We have a total of about 600 mango trees, about half which are expressing combinations of gummosis, malformation, anthracnose, die-back, and canker. Many cases are moderate, but a few seem more serious. There are about 80 vacancies in the tree grid where a new tree could be planted while we work to restore the health of the soil and improve the diversity and density of ground vegetation.
I’m thinking it probably isn’t a good idea to fill these vacancies with more mango trees. Instead, I’m wondering if anybody has ideas as to what sorts of trees might have a better shot at doing well to resist the mango diseases while we try to manage what we can. Avocado and breadfruit would be front runners given some of our objectives at our farm. Any thoughts as to their viability amidst the mango challenges?
I would also welcome additional advice regarding treatment of the mango trees. This site seems to offer a general summary: http://www.krishisewa.com/articles/disease-management/399-disease-mango.html
The location is near Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Hi Kenny,
I do think breadfruit would be a good option, especially if you already have them growing in that region and have a market. You might also consider a short term producer such as papaya (if you have a market) that will give you quick production in the short term as you consider which direction to take with the orchard.
The most concerning issue with your mangoes is the malformation, be sure to cut the branch off that has the malformation to limit the spread and burn the branches. I imagine these are large trees, so considering to slowly top-working them so you can graft more resistant varieties to antharacnose and make the trees smaller. The smaller the trees the more likely you will be able to treat for these issues. If they are tall trees it really is impossible to treat and more difficult to do sanitation prunings to help keep air circulating and sun penetrating the canopy. But of course this requires more labor to maintain the trees. If you are pruning the trees be sure to sanitize the tools between the trees with an alcohol solution so not to speed up the spread of disease between trees.
Best regards,
Brian
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