Need mango pruning ideas for damaged tree

13 years ago

I have an unknown variety of mango that was growing here when I bought the house. It was severely damaged in the freezes of '09-'10 and '10-'11. It is just now starting to bounce back well. I have undertaken a vigorous spraying program this year that seems to be helping, although anthracnose is still present on the leaves quite a bit.

Unfortunately, it has taken a very odd, tall shape with lots of little branches going straight up. After it produces its three fruits for this year, I am going to prune it very heavily. Unless the fruit sucks then I am going to top work it.

I was planning on cutting t back to the initial crotch and then trying to force it to grow out rather than up. Any ideas? Anyone else successfully pruned cold damaged trees and gotten a good shape back out of them?

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Comments (7)

katkin_gw
13 years ago
If it's a Haden, these are very big trees but also pretty hardy. I wouldn't cut it that far back, just take off the top branches. I prune mind back every other year to keep it a manageable size. But I think that may shorten the life of the tree.
slopfrog
Original Author
13 years ago
It's definitely not Haden. I suspect Kent - the fruit look very much like Kents - green and purple with a little "bump" of a beak on the underside. Hard to say though.
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shuffles_gw
13 years ago
A neighbor has about 8 to 10 mango trees. After the last freeze, he cut them back about 20% to 25% - a guess. Since then, they have recovered and have been having big crops year after year.
shuffles_gw
13 years ago
A close up of one tree
slopfrog
Original Author
13 years ago
Yikes, those are exactly what I don't want my trees to become! Waaaay too big!
katkin_gw
13 years ago
You may need to do a search on mango trees, I think they are bigger then you want. :o) You will probably have a problem keeping them as small as you want.
slopfrog
Original Author
13 years ago
I was just at Ensey Tropical Fruit in Merritt Island, a commercial grower that has all kinds of varieties. Every one of those trees was a manageable size. I don't think any of them were much more than 15' tall.