It may be good in the long run.
Nature's pruning.
Probably no fruit this year, but it was too young anyway, wasn't it?
It will have more branches next year to produce more mangoes!

Sounds like everything was done right.

Here's an interesting link a Nice GW'er friend sent me...it has some pretty good tips even though its from Phoenix AZ.

A couple of mine had some "severe" foliar damage, lost all the blooms! The trees looks like it was blow torched!!
At this stage, I am will be happy if it survives!

Flying fish, good to know. We'll hope for the best...

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Freeze Damage Care on Sub-Tropical Trees

puglvr
As I was reading the link, I noticed that was from the Tropica Fruit nursery. That is were I got my mango in Phoenix, remember I told you that one winter my mango didn't make it?
The owner is a very nice and helpful man, I bought a few fruit trees from him.

In my yard the citrus and the avocado didn't take a hit, they are hardier than the mango.

Willy

Hi Willy,

Yes, I remember...small world isn't it? Seems like a very nice website, lots of helpful info and tips. Hopefully my Mango trees damage is mostly(foliar damage). The trunk and most of the branches appear fine(visually). Its just a wait and see for now. I'm glad your Citrus and Avocado fared well. How did your mango do?

As I was driving around my town, I have noticed that all the Mango trees all look like mine...severe foliar damage. A lot of other plants are just "fried". This is the worst winter (I recall)? I've seen since I lived in Florida(since '92).

Tom ~ If you want the mango tree's blooms (which are very tender) to survive a freeze, then you must do as I do. Cover the tree with plastic. My first choice for heat is a string or two of large bulbed Christmas lights. But since I have no electricity where my fruit trees are, I use the inexpensive hurricane lamps from WalMt. I use 2 lamps set with a small flame. It seems like that little flame couldn't stop tree damage, but it does. My mango blossoms are undamaged even with temps down to 24* for several nights.

Christine

Wrapped my little girl with 3 blankets and still received quite a bit of damage, all flowers and a lot of leaves lost, but last year i had 3 blooms, so im hopeful. Just happy she made it to give another go.By the way my first time here,glad to share.thanks .....willo

It looked like it was going to be a real good year too. Time
to buck up and face reality. I live in a 9b probably 10 because I am on the water. Isn't that a form of torture trying'to grow Mangos in Lake Wales area ?
Please contact Al Gore "An inconvient Truth"
I once saw Banana trees in S. Georgia and they were 10 ft.tall.

Tom, we are still looking for tips on helping the mango recovery...

puglvr, my mango probably looks like yours, the way you described it. We will see in a few weeks how the trees are doing, we have to be optimistic.

Christine, thanks for the tip, can come handy for the next freeze...

willo, no matter how we wrapped it, we all show damage. In my yard the fruit trees closest to the house did better, also the ones that I wrapped in lighter materials on top and heavy on the trunks.
The vegetables that I didn't cover at all are alive and well. I actually think that the freeze helped sweeten the root vegetables.

Willy

Christine, I'm so glad your blooms survived! Just goes to show, I have always heard the opposite, not to use plastic covering on trees. Go figure. I am one of those paronoid people that if I used any type of (flame), the tree would catch on fire, LOL...so I always look for something not in the fire/flame method. Thanks for the tip! You are one of the lucky ones!!

Willo, welcome to the forum!! Good luck with your trees also.

Willy, yes we have to be optimistic...that's all we have, lol...

Fishhead, don't give up on mango's in Lake Wales especially if you have a body of water to the N. I live on the border of 9 and 10 depending on which map I look at and I have great mango trees. Had to baby then when they were smaller.

Christine, I had little success with plastic on mango's. Burned the leaves to a crisp if plastic touched them. When they got intermediate size, just threw sheets sewed together to form a tent. They are close to south side of buildings ,so could get on roof to get the sheets over the trees, but would have been difficult to keep them from touching leaves.
bernie

Friends:
Tom and Cathy were good enough to make the original post for me, when the system wouldn't let me. Let's see if this pix posts okay, then those of you who are the Mango experts can prescribe for me any 'intensive care' needed.
thanks all, mike
(Am I really this stupid?!...now on the 'preview message' page, and there's nothing to do to upload an image...Isn't there supposed to be some way to do this on this page?.)

puglvr ~ The rule is never use plastic UNLESS you are using heat. Plastic by itself is useless.

