I have 3 large Haden, and have always had this problem... seems to be the nature of the beast..... lots of small fruit and lots of large, and the squirrels always seem to attack the large first.... they have just finished for the season and the ground is littered with bits of rotting fruit and with this heat it's going to stay there awhile... seemed to be a shorter season this year however, other years it extended way into August and seemed to start earlier.....sally

Guess what...on the second leg of my trip, I was able to find a few locally grown Mangos at a small roadside stand on St. Thomas, USVI yesterday. The fruit looked real nice and were on a large rounded tree that had huge leaves. The fruit was sweet and tasty with just a little too much fiber. Kind of felt a little like cheating having a just picked Mango in January. I asked the seller what type of mangos they were and he pointed at the large tree behind him. So I'll guess its some type of mixed seedling that looks pretty good, has a nice red blush, tastes pretty good yet has just a bit too much fiber for prime time. Like everything else in the USVI it was expensive at $3.00 each. Heres a picture of my last one, if anyone wants to guess what type Mango it may be.

tammy - yeah.....we've had some mid 30's here in Palm Springs which is quite rare for November in the desert - this must be some artic blast we are getting! But the mangos I just planted last month are small enough that I stuck wire tomato cages over them and then plastic -mini hothouses - similar to your plastic house - didn't your hubby put that up? Don't be mad at my projecting into the future, but what will you do when your mango family outgrows the crib....or will you trim their arms and heads so they still fit the bed???? :) mangobeagle

Every mango I've had I let keep their first blooms and allowed them to fruit. None were harmed, all grew well long term, none ever missed a season, and all produce lots of fruit yearly today. I know this is not conventional wisdom but there are more than a few I know of in the same mindset that I am and it's working for them too. I happen to have a Carrie about the same size as yours and I'm going to let it keep all of the fruit. If they start to get too heavy I'll pinch some off but again in my experience the tree will self abort everything it cannot support anyway.