When should I let my trees bear fruit

[mangomongo]

I have several trees that have been in the ground for about two years now. All started out as mature for the pot 7gl. I never culled the fruit off at all, I just let them do there thing and got a few from each last year but not much at all. Now the trees seem like they didn't grow as much as I thought they would have. Is that from letting them fruit or possibly from a poor root system from being in the pot too long and not root pruning them? Also hurricane Mathew nocked them around a bit and I have to stake some. 

VP
Carrie
CC
Glenn
Lemon meringue 7gl in ground for months. full of BB sized fruit. 

[Central Floridave]

That is a strong possibility!   20 years ago I let small trees fruit and they seem to have forever been stunted.  There are other factors why my trees are stunted but that could have started the process! 

I think it is best to take the fruit off and let the tree get established first before allowing the fruit to mature.  Makes sense to allow the nutrients to go to root development instead of fruit.   

Mango are pretty tough plants.  The only thing that kills them in my opinion is human care (or a freeze).  Left alone by themselves they will grow and fruit by themselves rather well. Especially on M.I.!  (I'm just North of Pineda)

  Pruning of course is needed to keep the fruit within reach.  Good luck!

[Cookie Monster]

Have you fertilized them?

I have several trees that have been in the ground for about two years now. All started out as mature for the pot 7gl. I never culled the fruit off at all, I just let them do there thing and got a few from each last year but not much at all. Now the trees seem like they didn't grow as much as I thought they would have. Is that from letting them fruit or possibly from a poor root system from being in the pot too long and not root pruning them? Also hurricane Mathew nocked them around a bit and I have to stake some. 

VP
Carrie
CC
Glenn
Lemon meringue 7gl in ground for months. full of BB sized fruit.

[mangomongo]

would you say that even the new 25gl trees should be culled?

That is a strong possibility!   20 years ago I let small trees fruit and they seem to have forever been stunted.  There are other factors why my trees are stunted but that could have started the process! 

I think it is best to take the fruit off and let the tree get established first before allowing the fruit to mature.  Makes sense to allow the nutrients to go to root development instead of fruit.   

Mango are pretty tough plants.  The only thing that kills them in my opinion is human care (or a freeze).  Left alone by themselves they will grow and fruit by themselves rather well. Especially on M.I.!  (I'm just North of Pineda)

  Pruning of course is needed to keep the fruit within reach.  Good luck!

[mangomongo]

I have, and I planted them with a lot of organic compost to make sure they did well the first few years. The have definitely grown but after seeing Mike's (OFDsurfer) trees that he grew from 3gls im disappointed in mine. His trees are huge and have been in the ground for 8 yrs. Could I expect a serious growth spurt after a few years or should I expect steady growth threw out the years?

Have you fertilized them?

I have several trees that have been in the ground for about two years now. All started out as mature for the pot 7gl. I never culled the fruit off at all, I just let them do there thing and got a few from each last year but not much at all. Now the trees seem like they didn't grow as much as I thought they would have. Is that from letting them fruit or possibly from a poor root system from being in the pot too long and not root pruning them? Also hurricane Mathew nocked them around a bit and I have to stake some. 

VP
Carrie
CC
Glenn
Lemon meringue 7gl in ground for months. full of BB sized fruit.

[Cookie Monster]

8 years is a long time :-). I have 32 mango trees in ground, planted at various times over the past 11 years, and I have never once culled fruit. Yet, I've never had any issues with stunted growth on any of them :-).

Try giving your trees triple super phosphate plus a high K fert in the fall to encourage root development. If you want fast growth, you would want to use a nitrogen containing fertilizer on a regular basis -- about once per month. Given our rain and sandy soil, fertilizer only lasts a couple of days before it's washed away (unless you're using a slow release product).

How many growth flushes do your mango trees put on each year? If you're not giving them nitrogen, you would expect 1 or 2 flushes per year in a normal / healthy mango tree.

[mangomongo]

I figured the compost was a good supply of steady non-harmful nitrogen but I had been throwing a little "azalea fertilizer" around the drip line might have ben 8-6-8 or something in that range every 6 weeks or so. Then I switched to garden tone citrus and avocado fertilizer thinking it would be better? I push a shovel handle down in the ground in three or four places a few inches deep and fill it with the fertilizer. I got a little gun shy after killing my Kent and almost killing my Glenn by burring some Mahi carcasses. (I'm a "if one is good, six is better guy")

[Cookie Monster]

Funny you mention that because Dr Richard Campbell once said that the best way to kill a mango tree is to bury fish under it.

Compost is a great provider of nitrogen over the long haul, but unless it's fully composted, it will actually steal some nitrogen for the first couple of cycles. And you'll still want to provide micros, Ca, and possibly K via other means.

Citrus fertilizer is probably fine. There are better mixes out there though, depending on what you have access to.