I have mentioned a couple of times that the very best way to provide heat is with large bulbed Christmas lights. However, when there is no electricity around, I have no other choice. Yes, you should be concerned. My daughter just posted tonight pictures of her burnt attempt to use a lantern. I recommend making a ring of short fencing next time to protect the lamp from getting knocked over by a critter.

flyingfish ~ In your case, I would cover the plant with the tent made of sheets, then cover all of that with the plastic sheeting. Since you are close to the house you can put strings of Christmas lights in the tree branches. I have done it with my starfruit tree when it was younger. I didn't protect it this time since it is growing up close to the south side of the house and it is as tall as my roof. I think I am going to regret not cutting it small enough to protect. It got damaged more than I had expected. Time will tell.

Christine

Thanks Christine, it makes sense. I understand that Christmas lights is probably the best, safest method, and I absolutely understand that when you can't use them because you have no electricity at the location of your trees, you have to use alternate methods. Next time(hopefully no more next time this year) I think I will try the frost cloth on the trees and throw a layer of plastic on top of the frost cloth also use(Chritmas lights) on the tree. The plastic should give the added protection and hopefully do less damage on the leaves.

Now I just have to find plastic that is big enough to cover them!

BTW, I saw your daughters post and responded to it. Thanks!

Christine, my mango is a little large to cover LOL

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The mango is due to get a cutback after this mango season so that it will quit shading my photovoltaic cells

Bernie

flyingfish ~ You obviously are in a much warmer area than I am. I am growing Carrie which is a semi-dwarf. The leaves and flowers are so much smaller that a full sized tree. My tree is going through its second winter but when it gets to a certain size I will have to top it off so I can keep protecting it.

Just to prove to you that the plastic with 2 little flames works, here is the proof:

Looks like I have a lot of banana leaves to prune!

Christine

Nice mango Christine!! Great job on your plastic greenhouse!! It definitely worked well for you, I wonder if the using Christmas lights instead of the hurricane lamps will have the same results?

It is certainly easier to protect them when they are smaller.

Great job Christine--looks like you got them thru okay.
Here's the covering for my Nam Doc Mai in Lake Wales/W-Haven area, and what the cold did anyway. Seeing other mangos which fared better, I gotta believe I should have doubled up on the sheet layers, or used a blanket(s), or more than one 40-watt bulb.
mike

alright, I'm not 'puter-stupid, so before I get myself banned by posting the big F-word in all caps, someone please e-mail me and tell me how to include a photo in a post.... and how Christine included TWO in one post,
thanks, mike mgwiz@tampabay.rr.com

Here's some great instructions that a member(solstice) posted here a while back...hope it helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: Easy Photo Posting Instructions

thanks puglvr1.....
From mango cold damage2

Nope... still not correct...One last try...

Hey Polkmike,

Congrats...you posted the pictures...Yay!!

Yes, that looks like freeze damage, you're tree is in so much better shape than mine. My whole tree looks like it was "torched", all leaves are brown. At least your tree has a lot of green leaves! There is a pretty good chance when those dead blooms fall off...it "might" re-bloom. Good luck! Fingers crossed for you...

puglvr ~ The Christmas lights are my first choice because I like to wrap the trunk and branches with them. One word of caution with light bulbs: I burned a hole in the side of a trunk with a bulb that was placed too close. Plants can get burned even without a flame!

When the trees get taller they have to be "topped" low enough to place the covering over it. My longan is 9 feet tall and my husband and I used long push broom handles under the plastic to help get it over the tree. After that we will have to use ladders.

Mike ~ It looks like your tree survived just fine. The tender flowers do looked damaged. I hope that it will rebloom for you. If not, then you will know what to do next year. Something less porous is needed. I get much better results with blankets and bedspreads than sheets. But, sheets are what I have the most of. I use those for protecting plants low to the ground where less protection is needed.

I sure hope that my tree is old enough to produce fruits. If they do I will surely show them off. Getting fruits in zone 9 is not easy.

