Murahilin and I got a hold of some really nice mangosteen budwood and tried grafting onto my established Imbe (G. livingstonei) and my Garcinia intermedia. None of my grafts ever showed any progress. Some of Murahilin's seemed to take and begin pushing. However, it was summer and the heat was brutal. All of the grafts eventually died.

Harry

I have been thinking about this some time, and have read about the problems people have had with Mangosteen grafts.

I think its possible that one of the problems is that these grafts are done on rootstock that are usually potted.

Garcinias tend to grow a single tap root first with little else.

this is just speculation, but it would make sense that if one grafts onto seedlings that were grown from the start in the ground, it should give better results.

over and over again I see articles explaining on how poor the root system is on young mangosteen trees. and from my limited experience ( my 2 year old pulling one out of its pot ) tends to support that info. the "root" look just like a twig.

Some of the other Garcinia's have much better root systems than Mangosteen. My Mexican, Madrono, and Achachairu actually have pretty decent root systems.

I wonder if maybe planting a different variety next to the mangosteen and letting them both get a trunk of a decent girth before trying to approach graft them may work better?

Thanks for all the replies everyone! I don't have a lot of material but I really want to grow a mangosteen to fruiting size. I only have one Mangosteen that is about 12 inches tall growing in a pot outside. It endured several nights of 40-42F temps and got some browning of most its leaves but it still looks ok. I got my mangosteen from either Frankies or Montoso Gardens, I forgot which.

Mangosteen seedlings are supposed to be genetic clones of the adult trees so assuming that the seeds came from the same tree, it makes sense that mangosteen inarched onto itself gives the best results.

While up-potting my mangosteen, I noticed that the tap root was very thick and I did not notice any lateral branching of the root. The root appeared to be as long as my plant was tall. The tap root actually looks a lot like the Phalenopsis Orchids aerial roots. It is well known that mangosteen seedlings grow very slowly the first several years of its life and I wonder if this is because it spends most of its energy on developeing a long and strong tap root as a survival strategy and only begins good vegetative growth after several years because the plant has determined that its roots are either deep enough or that it has found a good steady supply of water?

Since there are several mentions of Mangosteen seedlings having a long tap root and little or no noticeable lateral growth, I wonder if planting Mangosteen seedlings in an air pruning pot would force lateral growth?
Simon

I wish I had a good supply of fresh seeds to experiment with.

I have thought about those pruning pots, and also was thinking of trying mycorrhiza and or other Inoculants. which are known to benefit roots on most plants. beneficial bacteria, fungi and geopots may be the trick to speeding up the baby stage on these plants.

I received 20 steens from DB at Montoso Gardens on August 8th, 2015. Nine did not make it. Of the 11 that did, I have 6 fast growers and 5 slow-movers. The difference is considerable at around 2 1/4", for the slow-movers to between 4 3/4" to 5" for the fast growers. And the 30% ratio of 6 out of 20. All experimentation and research should be limited to the fast-movers, in my opinion. And root development hormone treatments should be tried on the slow and fast growing seedlings.

TROY McNEILL, HCS

Guess I should update this, my trees are still in containers, and doing well, but have not fruited yet.

I have learned though to really get these plants going is to do regular foliar sprays. an agricultural expert has planted over a hundred in a small orchard, and started getting fruits after five years.

He told me that foliar spraying with fertilizer, minor minerals, and natural plant hormones is key. ( cytokines ) . makes total sense since nutrient uptake in the roots is slow, ( low surface area ).

I tried this, and sure enough, I get new growth right away. did it a couple times, and they would always go into growth mode, I have stopped, simply because my plants are a bit big for their pots, and do not want to transplant them into a bigger container, as there is a risk each time to breaking the roots ( have killed 2 trees doing upgrades ). so next time, I want it to be in the ground.

Hi Simon,

I live in the Mira Mesa area as well. I am planning to plant fruit trees in my yard and would like to seek your guidance and advice.