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hmhausman

Maha Chanook Seedlings Project

hmhausman
13 years ago

I wanted to start a thread to document my three Maha Chanook seedlings' progress through this blooming/fruiting season. I have Id'd the trees based upon their planted location forming a triangle shape with one tree planted at the southern point of the triangle (S), one at the Northwest (NW) and the last at the Northeast (NE). They look like this today.

The pannicles and apparent fruit production,at least thus far are very different.

The South tree has medium to light fruit set with yellowish-pink coloring in the pannicles and blooms.

The northwest tree has more pink-red pannicles and flowers and almost no fruit set at all.

The northeast tree is also red in coloration and has moderate to heavy fruit set.

I'll be updating this as the season goes on.

Harry

Comments (51)

  • Andrew Scott
    13 years ago

    Very interesting Harry! I really appreciarte you taking them time to document this. I(and I am sure the others) will be very curious as to how these progress.

    It is interesting to see how 3 seedlings from the same variety can produce such diffrent pannicles.

    I also wonder about them being polyembyonic. I am just kicking myself that I lost my only Maha Seedling last summer. Still don't fully understnsd why. Only logical explanation to me is that there must have been something wrong with the seed itself.

    I am looking forward to the updates!

    Andrew

  • gomango
    13 years ago

    Thanks for the thread Harry.

    When did you plant the seeds? Is this the first time they have flowered? It will be interesting to see how the progeny of monoembryonic varieties compare to the maternal parent. Do you know what varieties were planted at what distance to the mother tree to see what the likely pollen donor is if there were not self pollinated?
    David

  • simon_grow
    13 years ago

    Beautiful seedling grown trees Harry! From the pics you posted, it looks like two of the seedlings are larger than the last one. I wonder if wind direction might affect pollination/fruit set? It would be interesting to see if there is any correlation between overall canopy size and actual amount of fruit harvested.

    I like the reliability of grafted fruit trees but I love the natural beauty and adaptability of seedling grown trees. Tap roots are great because in my opinion, they help anchor the plant better and make the plant more drought tolerant. There is also that possibility that the fruit from a seedling can be of excellent quality. Please keep us updated on these three beauties!
    Simon

  • abayomi
    13 years ago

    Very interested in this project....to replicate also.

  • hmhausman
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Figured we needed an actual Maha Chanook to do comparison with. The problem is, depending on where you look on which tree (I have four planted out), you may see this:

    Or you might see this:

    I was out today scouring the NW tree for any sign of fruit. While I couldn't see every pannicle as the result of some being too high, on the lower brancehes I saw exactly one tiny fruitlet. Hoefully there are more above, but it isn't looking good. As to why this is......well, the NW tree is smaller in height and in diameter of trunk. Not sure if this has anything to do with it. Being on the NW side, it probably gets the least of direct sunlight...especially in the winter when the sun is in the southern sky. Interestingly though, the one fruitlet I found was in the center of the tree and wouldn't have gotten sun at all...or at least not much. I have had trees fruit only on one side...usually the sunny side so this may account for this. However, that is usually a blooming issue.....the flowers only bloom on the sunny side. So, the jury is still out on this.

    David:

    The seeds were planted quite some time ago. I don't really remember exactly, but I would say on the order of 12 years or so. The closest Maha Chanook to these seedlings is probabluy 100 yards or so. There are at least 40 or so mango trees that are in bloom that are closer to them.

    Gary:

    I always thought of Maha Chanook as mono-embryonic based on the seed....how it looks, and how many plants come up from each seed......that number would be always one. The shape of the fruit suggests an East Asian origin and a poly-embryonic seed. The differences in the inflorescences seem to bear out that these are not clones of the parent as I surmised.

    Simon:

    Thanks. Not sure about the wind issue. While our prevailing winds during the year are from the east and southeast, in the winter there are many a day with Northerly winds.

    Andrew:

    Sorry to hear about the seedling dying from the Maha Chanook I sent you. There will be more.....so hang in there, now that you have your own tree.

    Harry

  • puglvr1
    13 years ago

    Very interesting thread Harry! Will be watching this thread on its progress. It would be great to see for sure if the seedling trees will produce fruits that are true to its parents or not? Thanks for taking the time to post...I for one am looking forward to tasting at least one of these much anticipated and well recommended fruit.

  • hmhausman
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    I took some updated photos today showing the fruit on each seedling tree. The Northwest tree has a total of three fruits set. The largest of which looks like this:

    The southern tree has more, but not a lot of fruits set and they look like this.

    The most prolific production is on the northeast tree and they look like this:

  • swrancher
    13 years ago

    Harry,

    Don't ask me why but I just had a stray random thought that the "Southern tree's" fruit will be something special worth keeping. If its a great one, remember I called it first...

    I have a nice vigorous rootstock ready, can we try another graft on one of your Maha Chanook trees soon?

