Sorry, I can't answer your question, but I did have a Cogshall in a pot that I put too much fertilizer on it and then the frost finally finished it off. I really would like to get another one. What nursery did you go to? I really wouldn't mind trying my hand at it again with a larger tree.

This was Jene's Tropicals on Central Ave. in St. Pete. She has a fabulous selection of mango trees and they seemed to be in good health. I was impressed.

She has some other unique trees also, such as Longan. I used to buy huge bags of those beside the road when we lived in Hawaii... if I only had the room, I'd plant one of everything!

irun5k,
I think you'd be perfectly happy with either mango as long as you keep them pruned. If you do want to keep it small though you should really go with a smaller sized tree because it will allow you to begin training it properly at a smaller size. If you buy a larger tree it was probably never pruned to maintain a small size but instead encouraged to grow larger to sell. Some forum members here have posted some examples of how theyve pruned their trees. Just search through some of the older posts for good examples.

Here is a good link about Cogshall mangos:
http://www.fshs.org/Proceedings/Password%20Protected/1995%20Vol.%20108/369-370%20%28CAMPBELL%29.pdf

Here is a link that might be useful: Mango Tree Pruning

Thanks guys, based on the advice here I am leaning toward going with a Carrie, but buying a smaller one so I can shape its upbringing from the beginning. From everything I've read, it sounds like I'll have a lot of room to structure its height, shape, etc. if I'm willing to invest the time in pruning it (which of course, I will.)

The only reason at this point I'd give the Cogshell much consideration is because it is a true dwarf vs. a semi-dwarf, but I'm really not sure what that ultimately means to me if I can prune a Carrie to keep it smaller.

There are a couple of papayas in the spot where I want to put the mango, so perhaps I'll grow the mango in a container for a year or so just to get the next crop from the papayas.

Boom1 : 10 mango trees??? hehe, let me know if you cant finish all the fruits by yourself, Im here to help j/k :)) If I can handle my Nam Doc Mai to be alive this time, Im gonna get a Carrie next spring. I personally also like to buy a small tree,train it the way I want and enjoy watching it grows.

heres a picture of a good sized Carrie mango tree:
{{gwi:1329166}}
they dont get much bigger than that and you can prune them smaller. shorter wider trees get more sun exposure and more mangos.

heres a pretty good sized Nam Doc Mai
{{gwi:1329168}}

again you can very successfully prune that tree to half that size. medium and smaller bushy mango trees are not prune sensitive.

in Japan they prune and trellis mangos in greenhouses

these are Irwins grown indoors in Japan using feather leaf or palmette method of growing using espalier. the fruit go for as much as $2000 a pair.

yep i have 10 varieties:
Alphonso (big tree)
Alampur Baneshan (large/medium upright?)
Carrie (medium bushy)
Chocanaon (medium upright growing)
Julie (dwarf bushy)
Nam Doc Mai (medium upright)
Okrung Tong (medium upright)
Po Pyu Kalay (medium upright)
Rosigold (dwarf upright)
Zebda (big tree)

all my trees are still about 4 or 5 foot tall so im not exactly sure on all their sizes and growth habits

still have room for one more too:

"ÂImam Pasand is one of the best mangos of India, ideally suited for dessert, the table and show. The fruit weigh 16 oz or more and are a beautiful smooth oval at maturity. The skin is a dark green, with distinct white highlights over the entire surface. Upon ripening the fruit can attain a deep yellow blush the shoulders and mid-section. The tree has a trailing growth habit and is easily controlled by annual pruning. The properly pruned tree will have a full, spreading canopy of 8 to 10 ft in height and spread. During the fruiting season of June and July, ÂImam Pasand hangs "heavy with consistent production. The fruit should be harvested mature green and ripened off the tree at a temperature of 75° to 85° F. Harvesting should occur 2 to 4 weeks before ripening on the tree for the development of the best quality. Properly harvested and ripened fruit have a fiberless, silky flesh with a deep, sweet flavor and distinct citrus overtones. The tree and fruit are tolerant of diseases and require little in the way of special care."

not the easiest variety to find

Here is a link that might be useful: from Fairchild Gardens mango descriptions

sorry about that

Carrie
{{gwi:1329172}}

Nam Doc Mai
{{gwi:1329174}}

This is my personal opinion only...I have both trees. I've tasted Carrie and wasn't too excited with the strong flavor it had...very hard to describe. Just remember that taste is subjective. Taste is definitely a personal thing. I love my Cogshall tree, only because I've had issues with my Carrie. It had some type of mango die back. Its appx. four years old. It was potted for the first 2 1/2 years...I thought it was on its death bed so I planted it in the ground and is doing better now, I lost 75% of its size between the disease and the frost last winter...almost killed most of my trees. But I know that a lot of people love Carrie, and I'm willing to give it a second try "if" it ever fruits?
I lost about 50% of the size of my Cogshall from the freeze. It is doing much better now...till the next freeze?

