Author Topic: Lychee success in SoCal  (Read 6360 times)

BestDay

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Lychee success in SoCal
« on: March 20, 2018, 12:13:44 PM »
Hi all, I thought I would share pictures of my Brewster Lychee planted as a 15 gallon at the end of 2015.  It has grown like a weed and far exceeded my expectations as far as health and vigor.  For me it has been a very low maintenance tree.  I was planning on pruning it this weekend but discovered flowers emerging all over it!  I hope it holds fruit.

Bill






Bush2Beach

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2018, 12:58:35 PM »
Nice! Did you purchase as a 15G and if so where ;)?

Bananaizme

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2018, 01:09:04 PM »
  Very nice Bill . Congratulations

Samu

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2018, 01:43:38 PM »
Good to see! Thanks for posting, Bill!
Mine still small, but now I am feeling more optimistic.
Sam

behlgarden

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2018, 03:14:49 PM »
Dang, it grew like its in Florida or Hawaii

BestDay

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #5 on: March 20, 2018, 03:54:50 PM »
Actually I stand corrected.  I found the original picture of when I planted the tree and it was April of 2016.  So the tree is less then two years in the ground. 

I bought it from Mimosa in LA.

Bill


murahilin

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #6 on: March 20, 2018, 03:57:39 PM »
Actually I stand corrected.  I found the original picture of when I planted the tree and it was April of 2016.  So the tree is less then two years in the ground. 

I bought it from Mimosa in LA.

Bill


It looks like it was covered in flowers in that pic. Did you get any fruit that year?

behlgarden

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #7 on: March 20, 2018, 04:28:32 PM »
Actually I stand corrected.  I found the original picture of when I planted the tree and it was April of 2016.  So the tree is less then two years in the ground. 

I bought it from Mimosa in LA.

Bill


looks like your lychee found the sweet spot in soil, location, and conditions.

simon_grow

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #8 on: March 20, 2018, 06:41:20 PM »
Beautiful tree Bill! Leo Manuel has a huge Brewster and I love the fruit now. I hope you get a good harvest. If you get some fruit from this bloom, I would be interested to see what percentage of chicken tongue seeds you get. Leo’s tree produces fruit with a majority of chicken tongue seeds in some years.
Simon

BestDay

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #9 on: March 20, 2018, 10:56:31 PM »
I have not had any fruit off this tree but I have had SoCal grown Brewsters and they are great.   Hopefully I can tell you how good these fruit are soon.

Bill

knlim000

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #10 on: March 20, 2018, 11:00:31 PM »
Beware of the lychee thieves.   I have heard that the thieves will pickup all the fruits so quick while you're gone.

marklee

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #11 on: March 20, 2018, 11:46:54 PM »
Here is my Brewster right now down in south San Diego, loaded with flowers. This tree grew super quick as well.


simon_grow

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #12 on: March 21, 2018, 09:26:01 AM »
Mark, your tree is getting huge! Mauritius, Brewster and Sweetheart seem to grow well here as long as you have decent soil. They grow horribly for me with my high pH soil(above 8). I have to add lots of amendments and top dress with Sulfur to bring down the pH.

Simon

BestDay

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #13 on: March 21, 2018, 09:58:58 AM »
That is a very impressive Brewster Mark. How old is it?  My Brewster is growing much faster then I thought it would. I'm going to have to give it a heavy pruning every year if I want to keep it contained to the area I have for it.

Does your tree fruit every year?

Bill

marklee

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #14 on: March 21, 2018, 10:39:09 AM »
That is a very impressive Brewster Mark. How old is it?  My Brewster is growing much faster then I thought it would. I'm going to have to give it a heavy pruning every year if I want to keep it contained to the area I have for it.

Does your tree fruit every year?

Bill
The tree has been in the ground for about 5 years, it has just started giving fruit yearly. It started out as a 3 or 4 foot seedling. I haven't added any thing to the soil and just foliar feed it during the spring and summer with some hi bloom spray.

fyliu

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #15 on: March 21, 2018, 02:54:56 PM »
No blooms on any of my parents' 3 lychees this year. I guess they're resting this one out.

Be prepared for fruit drops. In China, they have a spray to keep the fruits on. I don't know what's in it. My mom just pinches off all the new leaf growth so the energy goes into the fruits.

