5ft sounds like a pretty good size tree. Is it also very robust and full? It's always a good idea to wait a year or so after the planting the tree out to let it fruit. Let the plant achieve some size first before fruiting. But as I know its harder to do than say. If you think its still too small, maybe you could prune off most of the fruits and leave 1 or 2.

Thanks Eggo, the tree as you can see is healthy but I wouldn't call it full. It just has the two grafted stems. Oh and It's called Haden, I misspelled it in my first post. You see how many flowers it has? The stem on the left is just starting to flower. The one on the right started out with fresh leaves like the left one and then dropped them all as the flowers grew. I'd much rather have the leaves then the flowers. Can I take all the little flowers off the left one before the leaves fall, and what should I do about the right side?

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1306640}}

After looking at the picture, my opinion is that the tree is way too small at this point. I would lop off the flower spike and let this thing continue to grow another couple of years before allowing it to fruit. Sounds difficult but better than waiting several years for the tree to gain any size at all. Just my 2 cents. J

What happens to the reddish colored stems the flowers are growing on. Do they then become new branches or do they die and fall off? I guess my question is do I clip all the individual flowers off or lop off the whole top of the plant?

You can prune or break off the flowers (inflorescence)including the red stems, at the point where they start. There will be a knobby joint there. Or, leave it alone and you may get a fruit or two. It is *normal* for the flowers/fruiting stems to droop. That is how they grow. Mangos set very few fruits compared to the flowers.

You can prune your tree to make it bushier and stouter, yet try to keep it short enough for easy picking. Haden gets *very* large though.

There are quite a few Mango varieties that can be kept small. Pine Island Nursery has a very interesting Mango viewer that may be useful to you.

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Mango pruning info

Yes, that's what I was looking for! Thanks Lisa.

When you say Haden gets *very* large, what is your idea of large? The tag says 20-25 feet. That seems like a dwarf to me. I'm hoping I can train it to grow at least that high as it will be a big part of our tropical backyard landscape!

Lisa's suggestion is best. Go to Pine Island Nursery and look up their mango viewer. Great descriptions and reccommendations of the varieties. As for the "red" stem the flowers are one? I'd cut it off at the base where it comes out. It will drop off after the flowers/fruit are spent anyway. Give your tree a chance to take off.

Ok, my tree no longer has flower stalks! Thanks for the suggestions everyone. : )

I was looking at your picture and the tree looks pretty close to a wall. Mangos of any species get pretty large as far as trees go. And, they grow pretty fast. The haden is not a small one from what I remember. Tommy Atkins is known to be a small mango. I had a Kent in the yard of a house I had in Fort Lauderdale and it got really quite large, I suppose 50 feet. Here in Brazil where I live now we get mangos up to 100 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet in diameter. Due to the humidity they don't tend to set fruit too well, but due to the size a lot is still produced.

The tag on this one says 20-25 feet or shape to desired height. I was hoping for a 15 to 20 foot tree in that location. It also says to plant 10 or more feet away from the house which I didn't read. Are these trees known for lifting foundations? :( I have it planted next to a south facing wall of the garage which is detached from the house. At the moment I don't have any other space for it as I have Bananas growing just about everywhere else.

I personally would not plant a mango tree too close to a building. Mango trees form nice canopies with lots of shade and I think should be given some room to develop. There is also the fact that when the gets larger and bears fruit it will be dropping fruit all over your garage. Mangoes do make a bit of a mess when the fruit starts dropping. The mango tree I had in Fort Lauderdale was a favorite of the local racoon family and the parrots.

I agree with everyone on this. It is too close to the wall. However I don't think your going to see a 20ft mango tree anytime soon. You just don't see many mango trees in So Cal that develops into that kind of size.

Keep it pruned way back to a manageable size. Tree stays healthier, easier to care for, easier to pick the fruit. No need to let it get that large.

Eggo,, on average what kind of hight are you seeing here in So Cal?

Momo, the ones I've seen, grafted mangos in 5 years is maybe 6 feet but with a good size trunk and 4 feet spread, The ones I've seen tend to have a weeping habit. I think grafted plants tend to bloom early and often. And in our weather, it seems to have no problem at all blooming, so I think this blooming and fruiting habit tends to keep the size down.

Now I've a seen a few 9-10 year old trees that were about 12-15 feet tall with a 6 feet canopy. However these were seedling grown plants which means that it spent much more time growing vegetatively until it finally matured.

I wonder if by removing the flowers for 3 or 4 years it will grow faster?

Yeah you could give it a try. Even if prune back, there are some varieties that will keep trying to send out blooms until it holds a fruit or two.

Momo, I found this thread because my potted mango is doing the same thing yours is (was). The only difference is my flowering stem is about three times as big, it dominates the whole plant! I think the tree has gone nuts. I'm going to prune it off soon.

Scott

I purchased a variety of mango from Albertson's grocery store of a variety I had never seen before. It was small, about the size of a Hass Avacado and remained yellow/orange. The mango had a wonderful flavor that I would like to enjoy again and again. The pulp had very little fiber through the flesh and near the seed pod. I have begun to germinate it following the vast information I was able to obtain. I only wish I had made a note of the variety! I checked the label, but all it said was "RCF El Rosario Sin Mex". If anyone has any ideas or advice to share, please help me out. Thanks from Bakersfield, CA

I'm not sure about Albertson's but I have been seeing a lot of extremely small Ataulfo, Manilla, Champagne, etc mangos, all pretty the same variety with slight variations. The skin is all yellow/orange, the fruit is slightly crooked shape and kind of flat. The seed is extremely flat. Is this it?
Usually these varieties produce much larger fruits. But because sometimes due to environmental conditions/pollination problems, etc. they produce these nubbins. Its not something the growers look forward to. The smallest of these nubbins I ever had seen were some 2 1/2 inch fruits but tasted exactly the same.