    Tony

  • mangodog
    13 years ago

    Thanks for the pics Harry....I love the blush on the baby Maha's....and ......so ..... NEED one......WANT one!!!!!!!!!

    LOL

    MangoFurBall

  • hmhausman
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Its been a month since the last update. The fruits are sizing up. The NorthWest tree is down to its last fruit from the three it finally ended setting. With all of the mangoes dropping, the odds that I will get to try it this year are not good. It looks like this:

    The Southern tree has a few fruits, but is in jeopardy of not having enough to make it to maturity. I think there are maybe 7 or 8 fruits in total. They look like this:

    The NorthEast tree, in the meanwhile, still has lots of fruits and will have many reach maturity. They are also almost double the size of the other tree's fruits. They look like this:

  • hmhausman
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Ooops, forgot a current picture of the real Maha Chanook for comparison. This is the most developed of th Maha fruits as of today:

  • adiel
    12 years ago

    Harry, wow that is incredible. Each of the 3 new mangos look different from "mom" Maha-Chanook. Finally your long, hard work is paying off. Keep up the good work and thank you for taking the time to share your research. I can't wait to see your taste test results. :)

    Adiel

  • swrancher
    12 years ago

    Very exciting, I hope they turn out to be something special.

  • puglvr1
    12 years ago

    They all look great...I hope they all taste good too, its very interesting how different they look. Thanks for the updates.

  • mangodog
    12 years ago

    TASTE.....TASTE.....TASTE.....TASTE.......

    I can't wait for your tongue's analysis.........


    madmangowoofie

  • tropicalgrower89
    12 years ago

    Nice! The seedling maha chanook seems to have more of a red blush while the other one is all green.

  • hmhausman
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    A bit behind in my updating this thread. These are the updated, although somewhat blurred, photos of the fruit and tree.

    NW tree.....with the one and only remaining fruit continues to be the largest of the three seedling fruits.

    From May 31, 2011

    The S tree has about 5 fruits and are the smallest of the three.

    From May 31, 2011

    Then there is the NE tree with the most fruits.....very dynamic coloration, not really captured in the photo. There are about 25 of these on the tree.

    From May 31, 2011

    Of note, the Lycheeluva/Murahilin/FruitGuy/SWRancher visit on Sunday encountered the tasting of one of the brightly colored fruits from the NE tree. It was knocked off pre-maturely either by my dogs or by some stem rot or a combination of the two. The good news......the flesh of the fruit was light colored and seemed fiber free except directly attached to and around the seed. The bad news....not much flavor to speak of. Hopefully, this was because of the fruit's immaturity. Stay tuned on this issue. I remain somewhat hopeful of a better evaluation result still to come.

    Harry

  • puglvr1
    12 years ago

    Nice Harry...I love the beautiful colors on those fruits. I hope the taste on the next one is much better. Thanks for the update.

  • mangodog
    12 years ago

    pugsy stole my line.....the colors are just grand....flavor sigh.......

    Mdog

  • Man-Go-Bananas
    12 years ago

    1. How old are those?
    2. Did you do anything special to get them to fruit?

    Thanks, MgB

  • hmhausman
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    M-G-B:

    These trees are now probably about 10 years old. However, they were in a pot for quite some time, and were probably planted out maybe 5 or 6 years ago. To be honest, I'm foggy about the exact age....these things start to blur after a while. As far as what I did to acheive fruit set.....the answer is.....I waited. Nothing more.

    Harry

  • Man-Go-Bananas
    12 years ago

    Wow- that's some extreme patience. Thanks for the info.

  • hmhausman
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Went out tonight and pulled one of the fruits on the
    NE tree that was really coloring up nicely. I was trying to see if it had any ripening mango aroma. It did and then it fell off into my hand. It is still pretty firm, but much different in color from the one that had been knocked off the tree by my dogs. I'll give it a day of two to soften and then give it a taste.

    From Jun 3, 2011
    From Jun 3, 2011

  • pj1881
    12 years ago

    Sure looks impressive! Maybe a "Maha Cog-Schnook", the perfect blend of Asian shape and Florida Coloring!

  • mangodog
    12 years ago

    stunning, harry....all I can say is it sure better taste special!!!!!!!!!!!

    MD

  • Man-Go-Bananas
    12 years ago

    Nice! Can't wait to hear how they taste!

  • swrancher
    12 years ago

    I hope that it's taste matches it's good looks.

  • puglvr1
    12 years ago

    I agree...it sure is an attractive and beautiful colors on that mango!! Hopefully, it will match its taste to its beauty.

  • abayomi
    12 years ago

    Save a seed for me! Be there in a week?..

  • hmhausman
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    As I reported in the Sleep post on coming over to my house, the NE Maha seedling fruit was gorgeous, fiberless, fragrant and disappointing flavor-wise. I am going to try different degrees of ripeness to see if that makes any further differece. I still have the other two trees' fruits to try. Stay tuned.