I am not here to talk you into or out of your decision, just relating my experience. I'm sure your Carrie will do very well! I know that my experience with carrie is "rare" and not a common thing...Other factors like growing conditions,soil, weather,etc. played a big factor with mine.
Good luck with your Carrie.

As far as pruning goes I agree with Murahilin. I don't think you need to spend the $400 for the large tree. I actually read an article from Fairchild garden that says its better to buy the smaller pots like 5-7 gallon. You can certainly prune them once a year like I do to maintain its size. Or in my case the freeze did it for me,lol...

Here is my Carrie...you can see where I painted the trunk to treat the disease from spreading.
{{gwi:1329176}}

Here is my Cogshall almost 2 1/2 years old...

Boom, you are so lucky...I've never seen Mango in my local store except Tommy Atkins. Certainly never a Cogshall...how does it taste? I've heard its delicous! I have a potted Glenn that I absolutely LOVE the fruits from. Fruited for the first time for me this summer.

i buy all my mango trees at 7 gallon. mangos have a taproot that likes to go straight down and can become root bound, especially larger varieties.

Carrie has a very strong taste if it is over ripe. unless you know for sure you tried ones that werent over ripe, try another one

Cogshell is a good mango, if your looking for a dwarf tree that produces large mangos similar to Cogshell in flavor go with Lancetilla.

Glenn is a pretty big tree for a container.

I know taste is subjective. That said, I've had 4 Carries (from different trees). I didn't care for the mango. The flesh was PASTY, the flavor not the best (strange too), and it is a fruit that bruises very easily. I've never had a Cogshall though. Just my 2 cents.

BluePalm

I agree with Bluepalm, that's been my personal experience with Carrie also. There's an "off" flavor that I can't seem to explain...but like I said since I already have the tree if it fruits again, I'm willing to give it another try.

I'm odd man out, I guess...Love the taste of a ripe Carrie Mango, a little bit of heaven.

Hi all:

I figured I'd put my 2 cents in. I have both Carrie and Cogshall.....both in the ground. I also have 75 other cultivars. Cogshall is the smaller of the two, but both are manageable. Carrie doesn't color up while Cogshall shows off some gorgeous sunset colors. Cogshall produces a larger fruit and the season lasts longer. Carrie is very good but for my taste, must be eaten while still a bit firm. The flesh tends to get too mushy if you allow too much ripeness. Cogshall, again, seems to have more flexibility as far as the flesh holding up. Carrie has more of the resinous tropical mango flavor that some people love......but I would not rate it higher than Cogshall in flavor. My solution....buy one of each!

hello hmhausman,

where are you located and do you have a list of the varieties you grow? thats quite impressive!

Hi boom1......I am in Davie, west Broward County, FL. I do have a list somewhere on an Excel spread sheet, but it is not updated. Actually, it's easier to ID what I don't have than what I do. I got a bit carried away and planted out just about every mango that I could get my hands on that some one thought was good. My home is located on a 2.39 acre lot. I probably have about 300 fruiting trees, bushes and plants. I'll try to find my list, update it and post it.

thanks hmhausman. i asked the same question in the other thread, lol. disregard that.

i am in Hollywood. do you go to the RFVC of Broward meetings? i have yet to join. im definitely going to their fall sale though real early this year, i missed out on some cool stuff this Spring.

I have been many times....but not recently. I went religiously during the period between 1993 and 1998......had kids and wasn't able to continue. Thinking about returning....we'll see. I have been to a few of the sales. I don't usually buy too much stuff there. I prefer to go directly to the sources that they buy from. Every now and again there is a real find at the sale, so don't let me discourage you from going. Take care.

i didnt know they purchased plants for the sale, i always assumed those plants were grown from their nursery and germplasm.

im hoping to maybe find a Marang tree, i cant locate one anywhere online or around here.

wow i never seen so much resistance to Carrie, in fact i never met anyone personally who knew mangos that didnt love them.

they do have a very profound mango flavor, perhaps thats why all these haden type mangos taste watered down and unremarkable to me.

