What do we do now if our Mango trees were frost damaged?

[CarloGolfer]

I'm so upset about this. I couldn't bring myself to start looking for solutions. My 4 trees lost all their leaves, fruits, blooms, everything.

Can someone point me to a video which will help? I don't know if I should start pruning or what. I'm sick about it.

[kapps]

Let them rest. They will push new growth when it warms up and then you will see if any branches need trimmed back. My newly planted PPK lost most of its leaves last year and then it made its first heavy growth flush a month after that.

[shot]

Wait for it to sprout new growth.

[Orkine]

How large were they?  were they potted or in the ground?

If they are in the ground and not tiny  plants you should be fine.

I had a tree that I thought was completely dead from a freeze event years ago.  I stumped it with the intention of digging it out of the ground later.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that if pushed new growth once things warmed up.  Today it is a great Carrie tree doing what tree do.

[CarloGolfer]

They're not small trees and they're planted in the ground. Thank you so much for the positive outlook. Fingers crossed.

Good luck to anyone else who suffered damage.

[ericalynne]

I’m inland from you and my mango trees have been badly affected. I have 10 trees and it nearly makes me cry to look at them.

We had 6 hours of 29 degrees the first night and 4 hours of 30 degrees the second night.

We ran a smudge pot near the Maha Chanok, but that saved only a small portion of the leaves and blooms. This was the first time we tried a smudge pot as an experiment.

I am confident the trees will survive. Some may even push new blossoms, but I am not expecting much this year in the way of mango harvest.

[Galatians522]

I’m inland from you and my mango trees have been badly affected. I have 10 trees and it nearly makes me cry to look at them.

We had 6 hours of 29 degrees the first night and 4 hours of 30 degrees the second night.

We ran a smudge pot near the Maha Chanok, but that saved only a small portion of the leaves and blooms. This was the first time we tried a smudge pot as an experiment.

I am confident the trees will survive. Some may even push new blossoms, but I am not expecting much this year in the way of mango harvest.

Sounds like you fared better then most in Venus. Many parts got into the low 20s or even colder from what I heard. Even a few native shrubs are burnt. For example, you can see brown patches all through the scrub off Old State Road 8 wherever there was a scrub jujube.

[yoski]

Lesson1: Covering trees with plastic and no irrigation is a really bad idea. The burnt side was covered and the undamaged side was not covered.


Lesson2: Protect the graft line with mulch:


Being on the east side of a lake (3500 acres, Lake Jackson, Highlands county) makes about a 10F difference in windy conditions (1st night) and 6F on calm nights (2nd night) when compared to outlying areas along SR66 towards Hardee county where it bottomed out around 25F on the 1st night and 28F on the 2nd night.

[Gulfgardener]

Yes, just covering in plastic is a bad idea. When the plastic touches the leaves it will get cold burned. A better way is to put frost cloth or a sheet under the plastic. Also make sure the plastic is big enough. Our extension office puts out information on the right way to cover trees and to avoid the lollipop method i.e. When you just cover the top and the trunk is visible and bare. If the cover touches the ground then the heat is trapped inside the "bubble" and the heat from the ground can go up into the canopy. The trouble is finding plastic large enough. I'm trying to source some old plastic pallet covers from my military buddies lol.

[yoski]

@Gulfgardener
I put a Mamey into a really big plastic bag 10x12 that reached all the way to the ground and it still took major damage. Other trees nearby that I didn't cover were fine. I think with irrigation under the plastic it would work well. The temperature here bottomed out at 35F but the plastic still managed to freeze the trees. My Edward, Fairchild and Rosigold weren't covered and didn't even lose their flowers or baby Mangos.

[Gulfgardener]

You can always give it a try. I can't help thinking how the water would freeze on the inside plastic and weigh it all down. I guess it will depend on the temps.