Christine

Thanks... Is there ANYTHING I can do in the way of 'intensive-care'?... my instinct is to at least mist with a M-grow solution?... anything?
I had spoken with the grower down in Immokalee, down in SW Fla. He had told me at least for this winter, to cover up at 35 degrees. Already W-channel.com is forecasting 37 for Fri pm--Sat am, ... and Tpa area channels are calling for 37 IN TAMPA--which means lower north and east of Tpa. My gut is saying with damage already sustained, if it's going to be 37, I want to run down friday and cover up until I get back there on Sunday...(?)...
mike

Hey Mike,

I wish I can offer you some advise...but I am pretty new to this myself! Maybe others that have more experience can comment.

Can you call the nursery again and ask if they recommend you spray the tree with something? I would also ask them about leaving the tree covered for two days. Is your tree mostly green with just a few damaged leaves? Good luck!

Don't feel bad .
This has been the coldest winter since 1989 - 20 years !
AND -it's still January . Cold may return in February and even March .
Got down to 19 degrees although my husband swears he saw one
thermometer at 15 degrees .
All of my citrus grove is damaged .
Some trees like Persian Lime and Myers lemon look like they are dead .
Lots of fruit drop - the Navel was the first to dump it's crop .
Fed the cows three buckets of freeze damaged fruit today .
:>(

Mike ~ The latest weather forecast that I heard has us in the 30s for Fri and Sat nights. If the cover you use is breathable, then keeping the tree completely covered for the weekend should not cause a problem. If you are trying to save any life that may be left in your blooms, it would would be a good idea to cover your tree. I know I will be setting up my mini-greenhouse around my mango again so my blooms will have a chance to open.

Sorry, but there is no first aid for the blooms. Spraying with fertilizer or anything else will not help. All you can do is keep the remaining blossoms from getting cold.

Christine

Mike ~ I was listening to the "Garden Rebel" on the radio this morning and he gave someone some advice about a damaged palm. He said to spray it with a fungicide in the crown. Then it came to me---your first aid that you asked about. Mangos need to be sprayed for anthracnose when in bloom. So the very best first aid you could do would be to spray with a fungicide labeled for edibles.

Christine

Best thing to do is wait a week or so and then check to see what's dead (scratch and look for green) and prune safely into the living wood. If another freeze hits (watch out for Wednesday night), you really have to cover it and provide a source of heat (water or electrical), or else your trees could really be in trouble. With no leaves and branches to prevent radiational cooling, the tree could be killed to the ground, which is not good at all--esp. if your tree is grafted!

Alternatively, if you're not going to cover the tree, leave the dead wood and leaves in place until the threat of hard freezes is over (end of February, typically).

Ollie

Ollie, Christine, & everyone:
Thanks all again. Here's how it looked on Sun Feb 1, ten or so days after the last 'big-freeze.' For tonite (2/3) through Fri (2/6) I'm going to double-up on the thickness of the covering (two sheets thick, or one sheet and a thin blanket) and use either one 100-watt bulb or two 60's controlled by a timer

That's tree is gonna be fine. The wood shouldn't be damaged at all.

I prefer using water to lights. For the record, here's what I do:

I cover my trees (mangos, lychees and others) with 20'x25' sheets of plastic (found at Wal-Mart in the paint section) and use mister heads and 1/4" tubing (made by DIG Corp., found at The Home Depot) to keep the air inside these tents warm (well above 32, anyway). It takes some planning and effort, and you can't let your trees get too big, but this system has worked flawlessly for me for the past 15 years here in Lake County. Feel free to email me if you want more details. Here is the only mister head I really like:

http://www.dripirrigation.com/drip_irrigation_info.php?cPath=39_67&products_id=378

If your trees are flowering, you would want to use an extra sheet of plastic or a bed sheet to protect the flowers from getting too cold. Although everything inside the tent is totally safe, anything touching the plastic could still freeze--not a big deal, UNLESS you have flowers you want to keep.

