Author Topic: Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County  (Read 3974 times)

FruitFreak

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Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County
« on: October 28, 2016, 04:23:38 PM »
I know this topic has been pretty well covered however I'm getting closer to establishing the final layout for our future orchard and wanted to get some last minute feedback from experienced home/commercial growers.

Mango tree varieties and their growth habits will vary greatly throughout the orchard.
Rows will be planted North to South 8 trees per row with 19' spacing between each tree.  The rows will be spaced 25' apart.

Are 19' diameter trees realistic for most mangoes?  Of course they will be selectively pruned annually to keep things healthy and productive.  On this parcel, if I go up to 20' x 25' spacing I'll loose 36 spaces which is significant. 

Would love to hear from some experienced growers on whether 19' be sufficient or should I sacrifice greater spacing for less trees?

Thank you!
- Marley

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Re: Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2016, 05:55:10 PM »
You can easily get away with 15 foot spacing for mango trees with an annual (or sometimes even biennial) pruning. Remember -- you want to keep your trees 14 feet tall or less for the following reasons:

 - Much easier to spray (fungicide will be one of your best friends when growing mangoes)
 - Much easier to harvest
 - Minimize hurricane damage (wind speeds above 14 or so feet can be much higher)

And a 14 foot tall tree will generally be 14 - 15 feet wide -- meaning you only need 14 - 15 feet spacing between trees.

So you have a couple of options:

 - If you want to be able to roll through the orchard with heavy equipment, you would want 20 - 25 feet between rows, but then you could space trees 10 or so feet apart in row.

 - If heavy equipment access is not an issue, you could easily get away with 13 feet between rows and 15 feet between each tree in row by planting the trees on a diagonal, which ends up giving you a 15 feet between trees (the length of the triangle hypotenuse is 15 feet).
Jeff  :-)

FruitFreak

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Re: Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2016, 09:04:32 PM »
You can easily get away with 15 foot spacing for mango trees with an annual (or sometimes even biennial) pruning. Remember -- you want to keep your trees 14 feet tall or less for the following reasons:

 - Much easier to spray (fungicide will be one of your best friends when growing mangoes)
 - Much easier to harvest
 - Minimize hurricane damage (wind speeds above 14 or so feet can be much higher)

And a 14 foot tall tree will generally be 14 - 15 feet wide -- meaning you only need 14 - 15 feet spacing between trees.

So you have a couple of options:

 - If you want to be able to roll through the orchard with heavy equipment, you would want 20 - 25 feet between rows, but then you could space trees 10 or so feet apart in row.

 - If heavy equipment access is not an issue, you could easily get away with 13 feet between rows and 15 feet between each tree in row by planting the trees on a diagonal, which ends up giving you a 15 feet between trees (the length of the triangle hypotenuse is 15 feet).

Cook - Your thoughts are inline with what i was thinking.  It sounds like 25' rows (to accommodate light equipment) and 19' tree spacing will be sufficient.  Like you mentioned a reasonable tree height needs to be maintained for spraying and harvesting.  Thank you.
- Marley

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Re: Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2016, 09:28:34 PM »
I would do closer in-row spacing if you're going to do 25 feet between row -- perhaps as low as 10 to 12 feet between trees. 19 feet is a lot unless you plan to let them get big.

You should take a look at Ms Wenzel's place (Truly Tropical). I think her trees are 10 to 12 feet apart in row and roughly 25 feet between rows. Her trees must be over a decade old, and they appear to be thriving in that setup.

I would also suggest scheduling a paid phone consultation with Har. He's got a lot of experience caring for mango orchards and could give you valuable advice.

Cook - Your thoughts are inline with what i was thinking.  It sounds like 25' rows (to accommodate light equipment) and 19' tree spacing will be sufficient.  Like you mentioned a reasonable tree height needs to be maintained for spraying and harvesting.  Thank you.
Jeff  :-)

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Re: Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2016, 08:10:18 AM »
I 2ND The Har Option !

Good luck Marley can't wait o see the new Place !
Ed
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Re: Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County
« Reply #5 on: October 30, 2016, 12:32:11 PM »
I would do closer in-row spacing if you're going to do 25 feet between row -- perhaps as low as 10 to 12 feet between trees. 19 feet is a lot unless you plan to let them get big.

You should take a look at Ms Wenzel's place (Truly Tropical). I think her trees are 10 to 12 feet apart in row and roughly 25 feet between rows. Her trees must be over a decade old, and they appear to be thriving in that setup.

I would also suggest scheduling a paid phone consultation with Har. He's got a lot of experience caring for mango orchards and could give you valuable advice.

Cook - Your thoughts are inline with what i was thinking.  It sounds like 25' rows (to accommodate light equipment) and 19' tree spacing will be sufficient.  Like you mentioned a reasonable tree height needs to be maintained for spraying and harvesting.  Thank you.

Just curious but what do you think is the average diameter of the tree trunks at Truly Tropical?

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Re: Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County
« Reply #6 on: October 30, 2016, 03:31:29 PM »
See for yourself. Mr Har is the bearded gentleman giving the tour in the first part of the video. Can't believe this video received 1.5M views!

