Keitt mango tree - Irma victim - remove or revitalize?

[Julie]

My keitt tree (15-20 years old) was uprooted during Irma and put back in place. Since then it has only produced one fruit. This season it produced many panicles but never produced any fruit. It also has some black mold and a lot of lichen on it. Should I cut my losses and have it removed and plant a new keitt nursery tree? Or try to revitalize with pruning or fertilizer? Any help/instructions would be appreciated.

[johnb51]

How about replacing it with a better variety, or do you really really love Keitt?

[palmcity]

Well since I really really love Keitt mangos, I guess I should try to help. However, Har would be a better choice to answer this.

My guess is you have not given your mango tree enough copper. I also see a whole lot of vegetation which might imply (not definitely) too much water in the soil around the roots, so also try to provide an area to allow water to drain away from the tree by way of a trench etc.

Kocide, Nordox, etc. would be some copper products.

I have only tried nordox for my Keitt tree problems and still have a bag from many years ago as I believe it is a tablespoon per gallon of water. I would spray the entire tree probably once every 10 days for the next few months and it will probably also help decrease the lichen but you could scrape it off.

You can also use oil & might add an insecticide if applying to the bark for the lichen.

I would also fertilize it heavily after removing some of the vegetation. If a plant grows fast enough, disease seems to just vanish away with the rapid growth.

As a final note, disregard all of this if Har etc. give their opinion.

[Julie]

Yes my yard is out of control right now I’m going tree but tree mulching and weeding but not a lot of free time. This issue has been going on for years but the out of control yard is only recently

[Orkine]

My suggestion is don't cut it.  It went through an unintentional root pruning when it was knocked over and righted.
Hopefully by now it has grown some of the roots it needs and is on its way back. I will put it on a regular fertilizer routine, micronutrients, 0-0-50 and epsom salt.  And wait.

For when to apply and how much, there is a guide from treasure coast or Brevard tropical fruit growers.

[pineislander]

Or try to revitalize with pruning or fertilizer?

I would definitely prune back the vertical growing sections of your tree, remove dead branches.

[Julie]

Ok thanks. It just seems like after 4 years the tree is still really struggling and looks sickly. I planted nursery 3 gallon trees a year after Irma and they are producing fruit for several years now. I will start weeding, mulching, pruning, fertilizer etc. thank you for the help

[Julie]

Keitt is ultra late season. It has a good flavor too but large fruit. I like to spread out my fruit trees in terms of the season as much as possible. This is super important. I’m super busy always so it’s hard to preserve fruit.

[zands]

Scrub off mold at base of the tree. Clip off all branches that have mold and that green lichen? Mid to top of tree looks very good. Remove all mold because it spreads to other branches. If you must cut back severely to get rid of problem branches then so be it. You might not get fruit next year but will the year after. If you have a high pressure nozzle for your garden hose... Use it on the moldy places. Just don't blast off the bark!

Also as said above, fertilize this tree. You can buy 8-3-9 fruitilizer (fertlizer) at Universal Supply/ Blount Rd in Broward. Phone in advance to see if the have it stocked. They also have 0-0-50 Potassium granular from time to time. The ultra water soluble Potassium is for irrigation systems, it can be deployed by you. But must be applied more often in small amounts. WHILE-- The granular K, tossed at the base of fruit tree dissolves slowly with the rains.

Next best after 8-3-9 is Home Depot's Vigoro brand 6-4-6 that is good for mangoes but is billed as Citrus and Avocado fertilizer.

[JulianoGS]

Keitt huge fruit and so juicy, late season mango.  I would try to keep the tree alive.

[johnb51]

Alex says:
Unfortunately, like other Brooks descendants, we have found that Keitt is very prone to the new bacterial black spot and Botrysphaerial rot fungi diseases and no longer recommend its planting in south Florida for this reason. Among customers who have reported their trees being afflicted with one of these diseases, Keitt may be the most frequent.  We are in the process of topworking our Keitt trees to other varieties.
It's your call, of course, but if it were me, I don't think I'd be wasting any more years on this tree.  The roots may be diseased.  To me it doesn't look like a healthy tree, and I have no patience with unhealthy trees

[palmcity]

Alex says:
Unfortunately, like other Brooks descendants, we have found that Keitt is very prone to the new bacterial black spot and Botrysphaerial rot fungi diseases and no longer recommend its planting in south Florida for this reason. Among customers who have reported their trees being afflicted with one of these diseases, Keitt may be the most frequent.  We are in the process of topworking our Keitt trees to other varieties.
It's your call, of course, but if it were me, I don't think I'd be wasting any more years on this tree.  The roots may be diseased.  To me it doesn't look like a healthy tree, and I have no patience with unhealthy trees

Everyone has an Opinion... lol....


Here's Truly Tropical aka "The Mango Place" selling Keitt last month with price listed on form.
https://www.themangoplace.com/shop/keitt-mangos-for-pickup-for-saturday-june-20-2020
20.00
~5-6 pounds of organically grown ‘Keitt’ Mangos! ‘Keitt’ mangos are large and you’ll only get 3-4 mangos per bag.

