Author Topic: emperor lychee annual growth patterns  (Read 1845 times)

andrewq

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emperor lychee annual growth patterns
« on: December 08, 2017, 11:05:35 PM »
anyone know of emperor lychees have unusual growth patterns?

i’ve got 3 emperor lychees which are behaving differently from the other lychees (sweetheart, mauritius, and brewster).

the emperor lychees have been giving out vegetative flushes (5 week flush, 5 weeks dormant) regularly starting in the spring this year and have continued even to now. i have them in a greenhouse and we’ve had our second cold front move through. the winter has been warmer than usual (average 75/45), but the other 3 lychees have gone dormant.

also, the emperor lychees usually drop the most proximal leaves during each vegetative growth, which leaves the interior of the canopy without any leaves. i’ve fertilized wth foliage pro and there is a little osmocote plus, so i doubt its nutrient deficiency.

anyone else know if this is typical for emperor lychees? hoping the winter vegetative growth won’t decrease flowering

Orkine

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Re: emperor lychee annual growth patterns
« Reply #1 on: December 09, 2017, 08:19:19 PM »
I am having some vegetative flushes on an emperor as well.
I attributed to Irma.
It was pushed (not all the way down but at least 30 degree off upright) by winds during Irma and I had to right it.  I could not get it all the way straight and had to cut some low branches on one side to balance the canopy.  The other side had its low branches elevates and moved into more direct sun.
The side of the tree newly exposed more to light has had vegetative growth since.
My take was this was behavior in response to the stress from leaning a little and new light.
I did notice some saw-tooth type cuts into the edge of several leafs.  I will photograph and show.  I attributed to some insect attack.
I will take a careful look to see if any of the symptoms you describe are also present.

JoeP450

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Re: emperor lychee annual growth patterns
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2017, 04:07:11 PM »
Hey can either of you guys post pics of the leaves of your suspected Emperor Lychees (mature and newly flushed)? Would appreciate it. I recently planted out a 4ft seedling lychee that was growing in a pot at my mothers. I suspect it is an emperor because the original fruit was very large with a large seed, fruit was given to us by a Cambodian friend living in Bradenton FL. The leaves look slightly different that my sweetheart lychee.

-JoeP450

321Chris

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Re: emperor lychee annual growth patterns
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2017, 05:02:55 PM »
JoeP,

Do you remember when you harvested the lychees?  Seetheart and Hak Ip (both usually small seed) are usually around late June where Emperor's are more around late Aug/early Sept.  Bengal is another large fruit/large seed, however I can't seem to remember when we harvest those.  Btw, this is the "norm" for central Brevard (whatever that may be).

andrewq

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Re: emperor lychee annual growth patterns
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2017, 10:06:37 PM »
my lychees were protected from the hurricanes and no damage.

i have have 4, possibly more (if they were mislabeled) varieties and emperor is unmistakeable. the leaves are smaller and they have a much shorter time between vegetative growths.


i’ll take pictures at the start of the next growth

edit: mauritius lychee

« Last Edit: December 10, 2017, 10:34:03 PM by andrewq »

JoeP450

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Re: emperor lychee annual growth patterns
« Reply #5 on: December 11, 2017, 08:16:52 AM »
Here is my sweetheart, leaves about mid side and wavy:



Here is the seeding lychee, leaves are large, flat, copper brown flush:







Thanks for help with this,

-Joep450

andrewq

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Re: emperor lychee annual growth patterns
« Reply #6 on: December 11, 2017, 10:48:25 PM »
Hey can either of you guys post pics of the leaves of your suspected Emperor Lychees (mature and newly flushed)? Would appreciate it. I recently planted out a 4ft seedling lychee that was growing in a pot at my mothers. I suspect it is an emperor because the original fruit was very large with a large seed, fruit was given to us by a Cambodian friend living in Bradenton FL. The leaves look slightly different that my sweetheart lychee.

-JoeP450

lychees seedlings don’t take on characteristics of the trees they are from. the named varieties are propagated by air layering. there is no way to predict the growth, flowering, and fruit characteristics  of plants grown from seed.

your seedling isn’t emperor. it is a completely new cultivar

andrewq

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Re: emperor lychee annual growth patterns
« Reply #7 on: December 11, 2017, 10:53:02 PM »
Here is my sweetheart, leaves about mid side and wavy:



Here is the seeding lychee, leaves are large, flat, copper brown flush:



the seedling growths don’t resemble any of my 3 emperors. the emperors are a dwarf variety and have much smaller growths   they also are bright green mostly.







Thanks for help with this,

-Joep450