Author Topic: Mangosteen Farm  (Read 9975 times)

Mike T

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Mangosteen Farm
« on: August 25, 2012, 06:23:57 AM »
I went to a mangosteen farm today that is recovering from cyclone damage of recent years and the trees are making a comeback.It is surprizing just how many fruit the trees can carry and it looks like there will be a bumper spring crop, hopefully followed by a big summer crop as well.

The picture shows the pyramid shape of a borneo small mangosteen that is replacing the malaysian comon mangosteens in the picture below.







The trees are in neat rows.





There will be many tons of fruit in 7 weeks.

murahilin

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #1 on: August 25, 2012, 10:19:45 AM »
Why are they replacing the malaysian common mangosteen trees with borneo small mangosteen trees? Difference in fruit quality or production?

Tropicdude

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #2 on: August 25, 2012, 10:59:21 AM »
Nice clean looking plantation. I noticed they are using Bahia Grass between rows.

curious to know the reason for the change also, since you mentioned tree form I wonder if it is for that reason only, higher density planting perhaps?
William
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Mike T

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2012, 12:55:15 PM »
The borneo small leafed ones stand up to cyclones better and crop together about twice a year rather at more random times.They handle cold a bit better as well as the farm was 5c min a few times in the last few weeks and they hang on to fruit better in cool weather.Borneo trees looked healthier and are less prone to diseases and pests according to the farmer.

murahilin

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2012, 09:27:58 AM »
5c = 41F, I wonder how much lower those trees could handle. Where can I get a Borneo small mangosteen tree?

Are these trees grafted or seedlings?

Mike T

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #5 on: August 26, 2012, 10:05:01 AM »
They both are small leafed types and that is just the farms' name to differentiate the 2 types after they had some genetic work done.It is just as cool with winter mins at mission beach where there are a number of mangosteen farms.There seems to be a bit of variation in tree shape,leaf size,phenology and fruit characters and only farmers seem to differentiate between the strains.Trees seem to be invariable sold as just mangosteen.The South Johnstone reasearch station previously had accessions from different places which performed differently in different conditions.The upper daradgee farmers' father brought the seeds in for sowing himself.

TropicalFruitHunters

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2012, 11:06:21 AM »
Now if they would only do some work figuring out how to avoid gamboge and translucent flesh disease.

BMc

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2012, 07:40:46 PM »
Very nice. Digby said everyone was gearing up for a bumper crop or two this year, after dissapointing results the last few in the wake of the big cyclones (though Mangosteen suffered less than most otehrs physically). My big leaf is still looking good and we are well on the other side of winter now and the Borneo type you sent up hasnt really grown at all, but is looking thick, lush and green. The low min temp here was around 3c, winter avg. min was a bit under 10c and max avg. around 21c. Rainfall was negligable, with over a month with 0mm rain.

Mike T

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #8 on: August 27, 2012, 12:12:34 AM »
BMc they are ass-draggers for 1 year and then can speed up if they have lots of organic fertilizer like B&B or DL.They need to be gradually increased to stronger sunshine. The big leafed ones are not fans of wind and hot dry weather if you are not watering much as I found out last year.I am pretty sure the small leafed types handle cold better judging by their abundance on the farms in cooler areas.I still think those from NE Thailand would have more cold hardiness.

Mike T

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #9 on: August 27, 2012, 03:32:21 AM »



Just for a comparason here is the larger mangosteen next to my house.The leaves are very large and fruit are distinctive in shape and other characteristics.

Tomas

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #10 on: August 27, 2012, 10:24:27 AM »
Thanks for sharing Mike. After reading this, I start thinking that perhaps even the genetic makeup of mangosteen have changed by environment over generations. So some types have acclimatized to cooler climate by improving itself.

Tomas

Mike T

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #11 on: August 27, 2012, 03:46:43 PM »
Tomas it looks like there must have been quite a few original crosses to account for the genetic variability as well.There were many rambutans and durians on neigboring farms and I could see some durian types losing leaves leaves due to 5c temps but other types were thriving.The area is in the foothills of Mt Bellenden Ker (1622m) that rises steeply to the west and seems and seems to influence temps around it.

