What size are the fruit that are dropping?

Brian

Thanks Brian

I would say the smaller ones range from 2" - 3" and the larger ones 3" - 5 1/2".

I would say most of that is normal...Unfortunately a LOT of them fall off...its kind of like survival of the fittest. Nature's way of keeping only the strong and healthy ones will survive.

Here's a video I found today and its really VERY depressing :o(

Also just a heads up...although I don't grow this variety from what I've read and heard NDM are very prone to "splitting" if you google NDM and fruit splitting you will see many posts about them...I think the best way to prevent this to keep the soil consistent. Don't overwater or let the soil get extremely dry and then rain or water after...I guess the very dry soil to very wet soil is what might cause the fruit splitting...Good luck and I hope you see many fruits this summer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mango Fruit Set Percentage Video...

Thanks for your response and for the video. Hopefully, I'll get to
try a few of them.

I agree with puglvr1, mangos can set many more fruit than the tree can actually sustain and the weaker ones will drop. If your tree is otherwise healthy I wouldn't worry too much, the tree should hold more fruit each year as time goes on.

I have 4 young mango trees here: a Lemon Meringue, a Gary, a Choc Anon, and a Kent. The Kent and the Lemon Meringue are the biggest at 8-10 feet tall and both set a bazillion fruits this year.

The Lemon Meringue in particular started flowering in early February, because of our mild winter. Then all those cold fronts came through in March! I had at least a dozen fruits that survived the initial shedding, but the extended drought and extended cold did in all but THREE of those fruits! (I lay the blame on those cold fronts because it was immediately after each front that I would find more cast-off fruit on the ground.) I was crushed.

The Kent mango is my biggest tree, easily 10 feet tall now. It brought several fruits into the 3-5 inch size, but is still shedding one or two a week, and I probably only have about 6 left -- bummer!!! Fortunately, the very uncharacteristic rains we got in the heart of our dry season (April) seem to have spurred a whole new set of bloom, and the tree is now loaded up with lots of green "pearls" of new baby fruits!

Next year, especially if our winter is dry again, I'm going to try to keep water away from my Lemon Meringue mango in particular. I got to worrying about a bunch of trees due to the drought and made the mistake of watering heavily one week in January. It was within a week or two of that that the Lemon Meringue burst into bloom. I'll try not to make that mistake again.

Good luck with the mangoes!

Its been a very strange winter and the mangoes are doing things its never done before ( at least since I've been growing them the last 7 years,lol...).

Mine have little to no fruit set from the first (January) bloom and then it bloomed a second and third time and although I have many tiny pea size fruits...a LOT of them are falling off :o(. I'm noticing either powdery mildew or anthracnose due to this very dry and then wet conditions...I too hope I get some of them to mature this summer. Its definitely going to be a much later season than what we're used to in FL...I'm probably looking at August or September by the looks of the tiny size of these fruits (assuming they survive that is).

This was taken just a few days ago and already most of the tiny fruits have fallen off :o(

Its so sad that according ot that Video I posted above only
less than one percent survive...its SO depressing!

Close up of the tiny fruits...a LOT has already fallen since I took this :o(

Pug, I talked to a mango farmer on Pine Island yesterday; she told me that everyone here is having the same experience with mangoes -- the trees are blooming for a second and, in some cases, even a third time, just trying to set some fruit.

I'm not sure how much you water and feed, but I've stepped up the watering and given all the trees 2 light feedings in the past six weeks or so. I've been very impressed with how much less fruit my Kent mango is dropping on this, its second fruit-set. If I can bluff my Lemon Meringue mango into a second bloom this year I will be ECSTATIC, as that is one of my all-time fave mangoes.

Good luck!

It's normal to lose most of your pinhead fruit, the tree wouldn't be able to cope otherwise. Once they get larger fruit drop should reduce a lot. Inconsistent watering can be a problem, and also getting rainfall through the fruiting period can be very unhelpful. They like a dry atmosphere in that time of their cycle.

Thanks Cattman and tropicbreezent!!

Cattman...I did the same thing. Gave them a light feeding several weeks ago right before a rain shower :o)

Guess only time will tell how many of these make it to maturity. If these tiny fruits hold it will definitely will be a later/longer mango season this year...keeping fingers crossed.