Good luck! I wonder how tall the mangosteen tree is after 12 years.

Tomas

That is a really nice looking mangosteen tree. Probably one of the nicest I've ever seen at that age and height in the US. Good luck.

I was told (again by Lynn) that they should be around 8' at twelve years. Definitely greenhouseable.

Anyone trying to grow Mangosteen in the continental US has had discouraging results other than Bill Whitman.

The pavilion named after him at Fairchild Gardens has one that either doesnt hold fruit until maturity for some reason

Cocobananas:

I'm glad (kind of, have very mixed feelings) that you left lurkerdom and joined the posting fun here in the forum. Unfortunately, those mangosteens look so good that I am seriously reconsidering my solemn vow to never spend another penny on a mangosteen. After killing so many, I have been listed on the mangosteen mass murderers most wanted list. Seriously, thanks for posting and best of luck with your mangosteen growing and eventual fruiting. And, of course, we'll be expecting periodic reports now that you have come in out of the shadows.

Harry

Thanks for the kind welcome Harry.

And I fully support you in your next mangosteen purchase(s). The mangosteen is without doubt a noble holy grail.

Maybe the unofficial motto of this forum should be: "tempted by the fruit of another," which I found myself humming after waking up thinking about a 6yr nutmeg I came across online last night.

mango kush: I'm guessing the one at Fairchild is mixed in with other trees. I wonder if (read: desperately hope) I can do better by catering to it with its own micro-climate.

Any environment can be recreated, no? I'll check in again with you guys in twelve years. :)

Im not sure how old the tree is but i dont think its common for an immature tree to produce so much fruit and then drop them before maturity.

I also couldnt figure out if it was a seedling or not, it may just be an unsuitable variable seedling

there's always that. total crapshoot, seedlings. tempts me to buy ten, just to play the numbers game.

everything i read tended to suggest grafted trees do not really have an advantage in survival, they definitely have a disadvantage in price.

I wish you better luck than I have had. I put my grafted one in the ground this spring and even with our nice hot and humid summers it is just about dead. I had it potted for 2 years and it literally put out one set of new leaves so I figured in the ground would be better with a greenhouse for the winter but I don't think it is even going to make it to winter. I do have one seedling that is doing ok but I am ready for the inevitable death of that one at some point as well.

I have turned to Achachairu which are simple to grow and supposedly taste just as good.

We recently seen evidence of grafted mangosteen VS seedling. There is no comparison. The same age seedling trees were 3 to 4 times the size and bearing about the same time.

Now...Bernie Dizon in the Philippines does multiple rootstock grafting and claims the trees get faster growth and faster fruiting. Unfortunately, those trees are not available here. Just keep the seedlings going. You'll be far less frustrated that way.

I just did some research on the fruit. Apparently, there is almost no variation in seedlings, since the seed is really not a seed, but an adventitious embryo. There is no pollen, so basically the trees reproduce asexually, and are all female and all identical (a few exceptions occur, but very few).

I find that when I take the time to find out about a certain tree, it grows better for me. Not because I care for it any differently, but because the tree is happy I took the time! Seems like this elusive tree would benefit from this kind of extra attention.

Gotta love all these brains coming together.

Thanks for the info ohiojay. Can you post a link to where you read about the multiple rootstocks? I'd love to read more.

Ditto Jun: do you have a link for that great resource?

Just reading more on Bernie Dizon's site, there's an article about a Filipino farmer: "17 of his trees bore fruit in four and a half year of fruiting from planting." Clearly they like the climate a bit more than Puerto Rico and Hawaii. Packing bags now...

None of the trees in PR are multiple rootstock. They were just a normally grafted plant.

The 4 1/2 yr. old fruiters were not multi-grafted either. I was just noting the fast fruiting time in the Philipines.

I found this article online and thought this method of propagation was interesting:

In Florida, approach-grafting has succeeded only by planting a seed of G. xanthochymus about 1 1/4 in (3 cm) from the base of a mangosteen seedling in a container and, when the stem of the G. xanthochymus seedling has become 1/8 in (3 mm) thick, joining it onto the 3/16 to 1/4 in (5-6 mm) thick stem of the mangosteen at a point about 4 in (10 cm) above the soil. When the graft has healed, the G. xanthochymus seedling is beheaded. The mangosteen will make good progress having both root systems to grow on, while the G. xanthochymus rootstock will develop very little.

Mangosteen

Nice! Great info, I may have to check out those nursery's sooner or later. Thanks!

"Cannot currently be shipped to California."

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WHY!????????????????

does this look like a mangosteen seedling? It sprouts under a seedling banana in a pot last year. I put it into the unheated greenhouse during the winter. It grows very slow, looks like it hasn't grown much. Then the banana seedling died in april/may of this year. I then moved it into full direct sunlight. And noticed that the leaves started to burn in a couple weeks. I am now moving it to less sunlight location now. i live in redwood city/menlo park , CA. I often buy mangosteens from chinatown when they are in season and don't remember where I sprinkle the seeds in the backyard.

I'd doubt it's Mangosteen, wouldn't survive your climate. But it is a bit hard to tell from the leaves because they're damaged and don't look so healthy. If that plant survives maybe it'll be easier to identify when it gets a bit bigger. A Mangosteen would need to have higher temperatures during winter.

I wanted to try growing mangosteen, but discovered my altitude is too high to get fruit, so I didn't bother. There are so many trees that can give me fruit (and satisfaction) that it doesn't seem worthwhile to grow something that doesn't like my climate.

cocobana, can you give us status of your tree now that it's been 6yrs?