Author Topic: to girdle or not to girdle?  (Read 2345 times)

happyisland

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to girdle or not to girdle?
« on: May 25, 2014, 02:30:04 PM »
I have several mango trees that have been in the ground for ~4 years and are big and beautiful but don't produce any flowers/fruit. Is girdling something I should consider? And does anyone have a link to a good how-to?


cos

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Re: to girdle or not to girdle?
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2014, 04:24:50 PM »
spray foliage with potassium nitrate, it will make flower but still may not set fruit. I used 1 teas/gal.
good luck

GwenninPR

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Re: to girdle or not to girdle?
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2014, 06:51:12 PM »
I feel your pain!
I also get super low fruit set.  I have noticed that  I get at most 1-2 fruit from a few grafted trees I got here in PR and 0 from the trees from Florida. Only Julie gives me more than a handful of fruit each year.  But the wild trees that grow from seed are full of fruit. 
All the trees "grow well",  I get lots of leaves.  The PR "born" trees flower, only some of the Florida "born" trees will set flower, but no fruit.

I bet it is a similar problem as Happyisland.  Would also know  how to fix it!

bangkok

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Re: to girdle or not to girdle?
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2014, 07:00:32 PM »
Last year you asked the same and after spraying kno3 you had flowers and mango's you wrote here.

If the tree's won't flower again this year then i would spray again, girldle them and stop watering.
If you keep the tree's well fertilized all year they might flower early in season. My tree's also do that.


GwenninPR

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Re: to girdle or not to girdle?
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2014, 07:11:56 PM »
Where do you get potassium nitrate?  Is there a commercial name?
« Last Edit: May 25, 2014, 07:44:59 PM by GwenninPR »

bangkok

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Re: to girdle or not to girdle?
« Reply #5 on: May 25, 2014, 07:16:14 PM »
Where do you get potassium nitrate?  Is their a commercial name?

In Bangkok i can buy it in the nursery supply shop but if you really can't find it i 'm sure it is availlable on internet.
I had it from the brandname Pro Mango

happyisland

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Re: to girdle or not to girdle?
« Reply #6 on: May 25, 2014, 08:12:52 PM »
Where do you get potassium nitrate?  Is there a commercial name?

Hey Gwen - here in Aruba they just sell it as KNO3 potassium nitrate - it's a white powder that you mix with water and spray on the foliage. As bangkok mentioned above, last year I did foliar spraying (Described here: http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=4604.0 ) and it worked on three of my 12 plants. I am interested in girdling since it seems like it might be a more long-term, and less labor-intensive solution. We get very little rain here in Aruba, so I think the trees should be stressed already and prone to fruit.