RFVC of Broward does do quite a bit of their own production........but they have also bought lots of stuff from outside sources. It is always interesting to browse their sales though in any case.

Carrie mango is much loved by many. The locals that love Julie but have trouble getting any to set and fully mature in So. FL are usually big fans. A good Carrie is very, very good...don't get me wrong. Have you tried the Carrie seedling called Dot? I think Dot is superior to Carrie in many ways. I also have a seedling of Carrie that I planted out that is like a Super-Carrie. The good news is that it is very Carrie like in flavor and is about 2 to almost 3 times larger. The bad news......it bears very lightly in comparison to the mother tree. Still watching though as it has only borne fruit the last couple of years after taking a walloping from Hurricane Wilma.

thats awesome. my dream is to register a unique mango cultivar, is there some sort of universal registry or panel that decides whether a seedling or hybrid is unique enough to warrant attention or is it just a word of mouth thing?

im growing a rare variety (here anyway) called Alampur Baneshan. the taste is described as a mango connesuir mango and may be off putting to the unaccustomed pallete. i was a bit worried about planting this variety without trying it first, but now that i hear all theses reviews about Carrie being too strong flavoured i think i may enjoy it.

here are my 10 varieties (thus far, lol)
nam doc mai, po pyu kalay, chocanon, okrung tong, rosigold, carrie, julie, alphonso, almpur baneshan, zebda

I have all of those except for zebda....and have tasted them all except for Alphonso and Zebda. Alanpur Baneshan is a very strong flavored mango, indeed......probably the stongest I have ever had. My tree fruits very regularly but the fruits always crack and split just before they are ready to be picked and enjoyed. I am told that Potassium supplement can prevent this from happening and I am going to try this next season. My ground is too wet during the months that these fruits are fully maturing...especially this year.

I have a seedling of Mallika that has fruited and is a winner flavor-wise.....usually coming in first or second at any tasting that I have. Unfortunately, while better flavored than the mother tree's fruit, it has lots of fiber.

I also have two Carabao seedlings.....one which has not fruited and the other has fruited but the fruit is nothing like Carabao and it is slated for a visit with the chain saw.

I have a seedling of unknown parentage, that I believe may be a cross between Thai Everbearing and Cushman that is very good...fruited for the first time this time.

Finally, I have three Maha Chanook seedlings, planted in the same hole, two of which have bloomed but none of the fruit held past tiny size. Maha Chanook is probably one of the best mangos that I have or have ever tasted. I am waiting anxiously until next season to try to get some fruit to set.

funny how you have tried so many mangos yet never had an alphonso, probably the most widely eaten mango in the world.

i would love to score some India grown Alphonsos.

i know Indian types have a problem with our rainy season, in India monsoon season is what ends mango season because they become watery.

Zebda i purchased sporadically from TT last week and its the first time i have heard of it. i was interested in growing a mango from a different Country (Egypt). the tree i got from them was 4 foot tall and the trunk was probably 4 inches in diameter, so maybe ill get a few next season from it. all my other trees are in the ground but this is there first growing year (i recently moved here from NY where there is only one mango, red ones)

i was looking for a Thai everbearing for a long time but settled for a Chocanon, never tried either i was just looking for an offseason and the more rare one, lol.

i never tried a DOT, i heard they are very bold flavored, ill have to try one when i get the chance.

since im out of yard space (really this time, lol) all my future mangos will be container grown or grafted onto my current trees (thai everbearing + chocanon cocktail tree would be nice), i hear Zill has a few new condo varieties in the works.

another container mango im looking for is Imam Passand, have you ever tried that variety?

I have tried 'most' of the varieties that you can buy from nurseries in south Florida, along with many that you can't (trip to the fruit and spice park in Homestead). Unfortunately, I have to agree with many of the above posters.....Carrie might be one of the most over-rated mangos to come out of Florida in terms of flavor. It is definitely 'odd' tasting to say the least.....tastes almost like a fleshy orange more than a mango, with a somewhat strange aftertaste. The fruit are also rather unatractive (doesn't matter to me but some people prefer their fruit be colorful), its usually mostly green int he shade to yellow if its exposed to sun, but very little blush to it. On top of all that, the trees get quite big if you don't prune them fairly aggressively....I've seen Carrie trees over 30 feet tall. That's not a small tree. Never understood why they were considered 'dwarf' or 'condo' variety by some.

