The Tropical Fruit Forum
Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: FV Fruit Freak on July 18, 2021, 01:47:58 PM
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Has anyone in So Cal had any luck growing Garcinia Brasiliensis (superior lemon drop)?
The seedlings I purchased a few years ago continue to struggle and not grow. They’ve only put on a few inches of new growth, and this winter almost completely defoliated.
Bout to purchase a one way ticket to the compost bin for them soon...
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Hi Nate,
I’m still trying to figure out what they need, as well, but here are some of my observations.
I don’t think they like wet, saturated soil during our winters. They seem to be able to take the cold okay, but cold and wet causes defoliation.
They do better in the shade with humidity.
Let the soil dry out between watering. If potting mix is mostly peat and ground bark, it becomes hydrophobic after drying out so I add course sand and vermiculite to absorb water, and extra perlite and pumice for oxygen flow.
Not sure if it’s due to our alkaline water causing nutrient lock up, but they are doing better with added gypsum, magnesium, sulfur, iron, and other micronutrients. Gypsum seems the most beneficial.
Hope someone is having success to offer more insight.
Janet
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Might be the low humidity as well.
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THANK YOU Janet! Those seem like awesome suggestions, I think your observations are spot on. I’ll definitely be trying those tactics starting tomorrow. I’ll try to take before and after pics. Out of all the Garcinia’s I’m growing this seems to be one of the more difficult ones.
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Pretty sure they take floods at the FlyingFoxFruit farm and the winters are cold. Maybe they like more humidity?
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Don't give up! I've seen several garcinias here in OC be fruiting/near fruiting.. for the lemondrop varieties I would say biggest I've seen is 4ft MAYBE more but a very thick trunk. They take.. ridiculously long, like.. I just got a message from someone who told me a dulcis (mundu) fruit finally ripened and it'll be the first time hes managed to get the fruit - took 20 years.
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I saw Adam kept some plants flooded, don’t remember which ones, but he gets a lot more rain than me and also uses well water. We got around 5 inches of rain this year, and our water’s alkaline from the Colorado river. Our irrigation goes through a whole house filter but that doesn’t take away the hardness. I’ve found the quality of the water makes a big difference. I save rain water for my Jaboticabas and other more sensitive plants. Our winters are longer than his as well and I keep my plants outside. I live by the coast so my garden has high humidity most of the year, so I don’t think that’s it.
I bought a large grafted plant from Adam last year that I lost. I had kept it in his soil mix. Maybe it needs warmer temps than I get, or both, warmer temps and regular rain.
Gypsum and iron do make a difference, just have to be careful not to create other mineral imbalances. I use EDDHA iron chelate for alkaline soils and olivine rock dust.
Janet
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In a warmer and more humid climate brasiliensis fruits very quickly and can be fruiting under 2 ft high. They grow quite big all the same. G.dulcis can fruit in 4 years and grow to be a substantial tree that is often easy to climb because the laterals are like ladder steps. G. brasiliensis, intermedia and gardneriana are very similar and it is like a continuum between them in fruit form and all are variable.These 3 should be more cold and low humidity tolerant than most.
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Growing brasiliensis in a hoop house next to a fountain, it's put on about 6 inches in a year and a half. It's a little too mild here in the central coast to grow them unprotected, but the hoop house and fountain help it a bunch. I also have intermedia and achacha. The achacha is the fastest growing followed by the brasiliensis then the intermedia which has been painfully slow.
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I am in Thousand Oaks. Moving things around one day, I put my garcinias near the big eucalyptus trees I have on the southwest corner of my property. They grew at a pace that would infuriate Job. I forgot they were still there and a week later I noticed that out of the end of almost every branch I had little shoots of new leaves. I have since left them there, water it fairly light but almost daily to try and keep it moist and they seem to be much much happier now. Our humidity level rarely breaks 50% and and soar well north of 100 in the height of the summer. The G. humilis actually has noticeable growth since I moved it there and all the leaves are full length now, too. The old leaves felt very thick and rigid. All the new growth has very soft flexible leaves.
