You have more than 4 branches growing proximal to the point of truncation. What you should do depends on your vision of what the plant should look like as it matures. One thing is certain, if you allow all of those branches to continue to grow, you'll have a huge swelling on the trunk as all of those branch collars expand. This will wreck the plant's eye appeal.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'll assume the reason you truncated the plant was to stimulate branching and start working on developing the canopy/foliage mass. If that's the plan, I would keep the small branch several nodes below the point of truncation and growing to the right in the image. I would then select only 2 branches from the top of the cluster of branches immediately proximal to the point of truncation and remove all other new branches. This will leave you with 3 second order branches to start developing.

Envision the ht at which you want to maintain the tree. Allow the 3 second order branches to grow so they have reached half the distance from the point of truncation to the height you would like the tree to be, then pinch (truncate) those 3 branches. From each of those branches, allow maybe 3 branches to grow, and rub off all lateral branching in places that do not compliment the composition. You'll now have 9 branches to work on. Allow those branches to grow so they are about 75% of the way between the original point of truncation and ultimate ht of the tree, then pinch them and let 3 branches grow from each. This will give you 27 branches to work with.

From that point on, you can focus on pruning fairly hard in the spring, pinching during the summer, and leaving the tree grow unrestrained in the winter. Try to never allow more than 2 branches to grow from a branch in close proximity to each other, as it creates an unnatural "heaviness" in the canopy.

As a bonsai practitioner, I'm intimately familiar with how to prune effectively with a focus on developing natural looking trees with eye appeal. If your goal is fruit production, you might want to seek advice from someone with experience growing mango in containers for their fruit.

Al

Thank you very much Al for your time.

I really like the plan you presented and I will take the first step this weekend.

I have indeed truncated the plant to stimulate branching and working on developing the canopy.

My project with this plant is to bring it up to 4.5 – 5 feet tall and keep it there, for the eye appeal of the foliage & bark. I have no plans for fruit production.

I hope I will be able to provide the plant with the best conditions to grow (within the limits of my climate zone - 8b). It goes outside mid-May and back indoor mid-October.

On behalf of all my plants, thank you once more for your time, guidance and detailed explanations.

Best,

Michael

I have mango grown from seed something like 20 yrs back. After pruning the first set of leaves on a new branch will be pretty tight. The next one will shoot a mile high straight up. If you want a wider canopy you should also consider wiring to spread branches outward. I have not done this to my plant though - something I planned but never done. Also if you prune a young branch it is very reluctant to bud back proximal to the cut. Let it get a bit woody if you want buds close to the cut. Here is my plant to show how it has a tendency to produce long internodes and pointing straight up.

This one I cut back hard in Summer and all those are new shoots - the extras pruned similar to how Al described earlier.

I'd have cut it much lower. But it's your call. Mangoes can get tall!

I waited years for mine to get to be a real (but small) tree. Yet,now that I need a ladder to reach top fruit,I'm thinking of topping it next spring...but that would ruin the years fruit. The S.F. bay area's mild summers is like that.