I have 15 different types of mango seedlings up for grabs. I am willing to trade for seedlings, plants or mango/avocado budwood. Baptiste (15) Tess Pollack (5) Lemon Meringue (4) Florigon (5) Cogshall (5) Chocanon (5) Rosa (7) Julie (1) Carrie (1) Dwarf Hawaiian (3) Madame Francis (2) Glenn (7) Haden (3) Pim Sane Mun (9) Su Su Mata (4) Please send all offers via PM. Ideally I am looking for someone in South Florida or who will be in the area because it is such a pain to ship seedlings. Don't get me wrong, I am willing to ship but would prefer the path of least resistance.

Update - warning long read. I performed quite a bit of research and the process for California residents is as follows: 1. Fill out form USDA/APHIS form PPQ-546, Post Entry Quarantine Permit. There is no cost to this form. It must be submitted to the CDFA (California Dept. of Food & Ag). The CDFA then contacts your local county agricultural dept. to perform a site inspection. There is no charge for this site inspection. The local county inspector signs off on the form and the CDFA then sends it to the USDA/APHIS. 2. CDFA has to perform 2 inspections of the plant material, once it arrives and at the end of the quarantine period of 2 years for mangos. I'm still not quite clear on this. There is a cost associated with these inspections that are performed by a CDFA pathologist. Furthermore, if anything unusual happens to the imported plant material, you have to report it and they have to come out for inspection again. Due to budget issues, the CDFA only has three service locations throughout CA. The closest one to us is Sacramento. Since I live in San Jose, the travel fee is $150 and the inspection cost is billed at $60hr. I'm attempting to get a more precise cost estimate but have been told it should take no more than a half hour to perform the site inspection since it is residential. So the cost for two inspections comes out to $420. If a plant dies or gets diseased, the cost will increase. Another issue is that all imported plant material has to be federally inspected also at PIS (plant inspection sites). There is one close to SFO, yet I cannot transport the plant material from the airport to the PIS. It has to be done by a customs bonded carrier. I do not know if there is a charge for the PIS inspections but most likely there is. And also do not understand why the CDFA has to inspect the material once the Feds have already initially done it. They suggested mailing the plant material directly to the PIS station in SFO as this is the typical course of action. So as you can see, this process is quite elaborate and I'm sure there are a few more details I have not come across yet. I don't mind all these little steps as I wasn't expecting any less being a current govt. employee, but feel the cost associated is a bit high. I was hoping it would be around $300 max. I have a friend at work who is an entomologist and heads the pest management department, he expained some of the barriers and overlap between the CDFA and USDA. I was hoping my local county could perform the inspections as they do have a working pathologist on site and he is going to see if he can help. I might have given him mango fever because he said he would split the cost with me but his total cost estimate was around $750. I don't mind paying the hourly cost, it's the travel distance cost that is quite high. Moreover, if I bring back 12 plants and have two die at separate times, that will prompt two additional inspections at an estimated $210 each. the PEQ program is meant for commercial nurseries/farm use and not us residents but will accomodate us crazed citizens. I'll continue to research more and will eventually decide if I want to go through with it. Cheers, Desimango

Well I bought a Valencia Pride tree today from my local nursery here in East Central Florida. I had pre-ordered an Alphonso mango in a 30 gallon container and a Phoenix mango in a 7 gallon container. As it happens they had received a huge delivery of mangoes that also included my order. So in addition to the previously mentioned mangoes I also purchased a second Alphonso in a 15 gal container and a Valencia Pride in a 15 gallon container. I ignored the Haden mango tree next to it because I thought that tree gets too big. I had been thinking about getting a Valencia Pride for a long time. I didn't realize they got so big though. No matter I have an empty spot in my front yard where my old Aberquina Olive tree used to be. That tree died earlier this year and there isn't much around it so that is where I will plant it. Normally I don't like to put mango trees in parts of my yard which are not fenced because my past experience in South Florida tells me the fruit is likely to be stolen by random strangers who live near by. They seem to think that if the tree is accessible then it's ok to steal the fruit from it. I think in East Central Florida where I live now though things might be different. For one thing there are fewer people here and second there are no sidewalks in my neighborhood so few people take leisurely strolls around the neighborhood. But most important of all though the paved street in front of my property can serve as a heat source during cold (such as it is in Florida) winter nights. The sun will bake the asphalt during the day and the asphalt will radiate that heat out during the night. That will hopefully keep the air temperature a little higher around the tree and prevent limb damage or the death of flowers. All things considered I am happy I purchased the Valencia Pride. I grew up in South Florida and we always had mango trees in our property. One of my favorite varieties from when I was a boy is the Kent mango which makes a really big piece of fruit. By all accounts the VP makes a similar large fruit. That's good because I have also have Glenn mango trees right now in my property which makes rather small fruit. It is nice to have a mix it up a bit and get a tree like VP that will make a big piece of fruit. Unlike the Kent which has more roundish fruit the VP fruit is sigmoidal. Some people think that looks pretty but I don't care that much about the shape of the fruit. I just care about what it taste like.

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents worth of info, since this is a very interesting topic,...mainly due to my love of mango's,..have been growing the trees for 21 years now,..started in the Upper keys ( Islamorada ), and wound up here in Englewood planting various types since 2004. Wherever I live I have had a minimum of 2 mango trees in my backyard. Have tried at least 10 different varieties, won't go into the ones I didn't care for, just the 3 that I've fallen in love with and rate them at the top. No 1 is Kent, a large red mango that ripens in late July where i am now ( zone 10a in SW Fla ) The taste is fantastic IMHO ! My tree now is only in the ground one year, still has 7 red beauties still hanging on,..none have fallen into the grass yet ! Eventually this will be a huge tree, topping out anywhere from 45' to 55 ',..so the experts tell me. The fruit flies, which have attacked this tree mostly, have not shown up this year, but i still hung 2 apple-cider-vinegar jugs just to be safe,..trapped less than 20 it looks like. No 2 and No 3 are tied for second,..both fantastic producers, my Glenn is now in the ground for 10 yrs and is about 22- 24 FT tall and won't go much higher,..maybe 27 ' max. The last yellow/red fruit dropped 2 days ago, and I beat the critters to it because I was out there at 06:15 AM. i think the critters here are a bit lazy this yr for some reason ! :o) It only had about 150 fruits this yr, - that's because I gave it a heavy pruning last Sept. The year before, that tree had easily 250 + mango's. My last favorite tree, tied for # 2, is the Valencia Pride. easily the fastest growing tree of any I have planted. And it'll be the largest tree of all,..topping out around 60 ',..so I've been told ! The fruits are humongous,..and delicious,..again IMHO ! It ripens the latest, usually late Aug /early Sept. Had to cut mine down this year, but don't want to put a sad tone to this post. Getting older, not younger,...2 huge fruit trees will keep me on my toes for 6 months,..all the exercise I want now ! My friends and neighbors here call me " Mango Man " !The fruits I didn't give away are in my free standing freezer which is full to the top with frozen mango slices that will last me ( I only put 'em on my cereal in AM ) thru January !