Thanks puglvr for the great info. Those sure are great looking condo size mango trees. I also appreciate your other mango pruning article; ended up printing it out for myself. Thank you.

You're welcome citrusnut, we need all the help we can get, LOL...I love articles like these, they are a great source of information. Glad you can use it also.

Nobody warned me that Condo Mangos are addictive! I originally bought one because we lived in a pine forest and had very little sunny areas for fruit trees. I wanted a small tree I could keep potted, and prune while standing on the ground.

After the hurricanes destroyed all our big pine trees, the I-Want-More-Mangos disease hit me hard! I have 9 dwarf Mango trees now, and am lusting after another 6 varieties. I ordered a Lancetilla from PI yesterday, and made reservations for the Mango Brunch at the Fairchild Mango Festival in July.

And I'm allergic to Mango sap!

Consider yourself warned. Once you own a few of these beautiful, easy-care trees, you will want them all!

Lisa

Wow Lisa, you have 9 condo mango trees now, that terrific. I know what you mean about it being addicting, I just purchased a Lancetilla a few days ago. I am going to try this one in a pot and see how it does. I wanted one ever since I saw how big these fruits can get. There's a picture on that website with a guy holding one, its HUGE

Here is a link that might be useful: Huge Lancetilla Mango

that is a wonderful article, thanks.

I have a Lancetilla and will probably purchase an Ice Cream too. I also have a seedling that is interesting, dark green, very short distance between leaf nodes, and has already started branching low on the trunk at only 3' tall. If it continues like this and ever fruits (and tastes good) I could be on to something, seems very dwarf.

15 condo mangoes eventually Lisa, and how many full sized ones? Wow.

-Ethan

Puglvr, a downside to dwarf Mangos is that my Mastiff puppy "Teeger" can pick them herself! She doesn't wait until they are ripe either:(.

I think the written descriptions of the Mangos on PI's website are poetry(G). I snicker every time I read the one on Mallika. The 5 pound Lancetilla was irresistable too.

Ethan, please let us know how your seedling matures. You will like the Ice Cream Mango, I have 2 of those(G).

I don't have any full-sized Mangos. I'm so allegic to the sap that I don't want to prune one while reaching up. The little ones are so much easier to care for! I see full sized ones in my neighborhood being pruned with chain-saws, yet I can do my trees with simple hand pruners.

9 sounds like a lot, but, heck, they are small enough to tuck in small spaces(G).

Lisa

i am so excited. I just ordered 2 condo mango trees. the carrie and icecream...so i will be on here daily.

I live in northern california (i know...good luck, right) but we have an atrium that is sunny but protected from the extremer temps...my parents live a few blocks away and they have a guava tree that needs o special attention and fruits on its own so maybe i will get lucky.

You picked two excellent mangos. The Carrie is one of my favourites. It does very well here in FL and it seems to be somewhat resistant to anthracnose and thats always good for Florida.

Since you are in zone 10 I think those trees should do perfectly fine for you. Whats the coldest temp it gets in your area?

Which small mangos do well here in FL?
DH wants to get a few that don't get too large. I looked at a few diff web sites and found conflicting information regarding disease resistance. He wants some that are fairly productive, have sweet, fiberless fruit and are disease resistant.
~Lenette

A small mango tree or small fruit? Are there any mangos in particular that you would like to know about?

I would check out Pine Islands site. They give little descriptions of each type they sell. If I had to pick just one that fits your criteria I would go with a Nam Doc Mai but there are a bunch that would work for you.

"Since you are in zone 10 I think those trees should do perfectly fine for you. Whats the coldest temp it gets in your area?" murahilin

well we actually had some record lows this winter and i think we got it the low 30's but that is very unusual. usually the nights are in the 40's and luckily the cold days are over for january. we are now having record highs and it was 72 today!

during the freak low's my husband left his ficus outside and had to wrap the base with a blanket and put a box over the top and it did fine.

i want to keep the trees in a container for the first year or two just to make sure they are strong enough so if i need to bring them in i can.

i am just so excited. they should be here thursday or friday. i need to pick up some bigger pots and soil this weekend but the forecast for the rest of the month is high 60's tp 70's so hoefully the trees will be happy.

i also just added a lancetilla to the order...i am having dreams about my mango trees...it doesn't help that i am pregnant so i am obsessing a bit and craving them

Thinking about getting a Nam Doc Mai and also maybe either Lancetilla or Mallika.
The UF extension says the Mallika is susceptible to disease so I am leaning toward the Lancetilla. The Lancetilla fruits are supposed to ripen in Aug- Sept so it seems like it might go good with the Nam Doc Mai which is supposed to ripen in June-July.

Here is a link that might be useful: U of FL Mango growing in FL

Hi Lenette,

Another Condo Mango variety you might like is "Cogshall", I have two planted in the ground here in Central FL. They have a very nice rounded canopy. I have never had to prune this tree yet, unlike my Keitt... I've never tasted the fruits yet, my tree is less than two years old. I have blooms, but I think I am going to lose them(temps are expected to be in the 30's by the end of the week) :o(
Good luck with your selection, I'm sure whatever you decide you will be happy with it. There are so many varieties to choose from...most of it is a matter of taste and preference. But to me there is NO such thing as a bad mango, LOL...

