First fruits on my Luc's mangosteen

[Chandramohan]

Yesterday discovered two fruits on my Luc's mangosteen. I had planted this in the ground about 8 or 9 years ago, when it was about 4 ft tall.

[Stephiebby]

Congrats!!! That’s awesome! Beautiful fruits 😊

[SHV]

Awesome to see this fruiting all the way in the south India.  I was supposed to be in Kerala over the Christmas holiday, but things didn’t work out. I bet you can grow damn near anything there.

[brian]

Congratulations!    How large is the tree now?  Would love to see a picture of the whole thing

[12Zodiac]

Awesome. Was it a seedling or grafted?

[Chandramohan]

Awesome. Was it a seedling or grafted?

It is a seedling.

[Chandramohan]

Congratulations!    How large is the tree now?  Would love to see a picture of the whole thing

I will try to take a picture of the tree.

[Rob From Sydney]

Is 8 or 9 years the standard wait time for Luc's Garcinia?

[shpaz]

Is 8 or 9 years the standard wait time for Luc's Garcinia?

It seems like it yes.

[12Zodiac]

Is 8 or 9 years the standard wait time for Luc's Garcinia?

Poor little Luc. It was planted 6 months ago. Long road ahead.

[Rain]

8 years of waiting! let us know how it taste

[fishie]

Amazing job! Mine are on year two. Still a long way to go 

[Scacuts]

Beautiful fruits. Good luck with your continued cultivation!

[MarktLee]

Mine is grafted on imbe 6 years ago, it is 10 feet and still nothing.

[cbss_daviefl]

Female 1


Female 2


Female 1 with small fruits



OPs flower picture is male. That tree may be fully male which would explain lack of fruits.  Fully male trees do produce a few female flowers. Fully female trees will also result in 5 or less fruits per flowering.  I have one female that flowers lightly. This is a species that should be planted in 3s or more to increase early fruiting chances.

My trees flowered in 5 to 6 years but then I had to source and graft a male and grafted trees grow slowly. Grafting is not worth the effort unless you have very limited space and a long time horizon. Starting from a 7 gallon seedling, my grafted male took over 3 years to produce sufficient quantities of flowers. Luckily with hand pollination, a few male flowers can go far.

[FV Fruit Freak]

Is 8 or 9 years the standard wait time for Luc's Garcinia?

Poor little Luc. It was planted 6 months ago. Long road ahead.

Better stay on top of those naners or they’ll eat poor little Luc alive...

[Rob From Sydney]

Female 1


Female 2


Female 1 with small fruits



OPs flower picture is male. That tree may be fully male which would explain lack of fruits.  Fully male trees do produce a few female flowers. Fully female trees will also result in 5 or less fruits per flowering.  I have one female that flowers lightly. This is a species that should be planted in 3s or more to increase early fruiting chances.

My trees flowered in 5 to 6 years but then I had to source and graft a male and grafted trees grow slowly. Grafting is not worth the effort unless you have very limited space and a long time horizon. Starting from a 7 gallon seedling, my grafted male took over 3 years to produce sufficient quantities of flowers. Luckily with hand pollination, a few male flowers can go far.

Hang on - are Luc's Garcinia dioecious?

[cbss_daviefl]

Hang on - are Luc's Garcinia dioecious?

From my observations and what I read here, most slant heavily to male or female. There are hermaphrodite trees but I have 8 flowering trees and they are all single sided. I attempted hand pollination using male appearing flowers from my female trees to pollinate other trees to rule out self incompatibility and never produced fruit. The fruit I did get before grafting a male were small and seedless. I am aware of a number of other forum member's trees that are also distinct.  I have not seen a hermaphrodite tree first-hand and I wonder how many fruits such trees produce. Two of my female trees flower heavily and produce heavily with hand pollination from pollen sourced from male trees. One is a light flower-er and others are too small in containers to measure. Hopefully someone with a hermaphrodite tree will share how many fruits they get per flowering. Last year, with about a dozen male flowers to work with I was able to get around 150 fruits between two females.