Ollie

My tree survived the recent freeze but almost all my blossoms are brown and withered. Should I leave tree alone and hope some fruit will grow, or prune pannicles and hope to get another burst of flowers? My tree usually produces very well, I pick mangoes in July-Sept. It is a Carrie variety. Please help, any advice is appreciated. I am so bummed out!!

floridapeach ~ You need to remove all dead portions of your mango tree. I realize that it is a heartbreaker to remove the dead flowers, but it must be done. How old and how large is your tree? I have a Carrie too. It's 6' tall and loaded with blossoms. It is only 2 years old so I'm not sure that it will want to set fruit yet. I would like to know if the tree puts out another set of blooms. Hope so.

Christine

Christine- thanks for the reply. My Carrie is about 8 yrs old and about 9-10 ft tall. Mine, too was loaded with blossoms, it would have been a good yield. My tree set fruit at 2, but only a few (5-8) and at year 3 (10-12) after that- too many to count! Carrie fruit is one of the best, if you haven't tried it yet you will be amazed at their flavor, each year my yield has improved in quantity. I'll prune the dead back and let you know if I get another set of blooms. I should prune it way back to smaller size so I can reach the top, when is the best time to prune back, end of summer?

floridapeach,

You're very lucky you only had damage on your blossoms! I live in zone 9 also, but my damages are a lot more severe, leaves burnt/froze(of course all blooms, too)...Mind if I ask what county you live in? I live in Highlands. Got to 27°-28° for 7-8 hours. Hard Freeze for two nights in a row, bummer :o(

You probably didn't cover your tree if its 10ft tall? Or did you? It's great your tree didn't get much damage...

As for your question on when to prune, the best time I believe is after you pick all your fruits...end of summer or whenever you're done harvesting all your fruits...

Below is a great article on Pruning Mango Trees to maintain a smaller size tree...color>

Here is a link that might be useful: Mango Pruning

floridapeach ~ Yes, I have tasted Carrie fruit. It sure was good. I hope I get a few fruits this year. None have set on my tree yet.

Flowers form on the end of branches so after you are sure that the tree is not going to rebloom, then I would cut the tree to the desired size. If you wait too long you will be cutting off internal flower buds that are developing. Summer pruning at the latest. Remember, the flowers develop on new wood, so if you prune too late in the year you will be cutting off next winter's flowers.

Christine

puglvr-
I live in Western Martin County, and my tree grows close to other native trees/vegetation which maybe helped it to keep warmer and sheltered it from the cold wind. I don't know how cold it got here, but frost was everywhere in the morning, it looked like snow!! We are a little south of you, maybe a little warmer thru the freeze. I didn't cover my tree, too tall. thanks for the pruning link!!

Christine-
I will prune soon, but will wait a week or 2 to see if there are any fruits coming. When the hurricanes came thru here (Jeanne and Francis) my tree was "pruned" by nature, and it still bloomed the next year, guess I was lucky.My tree also has some circular spots (silver grey in color) on the leaves, last summer msny leaves were affected but I still had alot of great fruit. Do you think this is anthracose? Sorry don't know spelling. I still see these spots on leaves, do you know what I should spray it with? I would do this after the pruning.

I share my Carrie's with friends, too many for my family, my tree has been good to me!! Yours will, too.
Georgia

Georgia,

I live in western St Lucie county. Two large mango trees, a hayden and Kent. Have had bumper years at times, 400-500 lbs, but some times very little. Not sure what causes it. Have never tasted a carrie, would be interested in trading a small amount of fruit this summer if we get any, ie no hurricanes.
My trees are way too big to cover any more, you can see a pic of the hayden by my hangar earlier in this thread. My outer leaves and blossoms were burned, but have fruit on the interior of the tree. Guess I will trim the dead folliage back in March.

bernie

Thanks Georgia,

I do agree location at planting has a lot to do with how much damage a tree/plant gets...this being said, there's only a small part of my yard that is somewhat protected and they are all taken,lol...reason why this one Mango tree is so damaged...planted out in the "open"...no protection at all from nearby trees,shrubs, etc...

Bernie, if you ever have more than you know wht to do with all those mangos on a "bumper" crop year...please think of me,lol...I can help you out :o)

I will follow your suit and trim maybe next weekend...

I have been a lurker for years but this will be my first post. I live Zephyrhills and in early Feb we had one night in particular that got 24deg for 6hrs and it was below freezing for over 12hrs. With that said, I had a 6'X6' lychee in full bloom, carrie mango in bloom, grumichama's, jamaica cherry and jaboticaba. I have many other temperate fruit tree's but these are my cold senitive trees.

