Keep them warm with lots of humidity.

Thanks Jay,will do!

Good luck. Get some good micronutrients and do some foliar sprays once a week/2 weeks. What garcinia name did you purchase the lemon mangosteen under? Also, would like to see some pics. Most garcinias are a tough nut to crack and oh so slow to grow!

Garcinia intermedia and garcinia hombroniana, I purchased the seeds from tradewinds fruit and they came already sprouted! I would love to post a pic but i dont know how get them up on the site, lol! The seashore mangosteen came at 3 1/2" tall and the lemon mangosteen had a 1/2" to it and some rooting. I would LOVE to get a hold of the original mangosteen but that one is hard to get,I was thinking of mail ordering from Puerto Rico, what do you think?

It's always beneficial to start with an established plant when possible. I do seeds only when there is no alternative. Montoso Gardens in PR usually has some seedling plants or you may be able to obtain some seeds. Hula Bros in Hawaii are selling some pretty nice sized seedlings. http://www.hulabrothers.com/store/cart.cgi?action=link&product=4

Keep on the lookout for fresh mangosteens this spring/summer. They are allowed into the states now from Thailand. They are irradiated and have traveled a good bit but still pretty good...not as good as getting them from market in Thailand but pretty close! Very expensive too...but worth it for anyone who has not tried them yet. Unfortunately, there have been no reports of successful germination of any of these fruit. The irradiating has obviously killed the seeds.

FruitLovers from Hawaii may also have seeds. Frankies Nursery in Hawaii should have seedling plants as well. They will be a little more challenging than the two garcinias you currently have. Good luck. Let me know if you are able to get any nice ones. J

Thanks Jay! Ill let you know what I come up with!

I've bought fresh mangosteen at the Oriental market. The fruit was delicious but none of the seeds germinated. There were also far fewer seeds per fruit then I expected. I didn't realize that the fruit is irradiated before entering the US. Good luck with your trees.

Thanks Karen, I think I will need it :)

Karyn, you have to be careful when purchasing mangosteens. There are many folks out there passing off frozen fruit as fresh! No comparison. Fresh will cost you around $16/lb.

It was definitely fresh and not expensive. I think it was somewhere around $4-$5 per pound. I buy fresh rambutan, longan, lychee and many others, depending on the time of year, all for less then $4 per pound. I'm just outside of DC and there's loads of ethnic markets that carry a wide variety of tropical fruit and unlike the regular chain groceries it's normally very good. The one fruit sold that's always frozen is durian. I've had it fresh and think it's gross so I can just imagine what a frozen one would taste like. lol

Everyone lives around ethnic markets except me lol....Im in the wrong place lol

In your zone, I would skip the real mangosteen. It is not an inexpensive tree to buy and it is not an easy/fast growing tree.
I live in PR, and I have one. I bought a nice sized plant about 1.5 years ago. It has grown about 1 foot for me in that time and I have the perfect climate for it. I can only imagine that elsewhere, it would take forever to produce!

Unless you have a nice large greenhouse that will hold lots of non-producing plants, stick to easy to grow/produce plants.
Just my opinion.

Rayandqwenn, You are completely correct in everything you said. But.....I was told the same thing several years ago before I made the commitment to build a greenhouse. I was determined to grow things EVERYONE told me I could not grow. "Impossible, waste of time and money!". If I hadn't been so hard-headed and bound and determined to grow what I wanted and prove everyone wrong, then I wouldn't be enjoying my fresh bananas, mangos, grumichama, wax jambu, dragon fruit, miracle fruit, guava, and soon to be others. I also have several mangosteens, other garcinias, as well as several other very challenging rare fruits.

Even folks in Florida push the envelop of many plants. Yet they continue. This is a hobby and I always encourage folks to grow whatever they want...but with warnings. It's all about the experience and thrill of growing something you know very few others are doing. Will they succeed? Who knows? I had mangos developing while they were still growing in the house. I know of two guys fruiting lychees in their homes in New York. Growing rare fruit for us is like being a gambler or drug addict. We're hooked! We are fascinated with these beautiful, hard to obtain, hard to grow, many times heart-breaking, rare fruit trees. I envy you living in a climate where trees like the mangosteen can thrive. I've seen many pics of your plants and you do an amazing job down there. But we climate-challenged folks also want to try and enjoy these plants.

The warnings? This requires commitment...monetary as well as lots of time and effort to provide an environment in which these plants can thrive, endless patience, the ability to absorb the crush of failure and still have the grim determination to learn from your mistakes. There will be mistakes. There will be insects and diseases. There will be plants that die for reasons unknown.

But when one of these trees blooms for the first time and bears fruit, even if only one, then the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction is incredible.

Jay, I don't mean to discourage anyone from trying....I get a big kick out of growing and tasting all sorts of oddball fruit. I started with seeds and quickly learned - buy grafted plants! And you know how envious I am of your fruit trees!

My reasoning for my post....She sounds like she is a newbie at tropical fruit growing. And unless I have missed it, I haven't seen a mention of a greenhouse....now or in the future...
I just can't suggest a mangosteen as one of her first plant investments. Especially until I hear about a greenhouse. Mangosteens are very difficult , slow growing and not cheap to obtain. You must admit, it was not your first fruit tree purchase...
I am suggesting, start off with some fast producing/easier to grow tropical fruit plants. That way you get the experience without the wait and heartache. Condo Mangos maybe....
After one gets some experience (and a greenhouse in zone 8), then I would start getting the more expensive/unusual things.
Just trying to save a newbie some $. Now, wait until she is totally hooked and has made the investment in a greenhouse........then I am sure we all have ideas on how to spend her money!

Hi there!
Thank you so much rayandgwenn for the wonderful advise, I appreciate everyone and anyones advice on tropicals because youre right,I am a newbie but everyone who knows me and some people on GW know that my husband is working on a greenhouse right now for me. All of my persistent questions and posts are towards trying to take care of all of these plants once I get them. I just want to try to get it right and not kill any (hopefully). I have to say though, MY NAME IS AMANDA AND I AM AN ADDICT (of plants for the record)lol greenhouse up or not. I am actually going to go ahead and get the tree/plant/cuttings of certain things to avoid the wait, but its like Jay said "the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction is incredible" I couldnt have put it better (beautifully put Jay) Thank you for the great advise, I am very much a newbie and I need alot of it :)