Eggo: What're your methods? Have a small seedling and would appreciate any tips. Thanks! :)

Real nice bud. What's yer address out there? I mean... not that I would come by and take someone's mangosteen out of their yard or anything like that... you going away for a weekend anytime soon?

Very nice Eggo-a happy mangosteen. Good job!

tropicaliste, lots of shade, lots of humidity(enclosing a clear bag over them helps out alot if you don't have the humidity), and warmth. I have so far tend to stick to more organic fertilizer for mangosteen, they appear to have very sensitive roots.
Jay I think you got my address so don't be giving it out to any plant poachers, hehe.

Thank eggo! I had been contemplating putting a plastic bag over it, because that's how I keep my Lychees and Rambutan seedlings, and they're flourishing. Unfortunately I did that with my yet to sprout Pulasan, and they rotted. So if I get more Pulasan, I will not be putting a bag over the pot until they've sprouted. Oh, and thanks for the shade tip, mine's in almost full sun, and I wasn't sure what they liked.
BTW, I was at the Korean supermarket again, and finnnnally they had Longans again. I've been waiting for them since February, and apparently so has everyone else; people were picking at them with gusto, and I had to stand my ground until I was satisfied. $2.99 a lb. sweetened the deal. :)

A very nice specimen, Eggo, one of the best I've seen. Congratulations! I think the most common problem experienced by folks in growing this ultratropical is the presence of browning leaves. Hardly a trace in your healthy looking plant!

Marcelo

Marcelo, I by utter and sheer chance, noticed your name when I was purchasing my Pulasan seeds, and I've been wondering if your's sprouted? Mine came slightly germinated, and well, I'm basically gonna have to reorder some more, lol. :)

Trop, where do you order your pulsan seeds? I wold love to try and grow them in my gh. Do you know any cutural/growing info?

Tropicaliste, mine never did sprout, though I believe they were close to germinating. I suppose I'll have to try them again, but like their rambutan cousin, they are notoriously susceptible to mold.

Plummy, drop me an email and I'll tell you where you can get them.

Marcelo

Thanks Marcelo. I've also had problems with the browning of leaves especially during winter. I think the culprits are cooler weather and a not so acidic PH soil. I had problems earlier in the year but it seems to be less of problem now.

Yup, I think that I put too much soil over them, which is weird for me. I watered them too much and put a bag over the pot. So basically I should have not hmmm babied them? I'll try again. You germinating anything else interesting, Marcelo? I like to see all the rare seedlings you sprout.

I am embarassed to say that I had never heard of either mangosteen nor pulasan before today; I googled them and am fascinated! What cool looking fruits. Good luck! Why have I never heard of these? I live in the bay area, just outside Berkeley, where there is a large international population in addition to our sunset climate zone of 10a. Where have I been? We do have lychees, but not pulasan.

Amanda 'romando'

Amanda 'romando'

Its coming up to the season for these here , yummmee
found a very large orchard of them not far away.
In between each Mangosteen tree there is a very large Cuban Royal Palm , planted for shading the young trees many years ago . The palms are now towering over the Mangosteens , and they look like they should yield a good crop. I hope they will sell seconds .

Well unless for instance maybe you aren't from Asia or have never been, or are new to Tropical fruits, you wouldn't know. Mangosteens can't be imported from Asia at the moment, so you wouldn't see fresh ones in even the local Asian supermarket. There's been sitings of smuggled ones in Chinatown however and/or you're super rich or growing your own, you would not see a fresh (although you can buy whole frozen or canned) one within our borders. So don't feel embarrased. Same for Pulasan, it's not being imported fresh at the moment. Anywho, try growing them :)

These were for sale at the local supermarket yesterday , Au$16,50 Kilo. got 4 fruits for $9 . very nice tasting .

I scoured Canal Chinatown for these! I did not find a single one, but I did find Sweetsop and Atemoya $4 a piece! The Sweetsop was too woody, I don't think it was ripe. The Atemoya was fairly sweet.

Is there some legitimate reason why importation of fresh mangosteens is banned in the U.S.?

The U.S. agricultural department believes that the mangosteen can carry known pests that are damaging if introduced here. These pest can hide either beneath the petals or pericap. Besides irradiation they don't think there's any other way to introduce this fruit safely into U.S. markets.