I also forget if you're supposed to water or withhold water during flower time. In China, the advice is to withhold water but that's because it rains there and the rain makes the flowers not set fruit. Bottom watering might be different.

andrewq

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #16 on: March 21, 2018, 04:46:10 PM »
foliar sprays for fruit drop prevention

http://www.actahort.org/books/863/863_44.htm

THE EFFECT OF FOLIAR SPRAYS OF THE SYNTHETIC AUXIN 3-5-6 TPA, ON FRUIT DROP, FRUIT SIZE AND SEED DEVELOPMENT IN THREE LYCHEE (LITCHI CHINENSIS) CULTIVARS: TAI SO, FAY ZEE SUI AND KWAI MAI PINK

Fruit drop in lychee can cause major yield losses in Australia, the severity varying with cultivar and season. Research in China, South Africa and Israel has demonstrated the potential for synthetic auxins used as foliar sprays to reduce fruit drop in lychee. Trials were initiated in Australia to test the efficacy of the synthetic auxin, 3-5-6 Trichloro-2-phridyl-oxyacetic acid (3-5-6 TPA) at 50 ppm on the cultivars Tai So, Fay Zee Sui and Kwai Mai Pink. Results indicate that in most cases the TPA reduced natural fruit drop however the size of the fruit at the time of application affects the response and the ideal application time varies with cultivar; approximately 13 mm fruit length in ‘Kwai Mai Pink’, 20 mm in ‘Fay Zee Sui’ and 27 mm in ‘Tai So’. If applied too early in ‘Tai So’, it caused an increase in fruit drop. The TPA was most effective when natural fruit drop was high, reducing fruit drop from 74.7 to 34.9% in ‘Kwai Mai Pink’ and least effective when natural fruit drop was low. An increase in the percentage of fruit with poorly developed (chicken tongue) seed and slightly larger fruit size was also observed in treated trees.
« Last Edit: March 22, 2018, 11:43:06 PM by andrewq »

marklee

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #17 on: March 21, 2018, 06:30:41 PM »
No blooms on any of my parents' 3 lychees this year. I guess they're resting this one out.

Be prepared for fruit drops. In China, they have a spray to keep the fruits on. I don't know what's in it. My mom just pinches off all the new leaf growth so the energy goes into the fruits.

I also forget if you're supposed to water or withhold water during flower time. In China, the advice is to withhold water but that's because it rains there and the rain makes the flowers not set fruit. Bottom watering might be different.
Fang,

Since we are opposite of China in rain I was told we should water good while it is flowering. I do that with my longans also and seem to get good fruit set. Maybe Leo Manuel knows since his lytchee crops are amazing.

simon_grow

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #18 on: March 21, 2018, 10:43:17 PM »
A period of dry weather prior to anticipated flowering is supposed to promote blooms and as the blooms start opening up, a gradual increase in watering should coincide. It is believed that too much water early on in flowering will promote vegetative growth. Nitrogen should be withheld from the dormant period pre bloom until Fruit set. Once Fruit is set, application of fertilizer can decrease Fruit drop but the timing of fertilizer applications and the type of fertilizer is beyond what I can remember at the moment.

Simon

BestDay

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #19 on: August 31, 2019, 06:20:47 PM »
An update on my Brewster tree.  It is still growing like a weed.  I am controlling its size by pruning and air layers.  It is currently about 11-12' tall and wide.  I wish I would have given it more space when I planted it.  But to be honest I thought it would take ten years to reach this size.  Last year I got one fruit off the tree after a heavy spring bloom.  This year I have nine fruit after a medium spring bloom.  The fruit have turned completely red but still have a spiny or spiky skin.  I know I need to wait until the skin smoothes out for the fruit to be ripe.  Are there any other things to look for that tell me the fruit is ripe?

Bill

BestDay

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #20 on: August 31, 2019, 06:23:44 PM »
Here are some photos.











simon_grow

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #21 on: August 31, 2019, 06:38:33 PM »
Bill, sometimes the spikes don’t round out on some fruit. If the fruit have been red for a couple weeks, it should be ripe. Usually the smoothing out of the spikes is an accurate way to tell if it’s ripe but some of the fruit with small or aborted seeds sometimes don’t follow this rule.

Your fruit looks very round and fat for a Brewster. Brewsters your size should produce a lot more fruit. Without knowing your fertilizer regimen, I would hazard to guess that your Lychee is receiving a bit too much of Nitrogen.

Right now, after you harvest your fruit, is a great time to prune your tree so that it can push a vegetative flush, have it harden and be ready for the winter.

Simon

BestDay

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #22 on: August 31, 2019, 06:59:28 PM »
I have given the tree a lot of Nitrogen.  I guess next year I will hold off on the fertilizer.  In the first picture of the fruit above my hand was closer to the camera.  This made the fruit look smaller then they are.  Here are a couple other photos that show the fruit from different angles.






The fruit has been completely red for about a week or two. 

Bill

OCchris1

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #23 on: September 01, 2019, 01:16:13 AM »
Great looking tree Bill. I didn't do that great this year with my 4 varieties. Only 1 kaimana survived and about a dozen brewsters. I would send a pick but my usual computer is in the shop.
-Chris

BestDay

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Re: Lychee success in SoCal
« Reply #24 on: September 03, 2019, 10:30:17 AM »
What happens if I leave them on the tree for too long?

Bill