Mysterious Mulchi - Do you grow it?

[Rob From Sydney]

This week, I have 2 shipments of seeds coming in (Lucky me! I haven't had one for more than half a year!), including about ~2 dozen kinds of seeds, including the Mysterious Mulchi.

There isn't much information out there on the Mulchi, and very few have fruited it.
Plinia Inflata is a very intriguing specie, and because of this seeds out very fast. When Bellamytrees of Anderson Tropicals get them in, they sellout sometimes within days. Anderson Tropicals has 4 left in stock, and after checking my emails they got them in a few days short a month ago. This might be the first time ever Mulchi have stayed in stock for over a month.

Do you grow Mulchi?
If you do, then I'd like to make this thread about your growing experiences. I doesn't matter if your seedling is half a decade old or half a month old, you've still learnt something, and it is worth sharing.
Here are some questions going through my mind that would be nice to answer:
How fast do they grow?
What is the best way to germinate them?
What do and don't they like? Direct sun? Humidity when young etc..?
Are they hardy or sensitive?
Are they attacked by pests and/or diseases?
Are they moisture loving?
Do they love fertiliser?
Do they like to flower before holding fruit?
Do they grow bushy or upright?
And lastly... Can they tolerate the cold???

Any experiences would be helpful, so please share them!
Thank you for your help!

[Finca La Isla]

My mulchi came from Jim West. It is slow growing but maybe not the slowest growing tree I have planted but it’s probably the slowest to fruit if anything I’ve ever planted. It’s around 20 years old and still has not flowered and I’ve got pretty good conditions. Jim was here last year and he just smiled about that.
He has it in production finally after I don’t how long. The fruit itself has a good reputation but I’ve never had the chance. The very few people I’ve spoken with who have eaten the fruit got it from wild trees, not cultivated ones.
Better be patient.
Peter

[brian]

I always consider growing mulchi and then am dissuaded... I think because the really long time to fruit as Peter said. 

[Rob From Sydney]

My mulchi came from Jim West. It is slow growing but maybe not the slowest growing tree I have planted but it’s probably the slowest to fruit if anything I’ve ever planted. It’s around 20 years old and still has not flowered and I’ve got pretty good conditions. Jim was here last year and he just smiled about that.
He has it in production finally after I don’t how long. The fruit itself has a good reputation but I’ve never had the chance. The very few people I’ve spoken with who have eaten the fruit got it from wild trees, not cultivated ones.
Better be patient.
Peter

That's annoying. Are you growing the standard, the 'Shawi', or the Giant?
Regardless, I wish you luck fruiting it soon!

[booeyschewy]

Mulchi as a popular name includes various species. I’m growing three p. Inflatable ‘anihuayo’ as a test. I’m in a climate similar to the amazon though we have no dry season unlike them, and have less but more consistent rain. I planted them in nearly full sun, full shade, and half shade, all near other trees in an agroforestry type system. I used organic fertilizers. None of them have grown all that much. They’re happier in the shade but we also had a historic drought last year, heat this year, etc. the least happy one is full sun (different from many plinias). Word on the street is some 5 years to fruit but I don’t know personally anyone who’s grown any.

[Rob From Sydney]

Mulchi as a popular name includes various species. I’m growing three p. Inflatable ‘anihuayo’ as a test. I’m in a climate similar to the amazon though we have no dry season unlike them, and have less but more consistent rain. I planted them in nearly full sun, full shade, and half shade, all near other trees in an agroforestry type system. I used organic fertilizers. None of them have grown all that much. They’re happier in the shade but we also had a historic drought last year, heat this year, etc. the least happy one is full sun (different from many plinias). Word on the street is some 5 years to fruit but I don’t know personally anyone who’s grown any.

I have a little Anihuayo, and it really likes the shade. Mine has 2 sets of leaves, and is starting to flush for the first time this year!
I had a look at a photo of a plant on the BellamyTrees site, and it looks like it might just grow 2 sets at a time. https://www.bellamytrees.com/plants/p/plinia-clausa
I think I might get some more seedlings for better pollination and for some genetic diversity.
There is a good video of HapaJoe trying the Anihuayo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27AQf0gIfeQ
Btw, Anihuayo is actually Plinia Clausa not Plinia Inflata.
Thanks!

