In bonsai, we like to keep trees short (or they wouldn't be bonsai), but since they insist on growing upward, what happens is that the tree is 'chopped' (cut back to wherever we want, providing enough buds or branches are left below for it to continue to thrive) and then take the highest remaining branch that's growing sideways and gently bend it upward, straight (without breaking it!) and splint it lightly to the top of the cut trunk. Eventually it will become the new leader and you can remove the tie (wire is often used to, but requires a little knowledge and is harder to do properly).

I've had this problem with my mango. I got it last year and it's a grafted tree (don't know the variety, they won't tell you here). It was in a "stick" form when I got it. Around May this year it started growing branches and then in summer, we have extremely hot temps of triple digits here during the summer, the leaves looked like in your pic. Some of the new growth also looked burnt. So I believe it was the heat since we don't apply fertilizer during the summer months (that's what they tell us in the nursery when we buy trees). In the pic below you can see the leaves condition if you zoom a little. All of the branches is a new growth only a few months old, so I hope it's nothing else serious.

Thanks for the pictures! You have some very nice trees! Good luck with all of them...I have to say even though I have pugged several mango trees and have done it often...even for me, every time I have to pug one of my trees its always nerve racking,lol...you always feel like there's a chance it won't bounce back or take forever to see new growths (especially in potted plants) they recover much slower...its a very drastic thing to do but once they start growing...you can see the wait and apprehension is well worth it for the overall shape and size you're trying to achieve...Good luck to you!! Stan's advise on the lighting is a very sound one :o)

Of course they slow with age and anything can happen. But so many times I have seen (and even experienced personally) how the enthusiasm for one specific cultivar can cause us to rationalize it's choice five ways from Sunday only to admit our errors ten years later. If there is only one lesson to be learned about gardening it would be to choose one specific cultivar for one specific area instead of falling in love with the idea of something and trying to talk ourselves into thinking it could work within our limitations. We somehow get attached to a convoluted vision of how we think a tree should behave and spend tons of energy convincing ourselves and everyone else how we will make it work, but often the trees have other ideas. That is such a prime focal point in your garden- you only have so many such spots and a light, delicate, airy small tree seems just the thing. I would only hope that you choose something that you can spend time sitting back and admiring in it's full glory rather than pruning and staking and attempting to bend it to your will for the rest of your life. Yes, you can "get all bonsai" on it and restrict it's growth my making pruning your primary hobby. But do realize that the growth restrictions achieved by bonsai techniques have as much, if not more, to do with root pruning as they do with trimming the canopy. Good luck. Please update us in 2026!