Using weights on young mango trees

[FrankDrebinOfFruits]

I had been using 7' long steel poles to try to pull down branches, and I was not extremely successful due to winds lifting the poles out that were hammered in. I recently watched a video on the youtube channel "What's Ripening". The video reviewed a technique of using weights that I had read about several times (and heard described by several speakers and posters on TFF).  Seeing it on video gave me the courage to try it on a few trees. It was very practical for the reasons described in the video.

One thing I have noticed over the last couple years, the first scaffold is extremely critical in the mango's growth habit. The better formed the first scaffold up from the ground the better shape the tree takes on over its life. I would like to hear other opinions.

I had some old broken hollow tile blocks I was planning to use for fill. Bought a few hundred feet of rope for a few dollars. So its a cheap fix.

Here is Simon discussing the idea a few years ago.
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=2965.msg42368#msg42368

Here is a link to the video. I appreciate he shares his successes and failures, and hope to do the same for the fruit community. The video is long but watching a 10min video is better than recovering from a bunch of failures
https://youtu.be/zue_OjqKR60?t=353


One other thing I remember from Dr Yonnemoto (...I think it was him...), you want to keep an angle 10 degrees above the horizon. This encourages new growth on the terminal (via the auxins). If you bend it too far down, the tree will try to form new buds or push growth elsewhere. There was also another note on heaving a branch heavily loaded with fruit and the benefits of a slight upward angle.  Anyone hear of anything similar?

Here is an example (this is a slightly sick Juliette):

Before:


After:

[Ulfr]

Cool idea. I used to muck around with bonsai and have wired fruit tree branches before to get the desired direction. They obviously have to be young branches for that.

[pineislander]

I'm training six young Soursops in ground using small logs as weights and twine to tie it off. I have gotten the first scaffold branches to behave. Those trees tend naturally towards upright growth making the fruit hard to harvest or hand pollinate. It is working so far, along with some selective pruning of upright growing shoots. The video maker is a friend, I asked for the update.

[j-grow]

Perfect timing for me to see this post ..... I agree ..........any effort you can put in the early years to change the shape of the tree for the better should be done ....... no different than pruning

[321Chris]

Noris Ledesma speaks about this often.  Here's the research behind the madness.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315031941_Training_and_Pruning_a_Mango_Orchard_to_Improve_Blooming_and_Yield_in_South_Florida

[simon_grow]

One observation I’ve noticed is that sometimes Mother Nature will weigh the scaffold branches down by herself. There were several instances where I tied down vertical branches and forced them to about a 30-45 degree angle. When the dormant buds branched out, the weight of the new branches and leaves caused the branch to to go completely horizontal. Once Fruit formed on the branches, the weight of the fruit caused the branches to drag down to the ground. This happened on my Cherimoya tree.

Here’s a great article on pruning Mango
http://www.growables.org/information/documents/MangoPruningStrategies.pdf

Simon

[Jose Spain]

In loquat crops is a usual way to form the tree.

[Future]

Noris Ledesma speaks about this often.  Here's the research behind the madness.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315031941_Training_and_Pruning_a_Mango_Orchard_to_Improve_Blooming_and_Yield_in_South_Florida

Good find. First I have heard of topping at 2ft. Thought they normally used 3ft. Had heard of this so good to see the detailed paper.  Now to put it into practise...including on seedlings.