Working out when to harvest your mangoes?
Figure 4 Individual mango flowers
Flowering season is here for the mango industry and with it the promise of the harvest ahead. So it is a good time to start thinking about maturity indicators and which tools to use.
Heat sums are a way of predicting your maturity based on flowering information and seasonal temperature. The formula adds the daily average temperatures until a pivotal heat unit is reached. You can calculate your own heat sums or use an online calculator. For the departments online heat sum calculator and information on how to use the calculator click here.
Dry matter is essentially a calculation of the water content of fruit, it is an easy method for determining maturity. The Industry standard for dry matters at harvest is 15%. Learn how to prepare and measure your own mango samples for maturity using the dry matter test by reading our instruction sheet or view our video on how to measure mango dry matter.
Near infra read (NIR) spectroscopy
Near infra-red (NIR) spectroscopy guns are a non-invasive way to read the colour of your fruit flesh, and determine sweetness and maturity. There is an interesting Mango Matters article on factors that influence dry matter and NIR.
Flesh colour test
Some growers cut a set number of fruit to judge the internal quality before harvesting. You can request a set of flesh colour cards to compare against your crop by calling (08) 8999 2323 or emailing firstname.lastname@example.org.
Last updated: 27 March 2018