I posted a picture below so you can see the shape...notice how low the trunk is to the ground.

Tammy,

Here is what you have to look forward to...picture below of my potted Glenn mango. I've had potted up for almost 2 1/2 years. Its in full bloom now also...Good luck with your trees, I LOVE them also!!

Cogshall Mango

That's a very lovely photo of your glenn.

It's about time you posted here again Pug. Your trees look amazing. Two of mine have a few bloom spikes, but nothing like yours. How large of a pot do you have that Glenn in? Now we need updates on your Lychee's. Any flowers? Did your Carrie ever come around?

Thanks Jay and Jsvand for the compliments!!

Jsvand, Congrats on your trees having blooms! My Glenn is in 20" pot.

As for my Lychees,Nothing on my Sweetheart, but I see something very tiny growing, just not sure if its flowers yet? My Brewster has a combination of new leaf flush, and blooms at the same time. They are still quite small. Only problem is I think I will lose my Mango and Lychee blooms because we are forecasted to be 29° on Friday night and 32° tomorrow night. I know the blooms won't survive that. I am covering them with frost cloth, but I don't think that will be enough :o(
If the tree blooms survive...I will post pics.

Re: Carrie...not doing well, it still has that mango die back disease? But amazingly enough that one has three or four blooms also. It only has like 5 or 6 small branches, very small tree(stunted) I'll see if that makes it? All my Mangos are blooming for the first time! Why do we have to get frost now...ARGHHHH!!!

Here is my Glenn in ground!! I better enjoy this picture, after Saturday all the blooms will be DEAD!!

{{gwi:777508}}

puglvr1, great to see your trees are (alway!!!) doing great. good luck on the blooms.

Maybe try the Christmas light thing? Might get you a few extra degrees and maybe that will be enough to get through the night. I have all of my mangoes and lychee's in the greenhouse but I am still worried there is not enough heat right now for the blooms to mature. Good luck.

Smudge pots? You could do a modern day Gilligan's Island!!

puglvr your mangos are gorgeous. I have my fingers crossed for you that their flowers won't freeze! We are supposed to get to 22 tomorrow. I am dreading it! I am gonna be busy later wrapping things up with lights and whatever else I can find lol, I don't know if it will do any good or not. I had just put all those xmas lights away...now I gotta drag them all back out lol.

Would love to see your lychees when they bloom too.
~Lenette

Thanks everybody...appreciate the well wishes!

Just saw the latest forecast, its a couple of degrees warmer than what it said last night, still forecasted around 32°-34°(depending on what weather station you listen to) for tonight and maybe tomorrow night, hoping the tree will be fine?

Like you guys I am doing everything I can to try and protect it. I will cover the tree with frost cloth, but the tree is too wide(the weight of the flowers are dragging it) and the cloth will not go all the way down. I'd like to try and save some of the flowers if possible! I already wrapped the trunks with (carpet)foam to try and insulate the graft area. I put some Christmas lights on the soil also(I will turn them on if the temps get down to 32° or colder) and hopefully that will keep the soil a little warmer?

Jay, thanks for the smudgepots idea, I am one of those OCD people and will be too worried about a fire, LOL...Plus the home owners will have a field day with that one!!

Good luck Jsvand and Lenette...you guys are definitely getting much colder than me. At least Js, you have a greenhouse...that should do well for you with the added Christmas lights!

Cut off all the flowers before the cold hits as to promote flowering again, (hopefully when the weather heats up). This usually works for me.

Hayden

Well, just wanted to update...we had three nights of
"frost/freeze" here in many parts of FL. I covered all the trees with frost cloth and added some Christmas lights, but it was NOT enough!! The mango trees all look like someone lit it on fire, the lychee trees look a lot better in comparison to the mango, but Lychee blooms are all fried also. Some of the Lychee leaves sustained some freeze damange, but not nowhere as bad as the Mango trees!I guess no fruit this year :o(

I will cut off all the blooms on the Mango and see if it will Re-Bloom, thanks Hayden...hope it works? I have read and was told sometimes it will re-bloom, but the tree are so stressed and frost damaged, I'm just not sure it is capable of doing that at this stage!

I just hope the trees are going to survive...have to wait and see in a few days/weeks and see what happens!

Three nights in a row, really took its toll on them *sigh*

Sucks to hear that. Those blooms on your trees were looking great. I hope at least your trees make it. Any before and after pics? Hopefully the branches are still green when you clip the blooms.

I think I may have lost my two avocado trees. They were supposed to be very cold tolerant varieties (Brogdon and Day) so I took the chance and placed then in ground, but they look to be toast.

Here's what I woke up to for at least two mornings in a row!! Ice on the lawn!!Central FL mind you!

