Author Topic: Mangosteen advice  (Read 1831 times)

Gone tropo

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Mangosteen advice
« on: August 03, 2020, 12:35:30 AM »
hi all

I have a couple of mangosteen trees that are apparently 3 years old, they are however fairly small (maybe 30cm) I have read some places say they can be planted out at this size but have also read one of the manuals on this site that says to wait until they are 1.2-2.5M tall before planting them out?? Im a bit confused. Im in the North qld australia and was hoping to plant them at the start of this wet season (december).  Any advice on this issue??

Thanks

dingaling

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Re: Mangosteen advice
« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2020, 06:41:41 PM »
Gday Mate,
 We get ours in the ground as soon as possible. Some 30 or 50% shade cloth is needed until they get head height. Plant them where they get protection from afternoon sun and the strong dry season winds. Get them in the ground early so the tap root has a chance to do what it wants to do and not curled around the bottom if a pot.

Gone tropo

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Re: Mangosteen advice
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2020, 07:13:45 PM »
Gday Mate,
 We get ours in the ground as soon as possible. Some 30 or 50% shade cloth is needed until they get head height. Plant them where they get protection from afternoon sun and the strong dry season winds. Get them in the ground early so the tap root has a chance to do what it wants to do and not curled around the bottom if a pot.

Hi thanks mate, this is my first go at this so only new. I will plant them in december at the start of the wet season do you think this would be a good idea?? Yeh i plant to put some shade cloth up. Unfortunately at my block the morning sun is blocked out from high rainforest along a creek but from 11am ish until arvo it cops the hard sun all day. The only place i can plant them is down near the creek where they will be shaded until 11 and then in the sun (i will shade cloth them to protect this though).  The only positive to this location is they will be protected from the SE trade wind as the rainforest along the creek is in front of them. Im hoping as they get bigger and i slowly adapt them to the sun they will be ok in that arvo sun in later years? 

Gone tropo

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Re: Mangosteen advice
« Reply #3 on: August 04, 2020, 07:38:30 PM »
Also another question if anybody could help with this one, i have dug out a pit 60cmx60cmx60cm for these mangsteens. I was thinking of filling them with tree mulch from local dump that would hopefully decompose over the next 3 months before i plant them and increase soil quality. Would this be a good idea?

SeaWalnut

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Re: Mangosteen advice
« Reply #4 on: August 05, 2020, 02:34:38 AM »
Wood mulch has a lot of carbon but has almost zero nitrogen.
In order to break down,the microorganisms will use all the nitrogen they can get and your plant will be starved of nitrogen.
After it draws nitrogen and becomes verry well composted,it will release all that nitrogen back.
3 months is too little ,depending on climate,what type of wood chips nd the amount of nitrogen in the soil.
If you want them to compost faster,simply add nitrogen over the wood chips.
Ureea or a powerfull source of N,not manure as that doesnt has enough nitrogen to compost itself and sometimes it takes years to decompose a dryed cow dung.

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Re: Mangosteen advice
« Reply #5 on: August 05, 2020, 06:31:52 PM »
Wood mulch has a lot of carbon but has almost zero nitrogen.
In order to break down,the microorganisms will use all the nitrogen they can get and your plant will be starved of nitrogen.
After it draws nitrogen and becomes verry well composted,it will release all that nitrogen back.
3 months is too little ,depending on climate,what type of wood chips nd the amount of nitrogen in the soil.
If you want them to compost faster,simply add nitrogen over the wood chips.
Ureea or a powerfull source of N,not manure as that doesnt has enough nitrogen to compost itself and sometimes it takes years to decompose a dryed cow dung.

Thanks mate that is very informative, trying to get my head around it all as im only new and dont fully understand how this all works.  What would you reccomend i fill the hole with for someone who is new and needs a more simple solution? Im not sure i would be confident in adding the nitrogen on top of the mulch or being able to tell whether i need to add more/less etc.  The mulch is not wood chips its more palm fronds etc that are shredded not sure if that makes much difference?

WilliamTheYoungGrower

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Re: Mangosteen advice
« Reply #6 on: August 05, 2020, 09:07:58 PM »
Wood mulch has a lot of carbon but has almost zero nitrogen.
In order to break down,the microorganisms will use all the nitrogen they can get and your plant will be starved of nitrogen.
After it draws nitrogen and becomes verry well composted,it will release all that nitrogen back.
3 months is too little ,depending on climate,what type of wood chips nd the amount of nitrogen in the soil.
If you want them to compost faster,simply add nitrogen over the wood chips.
Ureea or a powerfull source of N,not manure as that doesnt has enough nitrogen to compost itself and sometimes it takes years to decompose a dryed cow dung.

Could u explain how to use urea to compost woodchips please?
,William

SeaWalnut

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Re: Mangosteen advice
« Reply #7 on: August 06, 2020, 09:12:03 AM »
Wood mulch has a lot of carbon but has almost zero nitrogen.
In order to break down,the microorganisms will use all the nitrogen they can get and your plant will be starved of nitrogen.
After it draws nitrogen and becomes verry well composted,it will release all that nitrogen back.
3 months is too little ,depending on climate,what type of wood chips nd the amount of nitrogen in the soil.
If you want them to compost faster,simply add nitrogen over the wood chips.
Ureea or a powerfull source of N,not manure as that doesnt has enough nitrogen to compost itself and sometimes it takes years to decompose a dryed cow dung.