I would do closer in-row spacing if you're going to do 25 feet between row -- perhaps as low as 10 to 12 feet between trees. 19 feet is a lot unless you plan to let them get big.

You should take a look at Ms Wenzel's place (Truly Tropical). I think her trees are 10 to 12 feet apart in row and roughly 25 feet between rows. Her trees must be over a decade old, and they appear to be thriving in that setup.

I would also suggest scheduling a paid phone consultation with Har. He's got a lot of experience caring for mango orchards and could give you valuable advice.

Cook - Your thoughts are inline with what i was thinking.  It sounds like 25' rows (to accommodate light equipment) and 19' tree spacing will be sufficient.  Like you mentioned a reasonable tree height needs to be maintained for spraying and harvesting.  Thank you.

Just curious but what do you think is the average diameter of the tree trunks at Truly Tropical?
Jeff  :-)

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Re: Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County
« Reply #8 on: October 31, 2016, 11:24:12 AM »
Jeff  :-)

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Re: Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County
« Reply #9 on: November 01, 2016, 03:51:47 PM »
Those videos are really cool.  It,s also nice to put Har's face with "Guanabanas".  If Har is the curator for Truly Tropical he certainly does a great job as that place looks very productive.  I'm envisioning most of my trees 10yrs from now being between 12-20ft diameter but I probably should consult with someone prior to install which wont be until next season.
- Marley

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Re: Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County
« Reply #10 on: November 01, 2016, 05:07:46 PM »
Well, that totally depends on how you maintain them. If you are just planning to let them go, they will get to the 20 foot diameter and you will need the 25 foot spacing you spoke of earlier.

But I was under the impression that you would be pruning them. There are myriad benefits to keeping them under 14 feet tall and wide. If you plan on pruning them, then you can get away with the 12 foot in-row spacing pretty easily.

Definitely consult with Har. Har helps maintain multiple mango orchards, one of which is Truly Tropical. He has been in the ag business longer than I've been alive. Very knowledgeable and well worth the consultation -- which I feel is very reasonably priced.

I'm envisioning most of my trees 10yrs from now being between 12-20ft diameter but I probably should consult with someone prior to install which wont be until next season.
Jeff  :-)

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Re: Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County
« Reply #11 on: November 02, 2016, 04:16:37 PM »
Well, that totally depends on how you maintain them. If you are just planning to let them go, they will get to the 20 foot diameter and you will need the 25 foot spacing you spoke of earlier.

But I was under the impression that you would be pruning them. There are myriad benefits to keeping them under 14 feet tall and wide. If you plan on pruning them, then you can get away with the 12 foot in-row spacing pretty easily.

Definitely consult with Har. Har helps maintain multiple mango orchards, one of which is Truly Tropical. He has been in the ag business longer than I've been alive. Very knowledgeable and well worth the consultation -- which I feel is very reasonably priced.

I'm envisioning most of my trees 10yrs from now being between 12-20ft diameter but I probably should consult with someone prior to install which wont be until next season.

The orchard will be on annual to bi-annual pruning schedule for all of the reasons you previously mentioned.  I played around with the tree-spacing and reduced to 17'x 25' rows and it added many more trees.  I definitely do not want to shade out south facing foliage by spacing them too closely in-line with each other.  I think a consultation is in order.
- Marley

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Re: Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County
« Reply #12 on: November 02, 2016, 04:25:34 PM »
I guess where I'm having trouble is understanding the tree size/productivity ratio.  I believe this is specific to each variety which further complicates things considering all of the different varieties I plan on having.
- Marley

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Re: Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County
« Reply #13 on: November 02, 2016, 06:01:09 PM »
17 feet would be ultra-safe. I do 14 x 14 on most of my trees and have very little problem with shading unless I don't prune. A keitt can fit very comfortably in a 17 x 17, and a lychee can easily fit into 17 x 17 with pruning. With zero pruning, most trees can fit into 25 x 25.

I think any mango tree can be kept productive at 14 x 14. If you're anti-nitrogen like Dr Campbell, then you can pull off high production at 10 x 10 :-).

Mango trees only grow from end of harvest to roughly end of Nov. With approximately one flush every month, you're looking at 2 - 4 flushes per year, depending on nitrogen levels, for productive trees -- which translates roughly to 2 - 4 feet of growth per year. So the annual pruning takes the tree from 14 feet to 10 feet in July, and the tree is back at 14 feet in December and ready to bloom.

The other thing to keep in mind when planning spacing is that mango trees only produce on the margins of the canopy. So, any space under the canopy edge is wasted both in terms of photosynthesis (it's all shaded) and fruiting.

Make sure to tour some of the orchards down this way that use tight spacing: Truly Tropical, Lara Farms, Fairchild Farm, etc.
Jeff  :-)

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Re: Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County
« Reply #14 on: November 04, 2016, 01:23:48 PM »
Thanks for the video link.  Can't wait till Summer!

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Re: Tree Spacing for Mango Orchard - Collier County
« Reply #15 on: November 09, 2016, 09:02:15 AM »
"Make sure to tour some of the orchards down this way that use tight spacing: Truly Tropical, Lara Farms, Fairchild Farm, etc."

Good idea, along with the consultations.  Thank you.
- Marley