Watering mango trees while fruits are forming?

[zands]

Such as right about now? It's generally a no-no to water mango trees that have fruit but I'll bet many of you give them a squirt now and then especially if they are still young, say less than 10 feet tall......

If it was really really dry right now (which happens some Florida winter-springs where you can have one inch of rain in five months until the wet "hurricane season" starting June) would you be watering your younger and larger trees? I definitely water my young mango trees that have no fruit.....  3x per week

thanks-  Zands

[SWRancher]

I generally don't but not because I dont want too. My trees dont like my hard well water so I'm limited to using the water from a 60 gallon rain barrel and the potted and newly planted ones have first dibbes on that water. 

[Sleepdoc]

For me, it depends on the age of the tree, and where they are planted. 

Some area's of my yard are basically that white/rocky road fill type of soil that gets bone dry.  There are no sprinklers in that area, and the grass dies due to draught.  I have about 10 trees less than 3 yrs old planted in that area, and I feel it is necessary to deep water them every week or 10 days, even though some of them are holding fruit.

In areas with more forgiving soil, and trees over 3 yrs old, I do not water.

[fruitlovers]

Such as right about now? It's generally a no-no to water mango trees that have fruit but I'll bet many of you give them a squirt now and then especially if they are still young, say less than 10 feet tall......

If it was really really dry right now (which happens some Florida winter-springs where you can have one inch of rain in five months until the wet "hurricane season" starting June) would you be watering your younger and larger trees? I definitely water my young mango trees that have no fruit.....  3x per week

thanks-  Zands

Zands, can you explain in more detail why you think it's a no no to water fruiting mangos? I don't really see what the problem could be with doing that except for overhead watering spreading disease? Are you perhaps talking about the fruits becoming too bland with overwatering? I suppose that is possible. If you look at the natural habitats that mangos come from they have extremely heavy monsoon rains during last part of mango tree fruiting: May-July, SE Asia and India both experience this and have wonderful tasting mangos!
Oscar

[FloridaGreenMan]

Unless your trees are huge, you should keep them watered especially since the next few months will be very dry in SFLA.  Like Oscar mentioned, keep the water spray low so you avoid wetting the flowers. If your sprinklers are working OK, the twice per week watering should be satisfactory.       

[bsbullie]

I agree with Oscar and Noel, if you don;t water and you have poor or no irrigation and receive little rain, you won't have to worry about any possible water damage to the fruit case the heat and lack of water will do them in (your tree itself will not be very happy either).

[Tropicalgrower89]

I generally don't but not because I dont want too. My trees dont like my hard well water so I'm limited to using the water from a 60 gallon rain barrel and the potted and newly planted ones have first dibbes on that water.

How deep is your well?

Did you know what the pH of your well water is?

[zands]

Zands, can you explain in more detail why you think it's a no no to water fruiting mangos? I don't really see what the problem could be with doing that except for overhead watering spreading disease? Are you perhaps talking about the fruits becoming too bland with overwatering? I suppose that is possible. If you look at the natural habitats that mangos come from they have extremely heavy monsoon rains during last part of mango tree fruiting: May-July, SE Asia and India both experience this and have wonderful tasting mangos!
Oscar[/i]


I have no intelligent answer for that except that what I have always read is don't water your mango trees with fruit on them. At least for Florida. Matter of fact the general advice is don't water them at all once established from a planting say 3 months or so. Let nature take care of that.  But then I have seen knowledgeable member Harry post on gardenweb that he has seen his trees grow quicker with watering and not just left alone

[HMHausman]

The conventional wisdom (from Richard Campbell and the like) is that water should be limited as mangoes are putting on their crop. In my experience, I don't think that a little more or less water makes all that much difference.  I have had drenching rainstorms and standing water for a short time while mangoes are carrying their fruits without too much demonstrable negative effect.  Possible exceptions to this is when it has been dry for an exteded period of time and then there is a sudden onset of extreme wetness, there is the tendency for some mangoes to split.  Now....is taste, flavor concentrations affected by watering.....I really can't say for sure.  It may have some effect, but to really test this one would have to do some studies where you had one tree with watering and one of the same trees in the same soil without.  I don't think anyone has done such studies. My unscientific opinion is that withholding water is not such a panacea with mango production.  If you're growing in a pot, even more reason to water and keep your mango from drying out.  If you get a slightly watered down mango, you'll at least be rewarded with a healthier tree and more fruit.

Harry

[fruitlovers]

Conventional wisdom is also that water stress is important for getting trees to flower, but you don't want to stress trees when they are fruiting.
Oscar

[bsbullie]

Conventional wisdom is also that water stress is important for getting trees to flower, but you don't want to stress trees when they are fruiting.
Oscar

In either direction...either drought stress or sudden over-watering.  As has been said, a sudden glut of water during a period of drought can cause fruit to split and drop.

[fruitlovers]

Conventional wisdom is also that water stress is important for getting trees to flower, but you don't want to stress trees when they are fruiting.
Oscar

In either direction...either drought stress or sudden over-watering.  As has been said, a sudden glut of water during a period of drought can cause fruit to split and drop.

Never seen splitting caused by ground watering, only by overhead watering or rain.

[bsbullie]

Conventional wisdom is also that water stress is important for getting trees to flower, but you don't want to stress trees when they are fruiting.
Oscar

In either direction...either drought stress or sudden over-watering.  As has been said, a sudden glut of water during a period of drought can cause fruit to split and drop.

Never seen splitting caused by ground watering, only by overhead watering or rain.

I have sen it where people have not given their mangoes any supplemental water during an extended drought period and the when the tree shows signs of extreme stress they water the hell out of it with a hose (ground water, not overhead) and its bye bye fruit.

[fruitlovers]

In either direction...either drought stress or sudden over-watering.  As has been said, a sudden glut of water during a period of drought can cause fruit to split and drop.

Never seen splitting caused by ground watering, only by overhead watering or rain.
[/quote]
I have sen it where people have not given their mangoes any supplemental water during an extended drought period and the when the tree shows signs of extreme stress they water the hell out of it with a hose (ground water, not overhead) and its bye bye fruit.
[/quote]

Never seen that here, probably because it's never dry for very long. Longest dry period i've ever seen here has been one month. And that happens extremely rarely.

[phantomcrab]

This is exactly like what happens to tomatoes when ripening during a dry spell. A lot of water intake at one time will make the fruit swell and split rather than gradually filling out.