Hello Patty, you should check out Ong's Nursery in Linda Vista, they have a lot more selection than Exotica. Last time I visited Exotica, they had Manilla mango only.

Without having tried Carrie nor Pickering, I would go with Pickering. I have heard that people either love or hate Carrie whereas most everyone says Pickering is absolutely delicious. Other varieties that people highly recommend are Maha Chanook, Cogshall, Glenn, Nam Doc Mai.
Simon

If you are ever in Phoenix give me a call, Ive got many types of the FL grafted mango trees

Thanks, phx. I do get out to Phoenix on occasion for dog shows. I'll let you know if I'm out your way in the near future.

Now, can anyone actually truly ID this mango variety I bought at Clausen's for me??

Patty S.

Hello Patty, I'm in the Mira Mesa area of San Diego. I currently have Maha Chanook, Glenn, Alphonso, Manilla, Nam Doc Mai and some seedlings which I will graft early next year. My Alphonso, Glenn and Nam Doc Mai have produced thumb sized mangoes which I cut off because they are all still very small trees. My Nam Doc Mai had a very late bloom this year( bloomed last month) and is currently holding about 15 pea sized mangoes. I will remove these mangoes once they are a little larger

I tried cutting off the blooms before and it caused my tree to re-bloom so I have learned to let the mangoes get to about marble size before removing them. Even though my trees can probably hold 1 fruit to full maturity, I have learned from more experienced growers that it is best to let our Mango trees put on some size before allowing them to hold fruit. Unlike in Florida, I only get 1-2 growth flushes a year and one of those flushes is actually a bloom.
Simon

Thanks, Simon. Our growing weather is probably pretty close to each other. I think I'm going to try to pick up a Nam Doc Mai, Glenn, Maha Chanook, and a Pickering. Bonita Creek has a Valencia Pride, but I'm hearing it's just average, and the above are much better. Although Dave at Bonita Creek tells me that some of the above varieties have disease issues in our area. How have yours performed when we have foggy, cooler weather? Anything you need to do special to prevent fungal issues? I think Ong has these all, but gosh their prices are pretty steep. And, I have to find good spots for these, as mango trees can get pretty big, and I have some restrictions as to what I can plant on my front slope, as there is a water authority easement that runs through it. So, nothing with a deep tap root, and pretty sure mango trees can send down some deep roots. I'd love to see some photos of your mangos!

Patty S.

All those types are available here in Phx $55-$65.

phx, do you have a web site and do you ship? It's a long drive to Phoenix just for mangos :-) Plus, coming across state lines may pose a problem.

Patty S.

No ship. Plan a trip around it. Oct is the best time of year for selection.

Hello Patty, my mangoes are doing pretty good and I have never sprayed them with any fungicide or insecticides. My backyard is extremely humid( I'm about 5-10 miles from the ocean, as the crow flies)and we get frequent thick fog that makes my backyard look like it just rained. Ong's nursery does sell a lot of these varieties and if you buy several plants from him at one time, he(or his mom) may give you a discount. If Quang is there, tell him I recommended you to see him and he may give you an additional discount.

Mickey from Plantogram is also a great person to order plants from and he will sometimes send you pictures of the trees before you purchase them. If you calculate in the shipping and phyto cert, its is still cheaper to get the plants from Ong's nursery.

I have seen only a few larger specimens of mango trees in my area and many of them are seedling mango trees. Leo Manuel of CRFG had many grafted varieties of Mangoes in his backyard but he only had a few larger trees and they were still much smaller than an avocado tree. Mango trees in SoCal get killed back every several years when we get a hard frost.

You will be lucky to get a mango tree to grow very large here. If you check out Exotica, they have some mangoes planted in the ground that are pretty old but I wouldn't say they are large.

I'm actually trying to get my mango trees to grow very large by planting seeds directly into the ground so that their taproot will go deep. I will then graft a named cultivar onto the seedling in hopes of producing a grafted mango that will actually grow large here.

I even grafted an additional rootstock onto my Maha Chanook Mango tree in the hopes that having two rootstocks will make the tree more vigorous. I will try to upload some pictures when I get some time.
Simon

Thanks, Simon, that's good to know. I, too, live about 6 miles in from the ocean as the crow flies, right up a valley (we have an ocean view and direct ocean breezes). Very good to know you're not having fungal issues. I'll definitely be dropping your name if I go to Ong's. Hopefully they will give me a decent discount. I think they told me $75.00 per tree, which I think is pretty pricey, especially to buy 3 or 4 mangos. Not sure of the size (5 gal I'm guessing), but they did seem to think they had all varieties. I haven't checked out Plantogram, so I'll have to check there, too. Phx's prices are good too, but I can't make the drive to AZ. Look forward to seeing your photos!

Patty S.

Patty,
I would mail order from Florida from Pine Island Nursery. Top Tropical has bigger trees(5-gallon) but I got tons of brown scales on the plants from them. Pine Island Nursery only has 3-gallon trees. I don't have any experience with Plantogram but they seem to have good reputation. All in all with shipping and phyto the price might be really similar or cheaper than buy locally. I like more of the Asian/Thai varieties than the Mexican ones. Mexican mangos are nothing special to me. I can buy those at my local supermarket. Florida has more variety both Florida Hybrids and Asian Hybrids. Since you are in Vista. I am pretty sure you can grow most of the varieties. However I would wait until next May to do this. It a little too late to be planting tropical tree at this point.
Good luck.