If you’re a Florida resident, you have the privilege of being able to grow amazing produce and tropical fruit in your own backyard. The climate here is perfect for growing all sorts of crops year-round, something that other states just can’t do.
One thing Detwiler’s is excited to now offer in our stores are mango trees! You heard that right. You can buy a mango tree at Detwiler’s, plant it in your backyard, and have mangos every summer!
Here are the trees we currently offer and a little bit about each one so you can decide which varieties you want to grow.
Valencia Pride
The Valencia Pride mango is large and colorful. The tree tends to grow very fast and needs to be maintained very well in order not to get too big.
Fruit is ripe mid-season, in late June and July.
Sweet Tart
Named for its taste resembling the beloved candy, the sweet tart mango is exactly as it sounds. Both sweet and tart. This tree is more compact and produces smaller fruit.
Expect an early-mid season harvest.
Ice Cream
The ice cream mango is a dwarf tree. The fruit is very sweet and fiberless.
This variety is a mid-season harvest.
Cotton Candy
This is a super sweet mango variety. It really does taste like candy. This is also a fiberless fruit.
The cotton candy mango is a late season harvest.
Coconut Cream
The coconut cream variety is a truly unique experience. It is sweet, creamy and coconutty. It’s like no other mango you’ll ever taste.
This fruit is a mid-season harvest.
When will the trees start producing fruit?
Before you plant your tree, be sure to find a spot that provides full sun!
When you plant your tree, it will try hard to produce fruit quickly. However, it is best for the trunk of the tree to be wrist width before you let it hold fruit.
Realistically, if you were to plant in springtime this year, you can expect a good harvest of fruit by the following summer.
If you want to have fruit all summer long, you can plant an early, mid, and late summer fruit so you can enjoy them for the whole season.
Tips for maintaining your trees
Mango trees can grow to be as tall and wide as oak trees. Depending on your yard situation, this may not be ideal. But with maintenance, you can keep your trees smaller and still produce a lot of fruit.
The key is to prune them each year so they don’t get too large. Once the tree gets to be 10-12 feet tall that is plenty big to produce a good harvest as well as be hurricane proof. In addition, when you keep the tree to 10-12 feet tall, you won’t really have a need for a ladder to harvest which makes life much easier.
It is best to prune the tree right after you pick the last mango on the tree.
Where do we get our trees?
We source our trees from Zill’s High Performing Plants. Gary Zill is one of the most respected mango farmers in the world and has been a pioneer in creating the newest and best varieties of mangos.