I sustained no damage at all. For the grumichamaa, j. cherry and jaboticaba i wrapped in C9 Xmas lights and covered with sheets; nothing else.

The lychee and mango were more involved and expensive. I built a light weight wood frame around the plant made out of 1"x2" cheap-o wood. The plants are all wrapped with C9 Xmas lights. I also have (the # depending on tree size) 90w spot lights next to the tree trunk. The last step is affixing 1/4" styrofoam around the sides of the wooden frame. (Lowes sells the styrofoam in 4'x50' for $35). The tops are secured with either said styrofoam or sheets/plastic.

Like I said, I have a 6'x6' Lychee and small mango that was blooming and had no damage whatsoever. Hope this helps.

Jb,

Welcome to the forum!!

Thanks for that great information and explaining in great detail how you protected your fruit trees. I have the C-7 (25 cnt), I'm thinking next year...using two sets per tree that are 5-6ft tall. My question is how much wattage is too much for a small tree? I have some trouble lights with 250 watts halogen bulb.

I will have to check for this 1/4" styrofoam at Lowe's, what dept is it sold at?

If you have a picture of your set up, I'd love to see pictures!!

Enjoy your fruits...Thanks again,

Unfortunately, I am just reading this post and I spent the morning breaking down the frames (sorry!). I agree that using two strands of xmas lights for a 5'/6' tree is better. Also, the trouble light will be fine, just pull it away far enough from the tree to burn it. If your building a frame, the heat raises the ambient temp throughout the shelter. The styrofoam does not allow the cold wind to penetrate either.

The styrofoam is down the insulation isle, near the wood. There is also larger 1/2" stryofoam sold in 4'X8' sections. One could use these to build a shelter around a large tree (it may be pricy the first year, but thereafter the styrofoam can be stored and used year after year). This styrofoam is also good because it is not "flaky" but holds together well. It can be nailed or screwed.

I have a temp gun that I use to digitally read the current temp. After 8hrs of freezing weather and 4hrs being 24deg I checked the mango shelter and it read about 40deg. With the sucess in the coldest winter I can remember, I bought a 'Mai 1' Jackfruit and a 'Makok' Sapodilla.

Thanks Jb, appreciate the info! Hopefully we won't have to protect our trees anymore this year? I am pretty sick of these frost/freeze warnings!! I like the colder weather just like the next person...but 32° and below they can keep those temps for up north, lol...I like the 40's and 50's myself, that's why I live here...

Good luck with your new fruit trees! I love Jackfruit!!

Hi, just to let you know my mango tree that lost all flowers from the freeze has re bloomed, and looks like I will have mangoes!! Yea, !!! I hope that others have been lucky like me. Please let me know, I live in zone 9.

Congrats floridapeach!! I wasn't quite as lucky as you, Two of my mango trees, have one or two flower stalks that rebloomed for me a couple of weeks ago, but the plant was severely damaged so I am not expecting much, since the tree is stressed and still trying to recover. On a brighter note, some of my Brewster Lychee blooms survived, only time will tell if they form into fruits? Trees are just two years old...

Enjoy your mangos!

At least you'll have lychee fruits, and maybe some Mangoes, just not alot. I have never tasted lychee, aren't they the little fruit served with Chinese food desserts? \\\\\\

I think so? They are red fruits appx. the size of a large grape or small golf ball. They are delicious!! But they are an acquired taste for some. Either you love it or hate it, lol...

Here's a picture from a friend's tree last year! Can't wait till my tree produces that much!
{{gwi:789155}}

Thanks for the photo- I am pretty sure that's what I've had at chinese restaurants, but they are peeled and all white, semi soft, and yes, a different taste for sure.

I will let you know if my mango produces much fruit this season, I hope so. Today we got some rain, yeah!!

"Mother Nature" is not my best friend... I tried protecting my mango from the freeze in Kissimmee but the blooms and leaves have wilted rapidly. I need advice from my fellow amatuer experts. What can I do to save the tree? It is only 2 years old, about 5' tall and has never bore any fruit. I moved here from PA so I don't have alot of local knowledge. Guide me please. Thanks for your help.