Author Topic: Please Help Me Plant my Mangosteen  (Read 951 times)

FruitGrower

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Please Help Me Plant my Mangosteen
« on: May 11, 2020, 10:35:30 PM »
After 3 years of reading on this forum (thanks!!) and trial and error learning with some of the easier plants, I have decided to try my hand at growing a Purple Mangosteen. I was lucky to find one of a good size and I have what seems to be the ideal location, a built in planter that’s 6x6.5x3.5 feet )~730 gallons) that is protected on the north, west, and south sides but still gets full sun all day (shade cloth will be used). See here:



I wanted to ask about the soil since I know that this is important for mangosteen and I have one chance to get it right. The soil that it’s in now (7 gal pot) is like a clay gravel. It’s dark and rich but when I water it goes right through it. See here:



I read mangosteen likes clay soil and I found this (pic below) in an area of my yard (I know not good for pots but this is a large, bottomless planter) but when I put it in a pot it the water does not flow through and I’m concerned about lack of oxygen to the roots if I use this on the mix.


I have another option which is this same clay-like soil with mulched palm tree roots (pic below), which is much more free flowing when I put in a pot but I’m concerned that when the mulch breaks down it may not be so airy.



I have purchased 300 lbs of turface MVP to add to the soil mix so that it can maintain some porosity over the long term and was thinking of using this mix:
30% clay soil with mulched palm tree roots (las pic above)
30% turface mvp
30% composted manure
10% pro mix BX with a little bit of bio-char (learned from Roblack; thanks!!)

What do you guys think? Would this make a good long-term mix or are there better options?

FruitGrower

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Re: Please Help Me Plant my Mangosteen
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2020, 10:37:20 PM »
I just read the post and saw that the pics were loaded backwards to what I intended so please reverse the order of the pics.

FruitGrower

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Re: Please Help Me Plant my Mangosteen
« Reply #2 on: May 15, 2020, 02:53:23 AM »
It’s going in this weekend so any tips would be appreciated.

TropicalFruitHunters

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Re: Please Help Me Plant my Mangosteen
« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2020, 08:37:10 AM »
Needs acidic soil...low PH.

FruitGrower

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Re: Please Help Me Plant my Mangosteen
« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2020, 02:41:34 PM »
Thank you! Ill put some pine bark mulch in the mix.