The Tropical Fruit Forum
Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: rainking430 on September 16, 2021, 05:24:12 PM
-
I'm hoping you all might have some insights for me on this. I am attempting to train a young sweet tart I got a few months back so it stays reasonably compact, following the pruning strategy described in the video "How to prune - Canopy management for mango" (https://youtu.be/zh1AnvNa6mc?t=520).
I already did the heading cut at about hip height, it produced five new branches, and those new branches are starting to form their first nodes; so I am now planning the next pruning step. The video says to choose "3 or 4" branches using two criteria: 1) health and strength of the new shoots, and 2) that they are evenly spaced around the trunk (i.e. if looking from the top: equal triangles for 3 branches or right angles for 4 branches).
The thing is, the new branches that grew on this tree after the heading cut are now extremely lopsided, with 3 very strong branches right next to each other on one side of the tree and 2 puny ones growing out from the opposite side. So my problem is if I choose more than 2 branches evenly spaced, at least one branch will be really weak. I do see that 2 of the strongest branches are pretty much straight across from each other on the trunk, but is there some reason the video doesn't mention choosing only 2? It should be ok to just go with those 2 branches and remove the rest, right?
-
Just keep going it will even out. Very seldom do mango trees turn out perfect like a popsickle, just keep it small with a complicated branching structure and open center. I followed the video on 50 trees for 4 years and it has worked out well.
One thing I found about Sweet Tart is that at first it seemed to be a very erect vertical grower the first 2 years.
This year was the third fruit bearing season and the 10 trees I have loaded up with fruit very heavily. Each tree had at least 40 pounds some had sixty. They bore in clusters and bent down the branches enough that it changed the aspect of the tree from vertical to weeping. This variety has been very good to me with ten trees making nearly $1000 worth of fruit.
(https://i.postimg.cc/2qYGV66q/DSC02274.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/2qYGV66q)
-
Just keep going it will even out. Very seldom do mango trees turn out perfect like a popsickle, just keep it small with a complicated branching structure and open center. I followed the video on 50 trees for 4 years and it has worked out well.
One thing I found about Sweet Tart is that at first it seemed to be a very erect vertical grower the first 2 years.
This year was the third fruit bearing season and the 10 trees I have loaded up with fruit very heavily. Each tree had at least 40 pounds some had sixty. They bore in clusters and bent down the branches enough that it changed the aspect of the tree from vertical to weeping. This variety has been very good to me with ten trees making nearly $1000 worth of fruit.
Thanks for the encouragement pineislander, I will just keep the two branches and hope that the next round of branches will continue to spread and shape the canopy further. Your tree looks great and has me excited for things to come. Nice to know about the fruit helping with the branches, I was surprised by how vertical this little guy is trying to be.
-
hope that the next round of branches will continue to spread
Alternative to hope, in video
(link is below; this reply dialogue is inserting a ridiculous amount of space, and making link text font size very small, at least as rendered in my browser).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS2vkvzHiiE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS2vkvzHiiE#)
.
-
You can start with only 2 if you want to but you can also do 3 or 4 even if it means you keep a weaker branch. If they are well spread out, I would go with 3 or 4 and watch what happens the next cycle. If the "puny stick" sizes up and sends out shoot then you are good to go. If not you can remove it later and drop down to 2 if you want.
-
hope that the next round of branches will continue to spread
Alternative to hope, in video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS2vkvzHiiE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS2vkvzHiiE)
Wow yuzr, what an interesting video! Seems like a great way to grow mangos if you are looking to maximize revenue in a small space!
You can start with only 2 if you want to but you can also do 3 or 4 even if it means you keep a weaker branch. If they are well spread out, I would go with 3 or 4 and watch what happens the next cycle. If the "puny stick" sizes up and sends out shoot then you are good to go. If not you can remove it later and drop down to 2 if you want.
As always some great insights from my neighbor Orkine, thank you! This does seem like the sensible thing to do which explains why I didn't already think of it haha! I think I will go with this approach.