Could use your advice on pruning this Sweet Tart mango tree

[bbates123]

This is a Sweet Tart mango that we had planted 8 years ago.  It survived Irma but got blown down during Ian.  I thought it was a goner.  My neighbor and I righted it but I couldn't get water on it for 10 days due to lack of power.  The leaves on half of it completely went dry.  When we finally got power I watered it every day for a month and lo and behold, this past winter it started to bloom and currently has fruit.

I think it's way too tall and lanky.  I would like to dramatically prune it down and try to encourage some more horizontal growth.  Question:  Do you think I should give it another year before I prune it back?  And if it was yours, how would you prune it?

Thanks in advance!

[bbates123]

[TropicalFruitHunters]

Go all medieval on that beast!  Hard to do, but you appreciate it later.

[kapps]

It depends on whether you want a low bushy mango or a taller one that you can walk under.  If low and bushy, you may need to decapitate it below the point that it’s currently started to branch. If you’re OK with the starting level of those branches, then cut each of the main branches down to maybe 6” each and let them flush out from there. Then just keep tipping it back every time it flushes.

[bbates123]

OK, thanks much.  I'm thinking low and bushy.  You think I'm OK to cut it back this year after the fruits are done or should I wait till next year?  My concern is the stress of being uprooted during the hurricane then adding on the stress of severe pruning.

[roblack]

You can carefully trim some branches now, and then immediately go more aggressive after harvesting fruit.

[bbates123]

OK, thanks!

[Oolie]

the main crotch has too narrow angles, I would start by removing the central leader and then work from the outside towards the center depending on how much of the canopy you're ok with removing. Tree also looks like it would benefit from some fertilizer, there's sparse foliage.

[bbates123]

I think what I decided to do was to cut everything off from about 6-12 inches from the first branching...basically start over from that point.  The lack of leaves seems to be a result of the shock from being uprooted in the hurricane..my mangos haven't really flushed since then.  I did have my palm tree fertilization company start doing a deep root fertilization of my mangos but I wonder if I should continue to to a topical granular fertilization like I had been doing.