Mango season is here. It is a joyful time for all mango lovers, as they will be getting to taste the king of fruits. However, if you are mango grower, you must know it takes a lot of effort, planning, timing and technique in harvesting these mangoes from the tree. Whether you have a single tree, or an entire orchard, following information on mango harvesting will be extremely helpful:
When to pick mango fruits?
It takes 120 to 140 days from fruit set to harvest a mature mango fruit.
At maturity, shoulders (sides) of mango fruits get raised, and partly attached to the stalk gets sunken.
The dark green fruits start turning pale green to yellowish at maturity.
In some mango varieties, a clear white layer on fruit skin is formed at maturity.
Mango harvesting tips:
Do not keep the freshly harvested fruits under direct sunlight.
Harvest the mango fruit along with its stalk attached to it; otherwise, the sticky mucilage will ooze out of the fruit forming black spots near the stalk end.
All the fruits on the same tree may not mature at the same time. Therefore it is recommended to do 2-3 rounds of harvesting in an orchard in a weekly interval.
While harvesting, do not let the fruits fall on the ground. Use specialized mango harvesters with blade and nylon net for efficient harvesting and collection of fruits.
Harvested fruits should be subjected to decapping treatment (removal of sap from stem end attached to fruit) immediately after harvest for avoiding injuries caused due to sap flow.
Immediately after harvesting of fruit, they should be first collected at the shady place to remove the orchard heat and after that washed and dried before storage.
Important activities during mango harvesting season:
There is no real need to add any fertilizers during fruiting season of a mango tree. In fact, it is advisable to provide plenty of organic manure to plant after harvesting is over during monsoon season.
Stop watering the mango orchard when the fruits have attained full size; this will stimulate the process of ripening. Read to know about how to develop a fruit tree orchard.
Remove the infected leaves and malformed blooms with a sharp knife and bury them in soil.
Spray wettable sulphur (0.2%) + gum Acacia (or starch) (0.3%) to control sooty mould.
Hanging of yellow sticky traps: Setup yellow fast colored sticky traps for monitoring sucking pests one trap/5 tree. Locally available empty yellow Palmolive-tins coated with grease/ Vaseline/castor oil on outer surface may also be used.
Hanging of sex pheromone traps: Hang methyl eugenol bottle traps (Methyl eugenol 0.1 % + Malathion 0.1% solution) to control fruit fly. Change the bottle trap solution at weekly interval. Ten traps per hectare of orchard give adequate control. Traps can be fixed during morning hours.
Spray Borax (1%) for control of black tip and internal necrosis.
Spray streptocycline (200 ppm) or copper oxychloride (0.3 %) at 15 days interval.
Early harvesting and timely picking of mature fruits will help to avoid fruit fly infestation and anthracnose.
Collect and destroy the fruits that are infested with fruit flies.