You're probably on the opposite end of the spectrum from me, though. I actually want my mango trees to stay small, so I give them fertilizer without nitrogen :-). Smaller trees are favorable for many reasons (ease of harvest, ease of spraying, less wind damage, etc). But if you are noting that the trees aren't putting on one to two flushes per year, or if you're looking for shade trees, then you probably need to add nitrogen.

I figured the compost was a good supply of steady non-harmful nitrogen but I had been throwing a little "azalea fertilizer" around the drip line might have ben 8-6-8 or something in that range every 6 weeks or so. Then I switched to garden tone citrus and avocado fertilizer thinking it would be better? I push a shovel handle down in the ground in three or four places a few inches deep and fill it with the fertilizer. I got a little gun shy after killing my Kent and almost killing my Glenn by burring some Mahi carcasses. (I'm a "if one is good, six is better guy")

[Cookie Monster]

Ohh -- I forgot to mention water. Mangoes do really well without supplemental water, but watering them, say, twice a week will help push them along. The water helps in the absorption of nutrients and can help to prevent fruit cracking after a big rain.

[mangomongo]

The VP is in the center of the front yard for a shade tree but the rest I just want to get producing a decent amount as soon as I can. I figured once they get good and stout ill switch to just potassium. I have a bag of 0-0-60 but wasn't sure if it would be good to put some down now? we also have excellent soil from the looks of the ginormous mango trees in the neighborhood and what I've been told. the neighborhood was a fruit tree farm in the 40's.

[Central Floridave]

"new 25gl trees should be culled?"

Yes, I would stick with my comment to take the fruit off, at least the first year in the ground. 2nd year in ground, eh? debatable.

I never water or hardly ever fertilize my mango. I get plenty of fruit off them.  Basically mango are self sufficient trees and grow like weeds without human intervention. 

When you water them and fertilize them yes you speed them up growth wise.  But, that is not what you want, at least I don't want.  I want the trees to stay small, grow slowly, and produce fruit.   

This is just my opinion. I could be wrong and people disagree with me.   That is fine.  But, "tough love" for mango is true for me.  Just pruning to allow full sun exposure is best.  Mango rarely fruit in shade and the tree will shade itself in due time. Thus, cut the center out once or twice a year so sunshine can reach the entire canopy.  Plus, keeping the tree short so you can pick the fruit easier.

[mangomongo]

So a 7gl tree is probably 2-3 years old in the pot, 2 years in the ground should be good enough to let it hold it's fruit without being a negative for the tree ? I think I will agree on manageable size. I just want them to get to a size that will make a bunch of fruit as fast as they can. that's why I started buying the 25gl trees.

[WGphil]

I bought a coc mango from Excalibur recently and it had a date on the tag. I'm guessing that is the day they put it into 3 gallon

I like the extra info

[mangomongo]

On the "no blooms" thread Rob posted that my 25gl fruit punch was probably only 2.5 to 3yrs old I would have expected it to be alot older based on the size of the trees I have had in the ground for 2.5 years but they are not as vigorous of varieties. I guess letting go them hold onto there fruit must have really stunted them. I don't have them set up with errigation eather and stopped watering get the lawn because the sprinkler system runs on city water.  I'm going to set up a drip line to them. I was afraid to over water and rot the roots.

[bsbullie]

On the "no blooms" thread Rob posted that my 25gl fruit punch was probably only 2.5 to 3yrs old I would have expected it to be alot older based on the size of the trees I have had in the ground for 2.5 years but they are not as vigorous of varieties. I guess letting go them hold onto there fruit must have really stunted them. I don't have them set up with errigation eather and stopped watering get the lawn because the sprinkler system runs on city water.  I'm going to set up a drip line to them. I was afraid to over water and rot the roots.

My estimate on age was based on when it was released.  I also thinking the vigor may be based on your location and or care (no offense meant).

[gnappi]

I never culled mango from any of my trees and have bumper crops every year.

I once had a "peach mango" that I bought in a 30 gallon trash pail, I never culled the fruits, put fish carcasses under it most every weekend after fishing trips and it grew taller than my 2 story house in 5 years, AND kept the entire block eating mango till they were sick of them.

All this before I knew the right things to do :-)


 

[mangomongo]

Non taken,  I appreciate the assistance and look forward to getting it right.

On the "no blooms" thread Rob posted that my 25gl fruit punch was probably only 2.5 to 3yrs old I would have expected it to be alot older based on the size of the trees I have had in the ground for 2.5 years but they are not as vigorous of varieties. I guess letting go them hold onto there fruit must have really stunted them. I don't have them set up with errigation eather and stopped watering get the lawn because the sprinkler system runs on city water.  I'm going to set up a drip line to them. I was afraid to over water and rot the roots.

My estimate on age was based on when it was released.  I also thinking the vigor may be based on your location and or care (no offense meant).

[mangomongo]

Carrie when planted.

Carrie now. It held one fruit in the last two seasons and is the better looking of my trees.

VP one year ago.

VP now. I let it fruit both years didn't get much, was definitely a waist.