Hoping for a Mango Harvest This Year

We have not harvested any mangos in  the farm  over the past three or four years already. The cecid fly or "kurikong manga" has been attacking many farms including ours that resulted in often complete wipe out of potential harvests.

Below, some of our mango trees in the Millora Farm. Our farm caretaker, Nong Endring Paragas, was showing me the areas that they have cleaned. Pictures taken  last Sunday, February 15.

We do not spray our mangos, other people specialize in doing it. They spray for flower induction, when the flowers come out, they take care of them and spray various insecticides (leaf hoppers, fruit flies, various insects and pests) until they become small fruits and so on. Before, the sharing of the harvest was 60-40 in favor of the mango sprayer/s. Recently, with huge losses by mango sprayers, the sharing is 70-30 in favor of the sprayers. The past 3 or 4 years, the sprayers in the farm suffered heavy losses because of the kurikong manga attacks.

This year, a businessman sprayer from Central Pangasinan sprayed the mangos, 70-30 sharing. His team seems sophisticated enough to  control the cecid fly attacks. Here are the young fruits as of last Sunday. They seem plentiful. To have optimum  harvest, there should be only 3-4 fruits per "tangkay" or mini-branch. If there are 5 or more, the fruits are small as the tree will  have difficulty supplying nutrients to the fruits.

Another tree with plentiful young fruits. Soon the fruits will reach the soil as they grow heavier each day, the branches will  be supported with short posts so that the fruits will not touch the  soil and be exposed to other potential pests.

There are indicators that cecid fly have come, like these two young fruits. On the left, it has turned yellow and getting dry; on the right, there are black spots, indicator of pest attack. The other "tangkays" have lost all of their young fruits.

Nong Endring and his son Danny are very industrious in cleaning up the farm, removing tall and dry cogon and  other grasses, then burn the grasses. Grass fires occur yearly, not necessarily on the same spot.

Our two dogs accompany Nong Endring when he goes around. There are some wild snakes that are roaming around in some areas, these crawlers are scared of dogs, they quickly run away if they hear footsteps and dogs barking.

Last year, a huge grassfire from a neighboring farm crossed the boundary and burned a number of our mango trees. See the gray, dried leaves.

Another tree that was burned last year.

We really hope that we can harvest and eat mangos from the farm this year. Crossing our fingers.
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See also: 
Upland mangos sweeter than lowland mangos?, June 12, 2007 
Cecid Fly or "Kurikong Manga", March 19, 2012