last summer I bought a few Ott mango's at the Fairchild Mango Festival. They looked really good with nice coloration but, always a but...they were at best mediocre tasting with a lackluster taste. If the ones I had were normal for Ott, forget it and plant a better one.

JF:

Sorry, I do not have it (Ott) in my collection. And, if I ever did taste it, which I am not sure that I did, it wasn't memorable.

Harry

Thanks Rancher and Harry,

This cultivar is instinct in Socal. I've inquire in La Habra City Hall and the Orange County CRFG. Mr. Ott's tropical fruit grove has yield to greedy developers and no one bother to preserve his collection. I have gotten a hold of some Cherimoya's wood and I was hoping someone in Florida could help me out with scion to carry on his legacy.

JF

If it's no good why carry on the legacy? Maybe people are trying to forget this mans mediocre mango.

I've tried Ott. Mediocre may be kind......not a good mango and not sure why Fairchild was selling it last year. But then again they were selling mediocre cultivars like Tahar and Jubilee as well.

Thank y'all for your input.

I'm surprise of the negative feedback. I've researched Ott mango in the net and there are some positive remarks including from this forum. Sun_worshiper wrote "Ott - This had firm flesh and was sweet and mild. The flavor was smooth and simple. It was in fact almost indistinguishable from the Fairchild." http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropicalfruits/msg0714105915717.html
This mango expert in Dominican Republic characterized Ott as an extraordinary mango, the flesh is sweet, juicy and very consistent. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O9ZITuAzIs&feature=player_detailpage#t=277s

In my option, Thompson mango is the best California cultivar.It's strange that Fairchild does not sell it otherwise it would crack into their top five cultivar ,........too bad Southern California is over developed and over populated if not we would give Florida a run for their mango money LOL

JF

JF - It would be interesting to uncover more about this "lost" mango. It's kind of like Eunice's orchard that we're going to visit next month - she has that one mango variety that she developed (accidently I think....)and I've forgotten the name you told me it was called

You know, like you said, maybe the Mel Ott mango (lol) does much better in our less humid, drier climate, so perhaps it would not be so well known,or well grown (or liked) in Florida. If it was developed here, I would think it would produce best here....and I've also heard some decent things said about it too.....so don't give up....

and a picture of it would be nice too.....

mangoFIDO

Hi Gary

Eunice knew William Ott and visit his orchard in La Habra but I don't think she has an Ott. Open the link and you will see the tree and the fruit. Sun_worshiper is the poster that wrote the review and he posted pics.

Click on this link to see the tree, it's a dwarf:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O9ZITuAzIs&feature=player_detailpage#t=277s

...almost looks pear shaped ... and pretty large....well,
you're going to find it somewhere...you have a nose for finding stuff I've noticed.... :)

We're about 88 today...this will get the mango race kick started....

MangoDog'sFeelingTheHeat

It does look pear shape, I'll try to hunt this baby down maybe in my visit with Leo and Jim in San Diego the'll have a clue.

It was 82F and 77F the last two days maybe I'll have some fruits by Sept.

JF

It's been snowing today and I have lost my Carrie. I guess it happened when the heat (electricity) was out for three days in February. 82F and 77F? Thanks, I guess there really is a Spring after all.

Cath

JF,

try contacting Fairchild Garden and/or Richard Campbell to see if it can be arranged for you to get budwood for Ott.

Hi Cath41...SO sorry that you lost your Carrie during a power outage. That's horrible! Hang in there! We've had very warm temps for almost 3 weeks now...thought we were done with winter but unfortunately...we're under a "Patchy Frost Possible" advisory tonight. I can deal with that as long as its not a "freeze warning or watch". I'm not covering anything as the forecast is calling for 36 or 38 degrees with possible frost...hopefully it will only be a short duration and doesn't harm any of my tiny baby mangoes...keeping fingers crossed!

I guess you will replacing your Carrie in Spring? Are you getting another one or a different variety?

squam256

do you have a link where I could find his number?? I will try to get a hold of him.

JF

puglvr,

I apologize for the downer. Although the Carrie is gone, I still have the Pickering which is on its second bloom flush - a little less enthusiastic than last time but then conditions are far from ideal. Funny about the Carrie though, both the 2 year old seedling on one side of it and the Pickering on the other are just fine. I haven't decided whether to replace the Carrie, substitute another variety, graft seedlings or do all three. If I do the usual, everything I can think of, one of these days there is going to be a documentary about plant hoarders.

I do hope you have good mango weather from now on and more mangoes this summer than you can possibly eat.

Cath

JF, here is his contact info:

Here is a link that might be useful: Richard Campbell

Hi Cath,
A special on plant hoarders? LMAO!! I would be one of the stars of that show, LOL!! I have 3 varieties right now. I have Maha Chinook, Carrie and Lancetilla. The Lancetilla was not intentional. I had asked a local greenhosue to buy me a Carrie and they brought back the Lancetilla but for only $25 I picked it up. Sorry to hear about your Carrie, that's really sad.

Andrew

Thanks for the sympathy Andrew with that snow blanketing the ground I needed it. It's gone now. The weather has been fitful lately. I'd love to hear what you think of the taste of your Maha Chinook and Carrie when the time comes and the Lancetilla too.

Cath

Hi Cath,
Well I am moderatly hopefull that I will have 1 or 2 Carrie mango to sample this year, all though, I worry about the odds of picking it just right the first time around.

The Maha Chinook is now going on its second summer. I got it around August last year from Frankies. I spent quite a bit of time trying to find this very rare variety and snagged it up as soon as I could. The tree's growth has been nice and compact. It all ready has a nice shape to it. I am very excited about the coming years when it will finally fruit but honestly, I think I would have removed any pannicles it produced over the winter this year because I would rather have it be able to hold more fruits when it is larger.

Flavor wise it was awesome!!! Easily the best mango fruit I have ever had the pleasure of eating. I was very fortunate to get a fruit from Harry last year, especially when he had such a bad season for them! The flavor had this citrusy tone to it but I cannot describe the flavor and do it justice. I highly recommend this variety to any serious mango afficianado. The tree cost me about $125 total.

Andrew

Andrew67 - u sure like to drive stakes into hearts!!!!

MangoDogMinusHisMaha.....

Squam256

Thanks for the link! I am going to give Richard Campbell a buzz on Friday see what he can do for me.

JF

I think this topic died a couple of years ago. But here goes. My Ott is producing it's first fruit. It got hammered by a cold snap a few years ago. It's about 7 years in the ground. Did you ever get your scion wood?

Hi Tomatoman - JFernandez, a good friend of mine, is on vacation at the moment, but I can email him and let him know you may have some scion wood for him.

That is very kind of you.....I'll let him know.....

myamberwoofie

Here's a picture of Ott mangoes from the mango festival at the Fruit & Spice Park.

All available information on the Ott is provided also.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ott Mangoes

I know this post is old but I never knew which mango I had. They are huge and identical to the pic in the link Langra posted. It's a 30-40 ft monster and she produced at least 500 mangos last season. I can tell you they are super delicious!!!!!! Does anyone know if the Ott gets that large? There isn't much info out there. If it's not an Ott is there a variety of mango that looks similar to it?

Unfortunately, the picture that Langra posted, labelled as Ott, depicts a mango that has very little in the way of distinctive shape or coloration. I am not saying it is Ott or is not. I am saying that to try to say you have Ott because your mangoes look similar is probably fraught with the probability that it is a misidentification. There are so many mangoes that I have seen that look similar. Many of those have been seedlings with no cultivar names. What is the history behind your tree?