Man-gone: A fruit falters

In the past week, Doug Flowerree began hand-picking the first fruits of his mango crop at The Mango Factory in Bookelia.

Although he has 30 to 40 percent of the crop he had around this time last year, he's having more success than others in the Pine Island mango business.

This year, mango growers in Southwest Florida are experiencing shortages because of a wetter-than-normal winter and other factors. It's led some growers to shut down their mango business for the 2014 harvest.

"Everybody sees it from their own perspective, from their own grove," Flowerree said. "I have mangoes whereas most people that have mangoes say, 'We're not even opening up this year.' "

For some mango growers, yields may be too low to make it worthwhile.

That's the case for Bill and Mary Cyzewski, who have owned their grove on the north end of Bookelia since 1990, and have shut down sales for the business at eatmoremangos.com until the 2015 season, citing yields too low to sell fruit.

Posted on the couple's website is the following message: "Everyone needs a break once in awhile and it seems that the mango trees are doing just that this year. The trees set very few fruit. We are suspending shipping orders until the 2015 season, which we hope will be a fruitful one."

Despite this year's lackluster production, Pine Island has been prized for its subtropical climate that mirrors conditions where mangoes thrive.

"Last year was a bumper season for us," Flowerree said of his 25-acre mango grove with roughly 1,000 trees. "I think because last year's season was so good ... as a consequence, that 17-week season had a bearing on weakening the trees."

The wetter-than-normal winter may also have affected the crop yields this year, said Steve Cucura, who runs Fruitscapes with Jesus Avalos on Bookelia.

Usually, the island might experience eight dry months of winter and spring, then go through three or four months of steady rain in the summer — the kind of conditions in which the golden fruit thrives.

"Mangoes are native to India where it's dry most of the year, and then there's a short period of heavy rain," he said. "Pine Island is very similar to that. That's why we grow a lot of mango."

But humid or rainy weather when the trees are flowering and setting fruit in the winter or spring can destroy the crop, and Southwest Florida experienced a very wet winter, Cucura said.

"You have to roll with the punches," he said.

Mangoes are grown on about 210 acres in Lee County, and the majority — an estimated 150 acres — is on Pine Island, said Roy Beckford, the Lee County Extension Office director.

Mangoes are known for bountiful harvests one year and a depleted one the next, Beckford said.

Florida's Mango production, a roughly $2.1 million industry, encompasses about 2,000 acres across South Florida, with about 83 percent of the state's mango acreage in Miami-Dade County, according the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida.

But mango groves across the state are anticipating a smaller harvest.

"We did see quite a bit of mangoes in Miami-Dade," Beckford said. "It's warmer and it's way south of us, but even then they didn't get as many mangoes as they expected."

IF YOU GO

MangoMania

• What: MangoMania is a summer festival and celebration of Pine Island's mangoes and other tropical fruits with amateur and professional cooking contest, tasting tables, kids activities area, mango-themed games and contents, educational talks about tropical fruit and trees, arts and crafts and much more.

• When: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sunday.
• Where: German-American Social Club, 2101 Pine Island Road, Cape Coral.
• Cost: $6 for adults, $5 in advance; Children 10 and younger are free.
• Contact: Visit mangomaniafl.com or call 283-0888.

Connect with this reporter: @YvieMcClellan (Twitter), facebook.com/YvieMcClellan.