First of
Our Season: Seedling Mangoes
Our local Sydney stores are draining of succulent mangoes. Home
gardeners have plucked their bounty of famous Kensington Prides, while the last
of the KPs in the shops are super expensive. There are still some Keitt mangoes
for sale, as well as the Brooks variety, which is the latest maturing
commercial variety in Australia. Essentially, the end of the mango season is nigh
for another year.
 |
| A pair of late season Brooks mangoes |
How lucky are we then to have luscious home-grown mangoes at
season’s end? Our bounty is just beginning…
Over the past two weeks, we have harvested the first of this
season’s crop from our Maha Chanok Seedling tree. In its third fruiting year,
the small, head-height tree holds ten mangoes: two small fruit, the rest are
absolute thumpers, our first two fruits weighing above one kilo! Each!
Luckily, there are three of us to consume these monsters… a
mango face each for two lucky householders while the third person gets to munch
on the abundant flesh around the super-thin seed. Mildly aromatic, fibre-free,
sweet, melt-in-your-mouth… Mmm!
 |
| 1.2 kilos... Dessert for three! |
Because of its over-sized, sensationally-sweet fruit, our
seedling Maha Chanok has become the supreme tree of our small suburban garden.
A risky experiment turned highly successful! But why?
Across the internet, there is a lot of ‘bad press’ about
growing seedling mango trees. Some of this ‘bad press’ emanates from the belief
that seedling mangoes take many more years to fruit than their grafted cousins.
This, however, is not our experience, having grown three seedling mangoes in
this garden, all of which have begun to bear first fruits in the third year
after planting.
Another bone of contention is related to the type of seed.
Some mango varieties produce seeds with more than one embryo
(polyembryonic). Many of the Asian mangoes, as well as Kensington Pride,
produce polyembryonic seeds, which will generally grow more than one seedling
shoot, most of which are true-to-type. This means that if you plant a
Kensington Pride seed, the chances are that the resultant seedling tree will
also be a Kensington Pride.
Other mango varieties produce seeds with a single embryo
(monoembryonic). Monoembryonic mangoes will produce a single seedling bearing
the characteristics of two parent trees. Herein lies the problem… the
seedling will differ, in some ways, from the original mango.
But is this a bad thing?
Growing mangoes from the seeds of monoembryonic varieties
can be risky for the backyard gardener. Obviously, you will know the mango
cultivar from which you extracted the seed. But will you know the other parent
pollinator? With limited space in a home garden, does one want to grow an
inferior mango?
However, growing a monoembryonic seedling does not guarantee
an inferior tree: it is just one of many possibilities, including perhaps,
growing a superior tree.
 |
| The super thin seed shuck of the Maha Chanok seedling |
 |
| A typical monoembryonic mango seed |
Maha Chanok is a monoembryonic Thai mango variety. Our
seedling tree is not genuine Maha Chanok. It has the growth habit, the fruit
colour, the flavour and eating quality of its famed parent, but differs in
the fruit size and shape. Despite its
differences, it is wonderful in its own right: a mango which simply cannot be
purchased in a shop. A talking point… and a very tasty, exotic talking point at
that!
 |
| More to come... |
Now, we await our next experimental seedling. This is another
monoembryonic mango, the American variety, Kent. At the moment, it stands
happily and proudly in a large pot, and I suspect that it will have its first
flowers in October. Here’s to the progeny…
 |
| Standing with it potted friends |
So, is the planting of a seedling mango worth the risk to
you? It certainly has been for us!
Wishing you hours of enjoyment and contentment in your
garden…
