A Detailed Guide to Post-Harvest Pruning Techniques for Mango Trees

Mango is a fairly common fruit in daily life; it is a subtropical fruit. Many people may have eaten mangoes, but they do not know much about how mangoes grow and are cultivated. Now let's take a look together with the editor!

Pruning principles for growing mangoes

1. Heavy at the top, light at the bottom. Mangoes tend to bear fruit more steadily and abundantly on the lower and middle parts of the canopy, so the middle and lower parts of the tree should be pruned lightly, keeping as many branches as possible to encourage new shoots and safeguard the yield for the coming year. After mango harvest, shoots growing from the upper part of the canopy should be pruned heavily to control tree height and improve light penetration through the tree.

2. Heavy inside, light outside. Mangoes rely on the terminal buds of autumn shoots to flower and bear fruit. Most fruits hang on the outer surface of the canopy, with only a small amount on the inner branches, and very few are stem-borne fruits (which tend to appear when the tree is older). Therefore, the outer surface of the canopy should be pruned lightly to ensure an adequate number of fruiting branches, while the inner branches should be pruned heavily to ensure good ventilation through the tree.

Pruning requirements for growing mango trees

1. Keep the interior bright but not empty. Through heavy pruning of the top and interior, make the inner canopy bright, but do not remove the inner branches completely. Appropriately retain new shoots with 1-2 flushes; such branches may bear fruit inside the canopy, but take care that the retained branches do not interfere with other branches.

2. Keep the surface even but layered. Light pruning outside preserves the original appearance of the canopy, and after autumn shoots emerge, the canopy looks neat. But make sure the tree has layers, with clear spacing between the layers, so as not to affect light capture by the branches and leaves of the lower layers, and also to leave room for branches to droop after fruiting.

Specific operational steps for post-harvest pruning of mango trees

At harvest or immediately after harvest, cut off one node from the end of each fruiting branch so that the top of the remaining branch sends out autumn shoots. For fruiting branches that have already produced autumn shoots, do not cut off the end node; simply remove the remaining fruit stalk. Cutting back the fruiting branches can control the outward spread of the tree. Remove all dead, drooping, diseased, pest-damaged and weak branches. Saw off or cut out the main or large branches at the top of the canopy, retaining 1-2-year-old branches; such branches may bear fruit, and they can be removed at the autumn pruning in the second year. For inner branches that press against each other, remove one of them, keeping the branch with a good spreading direction and good outward shoot growth, and remove all tangled branches completely.

Carry out detailed pruning on the outer surface of the canopy, cutting out weak shoots and excess new shoots (keep 2-3 new shoots per branch), and cut back one node on branches that have neither fruited nor have swollen buds. Then walk around the tree and observe it; if it is too dense or shows no layers, saw out branches from the interior. Sweep up the pruned branches and leaves, take them out of the orchard, and burn them in a centralized pile.

Conditions for growing mangoes  

1. Temperature. Mango trees have high temperature requirements; they can tolerate high temperatures but not cold, and the suitable growing temperature is 20-35°C. Below 15°C, growth stops. At 2-5°C, young trees suffer some frost damage, and below 2°C there is severe frost damage or death. Anthers cannot split and shed pollen below 20°C, and pollen grains cannot germinate below 15°C. They germinate well above 25°C.  

2. Water. Mango is highly tolerant of rain, but the flowering period requires drought and little rain. A rainfall of 750mm is enough for high and stable yields. If cloudy and rainy weather with heavy dew occurs during flowering and fruit setting, flowers and fruits will drop severely. Uneven wet and dry conditions or excessive rain can cause fruit cracking, while autumn and winter drought is favorable for flower bud differentiation and earlier flowering.  

3. Light. Mango likes sunshine and fears shade. Sufficient sunlight when growing mangoes is favorable for growth and fruiting. Sunny, wind-sheltered sides bloom earlier, bear more fruit and have better quality. Canopies with poor ventilation and light penetration bear less fruit of poorer quality.  

4. Soil. Mango is not strict about soil, but sandy loam or alluvial soil with good drainage and deep soil layers is best, with a suitable pH of 4.4-7.5. Alkaline or slightly alkaline soil is not suitable for growing mangoes, as it easily causes deficiency symptoms (of potassium, zinc, magnesium, etc.).

For fruit-growing friends who plant mangoes, pruning mango trees is also very important. Correct pruning of branches can let mango trees grow more healthily and thus bear more mangoes. So do not underestimate the importance of pruning branches; it directly affects mango yield.