Do you know where i can buy some mangosteen trees?

nice looking mangosteen. legendary...yes...it is the holy grail of tropical fruit. Would love to try one. However, you should grow a 48-26 variety atemoya. Unbelievable fruit. very, very sweet, juicy and smooth soft texture. It kind of tastes like cotton candy. Way better than my Geffner atemoya or sugar apples. also, not hard to grow here in S. FL
Rusty

Nerotx, if you mean by trees, 4-6 inch seedlings and seeds, yes I do. But if your looking for larger specimens, its extremely hard to find. Just sent you an email.

Rusty, I have yet to sample an Atemoya. I would hopefully one day get to try some. I did obtain some seeds of a Taiwanese type of Atemoya, and hopefully see how that goes.

hi, i think the only way to fruit mangosteen in a temperate or sub-tropical place is by planting grafted mangosteens. Why grafted mangosteens? because they can fruit in large pots and are great for indoor plants. The fact that they fruit in 3 years time. The only thing you need is a humidifier like a simple greenhouse with heating system. I think Jays' greenhouse is a great example. :)

In Ottawa Canada, I can buy fresh Mangosteen in Asian store easily during a couple of months period of the year, usually in the fall. But yes, they are very pricy, 5.99CAD/lb. Sometimes, they are not very fresh, but most of the time, I can tell they are very fresh.

I germinated their seeds once about 5 years ago, it sprout in about 2 weeks then grew like crazy, shoot into two feet in about a year, but I swear to God, it didn't look anything close to eggo's. Mine has huge leaves, but very hairy not waxy, pale white hairy underside the leaves. Is it possible that the Mangosteen I have was grafted? So the seeds didn't come true.

Do you know where I can buy some mangosteen seedling?

Appreciated

H Lee

Try Bryon at Montoso Gardens in Puerto Rico.

Thanks for such a fast reply, bud.

BTW, you know where I can buy the fruit here in the states?

Henry

Try Montoso Gardens or Govardhan Gardens for seedlings and Ecuadorexplorer for seeds.

Henry, its almost impossible to find fresh fruits in the continental U.S. A trip to Canada would be your best bet. =)

"huge leaves, but very hairy not waxy, pale white hairy underside the leaves"
Yellow, sorry but that definitely was not a mangosteen. Grafting also would not change their characteristics.

Berns, I got one grafted mangosteen, its still a slow grower and has not really taken off yet. I really do hope it fruits soon, seen a picture of a fruiting mangosteen in a pot before, the only catch was that plant was somewhere in Southeast Asia.

Henry, please don't go to Canada for Mangosteen now, It has been off the season for two weeks. The next time it's available would be next autumn, I will let you know or I can mail you some fresh seeds after I eat the Mangosteen, guranteed fresh. I heard if you keep them in moist peat, it can be viable for two weeks.

Eggo, thanks for the clarification. For 5 years, I thought Mangosteen is like tropical weeds, grow anywhere given sun and warmth. I don't know what those plants are then. They grew 3 feet in a very short time and almost choked my houseplants in the same container. They may be Eriobotrya Japonica though.

Now after seeing Bill Whitman's mangosteen i have to say, your tree looks just like all the nice mangosteens I have seen only small. Just be patient , and you will have fruit.

Here is a link to a Mangosteen 'manual' with details on everything you could want to know on Mangosteen.

I just received some seeds a week ago, I followed instructions, and soaked seeds for over 12 hours, noticed that 4 of the 5 seeds already had a root sticking out each side of the seed already.

I found that odd, 2 roots on opposite sides of the seeds ( tips ).

From what I have read on Mangosteen seeds, they loose viability very quickly ( 3-5 days) unless kept moist.

The seeds I ordered came from an Ebay'er from Malaysia, the seeds came packed in sealed plastic bags, with moist peat.

According to seller, if packaged this way they can remain viable for about 50 days, which is a good thing, as they took over 2 weeks to arrive.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mangosteen Manual

Seeds already rooting is a very good sign of healthy seeds. Keep the humidity and heat up and they will do fine. Then start chanting "patience, patience, patience"!

eggo, you still around? Any updates on your mangosteen?
Simon