Fertilizing Mango trees.

[stubuzz]

Most of the trees finished their fruit last month. Now i need to feed them. What do you recommend?

[farmerjo]

Not a mango grower but found this.

 

http://Two to three months before flowering use a balanced fertilizer like 14-14-14. During flowering use potassium and nitrogen, like 17-0-17 fertilizers. Do not use urea fertilizer as it will cause the flowers to fall off. Two months before the fruits ripen use 17-0-17 and 0-0-60 (muriate of potash) in equal amounts. Use one kilo of the mixture for every 10 kilos of fruits. Note: Fertilize by making 10 holes, 3-4 feet away from the trunk. Hole deep is 3-6 inches.

[billd766]

I have 4 or 5 mango trees that are still fruiting here in rural Khampaeng Phet.

 

We don't feed them anything and the buggers still fruit. We have had hundreds of mangos this year including the fallers and they are still fruiting,

[Yinn]

Up to where you live.

Different places have different condition, siol. Ask the local people. At the shop “buey”

in the south difficult to grow more than seven years because the worm attack it. Central easy to grow, so big. 

North, I not sure.

[drtreelove]

You don't indicate how many trees you have, if it's a commercial orchard or few small trees. It makes a difference for what is practical and affordable.

 

An essential is to build soil organic matter content. For a few trees, a small home orchard you can mulch with materials that are locally available and affordable, rice straw, rice hulls, ground coconut husk.  For a larger planting, I recommend growing a legume green manure crop during the rainy season, its one very low cost fertility improvement.

 

I previously hobby farmed 10 rai in Mae Jo, Chiang Mai and had 1 rai, 55 mature mango trees.  I seeded jack beans that we got free from the Land Department. There are other legumes available, depending on what they have in stock at the time.

 

We spread manure from the nearby Army Pack Squadron donkey and horse stables. It wasn't free but about 20 baht a sack, picked up.  When the beans were at their peak of vegetative growth, about two months, before they flower and start to get woody, I cut with a krueng tat ya and leave lay as mulch. I was doing "no till" in order not to disturb the surface absorbing root zone. 

 

I don't think you can go wrong with spreading gypsum, Calcium Sulfate. It supplies Ca and S without changing the soil pH, and has many benefits.  Other mineral nutrients are best addressed with a soil test and prescription recommendations for amendments. Like Yinn pointed out, soils vary, in texture (sand, silt, clay) and mineral nutrient levels, and other factors. 

 

I don't recommend high NPK fertilizers, (over 10% value for each, especially Nitrogen).  There is new and very important information on how high NPK chemical fertilizers may produce good green growth and crop yields, but how they invite pest and disease issues. It feeds the chemical industry as much as it does the land. The more high NPK chemicals, the more hard chemistry pesticides you will need to buy. 

 

 

[stubuzz]

 

On 6/22/2019 at 7:56 AM, drtreelove said:

ou don't indicate how many trees you have, if it's a commercial orchard or few small trees.

Sorry for the late reply. There are a few trees on the property. The oldest is 20-30 years old and has never been cared for. There are also quite a few banana plants growing in the drip line. Should i remove them as i know they are heavy feeders and i think they are competing for nutrients.