My first ripe mango of the season (Glenn)

Mark

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Here's our first ripe mango of the season these are from one of my Glenn mango trees and are rather big (Glenn mangoes aren't usually this big). The Glenn mango is a great eating variety and importantly it's one of the best disease resistant mango trees you can grow.

Mango glenn cut open ready for eating 250.jpg


Mango trees are easy to grow and they grow well in all types of soil (even heavy) but it's the fruiting that can be challenging because of diseases (mainly anthracnose - fruit not setting or black spot) and animals getting to the fruit first!

I don't spray my mango trees with pesticides or fungicides so good mango tree management is important and it starts with tree selection, pruning, and fruit protection. I've mastered none of these but we are still managing to get some good crops and over the past few years I've planted some excellent varieties which are cropping already so the future is looking up.

We have about 10 trees and the plan is to keep them at a manageable size so the fruit can be netted and trees easily maintained. We do have one large Bowen mango tree and the fruit is terrific eating when it actually sets fruit but unfortunately that isn't very often... Some heavy pruning last year has helped with cropping this season.

At my place we have to compete with possums and flying foxes for our fruit and I'm trialing different ways to protect our mangoes ATM - making some progress... I hope :p

Economically, the trees pay for themselves once they produce about 10 fruit @ $2.50 - $3.50 each mango so it's well worth the investment IMO.
[photo]147[/photo]

[photo]146[/photo]
 

stevo

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That is big!

Something I tried over the holidays, stick mangos in the freezer so they just freeze (not rock solid) and then cut them up and eat them. Being frozen makes them easier to cut up aswell. It's like one of those Weis mango bars in texture and great for a hot day.
 

armysnail

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I'm sorry to say I ate mine without taking a photo. I have four trees that were already here so I don't know what they are. One has small fruit, very sweet and three have fruit the size of your hand . Again, very sweet. So far fruit fly trap is working and no bats, just the occasional bird.
 

Mark

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Yeah mangoes are one of those fruits that thankfully grow well in a warm climate. Had the family over on the weekend and fed them mangoes for dessert and breakfast it's so good straight from the tree.

Nam doc mai are a small mango and very disease resistant you might have one of them... I've seen a lot of that variety in this area.
 

Director

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Was thinking about getting a mango tree actually. Can you recommend a medium-sized one with tasty fruit?
 

Mark

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Well we do like the Glenn - once we tasted the fruit we purchased another two more trees, and I think it's on par taste wise with the famous Bowen or (Kengsigton Pride is another name for it) the difference is Glenns (the fruit) are a little smaller on average at around 350g (Bowen 450g) but the main plus is Glenn mangoes have good resistance to black spot and anthracnose.

Both black spot and anthracnose are common around SEQ and these diseases/fungals can really hamper fruit set and development. You can spray the tree with fungicides but I gave that away long ago and decided to grow mango varieties that have better resistance to common issues (having said that, I do still have a bowen though and 2 x Bambaroos which are based on the Bowen also but these varieties are susceptible to diseases). Our other varieties are: R2E2, Nam Doc Mai, Kwan, and a few unknowns grown from seed. The Nam Doc Mai and Kwan are elongated Asian varieties and are a little lighter or less sweet - excellent in salads and amazing croppers for organic growing!

I also recommend keeping the trees smaller perhaps not over 4 metres and pruned every few years ensuring the centre of the tree is nice and open to increase airflow as this helps in disease prevention and general management.
 

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In terms of how delightful to eat, which of your varieties do you favour, Mark?
I'll be looking to plant a few mango trees soon and have leant towards Kwan and RE2 because of the balance of sweetness and disease resistance, but I'm with you on preferring the disease resistant varieties.
So would it be the Glenn?
There's also the King Thai and Alison Red I have seen mentioned but don't know of their availability in Qld.
 

Mark

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There's a lot of good mangoes and some tried and tested varieties from the USA are hitting the Australian market now.

I've always wanted a Valencia Pride not just for the name but it is apparently great tasting and has good disease resistance but it's hard to find one to buy. Here's a description on a US site
So would it be the Glenn?
Yes - you could call it delightful alright and it's my favourite out of all we grow (see my post 2 above for all the varieties). You won't be disappointed with a Glenn mango I guarantee it! The R2E2 is very tasty also and the fruit is quite large.

There's also the King Thai and Alison Red I have seen mentioned but don't know of their availability in Qld.
They sell both of these trees at Daley's online but the King Thai is a dwarf and the Alison Red is derived from the Kensington Pride which can be prone to diseases but does taste very good.
 

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Great, thanks Mark. That's put it in perspective. The Valencia Pride does look very appealing as a tree and for its fruit.
 

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All the info on this site is so great. We have been at our current place less than 2yrs. There was/is 2 very large bowen mango trees, so large we can drive under them and can't reach the lower mangoes without a big pole picker hubby made. The first year we had hundreds and hundreds of mangoes off the tree and that was just what we could pick. The fruit bats got the rest. Many of the mangoes had black spots on them which didn't worry us just got cut it off and eat the very delicious mangoes. We gave heaps away and everyone said they were much nicer than the shops. Next year/last year we didn't get any mangoes, well a couple the fruit bats found. But no one else seemed to either.

Had noticed the end/tip of the branches being black and dead looking didn't think anything off it. But through this site and Mark's website and YouTube channel have realised the trees have Anthracnose and Black Spot.

The plan has always been to cut at least one of the tree right back and plant a couple of other varieties of mangoes and keep at a lot smaller size we can reach and net. Now I know about Anthracnose and Black Spot I am choosing trees that are more resistant to these diseases something I would not have know about if it was not for this forum and @Mark sites. :)

I've just bought a Glenn Mango tree off Daley's and have tagged a couple others of interest that they will let me know when they come in including the Valencia Pride. :)
 

Mark

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Valencia Pride
That'd have to be a good mango! :p

I have a bowen in our backyard and it is a pretty big tree - would be even bigger if I let it but cutting it back ruthlessly over winter so it looked 1/3 of it's original size made it produce about 80% more mangoes the next season.

Keeping mangoes pruned and branches thinned out definately helps prevent common mango diseases.
 

ClissAT

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I'm thinking of a type that is more disease resistant. I looked at that Valencia variety. but it didn't day anything about better resistance.
I'd cut down one or more of mine once the better ones were fruiting.
 

Mark

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StuartGrows

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I've never wanted to try a mango straight from the tree more in my life than right now.
 
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