May we not break under the weight of our blessings - a mango perspective

[Orkine]

As you all know mango season in Florida in many areas is looking to be a huge success.  I have many trees holding fruit that had not held much in the past and some of my regular producers are holding more fruit than I have seen in past seasons.  Great blessings, yes?

I was out this morning and heard a loud crack.  I didn't know where it came from but was within minutes, informed by the spouse that a branch just fell off one of my mango trees.

I checked and and it wasn't one, but two, and they were small branches but major trunks; laden with mango.  Both had failed at the exact same point and were laying on the ground (though still attached to the tree.  I will cut them off later today. 

I have paid attention to several branches, watching them, and gaging if they could hold the weight, these two were not on my radar.  They were thick branches that should not break under the weight,  What I didn't factor was torque.  Both branches came off the main leader at the same location (it was a single branch that had split into two branches a long time ago and both had grown well) and were being twisted away from each other (not pulled down).  Well, they split.  For the engineers in the room, you might want to think in terms of tensile strength, compressive strength, bending, stiffness, modulus of rupture and elasticity and so on.  For the rest of us , think a force applied across the grain or along the grain.  Had this been the weight pulling down (bending - force perpendicular to the grain), I bet these branches laugh all the way through the season holing on to all the mango.  This force unfortunately was applied along the grain, this is how you split wood because it is easier once you get it started.  The torque essentially pulled the branches apart, starting from where they had split to two branches back in the day. 

So I seem to not be distraught, I am not.  It is a lot of mango to loose but think, perhaps nature was doing what I should have done, pruned the tree and thinned the fruit, so the rest of the fruits will be better.   Now I just need to clean the wound and take care of the rest of the tree, I just wasn't planning to remove about a quarter of the canopy on that one tree..




         

[fruitnut1944]

I'm sorry for your loss. That is a lot of fruit on that tree. Thanks for sharing. Maybe someday I'll have a similar situation and correct it before it's too late thanks to your warning.

I hope the remaining fruit turn out to be superb..!!

[brian]

Agh that is a shame to see.  I am afraid I will have this happen with my peach tree this year.  Prior year it lost all its flowers to a late frost and this year has an absolutely booming crop.  I started hand-thinning the fruits and quit after I realized it would take me hours to do the whole tree.  I'm probably going to set up stakes to hold the limbs up

[puglvr1]

So very sorry this happened. Enjoy the rest of fruits on your tree, I'm sure it will recover quickly...I know it can be very disappointing but now the tree will be stronger.

Quick question, did you have a storm come by or high winds? Or did it just crack all on its own? Must have been pretty heavy!

Oh forgot to mention I've had to tie a rope to a few of my mango branches that were laden with fruits and lifted it up and tied the rope to the main trunk of the tree where it can handle the extra weight, this worked very well for me , Good luck!!

[Orkine]

So very sorry this happened. Enjoy the rest of fruits on your tree, I'm sure it will recover quickly...I know it can be very disappointing but now the tree will be stronger.

Quick question, did you have a storm come by or high winds? Or did it just crack all on its own? Must have been pretty heavy!

Oh forgot to mention I've had to tie a rope to a few of my mango branches that were laden with fruits and lifted it up and tied the rope to the main trunk of the tree where it can handle the extra weight, this worked very well for me , Good luck!!

THanks.

Not even a breeze.  It was so calm that I was out spraying without a care of drift.
We are in the rainy season now (and had a wet end to the dry season)   Fruits are sizing up and the Venus that is prone to splitting has a couple of split fruits already (from the rains in late April).  I think the branch was under strain and just couldn't hold anymore.

[Orkine]

After action report:

The clean up is done.
Here is what 217 mangos on the floor looks like.
I saved about 40 that I think will ripen and the rest are going to friends who make green mango recipes.

Pile 1             Pile 2


Here the the wound, cut flush and sealed. Well almost flush, let the collar.




.. and the tree looking like a champion, still loaded with fruits.

   

[EddieF]

Orkine, what variety?  Sorry for your loss, looks like you won't be going hungry though

[palmcity]

THanks.

Not even a breeze.  It was so calm that I was out spraying without a care of drift.
We are in the rainy season now (and had a wet end to the dry season)   Fruits are sizing up and the Venus that is prone to splitting has a couple of split fruits already (from the rains in late April).  I think the branch was under strain and just couldn't hold anymore.

