How to Prevent Fusarium Wilt in your Mango Trees

Many people associate fusarium wilt with banana plants, but this disease can also affect a wide range of other crops—including mango trees. Fusarium fungus is a soil-borne pathogen that attacks the vascular system of trees and other plant species, causing root rot and declining growth. While no one can stop mother nature from inflicting this fungal attack on your mango trees, there are ways to protect them from the damage it causes.

Here are top 10 ways to prevent fusarium wilt in your mango tree:

1) Plant resistant varieties. Whereas some varieties are more susceptible to Fusarium fungus than others, planting any variety known for its resistance will help ensure your tree's health down the road. Asian or Indian varieties such as the Alphonso, Dashehari, Langra, and Totapuri are especially known to be resistant.

2) Treat your soil. Next time you replant a mango tree or shrub in your yard, treat the soil with a fungicide first to help prevent Fusarium fungus from infecting it.

3) Eliminate standing water around the roots of your trees. Standing water becomes stagnant and allows fungi an entry point into your trees' circulatory system via spores that travel through their roots.

4) Don't over-fertilize excessively moist soils. Additional nitrogen will encourage excess growth on plants at the expense of its immune system—allowing fungus to take hold more easily. If you want to fertilize your mango tree or shrub, you'll want t use a balanced fertilizer.

5) Harvest your mangos regularly to keep trees healthy. Fungi feed on over ripe fruit that has fallen off the tree and decayed at its base. These decaying fruits then serve as breeding grounds for fungus spores that can infect healthy trees nearby. To prevent this cycle, harvest your fruits regularly—even if you don't plan on eating them to avoid further infection of fallen fruit.

6) Clean up pruning tools after using them. You never know how far fungus could travel (or be transported by hands accidentally pruning diseased trees), so it's best to clean all of your pruners with rubbing alcohol or bleach after working on diseased trees.

7) Rotate your crops to prevent infections from building up over time. Since Fusarium fungus thrives in moist, nutrient-rich soils, rotating your crops can help starve it of the nutrients it needs to survive and spread spores. For every crop you grow in the same area, allow that soil to lie fallow for at least one season before planting anything new to give it ample time to recover.

8) Don't water heavily near the base of your mango tree's trunk. Watering too closely will encourage fungus to further infect your tree by providing easy entry into its vascular system via water droplets traveling down the trunk. Instead, water only around the tree's canopy so water can easily drip off the leaves.

9) Remove and destroy infected trees to protect your others. If you spot diseased branches on even one of your mango trees, the entire grove is at risk for infection. To prevent this, prune away any diseased branches or small twigs with yellowing leaves or brown spots on their bark. Burn these cuttings if possible—otherwise, double bag them in plastic bags and discard them in the trash to prevent spores from entering back into the soil.

10) Maintain proper tree care to keep disease at bay. Prune your mango tree regularly to remove dead wood, thin overgrown canopy growth that prevents necessary sunlight from reaching all your fruit, and discourage overcrowding that might encourage diseases like Fusarium.

Fusarium wilt is a devastating disease that can kill mango trees. The good news is, there are ways you can prevent this from happening by taking proactive steps to improve your soil conditions and plant the right type of tree for your climate zone. You should also be aware of how temperature affects fusaria growth rates so that you don’t unwittingly encourage it in warmer months with higher humidity levels. Tree Doctor has seen firsthand how these 10 tips have helped our customers grow healthy mango trees without succumbing to the blight-causing fungus. If you're interested in learning more about preventing or treating fusarium wilt on your own property, contact us today! We would love to help save your precious fruit bearing friends!