Pruning is the selective removal of certain parts of certain parts of trees in order to improve its health as well as health and quantity of fruits.
Pruning produces small trees which are shorter and with an open canopy while un pruned trees are about six metres high and the canopy is always dense.
Pruned versus unpruned trees
Pruning enables a farmer have high density of trees on a farm compared to un pruned trees. Un pruned trees are planted at a spacing of 10 by 10 metres making the field have less number of trees compared to pruned trees that are planted at a spacing of 5m by 5m.
Unpruned trees are susceptible to fungal diseases like anthracnose since their canopies take long to dry after rains unlike pruned trees that dry out quickly after rains due to easy circulation of air and light.
Scouting the orchard is the first practice for effective disease control. It is difficult to be effectively done in unpruned trees while it is easy for pruned trees.
Spraying fungicides is another important weapon in the fight against disease. It is easier to effectively cover the entire canopy without wasting the chemical for pruned trees but for unpruned trees, covering the entire canopy is close to impossible and there is a lot of chemical wastage.
Flowers in pruned trees develop at the same time when tipping is done after harvesting while in unpruned trees, flower development occurs at different times.
More fruits are produced per tree on un pruned trees but the average size of mangoes on on pruned trees is bigger compared to un pruned trees. Per acre, pruned trees also produce higher yields compared to unpruned trees.
Pruned trees generally have higher yield, production is more stable and the farm remains productive for a longer period of time and produces high quality fruits that ripen evenly since they are easy to harvest.
