R2E2 Mango Pruning for Aesthetics

Brendon Costa starts with ...
Hi all,

I have an R2E2 mango tree that I planted as a seedling last year. It is growing very well. I want to use it for landscaping a bit not just for fruit and am after some guidance on pruning it as most guides I have read appear to be for orchards or people maximising light for fruit or access for harvesting not for shaping a tree to aesthetics and shade.

I really want this tree to end up with a kind-of mushroom shape for shade. I have seen some mango trees around that have the desired shape that I am trying to mimic (see attached image).

My plan was to let the main stem grow higher then make the first cut below the ring of buds at the end but at the height I wanted the branching to start. However it flowered this year and now the ring of buds has grown into branches and is a bit lower than I really wanted the branching to start.

So there are two problems:
1) The main branches have started lower than I originally wanted them to
2) The main branches are currently formed from a ring of buds which creates a weak point in the tree

I read that for the first cut you need to prune below the ring of buds so branches form from buds that alternate a bit further down on the trunk. Otherwise it creates a weak spot in the tree. So I think I am going to have to prune it below this ring now and have the branching start lower than I originally intended.

Is there any way you can suggest I prune this so I can obtain the height I was originally expecting?

Also when is the best time to do this pruning? The tree only just had a fresh flush of growth that has gone from orange to green.

You can see in my image in red is where I intend to prune this at the moment expecting the buds in purple to grow into branches.

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1	Picture: 2

Brendon Costa says...
Thanks for the reply.

That "e;branch"e; in the centre of the crown is actually the old flower stem. The branches have grown around that. I actually wanted this tree to grow higher than is normal and happy to pick fruit from a ladder.

I guess I will cut it off just below the crown to prevent the weak point and live with the tree being shorter than I wanted (its 1m high just below the crown).