[Rob From Sydney]

Hang on - are Luc's Garcinia dioecious?

From my observations and what I read here, most slant heavily to male or female. There are hermaphrodite trees but I have 8 flowering trees and they are all single sided. I attempted hand pollination using male appearing flowers from my female trees to pollinate other trees to rule out self incompatibility and never produced fruit. The fruit I did get before grafting a male were small and seedless. I am aware of a number of other forum member's trees that are also distinct.  I have not seen a hermaphrodite tree first-hand and I wonder how many fruits such trees produce. Two of my female trees flower heavily and produce heavily with hand pollination from pollen sourced from male trees. One is a light flower-er and others are too small in containers to measure. Hopefully someone with a hermaphrodite tree will share how many fruits they get per flowering. Last year, with about a dozen male flowers to work with I was able to get around 150 fruits between two females.

Thanks!
Good job with the hand pollination. How did you do it?
And also, do you have any idea what the odds of growing a bisexual tree from seed might be?

[cbss_daviefl]

Hang on - are Luc's Garcinia dioecious?

From my observations and what I read here, most slant heavily to male or female. There are hermaphrodite trees but I have 8 flowering trees and they are all single sided. I attempted hand pollination using male appearing flowers from my female trees to pollinate other trees to rule out self incompatibility and never produced fruit. The fruit I did get before grafting a male were small and seedless. I am aware of a number of other forum member's trees that are also distinct.  I have not seen a hermaphrodite tree first-hand and I wonder how many fruits such trees produce. Two of my female trees flower heavily and produce heavily with hand pollination from pollen sourced from male trees. One is a light flower-er and others are too small in containers to measure. Hopefully someone with a hermaphrodite tree will share how many fruits they get per flowering. Last year, with about a dozen male flowers to work with I was able to get around 150 fruits between two females.

Thanks!
Good job with the hand pollination. How did you do it?
And also, do you have any idea what the odds of growing a bisexual tree from seed might be?

I grab the freshest open male flowers I can find.  They require a bit of force to pull them off. Old flowers drop when touched or pull off easily. I hold one male in each hand by the stem. Look for open females with bright white stigmas. The stigmas are white on newly opened females and start to get brownish after a day or two. I touch the male's stamen to the female's stigma.  Change male flowers after around 15-20 touches.

I have no idea what the odds are of a hermaphrodite seedling. IMO, they are not good.  I am aware of 4 forum members that have stated they have hermaphrodite Luc trees and two stated they also had both male and female trees. Pollinators can travel miles and there may be cross contamination. I have at least four forum members within 3 miles of my house, two have flowering Luc trees that I know of.  Not enough people share what they have. I have read many declarations of hope that their garcinia tree will beat the odds. If the odds go against you, you will lose years. It is best to allocate multiple spots for any questionable garcinia. If that is not possible, maybe plant multiple seedlings, 3 or 4, close together in the space typically reserved for one tree.

[Chandramohan]

On fruit turned yellow, and I plucked it, not taking any chances with the Macaques. I waited for it to turn soft and then I cut it with a knife. The skin is so thin and tough, that one needs a very sharp knife! And surprise! It is one of the best fruits I have eaten!!! Tastes like a good, ripe Mango!

[Rob From Sydney]

Yum! Good on ya!
Your Luc's looks delicious, and I'm sure it would have been a very satisfying harvest.

[cbss_daviefl]

Congratulations!  I enjoy Luc's a lot.  Sounds like you ate the fruit at the perfect time. They do continue to ripen to be overly sweet and bland. They flower multiple times a year and fruit when there is not much else. I have a couple fruit almost ready but most are two months away.



Pics from two of my trees.

[Chandramohan]

I envy you ! You have lots of fruits on yr tree!

[FlyingFoxFruits]

try picking just a little early and eat the skin too