Thanks mate that is very informative, trying to get my head around it all as im only new and dont fully understand how this all works.  What would you reccomend i fill the hole with for someone who is new and needs a more simple solution? Im not sure i would be confident in adding the nitrogen on top of the mulch or being able to tell whether i need to add more/less etc.  The mulch is not wood chips its more palm fronds etc that are shredded not sure if that makes much difference?
I would use those palm leaves as a mulch ,mostly to keep the soil around the tree shaded and to conserve water.
For mulch you dont need it to compost fast .You want the mulch to compost as slow as possible to make shadow for longer time and keep the soil moist.
In a hole i would only add a bit of biochar ( charcoal with compost and soil mix).
The charcoal doesnt decompose and lasts for centuries .
The charcoal is not a fertiliser but it stays in the soil for long time and improoves aeration.
You will have to read more if they use charcoal as soil amendment for mangosteen.
From.what i know,mangosteen likes acidic soil and charcoal contains a little ash wich is alkaline ( has ph of 9).
If you have a verry acidic soil allready ,you could add a little charcoal.If not then you probably shouldnt use it.
Add regular fertiliser with nitrogen on top.You will see the mulch gets composted faster where you add nitrogen.

SeaWalnut

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Re: Mangosteen advice
« Reply #8 on: August 06, 2020, 09:14:51 AM »
Wood mulch has a lot of carbon but has almost zero nitrogen.
In order to break down,the microorganisms will use all the nitrogen they can get and your plant will be starved of nitrogen.
After it draws nitrogen and becomes verry well composted,it will release all that nitrogen back.
3 months is too little ,depending on climate,what type of wood chips nd the amount of nitrogen in the soil.
If you want them to compost faster,simply add nitrogen over the wood chips.
Ureea or a powerfull source of N,not manure as that doesnt has enough nitrogen to compost itself and sometimes it takes years to decompose a dryed cow dung.

Could u explain how to use urea to compost woodchips please?
,William
To compost wood chips and straw bales ,i just add urea ( ie urine) and it heats up,then i mix it with a fork from time to time.
You could use urea fertiliser pellets too,just mix them with water and wet the wood chips .

WilliamTheYoungGrower

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Re: Mangosteen advice
« Reply #9 on: August 06, 2020, 07:20:28 PM »
Wood mulch has a lot of carbon but has almost zero nitrogen.
In order to break down,the microorganisms will use all the nitrogen they can get and your plant will be starved of nitrogen.
After it draws nitrogen and becomes verry well composted,it will release all that nitrogen back.
3 months is too little ,depending on climate,what type of wood chips nd the amount of nitrogen in the soil.
If you want them to compost faster,simply add nitrogen over the wood chips.
Ureea or a powerfull source of N,not manure as that doesnt has enough nitrogen to compost itself and sometimes it takes years to decompose a dryed cow dung.


Could u explain how to use urea to compost woodchips please?
,William
To compost wood chips and straw bales ,i just add urea ( ie urine) and it heats up,then i mix it with a fork from time to time.
You could use urea fertiliser pellets too,just mix them with water and wet the wood chips .


Thanks walnut will definitely try it out. How long does it need to sit in the urea mix?
« Last Edit: August 06, 2020, 07:23:47 PM by WilliamTheYoungGrower »

WilliamTheYoungGrower

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Re: Mangosteen advice
« Reply #10 on: August 06, 2020, 07:22:35 PM »
New growth on my mangosteen! Those small leaves took over a month to pop out.
,William






Mike T

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Re: Mangosteen advice
« Reply #11 on: August 22, 2020, 06:04:52 PM »
You don't need to wait until the wet season to plant them if they have water and shade. Mulching helps and 30cm to 40cm is a good size to plant but don't let them get too big in the pot. They enjoy blood and bone or dynamic lifter. It will take 7 to 10 years to fruit after planting. 95% at least of all NQ trees are the same slow maturing type and the faster bearing lines are rare and hard to find.

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Re: Mangosteen advice
« Reply #12 on: August 23, 2020, 06:01:31 AM »
You don't need to wait until the wet season to plant them if they have water and shade. Mulching helps and 30cm to 40cm is a good size to plant but don't let them get too big in the pot. They enjoy blood and bone or dynamic lifter. It will take 7 to 10 years to fruit after planting. 95% at least of all NQ trees are the same slow maturing type and the faster bearing lines are rare and hard to find.

Thanks mike great advice, I don’t currently have irrigation hooked up to my block yet we are about to start building will wait until I can provide them with water thanks.

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Re: Mangosteen advice
« Reply #13 on: August 23, 2020, 08:35:45 AM »
You could leave them in pots until they are a bit bigger or you could plant them in the ground but  you'll need to baby them through the
wet season for the first year .I have 150   3 year old seedlings in pots that are between 20 and 50 cm tall and their growth is relative to
the care they've received .You can come and check them out some time if you like

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Re: Mangosteen advice
« Reply #14 on: August 23, 2020, 07:04:14 PM »
You could leave them in pots until they are a bit bigger or you could plant them in the ground but  you'll need to baby them through the
wet season for the first year .I have 150   3 year old seedlings in pots that are between 20 and 50 cm tall and their growth is relative to
the care they've received .You can come and check them out some time if you like

What do you mean you need to baby them through the wet season? i plan to put 4 star pickets around them with 50% shade cloth covering them? Unfortunately they will be near a creek in a flood zone, so if we get huge rain they will probably go underwater for short period.