Post-Harvest Pruning & Soft Flush Protection in Mango & Avocado Orchards

Your guide to healthier trees and a stronger season ahead.

As the harvesting wraps up, the real work begins. Post-harvest is one of the most critical times in the avocado and mango production cycle. It’s when your orchard sets the stage for the next season’s flowering and fruiting.

Two things should be top of mind right now:

1. Effective post-harvest pruning
2. Protecting your soft new flush

Purpose of post-harvest pruning:

• Stimulate uniform new vegetative growth (flush).
• Maintain optimal canopy structure and light penetration.
• Remove diseased, dead or unproductive wood.
• Prepare the tree for a productive flowering cycle.

Mangoes

• Remove terminal panicles (flowering stems) that bore fruit to stimulate new flush.
• Eliminate dense internal growth to allow better light into the canopy.
• Avoid over-pruning too early.
• Height control is essential, especially for commercial management and harvest ease, tip all runaway branches / shoots.

Timing tip: Prune as soon after harvest as possible. This gives the tree a chance to regain energy for the next productive cycle.

Avocados

• Light pruning is best in this window unless trees are out of control.
• A light prune every year is a better than a heavy prune every 3 years.
• Focus on removing:
  • Runaway lateral branches
  • Excessive upright growth
  • Old fruit-bearing wood
  • Dead Wood
• Too-heavy pruning can reduce yield, especially in older or stressed trees.

Bonus Tip: Consider “window pruning” to open up sunlight into the centre of the canopy without drastically altering tree structure.

Your new flush is the engine room for next season’s flowering. That means it needs protection from:

• Pests:
  Soft new growth attracts gall fly and tip wilters.
• Sunburn:
  Especially after pruning exposes previously shaded areas. Paint with white pva. When light pruning – it is not necessary for paint.
• Fungal Infection:
  • Protect new flush against infection with Fusarium Maileforme (Malformation pathogen)
  • Protect against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides infection (anthracnose pathogen)

Summary: New flush must be proactively protected against 1. Gall fly, 2. Malformation infection & 3. Anthracnose burns.

Chemical Control:

• An application with a mixture of fungicides and insecticides will control the three above mentioned problems very effectively.
• Chemical sprays on the new flush must be repeated every 10 – 14 days until the flush has hardened off.

Take-home message:

After a tough season—with heatwaves, water stress, and even cold snaps—your trees are vulnerable. But with the right pruning and flush protection strategy, you can:

• Reset tree energy balance
• Improve flowering uniformity
• Strengthen pest & disease control
• Set up for better fruit set and yield next year