is a bright healthy green. I will post the finished result in 2 weeks when I unwrap it.  This is the only graft of the 3 that I did that day that took. The 2nd graft higher up this root stock failed as well as the 3rd try-the cleft graft on the smaller root stock. I germinated 18 root stocks from seeds of that pile of giant mangoes that are growing well. I plan to try to graft more of these wonderful mangoes. Stay tuned :) |
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- Posted by hmhausman FL 10B (hmhausman@aol.com) on Mon, Aug 22, 11 at 12:29
| Marin: Looks great...congratulations! You are not completely out of the woods yet, but it sure looks good for this point after the graft. Did you ever post your thoughts on the Keitt mango I gave you to compare with the mangoes you mention in this thread. Seems this year we have a couple of late season mango mysteries to solve....another thread of great mangoes has been posted and they sure look a lot like Keitt as well. I would appreciate an update when you get the chance. Harry |
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| Hi Harry, I am going to take pics of that one graft that seems to be taking after some new growth pops if/when it does. So far it looks promising!! The other 2 turned to mush and died. I am having sinus surgery this Wednesday morning so you know my sense of taste has been altered to some degree from all this and can vary from one day to the next depending on how things are feeling, but that being said I think the Keitt you gave me was somewhat similar but the Moster Mango was a little sweeter with a bit of a creamier texture. It could have varied as well in that I had to eat yours on Saturday Aug. 6th as I was leaving town and it may possibly have benefited from another day or two to ripen up a little more. You gave it to me on the 1st but I wasn't sure when you harvested it. A friend of my daughter gave me a mango that was supposed to be a Keitt as well but it tasted different than both of ours (?) It could be so many factors. I am going back to see if there is any budwood and will chack again for a graft line and take a picture of the tree. (the homeowner took a pictured of me up in the tree foraging for budwood...she is going to send me a copy) Off to go find a safe place for my potted stuff with this storm coming! Minimal garage space and I have to do it by Tuesday night :( Next mango season we will have to do a taste off with both of those same mangoes-tree ripened to get the best comparison! If I get more than 4 of the grafts of this tree to work I will put your name on the 4th one! |
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- Posted by hmhausman FL 10B (hmhausman@aol.com) on Mon, Aug 22, 11 at 18:43
| Much appreciated, Marin......if I could grow Keitts or whatever they were as well as those that you have there, I would gladly plant out another tree....even if it was the same thing as I already have. Thanks. Yes, a taste-off next season seems like the thing to do. Harry |
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