Well hopefully you aren't under the impression that Carrie and Cogshall are 'dwarf' trees....because unfortunately they aren't. But they're both really good mangoes. Carrie is pretty productive and very fungus resistant. Cogshall is more colorful and reasonably productive also.

I can't recommend Julie or Ice Cream because of their production issues....but I can't recall where you are located, and that's a factor. Julie does have excellent flavor though.

Pickering or Fairchild might be the best choices if you want small trees that produce lots of tasty fruit. Pickering in particular seems to actually deserve the 'dwarf' label based on the trees I've seen.

Alexi:

I would echo just about all of Squam's comments. Definitely, do not go with Julie or Ice cream for the Pembroke Pines area. I would consider the two bottom line recommendations that Squam makes (Pickering and Fairchild) and add to the possible mix Angie. The fruit is excellent and seems to be smallish is growth habit. But, I have only had it in the ground for a year....so the jury may be out on that. For sheer smallness of size and production of fruit your best bet would be Pickering.

Harry

Thanks Squam and Harry! I've had a feeling that Pickering was going to be a winner. The fruit looks and sounds very tasty and the tree is a true dwarf.

The nam doc mai #4 appears to be a dwarf tree. My neighbor's NDM4 is barely 6 feet tall with a trunk as thick as a soda can. Meanwhile my regular NDM is 15 feet tall at 6 years of age.

Jeff

Jeff, is NDM #4 the one that's prone to split open?

I gor a pickering in a small space based on recommendations I got from folks and reading up on it...

mangodog

Oh and Alexi.....re: that Norfolk Pine....not sure how large large is, but I'd cut that sucker down asap. They get absolutely huge, snap in a storm and land on your other trees or the roof of your house and cause extensive damage in windstorms. They produce nothing edible and while they don't take up that much lateral space, they get very expensive to remove as they get larger and larger.

Harry

I know. To add insult to injury, it's right by the power lines... It's about 25-30ft tall. In fact, there's a guy who has a landscaping company just down the street from me. I'll see if he can chop down the norfolk pine and grind the stump.

Without the norfolk pine, I'll have space for a angie mango if I can get access to one. :) When the time comes, I'll look up different local tropical fruit nurseries to see who has angie mango in stock.

Fairchild garden is the only place I know of that sells Angie. Haven't heard of any nurseries selling it.

Fairchild actually sold out of Angie trees at this year's festival so it seems to be pretty sought after right now.

Wow. Worst case scenario, I'll get a Carrie. I really liked the carrie mango I ate last year. Liked it much more than the Haden.

Here is a video on the Carrie mango. It is a slow grower. My own 3 year old tree is bushy and 8ft high by 8ft wide. I fed it no fertilizer until last month. If I had fertilized it all along it would be bigger today. I should have been fertilizing it with 8-3-9/with minors or similar fertilizer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Carrie video -- good informations

Thanks for the info zands! Looks like Carrie will be the winner as soon as I get this norfolk pine terminated.

If you are looking for the "best tasting" dwarf, I sure wouldn't be choosing a Carrie, but that's just my opinion. I would look toward the NDM dwarf (if what Jeff says is hearty and a true dwarf), Neelum (although it is a late season), Fairchild, Duncan (can be kept dwarf-like with some pruning), Mallika (depending on who you talk to, I have heard it can be finicky but to me one of the best tasting). Except for Neelum, most of these are not true early season mango but June-July, depending on the weather/season. In any event, to me, a Carrie is not good use of the space unless you truly love the taste (some love it but there are also a fair number who do not). Since you are asking it would seem to me you are not completely aware of the taste. Also, you do have a Glenn, definite early season, and you also have Valencia and Kent, which for the most part are the July to August, again, depending on weather/season, so why not go "in the middle" with June-July ?

Doesn't sound like a bad idea. I was looking for a small dwarf mango to put between the norfolk pine and the brogdon avocado. Now, I'm going to eliminate the pine, which is actually a group of triplets with one base. Without the pine there will be enough space for even a regular nam doc mai, which are supposedly suitable for a small yard and the season is june-july like you suggested.

http://www.tropicalfruitnursery.com/mango/nam-doc-mai-mango.shtml

Now it looks like the regular NDM is the winner. :) Thanks for the suggestion bsbullie.

By the way, I tend to stay away from PIN descriptors. I like the following:

http://www.virtualherbarium.org/tropicalfruit/mangotrees.html

I've seen that website before. The descriptions are more helpful and it shows varieties that PIN doesn't show. Thanks!

TG89-
Here is my Carrie photo (I used the flash) just to show its 8ft x 8ft size bushiness after 3 years. Nice new growth due to fertilizing for the first time a few weeks ago. I planted it too close to house so the right side that gets more sunlight is full and rounded but the left side near overgrown bougainvillea is not. Have to trim my bougainvillea
I had a tall 50ft Norfolk pine I got topped off to 20ft. It looks like a Christmas tree. I was afraid of it drawing lightning. Too bad yours is near power lines. Might be hazardous to do it in yourself.
Try to scoop up the chips into container as the stump is being ground down. Don't let them mix with the soil because they will rob nitrogen from soil. Use them as a mulch. That's my take.

Here is a link that might be useful: my 8ft x 8ft Carrie mango

Not just attract lightning, but topple over and damage your roof. Besides brittle wood, they are shallow-rooted. Your carrie mango looks great! 8 x 8 in 3 years is not bad at all for a Carrie.

Don't worry, I never mix any sort of mulch into the soil. I only apply it to the surface of the soil to hold in moisture. Also, when it decomposes it will add a new soil layer.

