I had difficulty trying to attach this picture to the original post. It just wouldn't open despite my several attempts, but glad it did now.

Haven't ever seen black streaking in mangos before, I'd suspect some problem. The splitting fruit is usually caused by uneven watering, especially in hot weather. Mangos will ripen when picked early, but that's why some people prefer to get tree ripened ones over those shop bought ones that have been ripened in storage. It might be an idea to look into setting up some sort of animal protection for your tree when it's in fruit.

Congrats Banana!!! Great harvest!! That black streaking is also on some of mangoes, I believe its anthracnose. It doesn't affect the flavor or the inside of the mango thank goodness. I usually do not like to spray my fruits so I just let it go since the quality is not affected just "visually" it makes the fruits not look pretty,lol...if you want to spray the tree I believe copper is what you spray on the blooms monthly? Check the directions on the bottle...

Tropicbreezent is right about the fruits splitting, caused by excessive and or uneven water....but we have no control of that especially this time of year due to it being our rainy season...

Enjoy the fruits of your harvest!!

Tropicbreezent,

With mangoes, I never knew exactly what kind of watering they need. I was told they don't like wet feet ... so how often should they be watered? Right now, we have a very wet and humid season. The daily rain takes over all of the watering schedule fortunately or unfortunately .. lol.

Yes, I've heard that the fruit tastes better when picked ripe. I still have one more mango on my Carrie which I've started to use a clip on plastic bubble. So far so good. But when the tree gets big and gives off more fruit, it will be quite tricky to protect them all. We'll see how things go with the growth of the tree first.

With the black streaks, Puglvr just commented it was due to anthracnose. Will have to see what to do with it later.

Thanks for the feedback.

Thanks Puglvr.

Yes, I was quite thrilled to see that I was able to eat my own home grown mangoes at last, after so many years of playing around with them. Thanks for your suggestion for the choice of Pickering. I'm just thankful for this bunch of crop which I didn't expect at all. In the past, I have only been able to get one or two of the fruit and often even with that scarcity, they were stolen and eaten by those "yard robbers."

Wow .. I didn't know that those streaks were caused by Anthracnose. I've always imagined that being a fatal disease to have for mangoes. I didn't know that they still can go on to produce fruit. I'll have to look at the copper spray for sure. Otherwise, I'm wondering if Neem oil will help.

Do you have any idea how mango pruning should be done after harvest? I know lychees like to be pruned after harvest, but not so sure about mangoes though.

You're right, the daily rain is something for this year ... I just hope all the plants will be ok with all this volunteer water schedule ... lol. Enjoy the rest of your Summer with your tropical paradize :)

Hi banana! As far as mango pruning goes...its always recommended to do it after fruit harvest. Normally these are fine with "most" mango varieties but its a little harder on the very late variety such as Keitt which for me doesn't finish ripening till Oct.! but normally July to August should be fine to trim. I also made the mistake of pruning my Pickering in late Oct...just wasn't enough time for all the new growths to harden till winter, so my blooms were affected. This year I'm not pruning my Pickering...I tip pruned them this year in June so that's it for this year in hopes of getting more mangoes next season...

Anthracnose is pretty well everywhere, even on the bark and branches of the trees. It's warm humid weather that causes it to take off. That's one of the reasons they're mostly grown in savanna climates rather than rainforest. In the tropics they flower in the dry season so there's not usually a big problem, even so they're still often sprayed at flowering and fruit set for Anthracnose. The fungicide is usually copper based.

Because you're not in the ideal climate you need to improvise. Here they flower and ripen in the dry season and into the build-up. Humidity and storms come when most of the fruit has ripened. Because of the long peduncles the fruit can be thrashed around during storms and get badly bruised, something that's not commercially acceptable. Storms can also cause uneven watering and consequently splitting of fruit. The ideal climate can have its problems as well.

When the flood rains come in the wet season mangos (after fruiting) can be standing in water ankle deep for a few months continuously. Even with no surface water the ground is still waterlogged. So artificial watering is only carried out when flowering first starts, then up until 85% of flowering. The watering is shut off from then onwards.

You need to synchronise your watering to flowering and fruiting, adjusting for any rainfall. In colder climates this usually doesn't start until later into the season, hence problems with spring/summer rains. But you're not doing it commercially so you have a lot of leeway.

Puglvr,

Thanks for the tips on mango pruning. It's good to know not to touch it after Oct. I know, we all learn from trial and error and certainly there's still so much to learn. I will have to remember to tip prune them before I get distracted with other things to do these few days.

By the way, any idea with the pruning for Longan trees? They haven't fruited yet and are still small 3-4ft. I would imagine they should be treated the same way as Lychees? But the question is, for very young Lychee trees, do you also tip prune them to encourage growth? If so, when is a good time? Perhaps between June-October? Not sure, just guessing here. What do you think?

tropicbreezent,

You do have many interesting things to say. I will try to remember what you're saying. I think it was doing a little better until the rainy season here began. It certainly will be easier to make adjustments when it's too dry, but not the other way around.