How to Grow Mangosteen So It Bears Fruit? A Full Breakdown of Care Tips
Mangosteen grown normally will bear fruit, but in some special cases it will not bear fruit or will struggle to do so. Container growing in particular makes fruiting less likely. So it needs careful care to bear fruit, not rough, extensive management. Specific care should be adjusted according to its growth characteristics, so that fruiting can be encouraged, or rather ensured, and the number of fruits increased. Let's take a look together below!
1. Fruiting time
After mangosteen is planted, the time until it bears fruit is very long. In soil planting it generally takes about ten years of cultivation before it starts to fruit. Even in containers it takes about 7 to ten years to fruit, because the mangosteen tree grows very slowly. So development is also very slow, and in the end the fruiting time is very slow too; generally waiting for the fruit to ripen is very hard. Some may even fail to fruit, and some growers think they will not fruit at all. So to get fruit, besides waiting, management and cultivation are also needed.
2. Light
It does not like strong light and does not need overly abundant sunlight. It is shade-tolerant and likes to grow in a semi-shaded environment. It grows best in a semi-shaded environment. Strong light affects its growth, and the plant's leaves lose water easily, so the plant withers easily. If it encounters high summer temperatures along with drought, it must be shaded and watered promptly, otherwise it may easily die of drying out.
3. Water
Because it grows slowly, its water needs are generally fairly balanced and steady. You cannot use too much water, but it also cannot lack water; a stable supply of water must be maintained over a long period. In addition, during the growth stage there will be periods when growth speeds up somewhat; at these times, provide a bit more water to keep nutrients circulating and internal activity going, to promote sap flow and rapid growth. Generally, air humidity needs to be kept at 80%. Soil moisture should be around 65%.
4. Soil nutrients
Nutrients initially come directly from the soil, and later also from photosynthesis. If nutrients in the soil are consumed too heavily, then soil nutrients will eventually need to be replenished by people, such as by fertilizing the soil or spraying fertilizer on the leaves. For fertilizing, you can use compost, livestock manure, leaf mold, or chemical fertilizer. During cultivation, do not let it lack fertilizer; just fertilize on a regular schedule, roughly once a month. Various fertilizers can be used in rotation, but when used they must all be dissolved, or water should be given after fertilizing.
Mangosteen takes too long to fruit. To encourage fruiting, none of the various care tasks can be skipped. Besides that, growers still need some patience. In the end, do not just wait to make money growing mangosteen. It can be planted as a long-term investment. Of course, do not assume it will not fruit before it has even fruited and get rid of it.