I had a Cogshall growing in a pot, but it died after the area received too much rainfall. :( The fruit can get decent sized on them and supposedly they produce well. They grow REALLY slowly though....could be a good thing though if you grow them in a pot or want them to stay small. No idea how they taste but have heard nothing but good things about them so I'd imagine they're pretty good.

Dot is one mango that I wanted to try at the fruit and spice park last June but couldn't find any that were on the ground and in edible condition. One of the groundskeepers at the park told me that it was his favorite mango though (along with Nam Doc Mai), and its received some excellent reviews from others. Unfortunately I've also read that the trees are difficult to grow and they are very, very fungus prone, so you'd probably have to spray consistently to get a decent crop if you were to plant one.

hmhausman, that's very interesting to hear that you have that many varieties. I live in Palm Beach County for part of the year and would be interested in learning more about your grove if possible. I'm an avid mango enthusiast and like to learn about the differences between each variety in terms of flavor, fruit handling characteristics and shelf life, tree size and growth characteristics, disease resistance, etc etc etc....so maybe we could talk in the future.

squam256........always happy to chat, compare notes, etc.......feel free to contact me directly.......you can reach me at HMHausman@aol.com

I bought and planted a mango 4 years ago that was tagged as a Kent. After harvesting 12 mangos off of it this year and a couple last year, my father (who has a Kent tree) and I are certain it is a Dot (because of the fruit shape, the color of the flesh and skin, and other characteristics). My fruits look identical to the Dot picture on Pine Islands site. The fruit has a fairly strong taste and the flesh is quite firm (you have to kind of dig in with the spoon). It is however an excellent, strong mango and has no fiber. My dad enjoys it more than the Kents, but I like the Kents a bit more. Now that I have it, I'm glad, since I can get Kents from him, he can get Dots from me, and we have another variety!

A note on Dot......Frank Smathers.....mango collector to the extreme, owner of Four Fillies Farm in Miami and now deceased had hundreds of mangos from all over the world. The germ plasm from his property provides much of the diversity at the mango germ plasm depository in Miami. He searched the world for the perfect mango......the best flavor, color, fiberlessness, season duration, etc. He never gave up the quest until he passed away. His choice for that perfect mango was Dot.

During mango season, I have informal mango tastings at my office. Dot consistantly scores very highly amongst my staff and friends that stop in. But, it is still a matter of opinion and I find that sometimes, the best mango of the 15-20 varieties that might be available in a particlur tasting...is the one that is just perfectly tree ripened and at the peak of flavor.

Here's an article that Richard Campbell wrote on the Dot. Has some history (it was one of many Lawrence Zill creations) and other info.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dot: A Gourmet Mango Cultivar for the Home Garden

Pine Island doesnt do it much justice:

"'Dot' is a virtually fiberless cultivar of excellent eating quality. The flesh is firm, juicy, and aromatic. The skin is an attractive bright yellow with a faint pink blush. It is not a bad variety for the dooryard garden, but the Glenn remains a better choice. The fruit ripens June to July."

hmhausman what offseason everbearing varieties do you have?

i have a 3 gallon chocanon that had a flourescence but didnt produce a fruit, its too small anyways.

how do offseason mangos compare to regular season? do you have any off season crops on their way?

Boom1:

With all due respect to Pine Island Nursery (I think they are great and I have bought many trees and plants from them) I have to disagree with them. First, Dot at my house produces over a very long season. I had fruit maturing on my two Dot trees from late May this year with the last fruit being picked in late August. As far as a comparsion with Glenn......in my humble opinion there is no comparison. I have Glenn...it produces heavily and reliably but tends to have a washed out flavor at my house where the ground is very wet and mucky. The frangrance of Glenn far exceeds its flavor. Also Glenn drops its fruit the earliest of any of my cultivars....all within a 30 day period.

With regard to off season varietes....I have Thai Everbearing, Chou Anon (which Pine Island calls Choc Anon), Rosigold, and one that I was told is called Martinez by Eric Lebrum, former plant procurer for the Broward Rare Fruit Council. Apparently this came from a Robert Martinez's property in East Davie, FL. I have later learned that the property was purchased by Martinez from a Dr. Robert Wolff who planted it and who was, I think, chemical engineer involved with fertilizers here in Florida. I think Dr. Wolff has passed on but I am still trying to see what is the history of this mango.

