Author Topic: Best month to top-work mango trees, Zone 10b  (Read 2930 times)

noochka1

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Best month to top-work mango trees, Zone 10b
« on: February 12, 2018, 07:49:07 AM »
Hi all,

I would like to top-work several mango trees this year and I'm wondering if there is a "best month" to do it.  Should I prepare the trees right after they fruit?

Thanks,
Scott

skhan

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Re: Best month to top-work mango trees, Zone 10b
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2018, 08:49:55 AM »
Hi all,

I would like to top-work several mango trees this year and I'm wondering if there is a "best month" to do it.  Should I prepare the trees right after they fruit?

Thanks,
Scott

If you're doing a complete top work and not just adding a variety (like a multi-graft), I'd say do the severe cut now.
Then graft to the new shoot when they pop out, say May/June.

noochka1

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Re: Best month to top-work mango trees, Zone 10b
« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2018, 10:13:13 AM »
Hi all,

I would like to top-work several mango trees this year and I'm wondering if there is a "best month" to do it.  Should I prepare the trees right after they fruit?

Thanks,
Scott

If you're doing a complete top work and not just adding a variety (like a multi-graft), I'd say do the severe cut now.
Then graft to the new shoot when they pop out, say May/June.
The tree is blooming at the moment, so I'd prefer to let it fruit before I work on it.   Do you think July/August is too hot to top-work?

skhan

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Re: Best month to top-work mango trees, Zone 10b
« Reply #3 on: February 12, 2018, 10:56:05 AM »
My concern with doing the top work around that time most comes from the plant's energy reserves and dormancy.

The plant will be directing a lot of energy to the fruits, so when you do you big cut in July/August then it may take a while for the plant to send out new chutes.
So grafting may have to be done during dormancy.

Also, it a good idea to leave as many mature leaves on during dormancy so the plant can recover its depleted energy reserves.

A possible compromise would be to do the top working branch by branch so you always have something capable of fruiting.


I've been in this position before...its a hard choice.

noochka1

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Re: Best month to top-work mango trees, Zone 10b
« Reply #4 on: February 12, 2018, 11:10:32 AM »
My concern with doing the top work around that time most comes from the plant's energy reserves and dormancy.

The plant will be directing a lot of energy to the fruits, so when you do you big cut in July/August then it may take a while for the plant to send out new chutes.
So grafting may have to be done during dormancy.

Also, it a good idea to leave as many mature leaves on during dormancy so the plant can recover its depleted energy reserves.

A possible compromise would be to do the top working branch by branch so you always have something capable of fruiting.


I've been in this position before...its a hard choice.
Thanks a lot for the advice!

Ya, I am very excited about getting some fruit this year.  The other issue is that the trees that the bud wood are coming from are also blooming now and I understand that taking bud wood during the blooming season is not ideal either.  So if that's the case, I'm looking at June/July before I can do any work.  Perhaps a solution is simply to change the tree I'm going to work on.  I do have one that isn't blooming yet, and isn't showing much interest in budding either.  Do you think it would be a better candidate for the chop?

skhan

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Re: Best month to top-work mango trees, Zone 10b
« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2018, 11:35:14 AM »
My concern with doing the top work around that time most comes from the plant's energy reserves and dormancy.

The plant will be directing a lot of energy to the fruits, so when you do you big cut in July/August then it may take a while for the plant to send out new chutes.
So grafting may have to be done during dormancy.

Also, it a good idea to leave as many mature leaves on during dormancy so the plant can recover its depleted energy reserves.

A possible compromise would be to do the top working branch by branch so you always have something capable of fruiting.


I've been in this position before...its a hard choice.
Thanks a lot for the advice!

Ya, I am very excited about getting some fruit this year.  The other issue is that the trees that the bud wood are coming from are also blooming now and I understand that taking bud wood during the blooming season is not ideal either.  So if that's the case, I'm looking at June/July before I can do any work.  Perhaps a solution is simply to change the tree I'm going to work on.  I do have one that isn't blooming yet, and isn't showing much interest in budding either.  Do you think it would be a better candidate for the chop?

In either case, you'll be gathering budwood after flower stops (May-ish for the ones you top now, August if you top in July.)
This is if you stick to grafting on the soft new shoot and not bark grafting.

Most of my trees in my yard aren't producing yet so I understand where you're coming from.
I'd leave my fruiting trees intact and start topworking all the non fruiting ones ASAP.
This way you will still have some homegrown mangos during the season.


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Re: Best month to top-work mango trees, Zone 10b
« Reply #6 on: February 12, 2018, 11:40:24 AM »
Best timing is to cut now and then topwork the new shoots when they emerge in April or so. Then you get the entire growing season for it to re-grow. If you do it post harvest, you'll generally get only 1 flush post graft, followed by winter dormancy.

