What are my Garcinia leaves telling me?

[FruitGrower]

I recently got into growing Garcinia and I’m now seeing my first new sets of leaves on my Lucs and Purple Mangosteens. The Lucs has light green new leaves as opposed to the reddish tint I usually see. The larger Purple mangosteen has light yellow and green splotchy leaves while the smaller one planted a foot away in the same medium has a fresh new set of nice red leaves. They are under 50% shade cloth planted in a medium of composted manure, pine bark fines, perlite, and turface MVP and fed with a liquid fish emulsion (2-3-1) every two weeks and ferragro (minors) sprayed and drenched monthly. Can someone with more experience see what my leaves are telling me?
Thanks!

[Finca La Isla]

I can get these problems too sometimes.  I’m interested to see what others say as well.  I think that applying magnesium sulfate helps in my case but my medium and conditions are different from yours.
Peter

[FruitGrower]

Thanks Peter! The lady at Diamond R fertilizer actually recommend a granular mix of minors (See pic) that has magnesium sulfate but I was hesitant to apply it because the reputation of being a sensitive plant; maybe I can try a small amount. Have you noticed any sensitivity to fertilizers?

[Frog Valley Farm]

It is my opinion your potting soil of wood chips favors an oxidizing bacteria. It is my understanding that manganese has to be in a reduced form in order for the plant to uptake it, so a reducing bacteria is needed.  Your tree needs  a medium that favors the reducing bacteria for your potting medium.  Humus and or quality compost, clay along with the aforementioned finished carbon sources or something that holds more water like grass fed cow manure works using very small amounts.  I grow some Garcinia in pots they are all in pure finished compost which has worked well for us, I do have to add fresh compost toppings regularly.



1 of our 100 plus seed grown Luc’s, finally starting to grow.

[Finca La Isla]

Interesting, my medium has plenty of clay.
I’d try the fertilizer too.

[FruitGrower]

Thank you both for your input. I’m going to try a small amount of the granular minors and go from there.

[WilliamTheYoungGrower]

I have 4 purple mangosteens planted in my property close to a pond in my property for a couple months now. 2 of them are a about a foot and a half tall and are planted in light shade. The other 2 are about 5 ft tall in almost full sun. What ive seen from my expirience younger leaves are prone to develop some rust if exposed to too much sun. Also purple mangosteen is said to like moist clay soils thus why i planted them close to my pond which has that type of soil and just added some horse manure. Can someone with more expirience tell me what they think of my setup i would really appreciate it aswell if they think the 5fters will be ok in the full sun but with plenty moisture.
Thanks!

[Finca La Isla]

Mangosteen does well with some shade when small. The shade is removed after they reach about 6’, ideally at the beginning of the rainy season. I would mulch and apply microorganisms like EM. Another thing to apply is a foliar calcium/boron spray. If your ph is below 6 you might apply calcium carbonate and perhaps some rock phosphate.
That should get you going.
Where are you in Honduras?
Peter

[WilliamTheYoungGrower]

Mangosteen does well with some shade when small. The shade is removed after they reach about 6’, ideally at the beginning of the rainy season. I would mulch and apply microorganisms like EM. Another thing to apply is a foliar calcium/boron spray. If your ph is below 6 you might apply calcium carbonate and perhaps some rock phosphate.
That should get you going.
Where are you in Honduras?
Peter

Thanks

Thank you for the tips, theyll be very useful. I already planted the two 5 footers, do you think there would be a big difference for them lacking that foot of growth when exposed to the full sun? My place is in the town of Ojo de agua in the state of El Paraiso, its about an hour drive from nicaragua.

[Finca La Isla]

You are probably ok with the 5 footers, without shade.  We plant with glyrcydium, madre cacao to provide a shade that is easily removable.  That’s what I’d do with the smaller ones. 
Peter

[WilliamTheYoungGrower]

You are probably ok with the 5 footers, without shade.  We plant with glyrcydium, madre cacao to provide a shade that is easily removable.  That’s what I’d do with the smaller ones. 
Peter

Hey peter i’ve been looking for the foliar spray you mentioned for the mangoosteen. Here in Honduras we dont have so much variety of agro products, however i was shown a couple that look similar, hope you can help me out if these are what you said. Thanks!

[Finca La Isla]

This is the product I am referring to which is very similar to what I saw farmers using in Malaysia on durian and mangosteen.
Peter

[WilliamTheYoungGrower]

This is the product I am referring to which is very similar to what I saw farmers using in Malaysia on durian and mangosteen.
Peter

Thankyou peter! Your help means gold to me for real. Dont mean to bother but would thankyou tons if you could send pictures on the EMs and Rock sulfate you use. Finding products of quality here in Honduras is extremely hard and im even considering ordering them online.
William

[Finca La Isla]

Glad to help.
I just did a search on google for,   Microorganismos agrícolas en Honduras.  That turned up some places to look.
The other product I mentioned is rock phosphate,  roca fosfórica. This should be available at an ag store where they sell different fertilizers either by the kg or sack along with the cal-boro foliar spray/drench.
Suerte

[WilliamTheYoungGrower]

Glad to help.
I just did a search on google for,   Microorganismos agrícolas en Honduras.  That turned up some places to look.
The other product I mentioned is rock phosphate,  roca fosfórica. This should be available at an ag store where they sell different fertilizers either by the kg or sack along with the cal-boro foliar spray/drench.
Suerte

Thank you again peter! I’ll surely keep looking for those. Just one last question, one of my mangoosteen has suffered some sun damage i think because it has a brownish tint on some leaves, is the foliar spray the right way to go with this fellow aswell?
Saludos william

[Finca La Isla]

Establish some shade first before you spray.  Put some stakes with shade cloth temporarily if nothing else.  If the leaves are really burned and gets brown and dries out then cut that part away.

[WilliamTheYoungGrower]

Establish some shade first before you spray.  Put some stakes with shade cloth temporarily if nothing else.  If the leaves are really burned and gets brown and dries out then cut that part away.

Hey peter,

Ive gone to about 5 of the biggest agros around here and none carry the products you told me🙁 Im thinking of prdering online but there is one spray i found that may help the sun burned one and the rest of them , i’ll attach a Pic and maybe you can tell me what you think.
Thanks!,William

[Finca La Isla]

Hi William,
That’s probably a good idea.  I’d apply that as a foliar spray until it starts to drip off the leaves, then apply on the soil too.  You might throw some calcium carbonate under the trees too at the rate of .5kg per sq. Meter.
Suerte