Increased Your Mango production
Ramon Barba, a professor at the institute of Biological Science at UP Los Baños, found that mangoes can be induced to flower all year round by spraying mango trees with Potassium nitrate, the Philippines became a leading exporter of mangoes and mango products.
Barba first experimented on a single hand-sprayed application of potassium nitrate in the '70s. In the first week of his experiment, buds emerged, then flowers in the second week. Fruits came out within four months. For the experiment, Barba spent less than P500. Barba's research showed that if one percent of potassium nitrate solution is applied on mango trees for 5 years, new shoot production and leaf sizes would be significantly reduced.
The normal recommendation is one percent potassium nitrate solution.
Barba pointed out that if the tree does not flower after potassium nitrate application, it means that it is not physiologically ready to flower. A mature shoot is physiologically ready to flower eight to 10 months after flushing or the appearance of new shoots and leaves.
Spraying Potassium Nitrate on rainy season is difficult to induced flowering because they normally respond to potassium nitrate spray during the dry season.
The experts advise mango growers not to deviate too far from the normal cropping cycle of the trees. The vegetative stage of mango trees starts from flushing new leaves until flower induction, which is about 6 to 10 months or an average of eight months. The reproductive state, about 4 months, is from flower emergence to harvest. Thus, mango trees can be induced to produced fruits only once a year if these flush immediately after harvest.
Moreover, farmers must use one percent potassium nitrate solution during regular season and 2 to 2.5 percent during off-season.
based on http://inventors.about.com and Senior Bato Balani
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