We have been waiting a whole year for mango season to return and it’s finally here. Glenn… Carrie… Florigon… Kent… Keitt. They are all back. We sure did miss you.
You might have noticed that the mangos are ripening either later or earlier than what you may remember. There’s a reason for that, and it’s all due to the temperatures of last fall and winter.
Last fall around Thanksgiving we had a cold snap when for several nights the temperatures got into the 50’s. Low temperatures in the winter are the trigger for mango trees to make flowers, and from flowers will (usually) follow fruit. There were enough low temperatures in late November 2016 to cause some, or all, of the branches of the mango trees to flower.
In January, we got another spell of low temperatures. Those temps caused some of the other mango branches to flower.
And the low temperatures came again around March/April. And more flowers followed. At one point here in the Park we had three different sizes of mangos AND a few flowers on the same tree!
So if your neighbors Glenn mango tree has already fruited, and you haven’t eaten any of your Glenn mangos yet, don’t be alarmed. Your tree just needed a little more of those low temperatures to kick it into bloom. Just be patient. It won’t be long.
Other trees that are fruiting in the park this month are:
White Sapote, Casimiroa edulis
Mamey Sapote, Pouteria sapota
Kei Apple, Dovyalis caffra
Imbe, Garcinia livingstonei
Strawberry tree, Muntingia calabura
Sapodilla, Manilkara zapota
Cinnamon Apple, Pouteria hypoglauca
Mulberry, Morus spp.
