Any success growing Mangosteen or Lychee?

[Gonzo65]

I live in South Florida and am attempting to grow both Mangosteen and Lychee. Has anyone attempted and succeeded growing these in south florida, specifically Mangosteen?

[Alejandro45]

Hey Gonzo. Lychee you should have no problem. But Mangosteen would be a challenge, only person I know who fruited them is Bill Whittman. Our soil our water and dry winds are harsh on that plant.

[dwfl]

My mangosteen and button mangosteen trees seem to be about the same cold tolerance. Leaves start to wilt and burn results when or if temps go below 40 (f) or if they are directly exposed to nasty cold fronts below 50 (f).

I just noticed one of my button mangosteen trees started flowering. Male first to flower

[dwfl]

Lychee is easy

[Gonzo65]

Any tips for your mangosteen? And do you live in south florida?

[Jungle Yard]

My mangosteen and button mangosteen trees seem to be about the same cold tolerance. Leaves start to wilt and burn results when or if temps go below 40 (f) or if they are directly exposed to nasty cold fronts below 50 (f).

I just noticed one of my button mangosteen trees started flowering. Male first to flower

Hi Dwfl, have your mangosteen seen temps close to 32F? Or what were the lowest temps it went through?
Thanks

[fruitlovers]

My mangosteen and button mangosteen trees seem to be about the same cold tolerance. Leaves start to wilt and burn results when or if temps go below 40 (f) or if they are directly exposed to nasty cold fronts below 50 (f).

I just noticed one of my button mangosteen trees started flowering. Male first to flower

Congrats! Don't think button mangosteen has ever been fruited before?

[dwfl]

My mangosteen and button mangosteen trees seem to be about the same cold tolerance. Leaves start to wilt and burn results when or if temps go below 40 (f) or if they are directly exposed to nasty cold fronts below 50 (f).

I just noticed one of my button mangosteen trees started flowering. Male first to flower

Hi Dwfl, have your mangosteen seen temps close to 32F? Or what were the lowest temps it went through?
Thanks

No, not that low. I'm just south of you on Pine island in Bokeelia. I think they'd be dying back quickly if directly exposed to temps that low with no protection.

Button mangosteen seems easier to fruit here if only because they fruit at a smaller size than purple mangosteen. Although there is the added trouble of needing Male and female plants. I have a total of 7 and I'm just excited to finally find out the sex of one of them.

[dwfl]

My mangosteen and button mangosteen trees seem to be about the same cold tolerance. Leaves start to wilt and burn results when or if temps go below 40 (f) or if they are directly exposed to nasty cold fronts below 50 (f).

I just noticed one of my button mangosteen trees started flowering. Male first to flower

Congrats! Don't think button mangosteen has ever been fruited before?

Thanks Oscar. I'm not sure. Whitman may have. John Painter I think had some producing here before Hurricane Charley brought 150mph winds.

[dwfl]

Any tips for your mangosteen? And do you live in south florida?

Patience and shade during the young years and be prepared to protect it from every cold front that blows through.

[murahilin]

I live in South Florida and am attempting to grow both Mangosteen and Lychee. Has anyone attempted and succeeded growing these in south florida, specifically Mangosteen?

I don’t mind people asking simple questions, but I’d really appreciate it if new posters at least made an attempt to do some research before posting.

[Gonzo65]

I live in South Florida and am attempting to grow both Mangosteen and Lychee. Has anyone attempted and succeeded growing these in south florida, specifically Mangosteen?

I don’t mind people asking simple questions, but I’d really appreciate it if new posters at least made an attempt to do some research before posting.

I’ve done my research just seeing if anyone in my area has some more knowledge on these things.

[fruitlovers]

My mangosteen and button mangosteen trees seem to be about the same cold tolerance. Leaves start to wilt and burn results when or if temps go below 40 (f) or if they are directly exposed to nasty cold fronts below 50 (f).

I just noticed one of my button mangosteen trees started flowering. Male first to flower

Congrats! Don't think button mangosteen has ever been fruited before?

Thanks Oscar. I'm not sure. Whitman may have. John Painter I think had some producing here before Hurricane Charley brought 150mph winds.

I see now in Whitman's book that you are right, and that he fruited button mangosteen. He claims they can fruit at 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall. Here certainly that is not true. I think Florida conditions stress the plants into fruiting a lot smaller than they would ever do so here. They need to get about twice that height here to start fruiting.

[murahilin]

I live in South Florida and am attempting to grow both Mangosteen and Lychee. Has anyone attempted and succeeded growing these in south florida, specifically Mangosteen?

I don’t mind people asking simple questions, but I’d really appreciate it if new posters at least made an attempt to do some research before posting.

I’ve done my research just seeing if anyone in my area has some more knowledge on these things.

You asked if anyone has succeeded in growing lychee in Florida, and you are telling me you did research?

This forum has an excellent search feature that uses Google to search. Please use it in the future before posting.

[roblack]

Hi Gonzo.

You are going to have a tough time growing mangosteen in Hollywood. It will likely need protection, and does not like saltwater or alkaline conditions.

I have a tree that is about 4 feet now, still in a pot. Got some leaf burn recently after letting it dry out too much. Otherwise, it has tolerated the weather and winters well and looks good. Keeping it happy in ground is the next challenge. Dug a large hole through limestone, will line it and fill with sandy soil for the most part, and more organic matter at the top of the mound that will be built. 

There were a few protected trees at Fairchild that fruited several times. Beautiful sight. Dr. Campbell broke my heart the other day when he told me they all died due to neglect.

[SeaWalnut]

My friend that struggles to grow mangosteens from seeds for years ,told me yesterday that he finally got the secret.
He says they really like high alkaline soil.
After googling informations in english about the soil requirements i found only contradictory studyes,that it likes rich fertile soil but it grows in poore red clay ferrosoils or that it doesnt likes alkaline soil but otther studyes sugest to apply   gipsum and lime or else they get ,,translucent flesh disease,,.

[dwfl]

Female cherapu flowering here now. Probably 40-50 flowers on her. The female flowers smell like grape soda. Too bad the known male isnt flowering right now. Next time the male flowers I will attempt to store the pollen.

[cbss_daviefl]

Nice! I hope your male and female flower at the same time soon. How big are your trees? Are they in full sun? I have some in pots in shade 5-7 years old. I brought them inside twice this year and they were toally unaffected by the cold.

[Jabba The Hutt]

Female cherapu flowering here now. Probably 40-50 flowers on her. The female flowers smell like grape soda. Too bad the known male isnt flowering right now. Next time the male flowers I will attempt to store the pollen.

This is absolutely beautiful! Hopefully you'll get a chance at pollination and some fruit 

[dwfl]

Nice! I hope your male and female flower at the same time soon. How big are your trees? Are they in full sun? I have some in pots in shade 5-7 years old. I brought them inside twice this year and they were toally unaffected by the cold.

Thanks, I checked out the male this morning and realized it is now pushing male flowers. The female still has more flowering to do over the next couple weeks so we shall see if the timing is right.

The flowering sized trees are now in 25gals and 4-6ft tall from top of container. They're under the south side of a live oak so they mainly get some morning sun and they stayed there all winter. Too heavy to be bringing them inside unless a hurricane is coming. I'll plant them somewhere as protected as possible when they've grown into their 25gal containers and then its really sink or swim. They do get pretty battered if in full sun here. I know Peter in Costa Rica mentioned they seem better off in some shade as well. http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=30170.msg336815#msg336815