[cotter pin]

 We feel your pain, CarloGolfer. We are located in PC and our Mango Trees look like hell and had a small Fruit Punch that is totally brown even though it was covered with a heavy blanket, we're thinking it was as low as 28 degrees, even our Jackfruit trees that were covered in blankets are all brown and possibly slowly on their death beds. I think I saw a post on the local news that we have not had temps this low since '76. We even had cold tolerant Avocados that look like toast and expect to loose 1 or 2, hopefully not but time will tell.
   I would hold out until at least mid March before cutting any dead wood, just water for now every so often and give them time to recover. Check out Dr. Campbell, Mango Men, on how he prunes his Mango trees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dyjkl9Fzzs4

[Galatians522]

You can always give it a try. I can't help thinking how the water would freeze on the inside plastic and weigh it all down. I guess it will depend on the temps.

I supose that might happen, but I have never seen it in Highlands county. The 74 degree water from a red microjet is enough to heat the inside of the bag and it never gets cold enough to freeze (even in the mid to low 20's). Now, if the bag was not all the way to the ground, you may have serious problems.

[achetadomestica]

@Gulfgardener
I put a Mamey into a really big plastic bag 10x12 that reached all the way to the ground and it still took major damage. Other trees nearby that I didn't cover were fine. I think with irrigation under the plastic it would work well. The temperature here bottomed out at 35F but the plastic still managed to freeze the trees. My Edward, Fairchild and Rosigold weren't covered and didn't even lose their flowers or baby Mangos.

I have always heard mamey can't handle 40F?

[Guanabanus]

If most or all of the leaves of a mango planted in the ground were killed, it does not need to be watered;  watering would just encourage root rots.

Watering well should be done days before a freeze.

[achetadomestica]

Well I have about 20 trees that are on the fence for recovering
a couple ice cream beans, a couple achachas, a couple grafted canistels.
I covered 14 smaller mangos, avocados, macadamias, which mostly seemed
not to help much. I spent the whole day watering heavy and pushing mulch up a couple
feet and then I put a tomato cage around the tree and covered with heavy blankets
and comforters.
But
Yesterday I noticed 4 green buds about 4" above the graft line on my super alphonso
and today I see about 8-10 new green buds on my honeykiss. well above the graft line
I also see several new green leaves on a black sapote.
Anyone else see some good signs?
 

[fliptop]

Yes! I gave a hard trim to my Coconut Cream seedling, and have buds popping out. Very pleased, as this seedling was flowering prior to the freeze.



My chickens tore into a Jackfruit seedling that I thought was dead, but it was green where the chickens got it. That seedling's a goner now, but it gives me hope the other ones are alive.

Hope others are being pleasantly surprised by things that survived!

[achetadomestica]

I was told by a wholesale nursery to only grow seedling jackfruits in 9b
from good varieties because they will grow back from the roots when
they get frozen back? I have 3 trees that were pushing 10 feet that
got toasted this time? It sucks waiting!

[Galatians522]

I was told by a wholesale nursery to only grow seedling jackfruits in 9b
from good varieties because they will grow back from the roots when
they get frozen back? I have 3 trees that were pushing 10 feet that
got toasted this time? It sucks waiting!

I know what you mean, I have seen 20' tall Jackfruit trees get burnt back to the ground. But, there are many jackfruit that have fruited here in 9b (including one of our seedling trees). Out of curiosity, how did your anonas fare?

[achetadomestica]

The annonas seem ok. They were mostly dormant anyway. I did have a red custard apple
with 10 half grown fruits that defoliated and the fruit turned purple. I think the tree is
ok but no Spring fruit this year. One did ripen before the cold and was outstanding

[CarloGolfer]

Good news, my trees are all pushing new growth. Should I trim now? Or wait until April? I'm grateful for all the replies. Thanks again and good luck to everyone who took damage.

[Orkine]

Glad (though not surprised that your trees are growing back), They should come back quickly.

I would remove deadwood.

I don't see an value to leaving them on.
Do the scratch test to make sure you are not cutting off good branches that are just defoliated and not damaged.