Marang Climate? Ecuador

[Jamesdeangelo]

I'm trying to grow marang at 850-900m in southeast Ecuador, pretty much right on the equator, has anyone had success with fruiting marang at this elevation? it's quite warm never frost as it is on the equator, it rains a lot also

[fruitlovers]

Jim West's place in Ecuador is at 500-700 meter elevation and he grows marang there. You are a litlle bit higher, but having been at Jim's place where it was plenty tropical, i would say that marang would do well also at your elevation.

[Jamesdeangelo]

yeah, it fruited at around 800m, getting close to 900m i'm confident it will fruit also, although I'm really looking to maximize production and only grow the fruits that will thrive

[Finca La Isla]

You値l just have to see.  In many cases when you grow lowland trees at higher elevations 800 meters is about where some start to not really thrive, but still produce.  Being so near the equator is an advantage.  I値l be interested to hear how this goes.  Pejibaye, mangosteen, durian, cacao, are among many species that really want a lowland environment but get  pushed tp perform at a higher altitude.
Suerte, Peter

[Jamesdeangelo]

yes, I suppose I will just have to try, I"m surprised that so few people have tried by now in this region or similar region. Pejibaye fruits abundantly here though, maybe that means the other fruits you mentioned also will

[fruitlovers]

You値l just have to see.  In many cases when you grow lowland trees at higher elevations 800 meters is about where some start to not really thrive, but still produce.  Being so near the equator is an advantage. I値l be interested to hear how this goes.  Pejibaye, mangosteen, durian, cacao, are among many species that really want a lowland environment but get  pushed tp perform at a higher altitude.
Suerte, Peter

Yes i think you are at 9N. latitude in CR? Being at 0 latitude is going to push the altitude up quite a lot from what is possible at 9N. There should be some kind of formula for this, but i don't know of any?

[Finca La Isla]

Yeah Oscar, it could be the difference between your location and mine, again.

[fruitlovers]

Yeah Oscar, it could be the difference between your location and mine, again.

Right. Tropics is a very large area: 0 to 23 north and south of equator. People living outside of the tropics tend to assume tropics is all the same climate, but that's very far from true, especially when you include also differences due to elevation.

[DurianLover]

I have seen big  marang tree in Borneo right on top of mountain pass at 1250 meters. I had trekker's watch with altimeter, so elevation is accurate. The place is about 5 degree N. Who knows maybe it's just growing, not fruiting that high. But you are lower and at equator, so chances are so much better. Also there are fruiting durians in Uganda, right on equator at 1200 meters. They are a bit more sensitive than marang. So, overall I'd say you have solid 99% chance for successful fruiting

[Jamesdeangelo]

I have seen big  marang tree in Borneo right on top of mountain pass at 1250 meters. I had trekker's watch with altimeter, so elevation is accurate. The place is about 5 degree N. Who knows maybe it's just growing, not fruiting that high. But you are lower and at equator, so chances are so much better. Also there are fruiting durians in Uganda, right on equator at 1200 meters. They are a bit more sensitive than marang. So, overall I'd say you have solid 99% chance for successful fruiting

Interesting observations, the one concern with durian though is a lack of a distinct dry season, there is a dry season, but it's scattered rains here and there, not completely dry for several months like some places

[Finca La Isla]

When you have a very distinct dry season then durian will only fruit once per year.  On the contrary, where you have better distribution of rainfall the possibility exists for two fruiting seasons per year.  You need a dry period of less than a month to induce flowering in durian and a long list of other fruits.  Malaysia has examples of this in certain areas of both the peninsula and Borneo.
There痴 a part of Costa Rica, where I知 located, that can work like that as well.
Peter

[fruitlovers]

I have seen big  marang tree in Borneo right on top of mountain pass at 1250 meters. I had trekker's watch with altimeter, so elevation is accurate. The place is about 5 degree N. Who knows maybe it's just growing, not fruiting that high. But you are lower and at equator, so chances are so much better. Also there are fruiting durians in Uganda, right on equator at 1200 meters. They are a bit more sensitive than marang. So, overall I'd say you have solid 99% chance for successful fruiting

Interesting observations, the one concern with durian though is a lack of a distinct dry season, there is a dry season, but it's scattered rains here and there, not completely dry for several months like some places

Durian only needs 1-2 weeks with no rains to induce flowering. Otherwise we would never get durian fruits here, but we do.

