Enhancing mango fruit set

[DocTropical]

When exactly should we begin supplemental watering of our mango trees, to enhance fruit set? What size fruitlets (plump sesame seed size, pea sized, kidney bean sized…)? Any other tips to enhance fruit set?

Thanks in advance 🙏🏼

[pineflatwoods]

Unfortunately, i'm beginning to realize that weather and climate is the biggest factor, and that's out of our control.

Here is what I learned can affect fruit set that is in our control so far
- variety selection- some varities will never be productive, even in an optimal growing conditions

- nutrition- trees that are well fortified will retain more fruit

- age of tree- larger older trees tend to set and retain fruit better than newer plantings

- site selection- more sunlight will encourage more flowers, drier conditions will yield better quality fruit.

- pollinators- having plenty of insects especially flies will improve yield. Bees can also be used, but they tend to shy away from mango.

I begin watering at fruit set. I'm working on drip irrigation with a timer




I begin to water just as soon as the first fruits set

[DocTropical]

Pineflatwoods,

Check out the second pic in my post above. That’s about as early a fruit set as possible, basically just after the individual flower has withered away. The fruitlet is tiny, much smaller than a pea.

Do you begin supplemental watering at this point? It’s pretty dry and hot in central FL right now, today was 87!

What are some of the most productive varieties in your experience?

My current tree list is:

Little Gem
Son Pari
Sugarloaf
Sweet Tart
PPK
Val Carrie
Maha Chanok
Orange Sherbet
Guava / Sein ta Lone
M4
White Pirie
Carrie
Pickering

[pineflatwoods]

Yes, water now. I have been for the past 10 days.

I'm gonna need about 5 years before I can evaluate all the stuff i'm growing now, but you should have plenty of fruit with your list

[brian]

My mango tree in my greenhouse sets a ton of tiny fruitlets every year but they all fall off around pea size.  Because it is protected from direct rain I can control watering well enough, so I am interested in this advice given in this thread

[brad]

I'd be curious what effect spraying them with Kinetin would have, id imagine it would help fruit set.  You can find it at most hardware/garden stores under the same Bonide Tomato & Blossom Set Spray

[JR561]

Ive been turning on the drip line as soon as I see fruit forming tree to tree.

They are looking good so far. Its been I would guess at least 2 weeks now.

[bovine421]

I took note of this discussion on this thread. My Ppk has such good fruit set that when I got home from work I decided to put the garden hose on the up hill side
of the tree.I forgot took a nap for 3 hours and
flooded the zone. It's a big tree I'm sure it was thirsty.🙂

[Galatians522]

My mango tree in my greenhouse sets a ton of tiny fruitlets every year but they all fall off around pea size.  Because it is protected from direct rain I can control watering well enough, so I am interested in this advice given in this thread

Brian, could your issue be pollination related?