I have a po pyu kalay thats been in the ground for about 3 years, quite a vigorous grower. The tree is about 10x the size when I planted it. I had 1 fruit this year that fell a bit prematurely, but the flavor was still good. I cant wait for the other two to ripen. It has been dubbed as the lemon meringue mango, and it does have a tone of citrus.
It aborts many very small fruit after flowering though, I hope this lessens with age.

Congratulations marinfla, your trees look absolutely beautiful. Did you happen to take any pictures of your fruit and perhaps inside the fruit? I really want to get a Carrie tree now. I hear that its super sweet but may be a bit soft and mushy, did you find that Carrie was mushy or overly soft?

No reason for a Carrie to get mushy in most circumstances. Pick it a few days early and let it ripen on the counter. Being conservative with when you let your fruit trees produce is a great decision. That extra tree size you end up with can be what gets it thru some future adversity.

Gary

with the exception of Indian cultivars like Mallika, the test of ripeness to me is simply shaking the tree branch and watching to see what fruit falls.

carrie becomes overripe quickly after being picked

I picked the fruit hard and let it ripen on the counter, when it was soft and yellow but still on the firmer side of soft I put it in the fridge over night before I tried it. It was fantastic. if you wait until the fruit is super soft you may find it too mushy. I wouldn't let it get that soft. The flavor is much better when it isn't ripened too to the point of mushy. The Carrie tree is on it's 4th growth flush and has gained over a foot in height over the last 2 1/2 months...I am in awe. The rest of my trees are having grow flushes too in their containers too. Can't wait until next season to see what blooms :)

thats a really excellent characteristic and typical of Indian cultivars although Carrie is a Florida cultivar.

makes me wonder why they never became more commercially viable, i would buy an under ripe carrie over a bland mexican keitt anyday.

Carrie (named after his mother) was first planted by Lawrence Zill, most likely a seedling of Julie. Dot (named after Dorothy his Wife) is a most likely a seedling of Zill.

this is from the parentage testing they have done, not from record. i have tasted a Dot and did not think it was similar to Carrie or Julie and more on par with perhaps a Zill but it may be. more testing needs to be done and monoembryonic seedlings are so variable.

I thought Carrie was named after Zill's wife.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5321783074478371786#

Dr. Crane has great videos.

Dot mango was named after Zills wife Dorothy.

I think MangoKush has the names right. Carrie was Lawarence Zill's mother and Dorothy (Dot) was his wife. I have heard and read different things about the parentage of these. According to the Fairchild Mango Book from the early 1990's, Carrie was a seedling of "Sophie Fry." I have heard people say that Carrie was a cross of Julie and Bombay. Perhaps that is how they envision the parentage based on the flavor and characteristics. Again, according to the Fairchild book, Dot is supposed to be a seedling of Carrie and was planted and grown entirely on the property of Lawrence Zill. I don't know if anyone has examined the fruits genetically. Actually, I am not even sure that what the parentage is all that important. If its a great mango....that's enough for me. Unless you are going to do further breading, does it really matter?

Harry

Ok. How do they develop a new race of mango? By cross pollinating?

Not sure if race is the right word. New unique mango types are created everytime there is a seed grown plant that is the product of either a hybridization (cross pollination between flowers of different trees) or a selfing (sexual reproduction where both male and female contributions are from the same tree).

Harry

there are two races of Mangifera indica, Indian and South East Asian

The Indian race is intolerant of humidity, usually round with green, yellow, red blush colorations

SE Asian mangos are more tolerant of humidity, kidney shape, usually green to yellow

the mango was brought to the Phillipines from India thousands of years ago.
my guess how it developed into a distinct race was probably a result of propagation methods. Indians grafted mango trees. Asians propagated them from seed, probably favoring varieties which were more likely to grow true from seed creating a selective process that probably led to its evolution. either that or its a result of cross breeding other species of Magnifera

Florida cultivars were originally the result of an Indian mango seedling, Mulgoba, which created the distinct cultivar Haden. many Florida mangos are Haden seedlings. later the introduction of Thai mangos helped Florida make some distinct hybrid cultivars.

