Langsat Defoliation

[BigIslandGrower]

Here is my Longkong that was planted 5 years ago. 

[LangsatFL]

Wow, that’s a beautiful Duku!  I hope my tree looks like that someday.  It’s very cool that your tree came from one of Bill Whitman’s trees.  I really hope your tree recovers from the defoliation.  I wonder what could have caused defoliation for your tree; especially since Hawaii is such an ideal place to grow these.

[LangsatFL]

Big Island Grower, do you fertilize your duku?  I’m curious if the leaf drop could be a nutritional issue. 

[LangsatFL]

Here is my Longkong that was planted 5 years ago. 

Wow, that tree looks amazing!  I know you said it was planted 5 years ago, but how old do you think it is?  My 15 year old tree is a dwarf compared to your longkong.

[BigIslandGrower]

LangsatFL,

You could be right about a lack of fertilization.  On the recommendation of David, the nurseryman who sold me the tree 24 years ago, I stopped fertilizing for a couple years in an attempt to stimulate better fruit set.  After the huge crop in October I've returned to feeding the tree.  Hopefully it will respond favorably.

With the Longkong, it was a small, grafted tree when I purchased it.  Couldn't have been more than 2 years old I would think, possibly younger. 

[LangsatFL]

LangsatFL,

You could be right about a lack of fertilization.  On the recommendation of David, the nurseryman who sold me the tree 24 years ago, I stopped fertilizing for a couple years in an attempt to stimulate better fruit set.  After the huge crop in October I've returned to feeding the tree.  Hopefully it will respond favorably.

With the Longkong, it was a small, grafted tree when I purchased it.  Couldn't have been more than 2 years old I would think, possibly younger.

Bill Whitman recommended using a 6-6-6 fertilizer 3 times a year on langsats in order to get good growth and production out of them.  I have done that and the tree does respond well to it, however, adverse winter weather still makes the tree very sad.  Bill managed to fruit one of his marcotted langsats at 18 years old.  Mine is only 15 and is a seedling, so my wait is still very long.

[Mike T]

All of mine fruit heavily and have been for over ten years. The duku-langsat has the largest fruit and mu duku var. jahor and longkong have the biggest crops. The duku is a wider tree with bigger leaves and all 5 lansiums have small fruit on now. They don't need much fertliser but appreciate N so a 10:2:4 mix would work.

[LangsatFL]

All of mine fruit heavily and have been for over ten years. The duku-langsat has the largest fruit and mu duku var. jahor and longkong have the biggest crops. The duku is a wider tree with bigger leaves and all 5 lansiums have small fruit on now. They don't need much fertliser but appreciate N so a 10:2:4 mix would work.

Mike T,
Thank you for all your advice and knowledge!  I will look for some 10:2:4 here for my Langsat.  I have my big tree and I also have 6 other small seedlings.  For some reason, a lot of Florida folks say that Langsats are not self fruiting if they are not grafted.  In your experience, have you ever encountered isolated seedling langsats, longkongs, duku, etc. that were fruiting isolated from any other flowering langsats?  My tree is much older than any other one I own and I highly doubt anyone in my immediate vicinity has any langsats, let alone any as old as mine.  Although my 15 year old tree is probably still going to take a few years to flower.

[Mike T]

Year they fruit on their own alright. Langsat seedlings can fruit faster than the others especially paete and Utteradit. One from Indonesia is routinely grown from seed and fruits well that way and is very sweet. It probably isn't closely related to the Philpine and thai langsat.

[LangsatFL]

In case anyone wanted an update on my defoliated Florida Langsat, here is a photo of some of the new leaves it is working on.  This plant grows extremely slowly in South Florida and the new growth gets damaged by wind very easily.  Also, the new growth gets absolutely devastated by aphids and the ants that farm them.  Big Island Grower, how is your defoliated specimen doing now? Did it recover?
Mike T, thank you for sharing all your knowledge on this species with me, I truly appreciate it.