The Tropical Fruit Forum

Langsat has more cold tolerance than longkong,duku or duku langsat. Paete and Utteraditt varieties might be worth a shot in Florida.

In the hand is alva and DPI gold usually is greener at the top without the pink flush like that

It is interesting for its failures as much as anything else. When we put it through the fine mesh the paper dwells too much on speculative history for nought. It doesn't adequately explain the lack of true seeds or males in mangosteens or the variation that can be seen in one grove. The standard mangosteen, mesta and the big pointed Borneo ones that are almost seedless can grow together.  I thought the single species origin they contended was not well enough supported and the splitting into the 3 suggested variants they still called mangosteen was not well supported either. I thought the genetics was confusing the way they dished it up and it wasn't written in a coherent way leaving the reader with a wtf vibe. Maybe they are right with some of it.

A ripping read and it highlights the complexity of Garcinia. Let me tell you a little tale about a must have Garcinia quite unlike any other. I encountered a tree at Alan Carles place that I initially called G. macrophylla but a giant fruiter. Subsequent G.macrophylla from brazil that I sent a few seeds around has subsequently fruited and is different. It is much smaller with a single seed and has lower flesh yield and is altogether inferior to the glorious whopper I encountered.
Today I re-acquainted myself with that tree.It is a single apparently monoecious  tree. I posted pics around 4 years ago of a 12cm fruit showing 4 sections inside. It is yellowy pink when ripe and has a prominent beak.
Recently I googled de bico to see what this fang dangled new and glamorous Garcinia is all about. To my surprise it looks like a smaller and yellower version of what I was perhaps cavalier in calling a form of G. macrophylla. The sections inside look kinda the same and not the typical seed or seeds in the centre but in the segments. I don't know if anyone can find these pics in the old thread as I can't seem to get the pic stuff happening these days.

The ones you have can be hacked roughly and can form good hedges at 2m. They are tough and in your climate will need some extra water.

The lilly pillies mentioned are the common small cooler climate species but there are dozens of species which are more exciting than that lot. There are 20 or 30 species in my district. Some of the 50m rainforest giants are majestic. S. fibrosum has small but quite nice apple tasting fruits, S.papyraceum has bright coloured fruit, S.wilsoni is very small with lovely pink flowers and I could go on and on. Maybe the more glamorous ones like cormiflorum and suborbiculare would have been better abroad.

I have a very high success rate on lychees, rambutan, sapodilla, wax apple, guava, langsat, sour sop, canistel and others. In the last 2 weeks I have put over 200 marcots on my trees and expect most to work well from experience. Pity its hard to post pics these days.
Anyway I see a few red flags in the pics and descriptions. Ideal branch width is 1cm to 3 cm but micromarcots are easy. Ideal ringbark width is 1cm to 2cm not like in the pics below. Paint or brush with rootex or clonex 8g per l concentration. I prefer gel to powder. Have pre prepared ziplock (I use 15 x 9cm mostly) cut on one side then tape over ring back. Tape it up well. Aluminium foil does not change the success rate. Remove in 4 weeks to 6 months with 8 weeks being average. Make sure they are well rooted unlike the plant below in the pic. Trim then pot. EASY. The mix in the bag I use is 50 : vermiculite and coco coir but sphagnum is fine. Below does look too leafy with too many roots and should be settled in a pot until properly rooted.The ties shown are less secure and looser than using electrical tape. The width of bark removed below is way in excess of required. In many cases it works out better than grafting for tree vigour and speed to fruiting.

Sawadee, a gift wishing for wealth. Anyway these are all Garcinia hombriana (same as G.celebica) and are more common near the sea but can be inland. They are widespread from islands in Bay of Bengal through SE Asia to PNG. This species is variable with different forms. Popular opinion says it is one of the parents of mangosteen and unlike mangosteen produces true seeds.

Well the rain sure is here with about double the usual rain for the last 5 months since the wet season began early and another 150mm last night. Somewhere has to be drier to compensate.

Mafai are typically the thai ones but they come in a variety of forms and fruit colours. Some look a lot like rambai even but the purple seeds give their identity away. There are a few 50 footers on my street in a bit of regrowth by the road. They sure have heavy crops. Speaking of big trees santols get get very large indeed.

They self pollinate well here including gold ones. Birds and bats leave the flowers alone but ruin fruit. Flowers seems to have ants,thrips, tiny beetles and ants but are visited by small native bees. Soursop don't usually set fruit in their first flowering season. My mongrel morado has flowered for years without setting a fruit but other varieties I have are bountiful.

My 2 bisex ones are often humming with insects and can pollinate their own flowers. The female trees I am aware of can set fruit without any male flowers being present. Presumabley the sparse ring of anthers are actually pollen bearing or they are doing a 'mangosteen'.

They can take a bit of leaf trimming and are a bit smaller than coconut leaves