Keitt (pronounced Kit) was likely a seedling of Brooks that was planted by Mrs. JN Keitt in Homestead in 1939. People enjoy this versatile mango at all stages of ripeness. It is popular for green pickles. It has firm and juicy flesh with a sweet and tangy flavor and little fiber. Keitt has a long season and is a very productive. 

Pickup is for Wednesday, July 7, 2021 at 5-6pm. (Please do not order if you cannot pick up at that time.)

SOLD OUT

[johnb51]

Everyone has an Opinion... lol....

Yup, and Rob hasn't been around (active) to tell us how dumb we are!

[weiss613]

Since you have diseases that you don’t treat that stop your fruit from even being born and you are thinking about removing the tree as a remedy, I simply don’t understand where you are coming from?
Where is the logic?

[johnb51]

Since you have diseases that you don’t treat that stop your fruit from even being born and you are thinking about removing the tree as a remedy, I simply don’t understand where you are coming from?
Where is the logic?

Actually she was looking for advice.  I think she intends to try to save the tree.

[Julie]

Alex says:
Unfortunately, like other Brooks descendants, we have found that Keitt is very prone to the new bacterial black spot and Botrysphaerial rot fungi diseases and no longer recommend its planting in south Florida for this reason. Among customers who have reported their trees being afflicted with one of these diseases, Keitt may be the most frequent.  We are in the process of topworking our Keitt trees to other varieties.
It's your call, of course, but if it were me, I don't think I'd be wasting any more years on this tree.  The roots may be diseased.  To me it doesn't look like a healthy tree, and I have no patience with unhealthy trees

I am lucky to have avoided these diseases as a homeowner in Miami area as far as I know. Has Mango bacterial black spot reached the Miami area?

[Julie]

Since you have diseases that you don’t treat that stop your fruit from even being born and you are thinking about removing the tree as a remedy, I simply don’t understand where you are coming from?
Where is the logic?

I wish I had hours every day to care for my yard. I’m doing the best I can raising a young child and working a stressful job. I want to plant trees now since they take many years to fruit even though I don’t really have the time to spend hours maintaining them every day unfortunately. Just looking for advice yes I know I should take better care of my yard it’s hard to keep up with the weeds and grass on my own and I also am learning about how to care for trees.

[pineislander]

These were also toppled over in Irma. They were big so I topped them heavily, pulled up with tractor and propped with forked branches. Regrowth to fruit took 2 years so I had a 2020

[pineislander]

Julie maybe you let them get too tall did you prune hard after pulling the tree back up?
Maybe the stress prevented roots from regrowing?

Here was my experience:
These were also toppled over in Irma, all are Valencia Pride. They were big so I topped them heavily, pulled up with tractor and propped with forked branches. I did mulch around them and did one spray with fish emulsion and another with micronutrients but never did any other amendments.


Resprouting was very heavy so I had to thin out the sprouts and begin tipping. Regrowth to fruiting took 2 years so I had a 2020 and a 2021 crop that was OK. The problem was that in 2020 I didn't prune and so these trees got too big again. I have just done a hard prune again, not back to bare trees I did leave some branches which look like they will flower hopefully left enough.

Right after Irma:


Topped and propped:

[johnb51]

Right after Irma:


Topped and propped:

Great job!  You know what you're doing.

[rainking430]

As others have stated, Har is an invaluable source of information so it may be worth getting his thoughts. Unfortunately he doesn't really seem to look at posts outside of this thread https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=1001.0, so I would suggest posting your question there to get his insights.

[Julie]

Julie maybe you let them get too tall did you prune hard after pulling the tree back up?
Maybe the stress prevented roots from regrowing?

Here was my experience:
These were also toppled over in Irma, all are Valencia Pride. They were big so I topped them heavily, pulled up with tractor and propped with forked branches. I did mulch around them and did one spray with fish emulsion and another with micronutrients but never did any other amendments.


Resprouting was very heavy so I had to thin out the sprouts and begin tipping. Regrowth to fruiting took 2 years so I had a 2020 and a 2021 crop that was OK. The problem was that in 2020 I didn't prune and so these trees got too big again. I have just done a hard prune again, not back to bare trees I did leave some branches which look like they will flower hopefully left enough.

Right after Irma:


Topped and propped:

Thank you, that's helpful.  A tree guy helped me after Irma and yes he chopped off all the major branches.  I think this tree may not recover at this point to be honest, it's looking worse and worse.  Right now I have other priorities in my yard so I'll give it more time to see how it does this year.

[johnb51]

As others have stated, Har is an invaluable source of information so it may be worth getting his thoughts. Unfortunately he doesn't really seem to look at posts outside of this thread https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=1001.0, so I would suggest posting your question there to get his insights.

If you PM him, he will probably answer.