Training and Pruning a Standard Mango tree to be a dwarf tree.

[tonyzt2]

Another post from the Mango Professor!

Dwarfing Standard Mango Trees

Our approach to working with mangoes from the beginning has been in the category of research and development.  That is how we solved the problem of conversion of a tropical fruit tree to one that will soon be common place in sub-tropical parts of the world like Southern California.

We have also been working on some of the other problems associated with this wonderful fruit tree.  In the tropics, mango trees are giants that reach great heights and widths.  This presents a huge problem when it comes to fruit harvest and orchard maintenance.  We have been working on dwarfing these giants and found some of our R&D friends in India who were a little further along than we are.   They have been able to train standard mango varieties to the size of an orchard size lemon tree.  In other words, they have tamed the giant.   What they found was that by pruning and shaping, they can get a standard variety of mango tree to maintain a height of between 7 or 8 feet and a similar width. This means much easier orchard maintenance and much better uniformity of fruit size.  For mango varieties where the fruit need to be thinned to get market size mangoes it can be done quickly and easily.  When it comes to harvest, it can be done without ladders or high lift machines, greatly reducing cost.  For anyone who is considering top working a mango tree or a new planting, we strongly suggest you consider utilizing this new technique.  Whether you are a back yard gardener or an agricultural grower, this offers the benefits of saving space, ease of picking the harvest, much higher mango production per acre and lower water use as larger trees require a lot more water, the last two are very important factors for farmers. 

Since we got the information through discussions with our R & D friends, Tony prepared the attached image of how the trimming and training is done using these new pruning techniques developed in India.

[edzone9]

Thanks for the Info !
Ed..

[Hollywood]

So let's say that you pub your tree to 24". Do you trim the tree as it grows or do you wait for the end of the growing season to trim?

[phantomcrab]

So let's say that you pub your tree to 24". Do you trim the tree as it grows or do you wait for the end of the growing season to trim?

I tipped my trees several times in each of their first two summers and they are bushy now. Richard Campbell says that once the trees are bearing, do any pruning and shaping right after harvest. Presumably the trees would then have enough time for at least one flush before the rainy season ends.
In my mind it seems that this method might cause a problem with late bearing varieties by not giving them enough time for new growth after picking and pruning.

[Cookie Monster]

In Florida: Most mango trees will put on several flushes after harvest. Growing season stops somewhere around end of Nov / early Dec.

Once your tree has grown to your target height and width through tipping, your annual pruning regimen changes. A mango will put on 3 to 4 feet of new growth after mango harvest, so you need to remove that 3 to 4 feet of last season's growth in order to keep your tree at the target size.

Probably nothing I've said above pertains to SoCal growers. They don't have the extreme heat and rain and loose, sandy soil that causes our trees to grow like racehorses.

[Cookie Monster]

Bearing mango trees don't start to flush growth until just before end of harvest. Even juvenile mango trees will stall from Jan through April.

A general rule of thumb is to tip every 2nd flush of growth. Only allow 3 evenly spaced sprouts from your tip point.

So let's say that you pub your tree to 24". Do you trim the tree as it grows or do you wait for the end of the growing season to trim?

[mangoprofessor]

Thanks to Cookie Monster.  You got it pretty close.  For those considering the dwarfing technique in the computer drawing that Tony prepared.   The idea for our method of controlling tree size comes from our friends working with mangoes in India and South Africa.   Please enlarge and print the attachment and you will note the little circles where the pruning is to take place to create a tree structure for fruit production at a manageable height.  The target tree size is 7 to 8 feet.  This height was selected so the mango fruit can be thinned if needed and mango harvesting can be done easily without ladders or cranes like with the full size mango trees we often see in the tropics.  Remember one of the places that this idea came from is India which is a very tropical Country.  This method will work equally well in the tropics and in Southern California or other similar areas.  To maintain tree size, the pruning to bring the tree size back into line should be done right after the fruit harvest.  This will allow time for the new growth that will contain the blossom panicles for the next season's mango crop.  Hope this helps explain the concept.

Tim Thompson

[sunworshiper]

I'd love to see a diagram of how you propose pruning to maintain size. Do you cut back all outer branches back to the diagram size? Or do you do what Fairchild recommends and remove a major branch each year to make room for a newer one?

[Mike T]

This is not rocket science and most mango farms in my district prune the living daylights out of their trees to keep the small. 9 or 10 feet high with a 10 foot spread can be maintained for older trees.The standard style is an open wine glass with 5 main lateral/obliques left with heavy pruning and fertilizing after harvest back to these main branches.The trees end up like a flat topped umbrella.There are a few new top quality dwarfs coming out in my district that will minimise the need for pruning.

[phantomcrab]

Big growers just shear back the top and sides of trees after harvest.

[Mark in Texas]

The standard style is an open wine glass with 5 main lateral/obliques left with heavy pruning and fertilizing after harvest back to these main branches.

I'm in peach country, big time commercial biz and big tourist draw.  That is exactly the profile they try to maintain.  Compared to my yard peach trees, they look scrawny to me.

What I'm having a problem with is severely pruning these trees back from say.....a 15 meter tall tree.  Seems to me you'd be cutting into wood that was VERY thick.   Say you cut into wood that has a girth of 1', 30cm.  Aren't you gonna get what we call "witches brew"....an output of 20 very small branches near the cut?

[Cookie Monster]

If you're dealing with a mango tree that big, then you select, say, 3 or 4 main branches and tip them consistently over a period of about 2 years to rapidly increase leaf surface area and bring the tree back to a state of stasis.

A better choice might be to lop off all of the big branches on 1/2 or 1/3 of the tree (cutting all the way back to a branch collar), then select 3 sprouts from each branch collar and tip them consistently. Repeat for 2 or 3 years until all of the big limbs have been cut.

The standard style is an open wine glass with 5 main lateral/obliques left with heavy pruning and fertilizing after harvest back to these main branches.

I'm in peach country, big time commercial biz and big tourist draw.  That is exactly the profile they try to maintain.  Compared to my yard peach trees, they look scrawny to me.

What I'm having a problem with is severely pruning these trees back from say.....a 15 meter tall tree.  Seems to me you'd be cutting into wood that was VERY thick.   Say you cut into wood that has a girth of 1', 30cm.  Aren't you gonna get what we call "witches brew"....an output of 20 very small branches near the cut?

[Guanabanus]

I mix the above branch shortening technique with leaving some arching and drooping branches.

[Cookie Monster]

That's a good idea -- no reason to induce vigor into the non-vigorous drooping branches by tipping them. The trees you pruned here are looking fantastic!

I mix the above branch shortening technique with leaving some arching and drooping branches.