Regarding Choc Anon........I regret to advise you that it has been in my yard for about 14 years...having been sent to me from Thailand well beofre Pine Island Nursery ever started selling it. It has never borne two crops in a single season. It, like all SE Asian mangos will throw off a bloom on some of the branches on occasion but I would not call it a separate and distinct second season. The fruit is a typical SE ASian mango in flavor which means sweet, smooth without any real complexity. I happen to like SE Asian Mangos so the lack of complexity is not a problem for me. The fruit is anthracnose resistant and the fruit is moderate in size with yellow fiberless flesh.

Rosigold and Martinez seem to be similar.......they have borne at my house in March and are quite good. Of course, they come at a time that there have been no mangos for months so they taste especially good and are nicely colored and fragrant.

Thai Everbearing has been in my yard for 15 years. My tree is grafted from the original tree that was brought here from Thailand by Al Will.....former Professor of the Sub Tropical Fruit Culture Class at Broward Community College. His tree is huge and is located at his home in Fort Lauderdale. He told us that his tree has had fruit during every month of the year at some time or other. The blooming is not constant and is not truly "everbearing", however, it does produce sporadic off season crops. The fruit is small with a very large seed...but is very flavorful...sweet with a nice spicy twang. I use seedlings from this tree as rootstock to graft onto. If this was only a larger fruit it would be a definite winner.

i dont rely on Pine Island for good information.

i have noticed that mango names are commonly misspelled or spelled phonetically, my alanpur baneshan tree at pine island was labeled Alan P Banshan, choc anon i see commonly spelled chokanon, but never chou anon, thats a new one. nothing substantive but PI comes up in a google search of the name.

i love asian too. its hard for me to pick between a nice Julie or a po pyu kalay, they are so distinct.

eventually i want to make an off season cocktail mango tree out of my chocanon (no room for any more trees, so i better learn to graft, lol)

im assuming Martinez resembles an Asian mango because it is off season?

is Dot a large tree?

i also have a Rosigold. i thought it was an early season but does it give off season flushes too?

what months do Chocanons give you a full harvest usually? (i heard someone saying they had them during Christmas) does it vary greatly from year to year?

are you growing alampur baneshan? i asked PI how tall the tree usually gets and all they could say is smaller than Alphonso which doesnt say much, from my understanding Alphonsos are one of the largest mango trees.

sorry for all the questions but its so hard to find first hand information on mangos other than emailing PI. you really are a mango guru.

No Martinez is more like Rosigold.......definitley not SE Asian......and it is an early producer....which is why I call it off season.....for me off season is anything that matures before May or after September.

Dot is a standard sized mango tree. I try to keep all my trees at a height of 15-17 feet or less. I am somewhat successful with the help of hurricanes.

Choc Anon has generally matured in the summer months. There is some variability....could be as early as June or as late as August.

Alanpur Baneshan is one of the intermediate sized trees at my house. Not quite a condo mango, but definitley smaller than most of the others.

thank you for the info.

i was told Chou anon would give me off season mangos, not just an out of season flush. the thought of out of season mangos really intrigues me.

I have very little experience with mango trees.
I have only lived down here 18 months from NY where a mango is red and tasteless comparatively to here, but have heard what hurricanes have done to the larger Kent and Haden trees in my neighborhood. as a result my strategy was to keep all my trees around 15 feet, not sticking too far above the roofline of the houses where the wind could control its momentum. its reassuring hearing someone with your experience confirm this.

do you have, or any knowledge of Imams Pasand? that is the one cultivar of mango left i am interested in growing and adding to my yard.

Good luck to you with the off season crop you are expecting with Choc Anon. I haven't experienced it. In Thailand it probably does it......here (meaning my house)...NOT.

BTW, although my trees have been kept within 17 feet.....most of them went over in Hurricane Wilma. I had a tremendous amount of work hat racking the canopies and uprighting them with my car and a rope. I braced them with wood I cut in Y shapes (mostly from my lychee trees that also went down or broke apart. I did not lose any mango trees in the final analysis.

Re: the Imam Passand that is one of I think three mangos featured by Fairchild gardens (in their Mangos of the World) that I do not have and have never tried. From the literature.....I want want also. If you find one somewhere that is of decent quality, let me know, please.