[Jamesdeangelo]

Wow, from everything I read online iv'e always herd durian likes elevation below 800m and several months dry, but the information here is blowing my mind, maybe my climate is perfect, I'm still not sure if I wan't to invest a lot of time, money, and resources into growing a lot of durian though, just because I don't have any sure examples of it fruiting here yet, but I have more motivation now that I hear what other people have seen

[fruitlovers]

Wow, from everything I read online iv'e always herd durian likes elevation below 800m and several months dry, but the information here is blowing my mind, maybe my climate is perfect, I'm still not sure if I wan't to invest a lot of time, money, and resources into growing a lot of durian though, just because I don't have any sure examples of it fruiting here yet, but I have more motivation now that I hear what other people have seen

There are some species of durio that will fruit at very high elevation, like Durio kinabaluensis. But probably regular durian will fruit fine at your location also.

[Finca La Isla]

In Costa Rica durian fruits fine in the 600-800m range.  Considering how much closer you are to the equator you should be fine for that and others like mangosteen, lansium, pulusan, and a long list of truly tropical lowland fruits and spices.
Jim West's farm is a  mid level fruit farm in Ecuador that successfully grows more species than anyone I know.

[Rob P]

Marang has been seen growing to an altitude of 1600M in parts of its natural distribution very close to the equator. This species is not just restricted to the lowlands, but grows over a large altitude range as does A.elasticus and A. lancifolius. Also Durio graveolens is found at much higher altitudes than D.zibethinus, so would be worth a try as well.

[Jamesdeangelo]

In Costa Rica durian fruits fine in the 600-800m range.  Considering how much closer you are to the equator you should be fine for that and others like mangosteen, lansium, pulusan, and a long list of truly tropical lowland fruits and spices.
Jim West's farm is a  mid level fruit farm in Ecuador that successfully grows more species than anyone I know.

Yes perhaps all these fruits will do just fine here, I guess my only other concern would be that it reaches 59F' 15C', maybe 7-14 days out of the year, which I know durian is sensitive to for fruiting

[Finca La Isla]

Here it can go to 19c and I知 sure that in CR where durian produces at the 600-800m range it must go to 14-15c too. We get what痴 left over from cold fronts coming down the US East coast from November to March or so. I would plant that stuff without any hesitation!

[fruitlovers]

In Costa Rica durian fruits fine in the 600-800m range.  Considering how much closer you are to the equator you should be fine for that and others like mangosteen, lansium, pulusan, and a long list of truly tropical lowland fruits and spices.
Jim West's farm is a  mid level fruit farm in Ecuador that successfully grows more species than anyone I know.

Yes perhaps all these fruits will do just fine here, I guess my only other concern would be that it reaches 59F' 15C', maybe 7-14 days out of the year, which I know durian is sensitive to for fruiting

Durian does not have any problem with those temperatures, especially for such a short time. We get into low 60's for about a month, and they are fine.

[Finca La Isla]

I think it痴 good to seek information, for sure, every planting project is an experiment.  But I would be very optimistic about all this in Ecuador at this location.  On this forum I see questions about lots of projects that seem very impractical to me. But this seems good, I hope you are very encouraged to commit to planting the trees we have been talking about and continue to share your thought, progress and results.
Peter

[Future]

This does sound promising for the subtropics, if one can get fresh seed. What about wind tolerance?  I recall from yearofthedurian blog roots tend to be disproportionally weak for tree size.

[Finca La Isla]

I think that durian roots are strong as long as they have good drainage.  Penang has thousands of durians on very steep hills that are generations old and seem to hang in there producing some of the worlds best durians.  Another advantage of having durians on hilly terrain is that you can stay out of the impact zone while collecting falling fruit!