Mango trees, ? about pruning for a very short and bushy canopy
Hello everyone. I have seen some pics of very short mango and bushy canopies. Most of the pics are of trees owned by username: puglvr1, but the posts are all several years old.
My question is: in order to get canopies THAT bushy, does one need to constantly prune new flushes so that more will grow in its place? Is it like the notion that if you pluck a white hair, will two grow in its place?
One of my trees has about 4 main little branches. Should I chop off the new flush on each branch in an effort to encourage much more new growth in that place?
Here's a picture of the tree that I'm considering the pruning, and the link is to one of the threads in which puglvr1 showcases their trees.
MY mango tree:
and an example in this thread of what I WANT my mango to look like!
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1419331/container-mango-tree-size-of-pot-soil-type
Comments (28)
Related Discussions
? Re: My New Mango Tree
Comments (8)Daisy, Congrats on your new mango tree! I love mangoes, I have several young trees I planted several months to two years ago. I'm not an expert and I am learning as I go along...but I posted some pictures on how I "hard pruned" one of my mangoes on the link below that I posted at the Tropical Fruits forum. I am by no means suggesting that you do this to your tree...just showing you that they can take to pruning very well. I would never recommend you do anything this drastic to your tree in fear that it won't turn out the way you want it. But for me, it turned out very well. BTW, I also did this to my Haden Mango tree, as I was told this variety can get big...I wanted to try and keep it manageable from the start. It suffered from the this years freeze, but its recovering. Also, here's a link to some recommendations on pruning Mango trees... http://www.virtualherbarium.org/TropicalFruit/mangopruning.htmlcolor> Below is the link I posted...Scroll down almost to the end to see the pictures I posted Here is a link that might be useful: Post from the Tropical Fruits Forum on Mango Pruning...See MoreRoot Pruning mango trees
Comments (10)Hi Nanci, I emailed Jay regarding this and he told me that he dissagreed with Al's root pruning time frames. I am just going to hold out until it becomes necessary. I cannot believe that a mango tree would lose it's vigor after one short year. Now that I think about it, I believe he was talking in general terms. I have that Atualfo seedling that I am going to experiment with today. It needs a larger pot and I am going to try and remove about half of the tap root and see what happens. Hi Ashley, I have tried posting to some of those other forums before. I even emailed Al and both ways got me no where. No one answered my post on the fig forum, and container forum, and Al didn't answer my email. I emailed him about Fig varieties and he ignored it. Sad to say but I have found that on some of those forums, if your not a "regular" poster there, they tend to not answer you. Hey Mango kush, I actually wouldn't mind if you sent me some mango seeds of varieties that you find to be superior. I have one seedling that I hope will bear fruit before I am an old man! I also really would like to try my hands at grafing mango seedlings. I really like the Maha Chinook mango, and I would like a second tree but it would be much nicer if I could try grafting it myself. Now I know that Harry has found it to be challenging but it would still be an awesome journey and hopefully some day I will get one to take! Andrew...See MoreMango tree pruning
Comments (15)If you have new growth about to start, now would be a good time to prune it. You could do it in stages if the branches are really big. One this year, more the next, etc. Mango trees are regularly pruned every year over here in India but not on the scale that you are talking about I think. The farmers prefer to keep the trees short so they can get at the fruit easily. I've pruned about 20 feet off a couple of trees this year myself. Here the flowering time is from November to February (depending on the location) so pruning is never done at this time because the flowers appear on the new growth as you must know. There is every likelihood that the tree that has been hard-pruned may not fruit that year but will the next year so dont prune all your trees together. Pruning also helps the sunlight to hit all those dark, dense areas in the middle of the tree canopy and will actually help the fruiting process. Make sure you apply a good fungide and pesticide on the cut portions. We have the same problem as you when harvest time rolls around. I collected a whole lot of mango recipes so that takes care of a lot. Drying some of the mango takes care of more plus these can be used later in the year in curries. I'm sure you've done the same, right? It also helps that most of our mango trees are of different varieties so they dont usually fruit all together at the same time....See More? Re: My New Mango Tree
Comments (10)Daisy, Here are some pictures of the Haden that I pruned you couldn't see from the older post... Again, it is your tree, so the final decision is yours whether to prune it or not. Just showing you what I've done with my Haden. Shortly after I planted it... After I pruned it very "hard" Taken today...remember this was damaged during the Jan. freeze...lost (all) 100% of its leaves...recovering slowly For me the main reason I hard pruned this Haden is because from what I've read it can become a very tall and large tree...which I didn't want, as you can see this definitely has the potential to become a "Dwarf" size by maintaining it and pruning it every year...or I guess the freeze will just do it for me every year, lol... Good luck with whatever you decide to do! If you use the MG soil, make sure you use lots of drainage mixed with it...MG soil is known for retaining a lot of water. With our rainy season just around the corner...this is will be very detrimental for your tree, mango trees does not like "wet and soggy soil". Just my two cents! Fish Emulsion is great for fertilzer, you can also use some "Slow release" fert. mixed in your soil when you repot it...so it won't burn the leaves....See More
Daniel 10A
7 years agoHey there I think you should watch the fairchild video on tipping small mango trees. Very infor m at I've and I learned a lot! I think I recall the video saying to tip it every so many inches. Here's a photo of my coconut cream mango. I've only tipped her once and has since put out a lot of new branches average 3 put scaffold branch
I'm about to go outside Ill send another pic this was 2 weeks ago
figsinhawaii thanked Daniel 10Afigsinhawaii
7 years agofigsinhawaii
7 years agoDaniel 10A
7 years agoI am definitely surprised how much it has grown! It must have grown close to a foot on some branches!
puglvr1
7 years agoDaniel 10A
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agofigsinhawaii
7 years agostanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoDaniel 10A
7 years agofigsinhawaii
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoStan,
it is a grafted Rapoza mango. It is a Univ of Hawaii cultivar. It consistently places really well on taste tests, beating popular varieties like Edwards, Gouveia, Pirie, Haden, etc. Two years ago, it placed 2nd of 24 varieties that entered for judging at the annual mango festival in Hawaii. I was honored to have been selected as a judge for this event, and it was my personal favorite. Here are two pics: the first is of the table that was judged and the second pic is one of the Rapozas I picked up at a local farmers market.
Also, a good analysis of this variety is between minutes 3:15 through 5:00 in this video link below:
figsinhawaii
7 years agoDaniel 10A
7 years agostanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
7 years agofigsinhawaii thanked stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay areafigsinhawaii
7 years agoDaniel 10A
7 years agostanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
7 years agowritersblock (9b/10a)
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agofigsinhawaii
7 years agoGuys, after the new pugging, or "tipping" on Sep 20, there are new tiny signs of growth on a few parts of the tree. Yay! I'll post another pic in about a month or so.
Daniel 10A
7 years agofigsinhawaii
7 years agoDaniel 10A
7 years agofigsinhawaii
7 years agoDaniel 10A
7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
writersblock (9b/10a)