My dead Lychee(Brewster) blooms...the tree overall seems okay...several small branches got frost damage.
{{gwi:1318710}}

Good luck with your avocadoes!

Wow, that mango looks pretty sad. I hope it pulls through for you. Are there any leaves at all inside the canopy that survived? Was the frost cloth actually touching the lychee blooms? On my sweetheart I had the frost cloth suspended above the tree with bamboo stakes and everything seems to be ok. I was able to keep it quite a bit warmer though because my tree is much smaller than yours. For next year I am going to get a small circular greenhouse to keep over it for the winter. Where I am I don't think I would ever get any blooms to survive the winter without it. We always seem to get that one killer cold front every year.

pug,

i am so sorry about your trees. they were looking so beautiful. do you think the damage is from the frost cloths touching the leaves or that the lights did not warm the air enough?

how did the mango in the container do?

i really hope your trees recover :(

Thanks guys!!

Js, yes there are some leaves that are not as damaged inside the canopy...but not many. The back side of that picture is less damaged. I took a picture of the side that was the "worst" side.

The frost cloth went all the way down...I had to sew two pieces of 10x12 together(20x24) so it would cover the whole tree. I din't have any bamboo stakes...the trees were pretty tall. I couldn't find stakes tall enough...even if I did the 20x24 would not have been big enough to go all the way down and wrap it around the whole tree. These were so much easier to protect when they were small.

Yes, I'm sure the frost cloth is partially to blame for
the foliar damage...but it has to have better than not covering it at all!

I'll let you know in several weeks if it makes it!

Tammy, My Keitt planted in the ground is in much better shape, has damages but not nearly as bad as the Glenn. The container Glenn has no damage at all since I put that inside the garage, thank goodness!

pug, at least a few of your mango trees didnt suffer as much damage.

i think i may have to work on a structure for my trees...i think i may use pvc pipe and just have some holders in the ground that i can fit other pipes in quickly when needed...

I'm sorry to hear about your trees puglvr. I'm sure, given time, they'll make a strong comeback.

Tammy, that's a good plan. One I'm sure you will be glad you implemented when the time comes. Yes, I'm so glad not all of them look like that. Even though all the blooms are dead, at least if the tree lives, it will be worth all the work protecting them! Freeze happens...you can only do so much!!Three nights in a row is "rare" here.

Thanks NTM...I hope you are right.

Your poor babies!! Really sorry to hear about that. I am hoping they will bounce back once it warms up. Ma nature is sure nasty this winter!
We also had 2 really horrible nights down into the 20's. My back still is hurting from dragging pots into the house and garage. Some stuff I had covered in the yard with xmas lights still got badly burnt. It looks like a massive blow torch went through all my brugmansia lol. At least they will all return from the roots. Luckily I could move in the fruit trees etc because they are all still in pots.

I bought a few new dragonfruits I am glad they didn't freeze during shipping lol.

Hey pug, how bad was it the last two days by you? I was pretty bad by me. All of the blooms/new growth on my citrus are toast. The tropicals all seem to have made out ok.

Jasmine, sorry to hear about some of your plants...I feel your pain! Good luck and hope they recover also.

Hey Js,

Night before last was really bad... somewhere around 27° for at least 5 hours...last night's forecast also called for 26°-27°, thank God that didn't happen. I got lucky, I think it only made it to 32° for about an hour or so, and by 7am it was 34°. The trees all got covered and lights were put underneath them, so no further damage that I saw this morning. But the damage was "severe" on a couple of the trees from the freeze from two weeks ago, just hoping for a recovery for now. The trunk looks nice and healthy. The leaves all are severly "burnt"...all brown, starting to defoliate. Just hoping it will re-flush around March/April?

Sorry to hear about your citrus blooms, I also lost a 90% of my blooms off my potted Meyer lemon. Lot of leaves, yellowed/browned are falling off. Glad your other trees fared well! I'm glad for you...At least someone will have mangos and lychees.

Wish me luck! Please no more frost/freeze for the rest of the year...I want our Fl weather back!

hi pug, sorry for your trees and the loss of the blooms. on the bright side your lychee will grow more this year than what it would be able to if it fruits. Hope your mango recover soon.

Hi Phase, Thanks for the sympathies **sniff**

That is one way of looking at it...maybe next year the tree will be bigger and more mature, hopefully be able to take the extreme weather better?

Keep us posted with your lychee blooms...good luck!

Pug, where do you find the Citrus and Palm Dynamite? The HD near me seems to carry every type but the citrus and palm.

Jsvand,

I can't find it here either...check out the link I posted last year on the Citrus forum. Only problem is I only have one container left...went to get another one, they didn't have it. I am going to have to bring my old container and see if they still carry it? Maybe they can order it for me. Just haven't had a chance to go back and talk to the nursery mangaer. I'm glad I still have the container to show them(so they don't say we don't sell that)!

Scroll down to almost the end of the thread...I posted a picture of the Container.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lowe's Citrus and Palm(made by the same company as Dynamite)

Any updates on your mangoes Pug? I would think you should be seeing some new growth by now.