Nam Dok Mai mango

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Garden Art by Samir Farm & Nursery.

Description

The mango tree is erect, 30 to 100 ft (roughly 10-30 m) high, with a broad, rounded canopy which may, with age, attain 100 to 125 ft (30-38 m) in width, or a more upright, oval, relatively slender crown. In deep soil, the taproot descends to a depth of 20 ft (6 in), the profuse, wide-spreading, feeder root system also sends down many anchor roots which penetrate for several feet. The tree is long-lived, some specimens being known to be 300 years old and still fruiting. Nearly evergreen, alternate leaves are borne mainly in rosettes at the tips of the branches and numerous twigs from which they droop like ribbons on slender petioles 1 to 4 in (2.5-10 cm) long. The new leaves, appearing periodically and irregularly on a few branches at a time, are yellowish, pink, deep-rose or wine-red, becoming dark-green and glossy above, lighter beneath. The midrib is pale and conspicuous and the many horizontal veins distinct. Full-grown leaves may be 4 to 12.5 in (10-32 cm) long and 3/4 to 2 1/8 in (2-5.4 cm) wide. Hundreds and even as many as 3,000 to 4,000 small, yellowish or reddish flowers, 25% to 98% male, the rest hermaphroditic, are borne in profuse, showy, erect, pyramidal, branched clusters 2 1/2 to 15 1/2 in (6-40 cm) high. There is great variation in the form, size, color and quality of the fruits. They may be nearly round, oval, ovoid-oblong, or somewhat kidney-shaped, often with a break at the apex, and are usually more or less lop-sided. They range from 2 1/2 to 10 in (6.25-25 cm) in length and from a few ounces to 4 to 5 lbs (1.8-2.26 kg). The skin is leathery, waxy, smooth, fairly thick, aromatic and ranges from light-or dark-green to clear yellow, yellow-orange, yellow and reddish-pink, or more or less blushed with bright-or dark-red or purple-red, with fine yellow, greenish or reddish dots, and thin or thick whitish, gray or purplish bloom, when fully ripe. Some have a "turpentine" odor and flavor, while others are richly and pleasantly fragrant. The flesh ranges from pale-yellow to deep-orange. It is essentially peach-like but much more fibrous (in some seedlings excessively so-actually "stringy"); is extremely juicy, with a flavor range from very sweet to subacid to tart. There is a single, longitudinally ribbed, pale yellowish-white, somewhat woody stone, flattened, oval or kidney-shaped, sometimes rather elongated. It may have along one side a beard of short or long fibers clinging to the flesh cavity, or it may be nearly fiberless and free. Within the stone is the starchy seed, monoembryonic (usually single-sprouting) or polyembryonic (usually producing more than one seedling).

Mango Tree Nam Doc Mai Variety Grafted 'Nam Doc Mai' is a premium cultivar introduced to Florida from Thailand in 1973 where is is one of the most popular varieties. Green to yellow skin, no fiber whatsoever, multiple crops possible. Eaten green or ripe, a Thailand favorite. It is hands down the most sought after of the Asian mangos and for good reason. A great feature of this variety is that the branches bloom occasionally at different times, giving you an extended ripening season during the summer.

Varieties

The original wild mangos were small fruits with scant, fibrous flesh, and it is believed that natural hybridization has taken place between M. indica and M. sylvatica Roxb. in Southeast Asia. Selection for higher quality has been carried on for 4,000 to 6,000 years and vegetative propagation for 400 years. Over 500 named varieties (some say 1,000) have evolved and have been described in India. Perhaps some are duplicates by different names, but at least 350 are propagated in commercial nurseries. In 1949, K.C. Naik described 82 varieties grown in South India. L.B. and R.N. Singh presented and illustrated 150 in their monograph on the mangos of Uttar Pradesh (1956). In 1958, 24 were described as among the important commercial types in India as a whole, though in the various climatic zones other cultivars may be prominent locally. Of the 24, the majority are classed as early or mid-season:

Climate

The mango is naturally adapted to tropical lowlands between 25°N and 25°S of the Equator and up to elevations of 3,000 ft (915 m). It is grown as a dooryard tree at slightly cooler altitudes but is apt to suffer cold damage. The amount of rainfall is not as critical as when it occurs. The best climate for mango has rainfall of 30 to 100 in (75-250 cm) in the four summer months (June to September) followed by 8 months of dry season. This crop is well suited to irrigated regions bordering the desert frontier in Egypt. Nevertheless, the tree flourishes in southern Florida's approximately 5 months of intermittent, scattered rains (October to February), 3 months of drought (usually March to May) and 4 months of frequently heavy rains (June to September). Rain, heavy dews or fog during the blooming season (November to March in Florida) are deleterious, stimulating tree growth but interfering with flower production and encouraging fungus diseases of the inflorescence and fruit. In Queensland, dry areas with rainfall of 40 in (100 cm), 75% of which occurs from January to March, are favored for mango growing because vegetative growth is inhibited and the fruits are well exposed to the sun from August to December, become well colored, and are relatively free of disease. Strong winds during the fruiting season cause many fruits to fall prematurely.

Harvesting

Mangos normally reach maturity in 4 to 5 months from flowering. Fruits of "smudged" trees ripen several months before those of untreated trees. Experts in the Philippines have demonstrated that 'Carabao' mangos sprayed with ethephon (200 ppm) 54 days after full bloom can be harvested 2 weeks later at recommended minimum maturity. The fruits will be larger and heavier even though harvested 2 weeks before untreated fruits. If sprayed at 68 days after full bloom and harvested 2 weeks after spraying, there will be an improvement in quality in regard to soluble solids and titratable acidity. When the mango is full-grown and ready for picking, the stem will snap easily with a slight pull. If a strong pull is necessary, the fruit is still somewhat immature and should not be harvested. In the more or less red types of mangos, an additional indication of maturity is the development of a purplish-red blush at the base of the fruit. A long-poled picking bag which holds no more than 4 fruits is commonly used by pickers. Falling causes bruising and later spoiling. When low fruits are harvested with clippers, it is desirable to leave a 4-inch (10 cm) stem to avoid the spurt of milky/resinous sap that exudes if the stem is initially cut close. Before packing, the stem is cut off 1/4 in (6 mm) from the base of the fruit. In Queensland, after final clipping of the stem, the fruits are placed stem-end-down to drain. In a sophisticated Florida operation, harvested fruits are put into tubs of water on trucks in order to wash off the sap that exudes from the stem end. At the packing house, the fruits are transferred from the tubs to bins, graded and sized and packed in cartons ("lugs") of 8 to 20 each depending on size. The cartons are made mechanically at the packing house and hold 14 lbs (6.35 kg) of fruit. The filled cartons are stacked on pallets and fork-lifted into refrigerated trucks with temperature set at no less than 55° F (12.78° C) for transport to distribution centers in major cities throughout the USA and Canada.

Medicinal_Uses

Dried mango flowers, containing 15% tannin, serve as astringents in cases of diarrhea, chronic dysentery, catarrh of the bladder and chronic urethritis resulting from gonorrhea. The bark contains mangiferine and is astringent and employed against rheumatism and diphtheria in India. The resinous gum from the trunk is applied on cracks in the skin of the feet and on scabies, and is believed helpful in cases of syphilis. Mango kernel decoction and powder (not tannin-free) are used as vermifuges and as astringents in diarrhea, hemorrhages and bleeding hemorrhoids. The fat is administered in cases of stomatitis. Extracts of unripe fruits and of bark, stems and leaves have shown antibiotic activity. In some of the islands of the Caribbean, the leaf decoction is taken as a remedy for diarrhea, fever, chest complaints, diabetes, hypertension and other ills. A combined decoction of mango and other leaves is taken after childbirth.