Now that the mango season is over, its time to take stock of the trees, and trim them back. Immediately after harvesting, one should trim & prune the Mango trees, preparing them for the next season of fruit. Luckily, with our mangoes, we are well on track with the pruning and trimming cycle!
Take a look at the tree in the photo below. The tree has a dense canopy driving up the height. Also has some branches that are pretty low on the tree, and tend to droop to the ground with the weight of the fruit. The canopy is dense and no light or air is reaching its centre. This can result in fungal infections on the tree, as the tree does not dry up quickly after a rainfall.
We trimmed and cut back this Mango tree with a saw. Trimming & cutting back a Mango tree involves doing the following:
1. Cut all the branches growing downwards
2. Cut all branches that are growing straight up, specially in the centre of the tree
3. Cut all branches criss crossing each other.
See video below of the cutting back of the tree.
What we are left with is a lighter more airy tree. Light is reaching all parts of the tree and all branches have enough room to grow.
Remember to heal all the cuts with some cow dung or neem leaf paste after pruning/ trimming.