I purchased a couple plugs from FlyingFoxFruits, e. calycina, and the sun toasted them even though it was not in full sun all day. I moved those under a huge oak tree and they get almost no direct sunlight and the dried out stick of a plant that was now has about a dozen or so leaves sprouting on each.
Seems like our dry climate makes it very challenging for some plants.
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Thanks for sharing your experiences everyone.
I think humidity is one of the most important things it needs that we lack in most parts of so cal. The leaves are always brittle, unlike my other Garcinia’s like Luc’s, Dulce, false mangosteen, and others.
@SoCalBalcony - I’ll never give up on Garcinia's that will grow decent/well here but I don’t have time to baby these things along forever and ever, takes long enough for Garcinia’s to flower here when they’re super healthy. I got my false mangosteen seeds from some fallen fruit off the large tree they have at the Fullerton arboretum, so I know SOME species of Garcinia trees can get large here (if you actually live long enough to see them do so) ;)
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try feeding it a lil more maybe and keeping a dish underneath it
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try feeding it a lil more maybe and keeping a dish underneath it
What do you recommend to feed it?
I am guilty of no saucers under my containers, on my to do list.
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Thanks for sharing your experiences everyone.
I think humidity is one of the most important things it needs that we lack in most parts of so cal. The leaves are always brittle, unlike my other Garcinia’s like Luc’s, Dulce, false mangosteen, and others.
@SoCalBalcony - I’ll never give up on Garcinia's that will grow decent/well here but I don’t have time to baby these things along forever and ever, takes long enough for Garcinia’s to flower here when they’re super healthy. I got my false mangosteen seeds from some fallen fruit off the large tree they have at the Fullerton arboretum, so I know SOME species of Garcinia trees can get large here (if you actually live long enough to see them do so) ;)
I get nowhere near your consistent heat, I know - but how do you treat your Luc's? I tend to keep my 2g in southern - but dappled exposure. Right now it sits at the base of my fence, behind the foliage of a potted 5 Gal. Macadamia. I tend to soak it once a week but never keep it soggy. Hasn't moved a millimeter, seems like. But it hasn't declined one bit either. Spent Winter/Spring 2021 out in the Central Coast elements, too.
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I have one in a 5 gallon that is about 2 years old, maybe has 6 leaves. It grows dummy slow, that's for sure.
It is basically 100% shaded but gets lots of ambient light as it's in a greenhouse with white cloth on it, doesn't seem to need much light.
I keep it pretty wet, seems to like it. I feed it Holly Tone.
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try feeding it a lil more maybe and keeping a dish underneath it
Thanks mang! Nice chickens
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Thanks for sharing your experiences everyone.
I think humidity is one of the most important things it needs that we lack in most parts of so cal. The leaves are always brittle, unlike my other Garcinia’s like Luc’s, Dulce, false mangosteen, and others.
@SoCalBalcony - I’ll never give up on Garcinia's that will grow decent/well here but I don’t have time to baby these things along forever and ever, takes long enough for Garcinia’s to flower here when they’re super healthy. I got my false mangosteen seeds from some fallen fruit off the large tree they have at the Fullerton arboretum, so I know SOME species of Garcinia trees can get large here (if you actually live long enough to see them do so) ;)
I get nowhere near your consistent heat, I know - but how do you treat your Luc's? I tend to keep my 2g in southern - but dappled exposure. Right now it sits at the base of my fence, behind the foliage of a potted 5 Gal. Macadamia. I tend to soak it once a week but never keep it soggy. Hasn't moved a millimeter, seems like. But it hasn't declined one bit either. Spent Winter/Spring 2021 out in the Central Coast elements, too.
Wasssss up Pedro I got two in the ground, and 3 in pots that I’m bout to plant in the ground. They are against a north facing wall, sandwiched between two avo trees, they get no direct light in winter. They’ve been in the ground a couple years and have grown about two leaves per year, ever watch paint dry...but they are super healthy and it looks like they may branch out this year for the first time, so maybe I’ll try some fruit when I’m old and gray...I fertilize em with Holly Tone, or whatever else I have lying around. Also my “jumbo lucs” seems to be the fastest growing, it’ll always grow new leaves before the ones in the ground, and the fuyu that’s in the pot. Def seems to be some differences in growing speed between the different variety’s. Peace