I'm getting mixed reviews about the taste of Carrie and I'm not 100 percent sure that the mango I ate last year was a carrie. It was soft, completely fiber-less, herby/kinda of spicy, sweet, very juicy, mostly green with a bit of a yellow blush and the flesh was yellowish-orange. The seed had a small beak near the bottom.
This is the only space I have left in the backyard so I want to make sure that the mango tree I buy is money well spent. I have yet to see a bad review on the regular Nam Doc Mai. I already have a bunch of florida mangoes. Adding an Asian mango to my smallish mango collection sounds like an interesting idea.

"kent, a valencia pride and a glenn mango tree"

The case for (Nam Doc Mai) NDM #4 (which is a dwarf) is also that it is Thai/IndoChinese mango. The above three you have are not. Today all NDM are the #4. If you had bought an NDM 5-7 years ago it was not a #4

I would also consider the new Lemon Zest mango. It is IndoChinese variety that Zill "invented". I had a sample recently and it tasted like orange sherbert. Others say it tastes like orange sherbert. It is not a bushy mango so you would have to prune it to be small-medium.

Jeff Hagen who posts here has some Lemon Zest for sale, as of yesterday at least. They are hot items.

I have two Lemon Zests in pots, to be planted when they get a little bigger

This is the only space I have left in the backyard so I want to make sure that the mango tree I buy is money well spent. I have yet to see a bad review on the regular Nam Doc Mai. I already have a bunch of florida mangoes. Adding an Asian mango to my smallish mango collection sounds like an interesting idea.

By Asian mango you mean Thai/Indochinese mango. Ye old school Florida mangoes are also originally from Asia but from the India/Pakistan region. Those are the two great mango lineages---
1- India/Pakistan
2- Indochina --- which includes mangoes of Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Southern China, Burma and more

As of a few months ago, every major nursery in South Florida is now selling the NDM #4. In my limited experience (comparing my neighbor's tree with mine), the NDM #4 appears to be much more dwarf. It's a fantastic tasting mango. The drawbacks include tendency towards splitting and jelly seed. As far as I know, you can lessen the tendency of both issues by cutting back on nitrogen (unless you're on muck soil). You can mitigate jelly seed by harvesting mature green. The NDM can also be eaten mature green, which is an incredibly tasty treat. All factors considered, it's an excellent tree.

As for the the lemon zest - that mango blew me away. I thought Sheehan was yankin' our chains when he rated it as the best mango he'd tasted. But, I'm going to have to agree with him - best tasting mango I've ever had. It's like eating orange sherbet ice cream - sweeeeet with a strong orange flavor. Unfortunately it's reported as being a 'full-growing' mango tree - so no dice for those of you looking for a dwarf tree :-).

Jeff

tropicalgrower - you have mail.

And if you are throing in the Lemon Zest as a choice, I would have to add the newly named Coconut Cream. But as with the Lemon Zest, from what I have been told, the jury is still out as to the true growth habit. I will be raising both (will take possession this weekend, thanks Jeff), and will attempt to see how they can be kept to a manageable size.

That Lemon Zest is catching my attention. Growing too big? Oh well. Don't mind trimming it... :)

Well. All this hype was for nothing. My mom wants to save the space for another grafted mamey sapote. Thanks a lot for your help guys! I really appreciate it.

Well depending on how much you like mamey.....not necessarily a bad choice either :).

Yup. :)

does this mean a new thread..."what mamey should I get" ? :)

LOL I know what mamey I'm going to get. :)

Went by Jeff's place today and bought a grafted pace mamey and a grafted Nam Doc Mai #4. The trees look extremely healthy. I got to taste a sample of Lemon Zest and NDM #4. The NDM #4 was great! Fiberless, sweet and rich with honey-like flavor. The Lemon Zest left me speechless. It tasted like a sweet rich pina colada with a hint of orange. In fact, I'm going back next weekend to buy a lemon zest. Just realized my front yard needed a nice tree that provides lots of shade. So I thought, Lemon Zest... I don't have to worry much about people stealing my mangoes since it's a very quiet and safe neighborhood. My neighbor across the street always leave their windows open and I'm going to buy a home surveillance system.
Actually, I might just move the valencia pride to the front yard and plant the lemon zest in the back.

"I might just move the valencia pride to the front yard and plant the lemon zest in the back."

Definitely a smart move. Let them steal the VP if they want...keep the Lemon Zest out of sight :)

Wish I had a lot more room, need a mamey and a sap...

You are making some good choices Alexi. You plant fruit trees for others and people you will never know. Of course you plant them for your family too but a long lived fruit tree extends far beyond you planting it today and eating it's first fruit in a year or two. You plant it now and it is your gift to others 5,10,20,30,40 years from now. It is a way of making your mark.

I met you and Carlos (your dad) at Jeff's today.

That's a good way to think about growing fruit trees. :)

It was nice meeting you zands.

@tropicalgrower89 -- "The Lemon Zest left me speechless. It tasted like a sweet rich pina colada with a hint of orange."

If there is an award show for most enticing description of a fruit's flavor, you are a shoe-in for a lifetime achievement award.

^lol Thanks.

Is there anyone that owns a Maha Shanook mango and a Pickering mango and would be willing to offer a seed of one of these trees for sale?
Thank you.

I have a Kent, Carrie, Glenn, and Zill. I love my Kent and Glenn, but the Carrie always out performs both of them. The Carrie has a weird taste to it, and I think I just learned on here that I might be picking it too late or something.

Anyway, I am in volusia county Florida and cold snaps really hurt, especially when your trees are too large to cover. They had a terrible time in 26 degrees for 4 hours, died back about 2/3’s the way back. However they came right back with a vengeance and are all fruiting this year.

I’m going with a NDM 4, an Alfonso, a Madame Francis, and a fruit punch, oh and a coconut cream this year. I will say I had a lemon meringue tree that fruited before it died in a

2010 cold snap, but it was amazing!!