Some farms with durian and mangosteen around Tully had temps a fortnight ago of 3c.I still think the mangosteen farms around Chantharak in NE Thailand get a bit cooler again and their trees would be more hardy.My large leafed one from Borneo is more lowland equatorial but still didn't care about 9c at my place last week.

murahilin

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #12 on: August 27, 2012, 06:39:02 PM »
All those low temperatures at the mangosteen farms makes me want to try growing mangosteen again. I guess I need to find seen from the colder areas of Thailand.

fruitlovers

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #13 on: August 27, 2012, 11:34:41 PM »
All those low temperatures at the mangosteen farms makes me want to try growing mangosteen again. I guess I need to find seen from the colder areas of Thailand.

Mangosteen is not grown commercially in most of northern Thailand. The fruits you see in markets there in the north is coming from elsewhere.
Oscar

Mike T

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #14 on: August 28, 2012, 12:59:49 AM »
Oscar it is more the north east on isolated pockets of basalt derived soil on about 17 latitude towards the Mekong.While summer is a stinker and rainfall is about 50+ inches/yr, winters can have surprizingly low min temps.I visited several farms and kinda spoke to the farmers.I heard that there are pockets of mangosteens further north in the NE of Thailand but not the north where chang mai etc is.

Central Floridave

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #15 on: August 28, 2012, 07:51:17 AM »
thanks for the photos. I've never seen a mangosteen tree before.  I was in Costa Rica last month and when I visited my friend he had a bowl full of mangosteen.  Needless to say that bowl didn't last but a half-a-day!   I wish I could grow them, but too cold where I live. 

samuel

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #16 on: August 28, 2012, 11:24:14 AM »
I visited several farms and kinda spoke to the farmers.

i like the "kinda spoke to the farmers" communicating with Thai farmers is quite a challenge isn't it?
Samuel
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fruitlovers

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #17 on: August 29, 2012, 01:37:21 AM »
I visited several farms and kinda spoke to the farmers.

i like the "kinda spoke to the farmers" communicating with Thai farmers is quite a challenge isn't it?

Not just farmers...communicating with anyone in Thailand is a challenge! English is not widely spoken there. That is a real understatement! Very easy though when i take my Thai friend along for translating everything.  ;D ;D
Oscar

adiel

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #18 on: December 14, 2012, 10:33:45 AM »
...I heard that there are pockets of mangosteens further north in the NE of Thailand but not the north where chang mai etc is.

Mike, it will be interesting to find out the lowest temperature that these NE Thailand mangosteens can handle.
Adiel

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #19 on: December 14, 2012, 07:18:50 PM »
And not just for mangosteen, also wich kind of bananas trive there (both seeded or not).
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fruitlovers

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #20 on: December 15, 2012, 02:13:54 AM »
...I heard that there are pockets of mangosteens further north in the NE of Thailand but not the north where chang mai etc is.

Mike, it will be interesting to find out the lowest temperature that these NE Thailand mangosteens can handle.

I'm eating mangosteens right now. There is a vendor with a cart right outside my room in Bangkok with a big pile of them and rambutans. The mangosteens are quite tasty. There are also plenty of dragonfruit and mangos around. Last night had mango with sticky rice. Something about this combination that is quite magical. It is a favorite Thai dessert.
Oscar

fruitlovers

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #21 on: December 15, 2012, 02:16:45 AM »
And not just for mangosteen, also wich kind of bananas trive there (both seeded or not).

Bananas will grow and fruit in much colder places than NE Thailand. I've seen them fruiting at 6000 ft (1900 meter) elevation in Sikkim, India where they get snow in winters. I've posted about this in another thread before. For coldest tolerant bananas google Sikkim + banana and Darjeeling+banana. They have several cultivars that are snow tolerant.
Oscar

Mike T

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #22 on: December 15, 2012, 02:34:41 AM »
There seems to be an elegant simplicity to developing greater tolerances for fruit in Asia.Just keep planting large numbers of seeds and plants at the fringes of their tolerances and if some survive breed from them.Those without the desired tolerances are casualties.

fruitlovers

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #23 on: December 15, 2012, 05:56:22 AM »
It is easier for temperate plants to slowly acclimitize themselves after many generations to warm weather tropics than it is for tropical plants to acclimitize to freezing temperatures. There are lots more low chill temperate fruits than tropical fruits that can withstand a hard freeze. Seems that the need for dormancy during winter weather is more easy to drop than for plant cells to be able to withstand freezing temperatures.
Oscar

adiel

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Re: Mangosteen Farm
« Reply #24 on: December 15, 2012, 11:44:29 AM »
Oscar are you in  NE Thailand right now?   Have you seen any fruiting mangosteen trees there?
Adiel