Marvellous Maha Chanok Seedling (Part 2)

Last year in January, we reported on the progress of our Maha Chanok seedling mango tree. At that time, it was in its second fruiting year and holding five large mangoes. These lovely mangoes continued to hold on the tree, one harvested in February and the others picked in early and mid-April.

Now five years old and in its third fruiting year, the Maha Chanok seedling is beginning to take a more adult shape, akin to the shape of its famous parent tree: it is a small and slow-growing tree, with a drooping habit, some of the fruit-bearing limbs requiring support.

Note the compact but drooping habit of the seedling tree. Note also the limb supports...

Most importantly, the tree is holding 11 mangoes, of varying shapes, from medium size to very large, some appearing to be over one kilo in weight. This has followed an unusual flowering season. In June, a winter deepened, I was forced to remove many precocious flower heads: these had developed during an autumn of unseasonably high temperatures. After the removal of these first flowers, the tree then produced new flower heads (or panicles) to obey its normal Sydney October flowering pattern.

From small...

To large... Seedlings grown from Maha Chanok fruit may not grow true-to-type, as you can see from the shape of this large fruit. 

With local mangoes no longer available in Sydney stores in April, we look forward eagerly to our late season fruit delights.

By clicking on the Mango label of this blog (above), you can follow the progress of our Maha Chanok seedling tree over the past two seasons.

For those among you who are interested in seeing an orchard of Thai Maha Chanok mango trees, please visit this link. The commentary of the video is in Thai. However, from the pictures, one can gain an insight into the growth habit of the trees bearing these highly-rated mangoes.

Note the slight reddening of the top of the fruit: this red 'face' will become more pronounced as it ripens, a characteristic of the parent fruit.

Wishing you hours of enjoyment and contentment in your garden…