Photo: SCOTT GROSSKREUTZ. Hilo radiologist Scott Grosskreutz holds a 7-pound mango from one of his trees. He is standing next to the Keitt mango tree in his back yard.

Hilo Radiologist, Scott Grosskreutz, grew a 7 pound mango in his backyard, just shy of the record.

Grosskreutz said if he had harvested the fruit two months ago, it would have been a world record. But a 7-pound, 7-ounce mango was reported Aug. 27 on Mindanao island in the Philippines.

Grosskreutz said he has two trees side by side in his back yard at the 250-foot elevation in Honomu. One has Keitt fruit, a Florida variety described on the Internet as “one of the world’s most outstanding mangoes.”

The backyard farmer, a radiologist, said his Keitt tree has been very productive for many years, “but this time around, a storm kind of blew off some blossoms so only one side produced heavy this year.”

He took 250 pounds off the tree Thursday, he said. Most range from 1 to 4 pounds, with a few from 5 to 7 pounds, he said.

He said he weighed his prize mango — “bigger than your head” — at Hill’s home and garden center in Hilo.

He also weighed the mango Wednesday on the calibrated scale at the U.S. post office and confirmed it was 7 pounds.

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