After months of watching them grow, they’re finally getting ripe.  Some mangos turn bright beautiful colors, but others stay green or yellow.   One sure sign a mango is ready is clear sap dripping down the side.

I like to pick mangos at this point and bring them inside to finish ripening.  I do this for two reasons: First, a really ripe mango will fall off the tree and get bruised.  The bruised area rots, which ruins a big part of the mango.  Second, the longer you leave them beyond this point, the more likely they are to be eaten by a squirrel, raccoon or opossum.  They will take one bite of each mango on the tree just to aggravate a human.

You can find lots of gadgets to help keep critters away.  If you’ve only got a squirrel or two, you can use a Havahart trap.  There are also motion-sensor sprinklers.  This motion-sensor owl has illuminated eyes and it hoots, which might scare them away.  But this year I learned a clever method from some friends.   You know the containers strawberries come in?  They’re called ventilated clamshells.  Clip them over the mango like this:

My neighbors think I’ve lost my mind, but it’s working well so far.  I admit it’s not the most attractive look for the tree.  But there’s one more neat thing about this method:  if the mango drops, it gets caught in the clamshell and doesn’t hit the ground.  If you need a lot, you can order ventilated clamshells online in various sizes.

Have a pest-free mango season, and beware the dreaded Mango Rash.