Here's a picture of one of my trees that I trimmed (pugged) a few years ago...hopefully you will be able to see where I cut just slightly above a leaf node. New growths will appear in the area between the stem of the leaf and the tree branch...I hope that makes sense.

How much to cut off is up to you...

Here's what I'm talking about...

Here's the same tree several weeks later...Bear in mind I live in FL and I did this in the summer (July).

Thanks for the pictures. Your tree looks great. How tall did the pugging leave your mango tree? Are you going to be doing any tipping on your tree? I'm still trying to figure out exactly where you cut when you do the tipping.

Thanks! That tree was from several years ago...its been damaged severely by a freeze a year after that...to give you an idea on how big it was when I bought it, here's a picture before I pugged it.

Here you can see how much I cut off..by NO means am I telling you to take this much off of yours. Its just to show you what I have done with mine. I was willing to gamble on it since I wanted to see how much I can take off without killing the tree,lol...everyone has different results. Please take that into consideration. I wouldn't want you to do something to your tree and you get poor results...so I'm not recommending you do this just wanted to show you my personal experiences :o)

Here's another one I "pugged" about the same time (this one is a Haden) the above picture was a Lancetilla.

The Haden I NO longer have as it died during that same freeze! Killed it to the ground...we reached low 20's for 2-3 nights!! It was horrible...worst winter in FL in over 20 years!!

Here's the Haden...Before I pugged it.

Here it is after I pugged it...

Thanks, that helps to see the full size tree before you pugged it. By the way, the family pug looks great too!

Here's the Haden about 3 months later...I was SO upset when this one died.

As far as tipping goes...did you watch the video from Dr. Campbell? You can pretty much tip anywhere you want as long as its above the leaf node and it will encourage some new growths and will fill in the tree, more rounded, fuller tree instead of tall and lanky shape.

I have seen the video by dr campbell, however it is difficult to tell exactly where he is cutting. From what I can see, I think you just take off a top section of the cluster of leaves like you said above a leaf node. Even though there are multiple leaf nodes in that leaf cluster.

I am by no means an expert when it comes to trimming (pugging) mango trees but the way you're describing it sounds pretty much the way I do my trees. I honestly don't think you can do it wrong or at least you won't really screw it up too badly :o) They can take drastic pruning as you see above. The best thing to do is practice and don't go too drastic at first and soon enough you will get a feel of how you want to shape your tree...trial and error is pretty much what I've done...that was before I ever saw that video from Dr. Campbell so I guess I didn't do too badly considering I didn't really know what I was doing,lol...

Good luck!

Ok, I got my nerves up and pugged away. This is a pic of my post pugging of the manila mango tree. Thoughts? I tried to look for the most bud points coming off the trunk/branches and clipped at that point. Then I tipped off the rest of the tree by clipping about an inch or so off the ends.

I stuck the tops I cut off in a vase of water. Any chance I could get those to root? Or can you only graft and/or air layer a mango tree cutting?

It looks good to me...I wish you the best success!! I think it will do fine and you should see new growths in several weeks...hopefully. I see you live in zone 9...please remember to protect your if the temps get colder than mid to upper 30's, just to play it safe since its newly trimmed. The tree probably won't show any new growths till the temps warm up...prefably between 70's to 80's...If you get temps above 85 I would give it a little shelter from the hot afternoon sun just for a week or so since you just trimmed it and it gets acclimated. Just don't subject it to overnight temps of colder than 35 degrees for a while...mine that are established and mature can handle 32 degrees for a couple of hours but I wouldn't chance it on a new/young tree.

As far as I know you can only graft or possibly air layer mango...or grow them from seeds. I don't believe you can root cuttings?

Good luck...please update its progress in a couple of months...

Ok, thanks for all your advice puglvr1. You gave me the confidence to pug the mango tree and I appreciate it. I hope it pays big dividends down the road!

You're very welcome...I too hope it works out very well for you :o)

....me too!!!!!!!!

ManilaDog

(svbcaz - Puglvr became very famous from her tries at severe grafting so much so that the name "pugging" was coined in honor of her daring escapades.........).

That makes sense ManilaDog. Thanks for bringing me up to date.

Update? :)

lol "pug"

Yeah, Yuan, very appropriate, eh?

I've got quite a lot of fruit growing on it now. The tree appears to have dropped many of them but still seems like it has too many to support with the branches. Should I be thinning some of the fruits off that the branches may not support? Not sure why Houzz website changed my original pic here attached to the one in my first post. Anyway, this is what it looked like before the "Pugging" in reverse order.

lol ya. I just pugged a frost damaged one I got from the nursery. 7 gallon pot, 5 feet tall now 12" tall lol. I hope it's not dead and I didn't just buy a pot of dirt for $2.

I personally wouldn't thin out the fruits...Mother nature has a way of doing that all by herself...survival of the fittest,lol...I thinned mine a couple of years ago and I ended up losing a LOT more than I wanted...so last year I let the tree decide which ones to keep ...the tree usually knows best :o).

svbcaz

What did the tree decide to do for 2015 with that fruit? I think I am going to let my 3 year old Carrie tree set fruit instead of breaking off the flowering.. What do you guys think?

I let it fruit out. I had close to 40 fruit when all was done. I was disappointed in the fruit quality. The seed was bigger than ones I had bought in the store and not very much flesh. They tasted good. But it was a lot of work for such little flesh. I suppose it is because it is growing in pot instead of in ground like yours. Good luck.

I've read a lot that the first few fruits a mango tree gives can be "off". Not sure if it's due to age or soil conditions.. But I hear it gets better after a few more years

I hope so but I seriously doubt mine will improve. When they are bound to a pot, the roots can't stretch out to grow and so it must preserve itself by sacrificing fruit quality. Here it gets too cold in the winter. Sometimes it will drop into the low to upper 20's. That would most likely kill my mango tree if planted in ground.

Where do you live?

Phoenix AZ

This guy did it in Zone 9a. Jacksonville temps are similar (w the exception of Humidity levels of FL) to Phoenix.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2185649/seedling-mango-tree-success-in-jacksonville-fl?n=45

Yes it can be done but there is a risk of losing it in a freeze. You might be fine for 3 or 4 yrs and then you get an unexpected temp drop like the 22 we hit a couple of years ago. I live on the outskirts of Phoenix so I get colder. Plus I have the issue of running out of space in my yard that already has 16 varieties of fruit trees.

Mother Nature "pugged" my Mango in 2012.

Svp.You ever thought of taking off that thinner lower left branch? It would make the tree a perfect single trunk. Mine came back triple trunked...and I'm waiting for the day when cutting it to one still leaves a good sized plant.

My climate is not very warm..so replacement growth is slow- compared to the rest of this board in Fla,soucal,Az. I'm in the SF bay area.