Imam Passand was on top.tropicals mango list a few months ago. i was going to buy it with an alphonso from them but they ran out by the time i went to purchase it and they took it off their site.

i emailed them regarding this a short while back and they told me Imam Passand and other "fancy" mangos will be available in the spring so we both will be looking out for one.

i asked PI the last time i went down there if they ever would carry it. they told me my best bet was to try Fairchild Gardens when they have their plant sales. Broward Rare Fruit and Veggie Council has it listed on their site. i wonder how to go about getting budwood.

do you have any experience with grafting budwood?

also i have an Okrong Tong that im really interested in trying. mango chef Allen Susser wrote the Great Mango book and describes it as being fiborous, but every other description says it is fiberless. im wondering if he may have mistaken an Okrung Tong for an Okrung or another variety (i heard of one Okrung Pickung Tong on TTs site. i wonder if thats a distinct cultivar).

I do have some experience in grafting mangos. I don't consider myself all that good at it. There are people that I know that can get virtually 100% take rate on the grafs they do. I think they use some sort of chemical or hormonal additive to achieve that kind of success. I get about 25% success rate on side veneer grafts and I don't have even that level of success with cleft grafts. My graft of choice is an approach graft......but this is limited because of the logistics. I have gotten high rates of success though when I can put the rootstock and
the parent plant together for 30 days in an approach graft situation.

I am going to have to ask some of my friends at Broward RFVC if they can get me some Imam Pasand budwood. Murray Corman is my neighbor and owes me a favor.

I have Okrung, Okrung Pi Kun Tong and Sia Tong.......the Okrung has fiber but is really sweet...perhaps the sweetest of all of the mangos that I have. The fiber seems to be around the seed and isn't bad in the flesh away from the seed. I am not sure where Okrung Tong falls.......I think it is the same as Okrung Pi Kun Tong...but that is not confirmed. I think Sia Tong is the same as Nam Doc Mai See Tong....which I also have. In anycase.....there is no fiber in any of these other than Okrung.

Here's a video on veneer grafting with mangos. I haven't tried my hand at grafting yet but plan on soon.

Here is a link that might be useful: Veneer grafting

I was trying to decide on a late season mango. I was leaning to Neelum, anyone had a taste?

thx

jbfla: Never tasted a Neelum, I know it's one of the parent's of a Mallika, which is excellent. I know a Beverly is a good late mango. Keitt is late too, but can be prone to problems.

hmhausman: Hi Harry, this is Gary from Brevard, been over a couple times over the years, hope you're doing well.

irun5k: I love Carrie myself, sweet, rich, fiberless.

Gary

dghays: Hey Gary.....yes, all is well. Thanks. I am a late comer to this site, but have enjoyed the discussions. Hope to see you again next summer if you get a chance to stop down my way.

jb fla: You can't go wrong with a Neelum......very nice late season mango. Other good ones are Kent, Keitt, and Beverly. At my house, Keitt and Neelum are usually later than Kent and Beverly....but there is some variability.

wow i just read all of this thread and I am shocked! I must be to easy to please. I have both carrie and cogshall and think they are fantastic. cog friut is beautifull. tree is sturdy compact and loves to be pruned. i would recommend it all day long. picked my first neeluum this year and was very happy with it. the tree is a little scraggly though. also picked my first rosigold this year and like someone said earlier for March it was great (mine was actually picked in early May) it was very good, not as good as the earlier mentioned but very good. all the lancentilla fell off the tree so i havent had one yet.

Lancetilla at my house fruited very heavily this past year. The smallest fruits were over 3 pounds each and they went up from there. Unfortunately, Lancetilla does not do well with really wet soil. Out of about 35 fruits on a relatively small tree.....I was able to eat about 3 or 4...the rest cracked, split and never made it to maturity. What I could eat was very nicely flavored and without fiber. Lots of meat on these mangos.

Carrie WHEN PROPERLY RIPENED is the best Mango I have ever had. Pick them a bit early and ripen them on the kitchen counter rather than on the tree. If they are slightly under/over ripe they will have a bit of a piney aftertaste which would make anyone wonder what all the fuss about Carrie is about. Learn to get them just right & you'll be in mango heaven and have a totally different opinion.

You know- it depends on what you like and maybe your favorite this year is getting old...

I say that because I just ate some Kent giant Mangoes that were in that 2 pound size and they were sweet and melted like butter in your mouth. I could see somebody saying THATS what a Mango should taste like.

I think if you have a healthy grafted tree,Chances are that's your best bet for your climate. If your climate is hard on Carrie or Zill or too cloudy and humid..see what I'm getting at?

For me in the bay area so far Baileys has done best. Others have a much wider choice..so dont feel bad you didn't find some rare Indian cultivar. Go by what thrives as a tree.