Central Florida Garcinias

[Miles]

Hey Fruit Family,

Does anyone have recommendations for Garcinias that would do well in the ground in Central Florida (north of Orlando) or even around Orlando? I currently have achachairu, lemon drop, and xanthochymus in my collection. I have had a fruit shared with me as the name bacupari, however the closest I can find to match my memory of that experience is an offering from Miami Fruit called "bacuripari", or Garcinia gardneriana.

Does anyone have some feedback on tasty, larger Garcinias that would do okay? I have heard a lot about Luc's as well. Does anyone have any sources for plants or seeds? I've heard reports of flowers in less than 5 years. Can be kind of tough with the back and forth nomenclature as well, if anyone could shine some light.

[Julian R]

I currently have lemon drop, achachairu, xanthochymus (gamboge), seashore mangosteen and imbe in the ground.  I will be putting in a Luc's at some point this year, just waiting for grafts to have a couple months on them after pushing out. They all seem to do about the same for me.  I did have a small bacupari get torched by the sun and heat because I too hastily put it in full sunlight.  They all seem to do about as well as each other to me, though Imbe might have an edge on all of them.  I am in eastern Brandon closer plant city so I imagine it's pretty similar to you.

[Miles]

How do grafted plants grow compared to seedlings? Is there any difference in vigor?
Do you have any feedback on estimated fruiting time from seed on plants like xanthochymus, Luc's, or bacupari?

[0hip]

grafted garcinias are horrible. if you graft a lateral branch they will do find but grafting the main leader they never get the hormones to take over as a vertical and will just be a branch facing upwards. they are good for rare species that you cant get a seedling of and for having small ones in pots that will fruit early but wont take the place of a tree in ground the same way an avocardo or mango would

[Julian R]

How do grafted plants grow compared to seedlings? Is there any difference in vigor?
Do you have any feedback on estimated fruiting time from seed on plants like xanthochymus, Luc's, or bacupari?

I haven't had any garcinia fruit for me just yet.  From what I've gathered it can take between 3-10 years depending on species from seed.

grafted garcinias are horrible. if you graft a lateral branch they will do find but grafting the main leader they never get the hormones to take over as a vertical and will just be a branch facing upwards. they are good for rare species that you cant get a seedling of and for having small ones in pots that will fruit early but wont take the place of a tree in ground the same way an avocardo or mango would

As I understand it's only an issue if you graft a horizontal branch but should be OK if you graft a vertical?

[Jaboticaba45]

So some garcinias graft better than others.
There are instances where grafted garcinias do really well and fruit etc.
Those mostly would be the new world garcinias.
Try to graft mangosteen and you won't be rewarded.
Grafting lucs or imbe or achacha, and it's better.

Luc's, brasiliensis (lemon drop), imbe, achacha, etc
should do pretty well.
Some can take a freeze that is light, while others can't
Achacha and madruno can't take a freeze (will get set back)
While others may be ok.

[nullzero]

Luc on lemon drop works well. Getting my first Luc fruit.

[TREESNMORE]

Achacha on Lemon Drop is very slow it will graft easy but will not do as well as putting achacha on achacha. Lemon Drop on lemon drop is good.

[Miles]

So some garcinias graft better than others.
There are instances where grafted garcinias do really well and fruit etc.
Those mostly would be the new world garcinias.
Try to graft mangosteen and you won't be rewarded.
Grafting lucs or imbe or achacha, and it's better.

Luc's, brasiliensis (lemon drop), imbe, achacha, etc
should do pretty well.
Some can take a freeze that is light, while others can't
Achacha and madruno can't take a freeze (will get set back)
While others may be ok.

So a grafted Luc's should be comparable to a seedling? I have some lemon drops in the ground that did fine with the one night of cold we got this year, but overall it was a very mild winter - which garcinias do okay with light freezes?

It seems that Imbe is popular, however it is a but of a turn off that they are dioecious. Is hermaphrodism common at all, or is multiple trees recommended? I've never tasted Imbe, so I am a little hesitant especially considering my previous question.

[Miles]

Luc on lemon drop works well. Getting my first Luc fruit.

How old is your Luc's? Did you get it as a grafted tree or did you get scions to graft on your own? Is there a best season for grafting garcinias?

[Miles]

Achacha on Lemon Drop is very slow it will graft easy but will not do as well as putting achacha on achacha. Lemon Drop on lemon drop is good.

So generally it is best to put the scions on the same variety of rootstock? What scions do well with Lemon drop rootstocks, so far just Lemon drop and Luc's?

[nullzero]

I grafted it onto a 4 to 6 year old lemon drop. The scion is from a producing Luc jumbo.

[Julian R]

So some garcinias graft better than others.
There are instances where grafted garcinias do really well and fruit etc.
Those mostly would be the new world garcinias.
Try to graft mangosteen and you won't be rewarded.
Grafting lucs or imbe or achacha, and it's better.

Luc's, brasiliensis (lemon drop), imbe, achacha, etc
should do pretty well.
Some can take a freeze that is light, while others can't
Achacha and madruno can't take a freeze (will get set back)
While others may be ok.

So a grafted Luc's should be comparable to a seedling? I have some lemon drops in the ground that did fine with the one night of cold we got this year, but overall it was a very mild winter - which garcinias do okay with light freezes?

It seems that Imbe is popular, however it is a but of a turn off that they are dioecious. Is hermaphrodism common at all, or is multiple trees recommended? I've never tasted Imbe, so I am a little hesitant especially considering my previous question.

I would expect dieback from any garcinia below freezing much like mangoes as we are really zone pushing in 9b. FlyingFoxFruits has an example of what it looks like even with frost protection in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGegziWfze8

I planted a cluster of 4 imbe pretty much within 4 ft of each other.  I don't know if that's a bad idea or not but from what I've seen of their growth habit it should be capable of taking up a fairly small space compared to other garcinia.

[Miles]

I grafted it onto a 4 to 6 year old lemon drop. The scion is from a producing Luc jumbo.

It looks so happy! Do you know of a source for Luc scions? Does Oscar from fruitlovers carry it, I have seen other garcinias listed on their wood list.