Planning and Planting a Mango Orchard

mango orchard
Mango tree

James Mwangi Ndiritu

Environmental Governance and Management, Agribusiness consultant

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Site Selection: Selecting a site for fruit trees is crucial, as the soil quality directly affects the trees’ growth and productivity. The trees can still produce good yields even if the soil is rocky or on a slope. However, before planting, it is important to carefully examine the field’s:

  • soil type,
  • gradient,
  • water absorption and drainage,
  • frost risk and frequency,
  • temperature range,
  • length of the growing season,
  • annual rainfall distribution,
  • irrigation water availability,
  • distance from the water table,
  • wind and airflow patterns

Most of these factors are outside the farmer’s control, and thus, the planting plan must accommodate the site’s natural conditions. Although farmers can improve the soil quality over time, they cannot alter the subsoil layers, change wind patterns, or significantly modify temperatures.

Site Preparation: To prepare a site for planting mango trees, several important factors must be considered. These include alleviating soil compaction, enhancing soil fertility, adjusting the soil pH, and managing weeds, pests, and diseases. Attention to these details can help reduce weed and disease problems, resulting in a healthy plantation. The specific requirements for site preparation will vary depending on the land’s previous use, including the crop history, current vegetation, and the presence of diseases and pests.

Before establishing a mango orchard, adjusting the soil pH to ensure the best possible crop yield is crucial. Soil pH can be increased by incorporating lime or lowered through sulfur applications. Most fruit plants perform optimally at a pH of around 6.5, but they can tolerate a pH range between 5.5 and 7.2. A balanced nutritional soil, with proper soil pH and sufficient organic matter, are essential for fertility management. Soil improvement before planting typically involves cover cropping and applying compost, natural minerals, or other organic fertilizers in varying combinations.

Orchard Layout and Design

The layout of a mango orchard significantly impacts the trees’ health, growth and yield potential. At the same time, it can facilitate (or not) some cultivation practices and field operations such as pruning, harvest, irrigation, fertilization, and weed and pest management.

Every aspect of the orchard design is interconnected, from disease management to harvesting. The specific spacing and training of trees will vary depending on the species and variety of the crop.

Questions to consider when designing a mango orchard include:

  • The lay of the land, the direction of water flow, the angle of the sun during different seasons, and how these factors will affect the movement of water and air, temperature and humidity levels, crop ripening, and the incidence of diseases and pests
  • Which diseases and pests affect the crop in the region,
  • What equipment is needed for field operations,
  • Which is the desired crop density, and
  • What is the estimated cost of planting and managing the orchard

An orchard should be profitable within 3 to 10 years of its establishment. There are 3 patterns according to which trees can be arranged in a mango orchard: Square, Rectangular and Diamond-shaped.

If trees are spaced in such a way that no thinning will be necessary during the lifespan of the orchard, only slightly more than 50% of the land is utilized. Effective land use, therefore, means that the trees are initially spaced close together to be thinned systematically and selectively at a later stage.

The choice of planting distance and the pattern of a planting depend on the following factors: Cultivar, Location of the orchard (e.g. north or east facing), Soil type and depth, expected short and long-term production, Access for machinery, depending on orchard practices, thinning practices. The final decision must be based on economic principles because each aspect mentioned influences an orchard’s ultimate economic value.

Land Preparation: Prepare the land early before the onset of rains, especially if you rely on them for irrigating your orchard. A common practice before establishing a mango orchard is to apply deep ploughing followed by harrowing twice until fine tilt is attained before the onset of the rainy season. If the field has a gentle slope, a levelling is advised to be applied to improve drainage.

The recommended planting distance is between 10-14 meters (33-46 feet). More specifically, in areas with water scarcity and limited rainfalls, the trees have smaller growth and final size, and closer planting distances can be used (10m*10m or 33ft*33ft). On the contrary, the farmer can place his/her trees further apart in rich soils with ample soil moisture. However, nowadays, some farmers experience high-density systems (called slim hedges) where the row distances between plants are 3 m and 6 m between rows. This strategy has been applied in Queensland, Australia. Of course, the planting distances will need to be considered when selecting a variety or/and the training system.

The farmer should dig holes wide and deep enough to accommodate the ball (30x30x30 cm or 12x12x12 inches) of soil that goes with the planting material. This is recommended particularly in fertile, deep and friable soil. On poor soil, dig big, deep holes with a diameter of 50 cm and 50 cm (20 inches) deep. Set aside the topsoil to be used to re-fill the hole after planting, transplanting, and mixing it with manure or fertilizer.

Planting should be done by carefully removing each seedling from the container and setting it in the hole without disturbing the roots excessively. If necessary, and roots are coiled around the containers, always straighten them to grow without continued coiling. Fill the extra space with topsoil.

References

High-density mango orchards

Find more information in the book: “Success in Agribusiness: Growing Mango successfully” written by James Mwangi Ndiritu

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