How many seeds are in a mangosteen? How do you plant the seeds, and what happens if you eat one by mistake?
Mangosteen, also known as fengguo, comes from Southeast Asia, and is much loved for its rich content of folate, vitamins and various nutrients. It is now available in markets, and the price is a little high, so how many seeds are in one mangosteen? Can the seeds be planted? How do you plant them? What happens if you eat one by mistake?
How many seeds are in one mangosteen?
Roughly 4-5, but some have very few, so it is hard to be sure. However, if you want to know the number of seeds in a mangosteen, you can tell from the navel part of the rind; that is, however many petals the pattern has, that is how many segments of flesh are inside. Cut the rind open with a knife, or pinch the rind with both hands until it cracks and then pull it apart, and the snowy white flesh will be revealed. The flesh is packed tightly in the center like garlic cloves.
Seed planting technique:
1. After eating the mangosteen you bought, keep the seeds and wash off the flesh clinging to them. To speed up germination, you can soak them in water for 2 days before sowing.
2. The most suitable temperature is generally 20-25°C. Ordinary garden soil will do; if the soil is loose and moist, they will sprout in as little as 2 weeks.
3. The key to mangosteen care is watering. Generally, water again once the surface of the potting soil looks dry. Now that the weather is getting hot, especially in midsummer, you should water in both the morning and the evening, and a somewhat larger amount of water is better.
Mangosteen seeds can be planted, but this is generally not used as a propagation method.
The mangosteen seed is parthenogenetic, that is, asexual reproduction. The main methods are cuttings, grafting, layering and division. Transplanting can be done in spring, summer, autumn and winter.
1. Cuttings
Cut stems and leaves from a plant and insert them into a seedbed so that they grow into a complete plant; this method is called cuttings. The material used for cuttings (roots, stems, leaves) is called the cutting.
2. Grafting
A bud or branch of one plant is joined onto another plant so that the two parts grow into one complete plant. The bud or branch that is joined on is called the scion, and the plant it is joined onto is called the rootstock.
3. Layering
The method of pressing a branch of the mother plant into the soil and using a certain technique to make it root, thereby obtaining a new plant, is called layering. Plants such as Chaenomeles speciosa and oleander have many long branches on the mother plant and will root when pressed into the soil, so layering is often used for their propagation. Layering is easy to perform, needs no special management afterwards and has a high survival rate, so it is a commonly used propagation method for woody flowering plants.
4. Division
Division propagation is the method of separating the tiller buds, bulbs, rhizomes, stolons and so on of a flowering plant from the mother plant and planting them separately to form independent new plants. Division is divided into two kinds: full division and half division.
What should you do if you eat a seed by mistake?
Because mangosteen seeds are non-toxic, swallowing one will not cause a poisoning reaction and needs no special treatment. It will generally be moved along by the intestines and passed out with the stool. Just eat more foods that lubricate the intestines and relieve constipation, such as bananas and honey, to help the mangosteen seed pass out.
However, some people have a narrow digestive tract, and if the mangosteen seed is rather large, swallowing it may cause a foreign body in the digestive tract. So if you feel choking, a sense of being stuck, a serious foreign body sensation or abdominal pain, you should go to the hospital promptly for examination and treatment.