What to do - Mango tree branches drooping badly

11 years ago

Hi everyone,
I have a grafted dwarf King Thai (Maha Chanook) mango tree that I got earlier this year. I kept it in it's nursery pot too long - staked the whole time. When I finally repotted it recently and removed the stake I found out that its branches have no strength at all and droop to such and extend that I fear if I left it like that they would break from their own weight if I left them that way. Currently I have it supported by fabric between two stakes.

My question is what should I do? Please help!

The tree seems to have just to come out of dormancy in the pasty three weeks and has started putting on new growth as we come into the Australian summer. Also it's supposed to be a grafted tree but I don't see any super obvious signs of a graft like I do on my other fruit trees. The only place that it could be looks to be about 75cm up the trunk where the two main branches come out. It seems like a long way up. Is that normal for a mango tree? There has recently been new growth below this point. Should I prune it off? I'd very much appreciate any advise on how to proceed.

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Comments (8)

arcan
Original Author
11 years ago
Here's a close up of where the tree branches off.
seagel
11 years ago
Has it every been pruned? It looks like it could use some pruning.
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arcan
Original Author
11 years ago
No it hasn't been pruned. It's my first Mango tree so I wasn't sure what to do. Also the bulk of the growth has come in the last month or so. How would you prune it? Where to?
seagel
11 years ago
arcan

Listen carefully to what this man says. The words he uses. Depending your avg weather, I would wait for pruning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlhF-YphevA
myamberdog
11 years ago
Yes, depending on where you live (North of the equator), and seagel mentioned this to another grower in another post, Springtime, march or april, would be the best time to clip those to branches. The video is excellent, though if you keep this tree inside your growth will not be as fast as an inground tree, and you'll also have to worry about increasing pot size over time

And since you have 2 very horizontal branches, I personally would make my first cut on those branches only, leaving them like 6 inches long. It should sprout a number of vertical shoots after that cut....I think for you, this will be more of a "pugging" than a tipping, just because of the way your tree is right now...

MPooch
arcan
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks seagal and myamberdog. I had a look at that video butI fear my tree needs something a bit more brutal than a simple tip pruning.

I'm located in Perth, Australia and we're currently at the end of spring and about to enter summer. I think now may be the time to do some pruning.

Do you think the tree is grafted where to two horizontal branches come out? If not then would it be better to make a clean cut below this point?
sapote
11 years ago
All of the new leaves, branches and below the Y, are in same shape and color. This indicate they are the same tree unless the root stock happens to have the same leaves. Mybe it was airlayered, not grafted.

Sapote
arcan
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks sapote, you're right. On closer inspection I was able to find the graft point. It's located around 20 cm (8 inches) below where the two main branches connect to the trunk. Or I should say where they did connect. It took me a good 5 minutes of dithering but in the end I decided to "pug" it just below that point. I've attached the photo of the result. I think the tree looks happier for it but I'm still crossing my fingers for its recovery.