Mango

To work out the best time to harvest your mangoes, look for signs of maturity in your fruit as well as the methods described below.

Signs of maturity

Your fruit is ready to harvest when all the following changes occur:

• skin colour changes from dark green to light green
• skin texture changes from rough to smooth tight appearance
• shoulders and beak - the top and bottom of the fruit - fill out
• inside flesh is lemon-yellow in colour, depending on variety - see flesh colour test below.

Heat sums

You can use the heat sums calculator to predict when your fruit will mature.

The calculator can be used to predict harvest dates in the following areas:

• Darwin
• Katherine
• Humpty Doo and Berry Springs
• Batchelor.

The calculator only works for stage 6 flowering. This is the first time buds can be seen.

Get the heat sums calculator XLSX (541.3 KB).

Flowering and Climate Watch

Unseasonal weather can affect your harvest date.

For information about climate outlooks and monitoring, go to the Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology website.

Dry matter

Learn how to prepare and measure your own mango samples for maturity using the dry matter test.

For more information, read the mango dry matter instructions information sheet (2013) PDF (227.8 KB).

You should also watch video about growing tips measuring mango dry matter on the Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade's YouTube.

Flesh colour test

Request a set of flesh colour cards to compare against your crop by calling 08 8999 2323 or emailing horticulture@nt.gov.au.

Near infra red (NIR) spectroscopy

Near infra-red (NIR) spectroscopy guns are a new and non-invasive way to read the colour of your fruit flesh, and determine sweetness and maturity.