VanDyke Mango Seedlings

Description

The Vandyke mango variety has small- to medium-sized fruit (average weight 280 g) is very attractive showing a bright yellow ground colour with a heavy crimson blush and prominent beak.

The average fruit dimensions are: 10.5 cm length by 7.9 cm width.

The skin is thick, though easily separating and covered with numerous white/yellow lenticels. The flesh is quite firm, melting and juicy with little fiber, orange-yellow, rich, spicy and sweet with a strong pleasant aroma. It is of good to excellent quality.
The seed is mono-embryonic. The trees are medium-sized with a large open canopy and are regular producers but yield is moderate with good resistance to anthracnose and powdery mildew

The VanDyke mango was a seedling of ? Haden? planted in the 1930s on the property of Madeline Van Dyke, first fruiting in the 1940s. The tree was seen as more productive and anthracnose resistant than Haden giving it some commercial potential. In the 1950s nurseries began to graft it and VanDyke was planted commercially, eventually being introduced overseas.

The fruit are small-to-medium-sized, oval-shaped with a small beak, and tend to turn red well before maturity, developing some yellow background color as they turn ripe. The flesh is yellow, firm, with a minor amount of fiber, containing a monoembryonic seed. The flavor is sweet, medium-bodied and peachy, belonging to the classic-group and tasting nearly identical to Haden. In fact, we often recommend VanDyke to customers seeking Haden fruit when they aren?t available because the flavor is so similar.

At times in high-nitrogen soils the fruit can develop jelly seed and because of this should be allowed to ripen off the tree. In our sandy soil Van Dyke doesn’t seem to have this problem.

The trees are very vigorous growers with long internodes, having an upright growth habit with very open canopy, and are not easy to control for size.

They have reasonably good anthracnose resistance especially compared to Haden, and can produce well in most areas. They are probably moderately prone to bacterial black spot of the fruit.

Vandyke Mango Facts

• Origin: Florida
• Fruit size: Small/medium
• Weight in grams: 280
• Yield: Moderate
• Fruit color: bright yellow with crimson blush
• Fresh color: Orange, yellow
• Fibre content: Low/none
• Seed type: monoembryonic
• Fruit shape: ovate
• Seed percentage: 7.1
• Eating quality: Good
• Regularity of bearing: regular
• Tree habit: Moderate
• County: Murangá Mbeere, Embu, Makueni (Kilome), Mbeere
• Harvesting season: January/February/March
• Pest attack: Not indicated
• Disease: Powdery mildew, rust
• Susceptibility: moderate
• Advantages: attractive colour, good resistance to athracnose and powdery mildew, regular bearer
• Disadvantages: poor to mederate yields, very small fruit size
• Irrigation: not indicated
• Fertilizer: not indicated
• Pesticides: Dushban, mars
• Fungicides: Not indicated