That is another Holy Grail, also a difficult one, Pitcairnia tabuliformis. For one who would be interest in growing this dilicate plant, I was suggested from Timm Stolten, the bromeliad curator of Heidelberg BTG that... "...I have to tell you guys a story about my plants...... When I started working with the bromeliads in Heidelberg, at least 10 years ago, somebody sent me a little seedpod of Pitcairnia tabuliformis. I did not know that species at that time so I treated it like all other seeds. And they germinated like hell. After 1 year I had over 200 seedling !! I ran out of space in my greenhouse and so I tried to get rid of them, thinking "if they grow like weed, it cannot be something special". In the end I kept around 15-20 plants. How stupid I was ! Later on they became less and less every year. Today there are only 4 left. Cultivation: Due to the fact that there was no person to ask about the cultivation I had to experiment with them. What I can tell you so far is, that this species is very delicate and needs a lot of attention, especially in a european winter. It prefers a rather cool environment, 15°C to 20°C I guess, so YOU probably need to cool it down in Thailand. It must be potted and likes a lot of water, but good drainage too. Rauh notes in his book that it has a dormate period in the winter time, which I cannot confirm so far, but maybe he ment it because of the darkness here in Germany in winter. Keep it shady and keep looking in the center and to the base every other day. Constant moisture in the soil combined with low temperatures and light can make it rott very fast. And snails love the leafs Propagation: As I said, seeds are the easiest way, but they are hard to get. My plant seem to be steril, I pollinated them several times but never got seeds. If you are lucky enough to get it into bloom, and the first pups do appear: WAIT............WAIT..............WAIT before you cut them off !! I usually loose 2/3 of them when I tried root them too early. Keep them together as long as you can and as long the motherplant is still alive. ..." And also I received a great note from Lieselotte Hromadnik (her name has been named for my favorite plant, Deuterocohnia lotteae) "...We found Pitcairnia tabulaeformis growing near Pichucalcho, Chiapas, in 250m! The plants were growing between large rocks and water was flowing down(raining period). So I would say keep them warm and not too dry...."

Bee said, "I'm a little confused by this statement...'great way to accumulate a collection as you now know you can save open pollinated seed varieties for future seasons - hybrids have no guarantee of viability after the date on the package.' So I guess open pollinated seed are viable for up to 5 years? But hybrids may not be? Sorry so confused. :/ But I'd really like to know for sure if I'm understanding that right." My response: Hybrid seeds are strains manipulated by humans and as such are inherently weak. Open pollinated varieties are created by nature and are only tinkered with by humans, so are inherently strong. Anyone can purchase a pack of OP seeds and keep them for the future. There is no reason they should not grow 3-5 years later if they were originally harvested properly and if they have been stored properly. So if a person comes across a seed rack on clearance after the planting season, one can possibly get a whole bunch of OP seeds for next to nothing, and save the seeds for next season or whatever. Never pass up a good opportunity. I do this all the time to augment my seed bank inventory. I never purchase clearanced hybrid seeds but for now I do not see why a person could not do that if she/he wanted to (but IMO use them the very next season). Hybrid seeds generally do not keep as long as seeds from open pollinated varieties. The mega seed corporations are also working very hard to introduce a "clock" gene that will make the seed die after a period of time, thus making gardeners have no choice but to purchase the seed every year (from them). This is their holy grail. I will never fall into the trap of buying their seeds if their frankensteinian experiments are successful, and then end up having to depend on these evil companies for my seed. I do not trust any variety of hybrid seeds beyond three years, but they may stay viable longer - a risk I am not willing to take. These issues are why I limit use of hybrid seeds, and have a family seed bank of OP varieties. I save enough seed to feed my extended family and friends if need be - generally I maintain a 3 year supply - enough seed for gardens to feed 12 families of 4 people for three years. Many open pollinated varieties will stay viable longer than five years, some even ten years. But it is not how long they stay viable, it is how many will stay viable. I stick with five years because I do not want to plant a row of something expecting a crop and have only 3-5 plants come up. A relevant story: I found some misplaced seed from a OP tomato variety that I had not planted for 16 years. I could not find seed for that variety anywhere at that time. I had 14 seeds, planted them and ONE came up. I planted it, saved the seed, and now I have 100's of that seed in my inventory. Try that with a hybrid variety and I will bet you a lotto ticket that not one seed will germinate. My point is it is a wise strategy to expect seed to last only 3-5 years (depending on type), and you will not be disappointed. In a crunch you still have an opportunity beyond those 3-5 years to still try to grow out a variety and be successful, but do not rely on it. -Tom

Here is a link to a Mangosteen 'manual' with details on everything you could want to know on Mangosteen. I just received some seeds a week ago, I followed instructions, and soaked seeds for over 12 hours, noticed that 4 of the 5 seeds already had a root sticking out each side of the seed already. I found that odd, 2 roots on opposite sides of the seeds ( tips ). From what I have read on Mangosteen seeds, they loose viability very quickly ( 3-5 days) unless kept moist. The seeds I ordered came from an Ebay'er from Malaysia, the seeds came packed in sealed plastic bags, with moist peat. According to seller, if packaged this way they can remain viable for about 50 days, which is a good thing, as they took over 2 weeks to arrive. Here is a link that might be useful: Mangosteen Manual

The marang seeds I have from Puerto Rico have almost all sprouted, there were a few puny seeds that did not. I started them, like almost all my seeds, in a moist (not wet) paper towel inside a zip top bag. Once the seeds cracked open and started send out their roots, I planted them in potting soil. I started them in 16oz plastic cups filled with OSH potting soil (shredded bark, perlite, sand, peat w/ph 5.5-6), perlite and Soil Moist w/mycorrhizae. Once the first real leaf emerged I moved them up to 32oz cups, the tap root had already reached the bottom of the 16oz. Most of them seem to be doing good, a few died but most are healthy and are on their 3rd or 4th real leaves. They have not seen temps below 60F and receive filtered sun/shade. They will overwinter in a S. facing window inside a humidity chamber in the house (w/ pulasan, rambutan, mangosteen, etc.). Considering Whitman has them in a pavilion, I dont have a lot of hope fruiting them in the CA desert. Pedalai was a holy grail for me, I found a source this past winter for seeds and ordered multiples, killed them all. In PR we saw a HUGE pedalai tree, unfortunately, no fruit. I've satiated my urge to kill pedalai seeds for now and seeing how monstrous the tree gets settled me down too. I'll stick to kwai muk, jak, breadfruit, breadnut, chempedak and marang, that is enough artocarpus for now, well.....maybe lakoocha. -Ethan