The Road To Simplicity This blog is about our transition from city life to a simpler life

Low Bark Nam Doc Mai

We're crazy for mangoes. They're golden, they're sweet and aromatic.  Before all this, the only mangoes I knew were the "piko",  "kalabaw", "supsupin" and "indian" mangoes. After researching which mango variety would work, we opted for the Thai-variety, Nam Doc Mai.

Reasons for Choosing:

1. One of the reasons why is  because of the pale green or yellow fibreless flesh and its rich and sweet flavour.  Being fibreless is really important to me since I didn't want the itchy throat experience associated with it.

2. Nam Doc Mai propagated by grafting will bear fruits earlier, producing fruit 1 to 2 years after planting. This would mean earlier return of investment for us.

3. Recommended plant spacings are 4 to 6 metres in the row and 9 metres between rows (185 to 278 trees per ha). They  can be done planted at close proximity but  they DO  require heavy annual pruning to maintain a smaller canopy size.  With this, we can get more bang for the buck with the land we purchased.

4. Another reason is that we wanted to harvest the mangoes easily.  Unlike the tall and  big canopy "Kalabaw" variety found in the Philippines, Nam Doc Mai can reach heights of six metres or more and a diameter of four to six metres if left un-pruned.  One doesn't need to climb the tree and thread on the branches dangerously just to harvest these mangoes.

Low Bark Nam Doc Mai

5.  Nam Doc Mai is moderately to highly resistant to bacterial black spot  but they are susceptible to the fungal disease powdery mildew than most other varieties. Powdery mildew cause the fruit to drop off.  They are also suscetible to postharvest diseases such as anthracnose, a major cause of fruit blackening and stem end rot.  They are also affected by the major insect pests, mango scale,  pink wax scale (Ceroplastes rubens Maskell mango shoot caterpillar, tipborer, fruit flies and planthopper. It's good that this plant's susceptibility is well documented. The plan to prevent fungi and insects from damaging the plant is to use Compost tea and HOC (Herbal Organic Concentrate) to repel these problems.