Orkine, what variety?  Sorry for your loss, looks like you won't be going hungry though

I have the same question as the picture does not look like Venus fruit to me. However, it is the only variety mentioned in the paragraph above discussing the limb and fruit loss...

[Galatians522]

Bummer! That happens almost every year with our lychee trees. I am constantly reminded that there is no substiute for trai,ing young trees to have wide crotch angles.

[puglvr1]

After action report:

The clean up is done.
Here is what 217 mangos on the floor looks like.
I saved about 40 that I think will ripen and the rest are going to friends who make green mango recipes.

Pile 1             Pile 2


Here the the wound, cut flush and sealed. Well almost flush, let the collar.




.. and the tree looking like a champion, still loaded with fruits.

   

So sorry for the loss of all those mangoes, I had no idea you lost so many. The tree was definitely loaded... it's amazing how many fruits your tree was carrying! The tree looks great now...great job with the cleanup and the after surgery looks great! Good luck with the rest, looks like you have a lot more to enjoy 

[Orkine]

Orkine, what variety?  Sorry for your loss, looks like you won't be going hungry though

Choc Anon.
This variety in my yard makes a ton of fruit.  May flower two or three times in the season and and hold fruit from each flowering.

[Orkine]

THanks.

Not even a breeze.  It was so calm that I was out spraying without a care of drift.
We are in the rainy season now (and had a wet end to the dry season)   Fruits are sizing up and the Venus that is prone to splitting has a couple of split fruits already (from the rains in late April).  I think the branch was under strain and just couldn't hold anymore.

Orkine, what variety?  Sorry for your loss, looks like you won't be going hungry though

I have the same question as the picture does not look like Venus fruit to me. However, it is the only variety mentioned in the paragraph above discussing the limb and fruit loss...

The variety is Choc Anon.  The mention of Venus was in connection to fruit splitting when we get a lot of rain after a dry period.  I assume the fruits take on some moisture which is why some split, and those that don't could be a little heavier which I am speculating is why the branch would break on a calm windless morning.

[Orkine]

Bummer! That happens almost every year with our lychee trees. I am constantly reminded that there is no substiute for training young trees to have wide crotch angles.

You can say that again and in this case, prune to avoid multiple branches from the same node.  I have a small non fruiting Son Pari that same a similar setup, one of the two branches will be pruned off in the next few days.

[Orkine]

puglvr1, it is a beautiful tree now. ... and it is still holding lots of fruit. 

[sapote]

A small cable pulling each branch up to the main trunk would have prevented this mishap. 

[Orkine]

True, and I had a couple of branches tied on this same tree.  This particular pair were so thick and could easily hold the weight of the fruits pulling straight down.  The problem was the twist.  Had I anticipated that, I will have tied them to each other, but I didn't see this coming.  I was focused on the weight pulling the branch down not pulling them apart.
Each of the branches were 4 to 5 inches across and they did not break, they split apart like they were pulled away from each other along a horizontal plane.  I am not sure I am describing it well but what would have held them together was if both were tethered to each other so they couldn't be split apart.
I will make and attach a sketch later.



 
   


This is the cut away of the failure point.  One from above and one from below.  Notice that the shear did not get to the mail trunk and did not get to the bottom part of the branch that came of the main trunk.

             
Looking from above                     Looking from below



It is a new failure mode than the traditional rip typical of having a narrow crotch angle.  For this the crotch angle was great just short of horizontal and did not fail.  What failed was where the branch split two ways.  Exactly what you are looking for when you tip the tree young to encourage branching.  That is why I am trying to make sure that we understand this failure mode which can happen in our well designed canopy.

[Galatians522]

Thank you for the sketch, now I understand what you were talking about. Even looking at pictures didn't make sense because you see what your brain is used to seeing. I have never seen one split that way.

[cbss_daviefl]

My small orange sherbet tree fell over yesterday due to fruiting heavily only on one side.  I was able to remove some fruit and right it with a come-a-long and prop it up with a 2x4 along with tying a rope to my peach cobbler.  Every panicle had 2 - 5 fruits so I thinned to one.