[Finca La Isla]

Im not really sure which mulchi it is. I started with that one, let’s say standard, and dwarf mulchi. The dwarf mulchi is easy to get to fruit and it’s a cute plant. The fruits are ok but not much to them.
I just got giant mulchi from Jim on his last visit. I hope to plant it out later this year.
Jim says all his stuff is in partial shade.
My mulchi gets direct sun but not all day.
Peter

[Fruit Jungle]

Plinia clausa seems to be the slowest growing out of P. edulis, P. inflata. I was debating moving my P. clausa into a sunnier location from its current partial shade, but I really think it's just slow growing. 2 years in the ground from a 3 gallon and It may have leafed out once. On the plus side, i've never seen cold damage to any of my yellow jobos.

[booeyschewy]

That’s interesting. My 3 haven’t budget much either in 1.5 years but I also barely fertilized them. You all have alkaline soils right? Might help or hurt as most plinias are adapted to acidic soils for better or worse. Being a forest species I wonder if it’s a similar dynamic where they grow slow but better in shade ala garcinias, hardwoods, theobromas etc. we have a wild collected jabuticaba do sertão which looks similar to Grimal and they only get to 2 meters or so after 20 years so very slow but also just stature. It grew maybe a few centimeters in 2 years.

[Finca La Isla]

My soil is 6.1 ph

[Julian R]

Plinia clausa seems to be the slowest growing out of P. edulis, P. inflata. I was debating moving my P. clausa into a sunnier location from its current partial shade, but I really think it's just slow growing. 2 years in the ground from a 3 gallon and It may have leafed out once. On the plus side, i've never seen cold damage to any of my yellow jobos.

Pretty much spot on with what I've noticed as well.  My P. Edulis seems to just be exploding with new growth constantly where the clausa has done like 1 branch since I've had it over the last year.  My in ground Edulis seems to grow at the same rate as my container plants. I might try grafting Clausa to Edulis to see if that can motivate it. Thinking of giving Inflata a whirl this year as well.

[NateTheGreat]

This week, I have 2 shipments of seeds coming in (Lucky me! I haven't had one for more than half a year!), including about ~2 dozen kinds of seeds, including the Mysterious Mulchi.

There isn't much information out there on the Mulchi, and very few have fruited it.
Plinia Inflata is a very intriguing specie, and because of this seeds out very fast. When Bellamytrees of Anderson Tropicals get them in, they sellout sometimes within days. Anderson Tropicals has 4 left in stock, and after checking my emails they got them in a few days short a month ago. This might be the first time ever Mulchi have stayed in stock for over a month.

Do you grow Mulchi?
If you do, then I'd like to make this thread about your growing experiences. I doesn't matter if your seedling is half a decade old or half a month old, you've still learnt something, and it is worth sharing.
Here are some questions going through my mind that would be nice to answer:
How fast do they grow?
What is the best way to germinate them?
What do and don't they like? Direct sun? Humidity when young etc..?
Are they hardy or sensitive?
Are they attacked by pests and/or diseases?
Are they moisture loving?
Do they love fertiliser?
Do they like to flower before holding fruit?
Do they grow bushy or upright?
And lastly... Can they tolerate the cold???

Any experiences would be helpful, so please share them!
Thank you for your help!

I have a few from different sources. I had a lot of seeds rot in the pots. One was sold as sp. Shawi iirc, several as inflata, and also discussed here the similar P. clausa/Anihuayo I have a few of. The Shawi is fairly quick growing, fairly tough, as long as it's happy. Mine hasn't been happy for a while, died back and semi-dormant. Some of the inflata seedlings turned brown, but are resprouting from the stems. Some healthier ones that didn't have issues, but I think that one sp. Shawi seedling was stronger than the inflata batch. Idk if they're really different. The clausa are slower, and took a long time to come up. I'd guess around six months.

My impression is the shawi/inflata decline with insufficient light, but don't want full sun either. Mine have seen down to high 20s, but no frost. Some people on Facebook have big healthy ones, but I don't think I've seen any fruiting. If there are, it's in Australia.