Author Topic: Seashore mangosteen in California?  (Read 1003 times)

SDPirate

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Seashore mangosteen in California?
« on: November 15, 2022, 04:04:14 PM »
Hey all,

I am trying to germinate a seashore mangosteen tree (Garcinia hombroniana).  I have only had the seed for about a week and no sign of germination yet, though I hear they can sometimes take 3 to 6 months.  Does anyone have experience with germinating these and if they will do well outdoors in Southern California?  I already have a potted Achacha that seems to be doing fine outdoors (though this thing seems to be super slow growing, maybe because winter time is almost here?).

Thanks

tru

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Re: Seashore mangosteen in California?
« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2022, 07:17:46 PM »
Don't give up on it! Mine popped around week 9
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Bush2Beach

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Re: Seashore mangosteen in California?
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2022, 12:20:14 PM »
You could be the first to fruit this sour warhead in CA. Might take 30 years…

pinkturtle

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Re: Seashore mangosteen in California?
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2022, 01:00:11 PM »
it could be a good rootstock for purple mangosteen.

Jaboticaba45

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Re: Seashore mangosteen in California?
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2022, 01:30:02 PM »
As with all garcinias outside their growing zones, they will be super slow. Extremely slow.
The fruit I do like, but not many people like sour fruits.
Anyways, they might be diecious. Should be able to grow it slowly but for fruit it's gonna be a more than a decade at least.

SDPirate

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Re: Seashore mangosteen in California?
« Reply #5 on: November 18, 2022, 03:07:44 PM »
I am okay with taking forever, its an experiment for me.  I am a big fan of sour fruit so if it is really tart that is fine with me.  I would not probably bother using as rootstock for purple mangosteen, though maybe I will try one day.  Was just curious if anyone had the seashore outdoors doing fine as I understand slightly more hardy and will theoretically be okay in zone 10.  My climate is typically low humidity though maybe more humid than other parts of Cali due to how close I am to the ocean but we do sometimes get summer heatwaves and the occasional cold snap in winter maybe down into the mid/high 30s. I was under the impression this species was monoceious vs dio but not much info out there.

pinkturtle

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Re: Seashore mangosteen in California?
« Reply #6 on: November 18, 2022, 03:37:05 PM »
I have two seedlings are doing OK under the tree shade for 2 years, and they grow super slow.

roblack

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Re: Seashore mangosteen in California?
« Reply #7 on: November 18, 2022, 04:26:09 PM »
Seashore is actually one of the faster growing garcinias. Ours has really taken off, and dwarfs all the other family members we grow. Seems pretty tough too.

Your main issue might be humidity. A greenhouse would be best.

If you start with a reasonably sized tree, who knows how long to fruiting. From seed, will take a long time, but could be a fun experiment. 

Eggo

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Re: Seashore mangosteen in California?
« Reply #8 on: November 18, 2022, 09:00:06 PM »
This was maybe 15 years ago with seashore mangosteen.  I obtain 2 plants about a foot tall. My plan then was to grow out a tree to a huge size, maybe it will take 10 years or 15 years, then attempt a purple mangosteen graft, lol yeah maybe I had too much free time then.  Then work and career got in the way, the plants ended up highly neglected and eventually died in outside pots after 4 years. Mostly from lack of water.  I think it has a potential to do better than most in our climate.  At the time I had experimented with other garcinias that took quite a bit of effort just to keep them alive regardless of size in winter.  Maybe you could try to source older plants from Florida.

brian

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Re: Seashore mangosteen in California?
« Reply #9 on: November 19, 2022, 02:00:29 AM »
these have been pretty low maintenance for me, outdoors in warm seasons, greenhoused in winter.   They are slow growing but steady and have not had any insect or nutrient issues.  I keep all my garcinia containers very close together with overlapping foliage so they shade each other and create a somewhat higher-humidity microclimate.