Tree size maintenance pruning of mango trees after harvest: is cropping negatively affected or not?
Oosthuyse S. A.
Author Affiliation: HortResearch SA, P.O. Box 3849, Tzaneen 0850, South Africa.
Yearbook - South African Mango Growers' Association 17 : 33-36
Abstract : Zill, Tommy Atkins, Sensation, Heidi, Kent and Keitt mango trees, growing in an orchard in South Africa, were pruned shortly after they were harvested to assess the effect of size maintenance pruning on flowering intensity, cropping and stage of fruit maturation at harvest during the months after pruning. The outer branches on each tree were headed back to remove the new shoots which developed after harvest the preceding season (simulation of hedgerow pruning). In the pruned trees, uniform and prolific flushing occurred shortly after pruning. Flushing in the unpruned trees was prolific, but was less uniform and more protracted. Flowering was delayed in the pruned trees (as opposed to the unpruned trees). Differences in flowering intensity were not observed in Zill or Tommy Atkins following pruning, but in the remaining cultivars, fewer terminal shoots produced inflorescences following pruning. Fruit retention and tree yield were reduced in all cultivars except Zill following pruning. Average fruit weight (fruit size) was only greater in Sensation following pruning. At harvest, a difference in stage of maturation due to pruning was not apparent.