An IMBE inquiry – cold tolerance?

[Epicatt2]

Imbe – Garcina livingstonei– and its cold tolerance was discussed on here recently.

I have several seedlings that I got early last year.  They were potted up right away together 3 seedlings ea. to a 5 gallon pot in a 1:1:1 mix of builders sand:milled sphagnum:leaf mold. Then they sat for nine months(!) and did absolutely nothing.  But now they've all started to grow and are about 10 inches tall. (Only two of them didn't make it, out of ten.)

They are reported to be good in zone 9b with the cold we usually get here but my question is: When would it be safe to plant them out in the yard?  Does 10 inches tall seem big enough for them to survive a frost or very light freeze if we were to get one this winter? Or do I need to wait 'til they're larger?

Hoping that someone who is growing this species will have some experiences –aside from the flavor– to offer up about when it would be safe to plant these seedlings out in the ground.  Will they take full sun, or will they want to be shaded until they get established?  They seem quite sturdy even at this small size.

TIA

Paul M.
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[elouicious]

mine is maybe a few inches tall and is looking like it survived a frost

[Epicatt2]

I have several Imbe seedlings that are about ten inches tall which made it through 41ºF last Monday, although one of them that was starting a pair of new, tender leaves lost those leaves to the cold.  Otherwise they all remained completely unscathed.

Glad to read that yours survived a frost, elouicious.... That's helpful news.

Cheers!

Paul M.
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