No matter what Andrew...we are NOT going to compete with natural south Florida weather/climate for our trees. I lost a few before my latest pair finally seem to be headed in a positive direction...at least the mayong chid is. The Kai has been a pain in my butt since it arrived. One of these days it will either finally snap out of its funk or slowly fade away.

These are grafted plants and should be able to handle full sun with proper acclimation. It may not be as bad as mangosteen, but it sure isn't the same as growing a mango either. The growth flushes seem to be as slow as mangosteen. As I mentioned before, if you can get one of the potted plants as opposed to the bare root plant, you might consider trying it. If you are stuck with only getting a bare root plant, I would seriously start thinking how losing $50 is going to feel. Just my two cents dude.

Thanks for the advice Jay and I am hoping that I will get one of the potted grafted trees. I think this is what Shehaan said there carrying and that's what I will buy. If I cannot get a potted grafted Mayong Chid I will hold out until I can find one. It just seems so hard to find these!
Andrew

Here's an updated picture of my Kai Maprang that was from Frankie's last order. I stuck it in the ground last week with buds bulging. No blooms....but lots of new growth in lots of directions.

That Kai really is looking amazing. Definitely looks better than mine so far. That is about the size my mayong chid was when it fruited last year. Hopefully you will get some flowers next season.

Andrew, I don't think these are anywhere near as hard as mangosteen. I have tried many mangosteen and I am pretty sure my last one finally died this winter. I think you should give it a try. I don't think it will be any problem at all since you will not be getting it as a bare root. I would think it will take full sun easily up where you live.

Wow Harry that tree is amazing! How do you care for yours? Do you fertilize frequently? I'm getting really excited about this tree. I just hope I can get my hands on one. That and possibly a Mallika mango will be it for fruit trees this year except for a citrus that I won thru Four Winds citrus.

Andrew

My 'kai' maprang only has 2 leaves... I also got mine the same time as Harry and jsvand.

Andrew,
The mayong chid is in peat/perlite.

SHeehan,
That's what I thought you said. What's your impression on growing them? Do you think your winters or possibly insect infestations have been your problem or is it just a harder to grow tropical fruit tree?
Andrew

From what I can observe so far, maprang is much easier to grow than mangosteen. I really didn't do anything special to the Kai Maprang posted earlier. Sheehan actually potted it up after it was received, I believe, barerooted when we ordered last year. I think I may have given it a tiny bit of osmocote time released fertilizer and, of course, a steady water supply. When Sheehan brought it to me, he had it bagged (as Frankies, I learned later, suggests to keep it in the first month after potting). I ignorantly assumed that he had bagged it for the trip to my house and I immediately removed the bag and set it out on a picnic table under one of my large ficus trees in the front yard. The tree went into major shock losing all but a very few leaves. But, in about a month, the buds began to swell and, while it seemed like forever for them to do anything, one day they all burst into large (relative to the plant size) vegetative growth in multiple directions. The way this Kai tree grows, in an almost geometric manner, it should gain size fairly quickly. I think I have had at least three and maybe four of these growth spurts since I got the tree last year. I did bring the tree in when ever there was a possible freeze and for almost all of the frost events. However, by "in" I mean into the garage which is left open for dog access. So the temps in the garage, while not allowing frost to form, were maybe 3-5 degrees warmer than the temps outside.

Sheehan gave me his Mayong Chid and it was also planted out at the same time. It had a noticeably less developed root ball as compared to the Kai. It is much more spindly in its growth habit thus far...but it did bloom this year. There were no fruits that set, however. Stay tuned.

Harry