You could just cut a portion of the tree now but let the rest flower and fruit.
Jeff  :-)

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Re: Best month to top-work mango trees, Zone 10b
« Reply #7 on: February 12, 2018, 12:10:43 PM »
Best timing is to cut now and then topwork the new shoots when they emerge in April or so. Then you get the entire growing season for it to re-grow. If you do it post harvest, you'll generally get only 1 flush post graft, followed by winter dormancy.

You could just cut a portion of the tree now but let the rest flower and fruit.

I defer to Jeff as I primarily learned from him

noochka1

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Re: Best month to top-work mango trees, Zone 10b
« Reply #8 on: February 12, 2018, 12:36:33 PM »
Best timing is to cut now and then topwork the new shoots when they emerge in April or so. Then you get the entire growing season for it to re-grow. If you do it post harvest, you'll generally get only 1 flush post graft, followed by winter dormancy.

You could just cut a portion of the tree now but let the rest flower and fruit.

Thanks a lot, Jeff.  That makes my choice for me.  I was going to top-work my Maha, but it looks like ST Maui will be getting the chainsaw treatment instead :-)  There's not a bud to be seen on that one yet.  It's very disappointing.... 

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Re: Best month to top-work mango trees, Zone 10b
« Reply #9 on: February 12, 2018, 02:29:55 PM »
:D The ST Maui seems like a good one to top-work. Just make sure to leave some trunk, as that's where the tree has stored its reserve of carbs to releaf.

Hopefully you won't decide to top the Maha Chanok. It's one of my favorites. But it took a while to grow on me. It's productive, disease resistant, and quite good. Make sure to eat when slightly green.

Best timing is to cut now and then topwork the new shoots when they emerge in April or so. Then you get the entire growing season for it to re-grow. If you do it post harvest, you'll generally get only 1 flush post graft, followed by winter dormancy.

You could just cut a portion of the tree now but let the rest flower and fruit.

Thanks a lot, Jeff.  That makes my choice for me.  I was going to top-work my Maha, but it looks like ST Maui will be getting the chainsaw treatment instead :-)  There's not a bud to be seen on that one yet.  It's very disappointing....
Jeff  :-)

noochka1

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Re: Best month to top-work mango trees, Zone 10b
« Reply #10 on: February 12, 2018, 02:50:37 PM »
:D The ST Maui seems like a good one to top-work. Just make sure to leave some trunk, as that's where the tree has stored its reserve of carbs to releaf.

Hopefully you won't decide to top the Maha Chanok. It's one of my favorites. But it took a while to grow on me. It's productive, disease resistant, and quite good. Make sure to eat when slightly green.

Best timing is to cut now and then topwork the new shoots when they emerge in April or so. Then you get the entire growing season for it to re-grow. If you do it post harvest, you'll generally get only 1 flush post graft, followed by winter dormancy.

You could just cut a portion of the tree now but let the rest flower and fruit.

Thanks a lot, Jeff.  That makes my choice for me.  I was going to top-work my Maha, but it looks like ST Maui will be getting the chainsaw treatment instead :-)  There's not a bud to be seen on that one yet.  It's very disappointing....
Thanks for the advice, Jeff.

The tree has never bloomed for me, so it's been on my chainsaw list for at least 2 years now :-)   It's currently about 8' and it's on a pretty low trunk so I'd like to take it down to 3-4' and work from there.  I I'll try to leave as many of the scaffolding branches as possible to maximize the number of new growths.  Or do you think I should cut it down to the trunk and let it re-grow from there? 

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Re: Best month to top-work mango trees, Zone 10b
« Reply #11 on: February 12, 2018, 03:03:02 PM »
3 - 4 feet is fine.

Thanks for the advice, Jeff.

The tree has never bloomed for me, so it's been on my chainsaw list for at least 2 years now :-)   It's currently about 8' and it's on a pretty low trunk so I'd like to take it down to 3-4' and work from there.  I I'll try to leave as many of the scaffolding branches as possible to maximize the number of new growths.  Or do you think I should cut it down to the trunk and let it re-grow from there?
Jeff  :-)

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Re: Best month to top-work mango trees, Zone 10b
« Reply #12 on: February 13, 2018, 08:42:41 AM »
Anytime in Spring is great to get the grafts to take, but the possibility of immediate bloom certainly is an issue.
Har

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Re: Best month to top-work mango trees, Zone 10b
« Reply #13 on: February 13, 2018, 09:07:03 AM »
Anytime in Spring is great to get the grafts to take, but the possibility of immediate bloom certainly is an issue.

Thanks, Har!  I went home last night and chopped the ST Maui to about 4 feet.  It's been a non-bloomer for 2 years now, so it deserved it :-)  I left the basic scaffolding branches so hopefully I'll get bunches of new growth for grafting onto in April or May.