The trick with the Carrie, you have to let it turn as close to yellow as possible to get the real taste. Softness does not mean its ready. It has to smell ready and look yellow. Yes, I sure do love Carrie. They are the best. I am also fund of a nice fully riped Valencia however. Keep any of these mangoes too long in the tree, birds will eat them.

My big mango discovery this year has been the classic "Edward" mango. Last year I tried one or two and they were good but kind of unremarkable. The cold weather this winter really streched out the Edwards season and I have been lucky enough to have access to several trees worth of them over the last month or so. Its now my favorite tasting mango, not quite as sweet as some others but a wonderful subtle flavor and near perfect texture. I just had my last one this morning... :(

I have a Tebow mango tree (Edward X Kent hybrid) planted that should bear fruit next year. I'm really hoping it lives up to the hype and tastes like Edward and bears like Kent. If not I'll be planting an Edward tree or two, actually I might plant them anyway, lol...

try Duncan, its like a sweeter Edward,

Dot was probably a seedling of the Zill mango, rather than Carrie.

I have always been fascinated by the whole hybridization concept. I have germinated some seeds from local mangoes cultivars that I thought were fantastic just to see how they would turn out. The seedlings are growing nicely in pots and the waiting game is on to see if we get something great to name after my kids or a contribution to the local landfill (if not a rootstock for some experimentation fun with grafting) The only consolation for the depression to the end of the mango season is that it coincides with the time to plan some snow skiing trips :)

I tried Duncan, from pine island.. bought a couple, didnt like it too much nor the Dots. I was disappointed.

I have gotten quite a few Duncans this summer from Spkyes and enjoyed them alot. Its an excellent tasting Mango but to me its not in the same league as an Edward mango.

Those potted mango trees look beautiful? Can they give fruits in containers?

Thanks,

Hi Newgwen,
You can have mango trees fruit in pots. You just have to choose varieties that don't grow large like the condo types. I am growing two in containers now. One I bought last year in Tampa, and the other I just bought a little over a month ago.

andrew78: What 2 are you growing?

Newgen,
I am growing the Maha Chinook and the Cogshall mango.
Andrew

I have seen mango trees in pots with fruit all over them!! Many of them were trees that were for sale in 15 gallon pots waiting for a home.... trees that are not of the dwarf size varieties.... I can't wait until the next mango season to see what happens with mine in the pots.
BTW--- I took a seed from a ripe valencia pride mango germinated it over 4 days then stuck it in soil. I left for vacation the next day and came back 1 week later to an 8inch seedling. I could not believe how fast this seedling grew. I am leaving in the full sun with afternoon mixed sun/shade since it obviously likes it so far. Anyone have any thoughts on keeping shaded all day until it gets bigger or should I leave it like it is??

I have what I am told is an "August Mango Tree". The mangos are big and beautiful, however, still hard as rocks. I have put the ones that have dropped, on the counter, in a paper bag and in the refrigerator. Still not ripe! Any advise?

Hey cindyholly, you should ripen mangoes at warm or room temperature. You can put the mangoes in a paperbag with some apples on top of the refrigerator where it is warm and it should ripen faster.

I'm curious...what does the OP mean by "cut off the flower spikes" except for the lowest branch? I just planted a carrie mango and want to make sure that I care for it properly so it fruits well. :)

Hi flfishie... I cut off most of the infloresence (flow
er spikes as I call them) except for the lower part of the tree. I did this to encourage more growth flushes on the upper part of the tree because fruiting takes the energy the tree would then use for growing wood instead. It was a good trade off as my tree has added approx 1 foot of new growth since April and I did get some mangoes from the lower flower spikes at the bottom of the tree.

Andrew where about in Tampa did you buy the mango tree at?

how wide do the carrie mango trees get I just planted one 10 feet from my driveway. Im worried