pruning mango trees

[Maui Palm & Tree Care]

is this method pretty normal for pruning mango trees? he says tipping helps them but is tipping the same as topping?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlhF-YphevA&feature=related

 

[oldoakman]

Not familiar at all with mangos Josh, but that process he described is typical for fruit production. The goal there is a small dense canopy that maximizes the fruit production of the plant yet minimizes the labor required to harvest. Also as he said, it must start at planting and continue religiously every year until the tree dies or is culled out of the orchard. My son in law planted apple trees on wire in the spring of 2010. This fall they got bushels of Lodi apples the size of grapefruit. The practice works. Also, the tipping is done on one year old wood, not a 12 inch diameter lead.

 

[Maui Palm & Tree Care]

i find it verry interesting how fruit tree propagation works. im pruning out a 30 foot mango tree on sunday doing a height reduction and hopefully it will help it to fruit more by eliminating some nitrogen rich wood.

 

[sean_freeman]

Just as oldoakman points out tip pruning is commonplace for mango production also avocados and lychee.BTW it is most doubtful that a commercial scale operation would manually carry out tipping on 3yr old trees onwards...in my experience these trees would then be sheared.

On the farms where I have worked in North Queensland where farms have much older (20yrs+) trees that might have lapsed in their management or are no longer of a variety that is desired by the grower these older trees will sometimes be converted into root stock for grafting new varietes.

Production agriculture really has very specific outcomes driving their works..that having been said mangoes are (IME) virtually indestructable...often to their own detriment - if only they would be more delicate and rapidly demonstrate to the tree owner when they are being put under stress and strain.

 

[Maui Palm & Tree Care]

im liking this alot! thanks for your input sean. just like your farms with 20+ year old mangos, we have mango trees here that were planted in the 60's and 70's. verry woddy lanky trees with little fruit production. i often get a call to prune mango trees to increase fruit production and from my own trial and error experiences, mango trees like alot of sun and interior light penetration. when i prune i tend to remove alot of the woodier branches and leave the bushier ones. often this yields great results! i wish i could go to work with someone who is an expert on fruit trees.

 

[PUClimber]

Enough youtube and you too can call yourself a certified arborist. It's the wave of the future.

 

[oldoakman]

That and "This Old House". I saw an episode today that was showing folks how to cut down a tree. Made me shudder. No wonder we have weekend warriors killing and maiming themselves.

 

[Maui Palm & Tree Care]

wow such negativity PUClimber. i guess you dont have an appreciation for fruit cultivation. why dont you just stick to your boring ash trees.
dont bash me for posting a youtube clip and asking about the pruning practices in it. i never said i was a youtube trained weekend warrior. i have 6 years of landscaping and horticulture under my belt. just becuase i havent been doing trees for long doesnt mean i dont know pruning and growing practices. as a certified arborist yourself you should be encouraging others to rise up rather than put them down. i hope you can change your attitude. guys like me are the future generation of tree care buddy.