  • mangodog
    12 years ago

    ....life ain't fair......

    mangogrrrrrrrr

  • hmhausman
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    The final two seedling trees finally ripened fruit. This was just in time for a group visiting my property to try. The remaining two.......from the S tree and NW tree looked like this.....next to a Maha Chanook fruit (marked MC):

    From Jun 11, 2011

    The remaining two seedling fruits were pretty good. The concensus seemed to be that the smaller fruit....the one from the S tree was the best. One person thought the larger NW tree fruit was better. Everyone agreed that the best looking fruit, the NE tree, had the least flavor. I am not sure which I preferred between the NW and S....further tastings will have to wait until next year as the NW tree only carried one fruit to maturity. The good news, all were fiberless.

    Harry

  • mangodog
    12 years ago

    ...so a Maha glimmer then....some promise.....

    DogMango

  • pj1881
    12 years ago

    I was over during the tasting Saturday. I thought both the seedlings tasted pretty darn good! I say they perform as good or better than the parent!

  • abayomi
    12 years ago

    I made my second pilgrimage to harry's Mecca of tropical delights. Timing wasn't the best as he was exhausted from hours of fruit picking to the 1pm crowd's delight. Nonetheless, it was great to be there. Lovely lychees. Lovely mangoes. And Harry, the jackfruit was overripe but I ate a bunch of it anyway. Love jackfruit. Thanks again for being a gracious host.

    Back home with some seeds in hand. Mangoes to follow when France's returns in a few weeks.

  • jsvand5
    12 years ago

    I was wondering if that Jack was edible when we found it on the ground. I think we were going to cut it up but the rain and humidity definitely wore me out by the end of the day. Especially when I knew that I still had a 5 hr dripping wet trip home to Ocala

    I thought the NW trees fruit was the best. Seemed to have a little stronger flavor. Both the NW and S were pretty good, but still at the same level as some of the other mangoes that we tried yesterday. The NE fruit really had no flavor at all. Really strange how all 3 can be so different. Harry, How many seasons do you think you will give that NE tree to improve before it gets chopped?

  • abayomi
    12 years ago

    It was great to meet some more of the GW crowd in person.

  • tropicalgrower89
    12 years ago

    Harry, did you get some hail stones and heavy winds yesterday? I saw hail and some were ping pong in size, here in west pembroke pines. There was some damage in southwest ranches.

  • hmhausman
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Yep.....we had hail and heavy winds and rain. Our hail stones were mostly flat discs.....about the size of nickels or slightly larger. But they weren't as rounded as they usually are. Many mangoes on the ground. We picked up 1.5 inches of much needed rain. We had .75 inches the day before. Looks like we may be in store for more today. I think the rainy season may have finally begun in ernest......about 2 weeks or so later than the usual average starting time.

    Harry

  • mangomandan
    12 years ago

    On their website Plantogram says they are selling Maha Chanook trees -- for $99.99.
    That's at least 3 times more than I've ever paid for a mango tree.
    So, would it be worth it?
    To give you an idea, my favorites of older varieties are Kent, Dot, Cushman, Keitt.

  • pj1881
    12 years ago

    If you are in Lake Worth you can get the exact ones they are selling at Excalibur off Lantana Road... $35

  • mangomandan
    12 years ago

    Thank you very much, pj1881 !
    I'm a big fan of Excalibur. I hadn't seen this variety mentioned on their website.
    I'll give them a call.

  • pj1881
    12 years ago

    They havent updated the website in quite some time.. They have ALOT more stuff, and definely the Maha Chanok. Ask for it as the Mahack-a-nook..

  • hmhausman
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    No, they have it mis-marked Mahachanol at Excalibur.

    Harry

  • mangomandan
    12 years ago

    Thanks again. I'll know just what to ask for.

  • hmhausman
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    My final thoughts about the 2011 fruiting season for my three Maha Chanook seedlings are:

    I am prepared to take back the total panning of the beautiful NE tree fruit as being lacking in flavor. As the season has progressed, I am finding, and others tasting them have concurred, that they do have a very nice but somewhat subtle flavor. There are hints of the parent's flavor and overall, with its color, fiberlessness and fruitfulness, I am going to rescind its meeting with the chainsaw. The South tree remains the most flavorful fruit.....but is the smallest of the three in size. The NW tree with its one fruit was clearly the largest of the fruits but was also the least productive. Flavor was pretty darned good.....just a notch below the S tree and a notch above the NE tree. It will be interesting to see how the next year's crop matches up.

    Harry

  • jeffhagen
    12 years ago

    Those long red ones I had were quite delicious. Can't remember which one that was.

    Jeff

  • hmhausman
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Yeah, Jeff.........those were the previously described low in taste fruits of the NE tree. Amazing how waiting a little longer into the season and allowing them to mature further made such a difference. The moral of the story....never jump to conclusions with mango tastings.

    Harry

  • jeffhagen
    12 years ago

    I'd be naming the NE tree then :-). That was one of the best mangos I've had of the season. Even my wife loved it.

    Jeff

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