Blooming good outlook for Queensland Christmas mangoes

Flowering is abundant in far north Queensland but will not necessarily lead to high fruit yields.

At the end of the 2016/17 harvest, the Mareeba-Dimbulah region, which kicks off the state’s harvest, had sent off 700,000 fewer trays than originally predicted.

It was due to a warm winter that affected flowering, as well as early wet season rain which hampered picking.

However, this year most of the region’s trees are in full flower, thanks to an early cold snap in June and continued mild weather.

Marcello Avolio, from Gorge Creek Orchard at Paddy’s Green just outside Mareeba, said it was a welcome sight.

Tiny, marble-sized fruit is already starting to appear on his trees.

“Last year the few days we did picking was early January. I suspect it will be a good month earlier this year,” Mr Avolio said.

At the nearby Blue Sky Produce orchard, farm manager Matt Fealy is also confident of returning to a pre-Christmas harvest.

“I think the mango season’s looking pretty good for the region. Just looking around at all the flowering, it’s a good, strong flowering this year,” he said.

The only downside, according to Mr Avolio, is the fruit may fall a little too early for peak exports to Asia.

Do more flowers mean more mangoes?

Farmers are hesitant to predict their yields, with fruit setting still dependent on a variety of factors, including the weather over the next few months.

Mr Avolio said higher or lower than average temperatures and storms could have a detrimental effect.

“You gotta get the flowers first, then you gotta get the fruit. Just because you’ve got flowers doesn’t mean you’ll get fruit, and then the fruit’s got to hold,” he said.

“When you see fruit dropping on the ground, that’s another problem.”

According to the Australian Mango Industry Association, the early indications for harvesting in other mango growing areas of the state are mixed.

The Bowen and Burdekin region has reported sporadic flowering, and harvest time is expected to be on par with last season.

Flowering has also been inconsistent in central Queensland, but in southern and central south-east Queensland flowering has been steady following a cold snap in June and mild weather throughout July.

The association is predicting mixed volumes, depending on varieties.

Mr Fealy is growing three types — Kensington Prides, R2E2s and Keitts.

“The Kensington Prides, everybody’s favourite, it is the world’s best mango, but my KPs unfortunately this year have not flowered very well,” he said.

“The R2E2, my favourite to grow and to eat and to sell is looking good. They’ve got a pretty good flowering on this year.

“The Keitts we’ll probably start harvesting about February/March. They’re really quite good to grow.

“They’re a really good yield, they’re a small tree so they’re easy to manage, but to me it’s not quite my flavour.

“We send those down to Victoria because they don’t know what a good mango tastes like.”

[“Source-abc”]