How To Keep A Mango Tree Small

Mango trees are beautiful, shady plants that produce delicious fruit. Sometimes, you may want a mango tree that is smaller for the available space in your garden. Luckily, there are some management activities you can do at home to help your mango tree stay small below 10 feet tall.

A mango tree can grow up to 100 feet tall, but it’s possible to keep the tree at a manageable size. Pruning can help you control the height and shape of the tree. So, it’s important to prune when they’re young to encourage good branch structure and airflow.

How To Keep A Mango Tree Small
Small-sized Mango Tree

Strategies For Reducing Mango Tree Size

The mango tree can grow to be very large. If you’d prefer your mango tree to be small, there are a few things you can do to stunt its growth.

1. Pruning the mango tree

The best way to keep a mango tree small would be by pruning it at an early stage. Pruning is when you cut the tree’s outgrown branches as they grow. Prune away any new growth or leaves that are turning yellow or brown. This way, the mango tree can be reduced to a desirable size.

Pruning a mango tree is largely a matter of common sense. The main goal of pruning is to promote the good structure of the tree by eliminating aged or diseased branches and leaves. Pruned mango trees require a lot of maintenance; you need to be sure you are cutting the right branch to avoid the death of the tree.

Once the tree has reached about two to four feet tall, you can begin pruning the inner branches. This will help the canopy to open, allowing air and sunlight to circulate. It will also make it easier for the tree to be treated.

2. Plant your mango tree in a pot or container.

Mango trees planted in pots tend to grow smaller compared to mango trees planted outdoors, directly in the soil. The size and growth parameters of mango trees planted in pots are easily controlled, making a small mango tree achievable. This strategy is not as effective as pruning, but it can help in some situations.

For a better understanding of the pruning of mango trees, I recommend you watch the video below:

Source: Fairchild Garden

Benefits of Keeping Mango Trees Small

Every action has its consequences, and so does a small-sized mango tree. Here are the notable benefits of having a small mango tree:

– Small-sized mango trees are much easier to maintain than large ones. You will spend less time watering, pruning, and fertilizing if your mango tree is small

– Keeping your mango trees small means that they will be easier to harvest. You will be able to reach all the fruit on your tree without needing any ladders or climbing equipment.

– Small mango trees take up a small amount of space in your yard. This helps them fit into smaller spaces where other types of fruit trees might not be able to grow.

– Another benefit is that small mango trees will produce fruit more quickly than large ones. Small mango trees have fewer leaves and branches; they require less energy from the plant itself to produce fruit.

Would You Consider the Dwarf Mango Tree?

If you have limited space, yet you want to grow mango, instead of making efforts to make your mango tree small, you can consider planting dwarf mango trees.

Dwarf mango trees are genetically bred to grow small, they can grow up to 10 feet tall. You can plant a dwarf mango tree in a 30 to 40-gallon pot. You can grow them indoors or outside in a container that will provide plenty of air circulation.

There are several varieties of dwarf mango trees available, including:

  • Ice cream
  • Cogshall
  • Keit
  • Nam Doc Mai
  • Sensation.

When planting dwarf mango trees, it is essential to choose well-drained, light soil with a pH level of 5.5-7.5. Usually, regular garden soil is too dense for the trees to grow properly, so you will want to use a high-quality potting mix.

Aged manure and compost can be mixed with the potting mixture for a dwarf mango tree. If you do not have any of these materials, you can make your own. A well-drained potting mix will be best for this type of tree.

Dwarf mango trees require moderate watering during their pre-flowering period. You should fertilize the soil regularly with a balanced mixture of potassium and phosphorus. It is important to remember not to overwater the dwarf mango tree because this can lead to disappointing results.

Related: How To Plant Mango Trees On The Ground & Management

In conclusion,

Pruning is the most important practice to keep your mango tree small. Aside from reducing the size of the mango tree, pruning helps to remove excess branches that shade the center of the tree, creates a better environment for fruiting, and helps to prevent breakage from windstorms or overburdened branches

20 thoughts on “How To Keep A Mango Tree Small”

  1. Good afternoon. Im in Cape Town South Africa and have a beautiful healthy mango tree but sadly after 20yrs I had no success in having this tree bear fruit. Any advice ?

  2. Always print and puplish a narration or slogan
    Plant trees whenever and wherever possible to save our children future. pure oxygen fruit and wood supply for our generation s

  3. Very informative.
    Breifly it requires less water ,less nitrogen,no foliage at the center of canopy.Pruning diseased ,dead branches,crossing branches,these looking down ward.

  4. How to make a healthy mango tree flower and Baer fruit which is 8 years old
    What fertilizer will help

    Regards

    • Use Organic Fertilizer, it lasts longer and will be there to serve your mango for a longer period. I hope this helps.

  5. I am in Zambia. This is the first time I’ve ever come across useful information about Mango pruning, watering, fertilizer application and disease control. Here in Zambia we have lots of Mango, but we never prune. Most of the mango trees grow on their own from seed thrown about.

  6. Douglas from Kenya.
    That’s very informative. I have an archard of young grafted mango trees on a small space. This will help me check there spreading.bI will also apply the same knowledge on my avocado farm.

  7. Very informative, i will use it to take care of my mango trees. I don’t understand thinning and mulch, is there a way it can be shown in a video?

  8. Trev from Perth Australia I have one mango tree Kingston pride, know I have read your information I can prune my tree to get more fruit the information is interesting and helpfull . Thanks

  9. I have a huge healthy mango tree in my rice farm about 30 years old but never bear fruit at all i am contemplating of cutting it all for wasting space in the farm shall i leave say 3 meter so that it will branch and hope that the new branch will give fruit.

  10. Good article indeed and an eye opener. My 5 year mango tree bear flowers and these flowers all dry up without making fruits. Why is that ? Will this tree produce fruits one day?

    • Perhaps the mango tree is diseased. Give it this year, if it doesn’t fruit. You may consider replanting.

  11. I have an already growing mango tree but hasn’t started fruiting. How I reduce the growth

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