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Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: HMHausman on January 29, 2014, 12:11:21 PM

Title: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: HMHausman on January 29, 2014, 12:11:21 PM
This morning I noticed the first confirmed lychee blooms. Oddly enough, I do not see blooms on Hak Ip nor Mauritius....which are usually the first two I see bloom on.  The most developed blooms are on a tree that is called Farwell Farm or also referred to as Farwell Ranch. This was a seedling selection from an old nursery in California called Tree Farm Nursery.  I do not believe they exist anymore. I received an air-layer from them in the mid 1990's.  I believe this selection to be a seedling of Mauritius, but have no proof of same.  Also starting to show bloom development is one of my two Sweetheart trees. Many trees have already pushed new foliage and are not expected to put on a crop this year, I am disappointed to say. It was raining this morning, so I couldn't get any pictures.  I'll further document soon.
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: Ethan on January 29, 2014, 05:48:56 PM
Congrats Harry, I'm sure Gerry has marked this date on his calendar.  With the combination of greenhouse and short winter, I have blooms just starting to form on my  Emperor and Kaimana lychees both of which are potted.
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: strkpr00 on January 29, 2014, 06:28:26 PM
WTG Harry, my lychees which I recvd from the Broward County tree giveaway quite a few years back have a few bumps, I am hoping it is about to flower. I am too much of a novice to be sure just yet. I trimmed them beyond the crotch last summer after I picked. I has grown larger than my trimming. Come on lychee put a smile on my face.
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: simon_grow on January 29, 2014, 10:19:41 PM
Here in San Diego, the strange weather is messing with our lychee trees. It was cool in late fall and early winter but then it was really warm the last month. Now it is cooling down again and starting to feel like winter.

My lychee tree was leafing out for the last couple of months with new leaves still forming while other leaves were starting to harden off. When the cooler weather hit, the new leaves started to shrivel up and then flower buds started to develope.

I guess here in San Diego where growth is much slower, the current vegetative flush does not need to harden off before a bloom. Perhaps the slower growth allows the tree to build up enough energy reserves to allow for flower panicle developement. This same thing happened to my lychee tree last year.

Here are some pics of my tree showing leaves that have not hardened off with leaf die back on the youngest growth and the beginnings of panicle formation on some of the older growth.
(http://s30.postimg.cc/3myr9ljjh/image.jpg) (http://postimg.cc/image/3myr9ljjh/)

(http://s30.postimg.cc/j76504tnx/image.jpg) (http://postimg.cc/image/j76504tnx/)
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: bradflorida on January 29, 2014, 10:58:20 PM
Several blooms on Mauritius here in SW Florida.  Emperor leafed out about a month ago but looks like it has a chance of blooming.  Ohia also leafing out.  Kaimana leafing out.   Both Sweethearts haven't done much in a couple of months - just a very small amount of leafing out.  The Sweethearts have potential for blooms.  Keeping fingers crossed. 

Brad
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: catamijo on January 30, 2014, 07:48:41 AM
I was hoping to get lychees this year from the 15 trees I planted 3 years ago... instead they all sent out new flushes... killing any hope of getting fruits this year... Mauritius, Emperor, Brewster... oh well, the cycle begins again, there is always next year.
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: puglvr1 on January 30, 2014, 11:27:40 AM
What few "possible" beginning of blooms mixed with new growths had "freeze damage" when I hit 28-32 degrees back in January 19th  :'( :'(

Hoping a few of them survive?!?! Of course I still have another 5-6 weeks of possible freezes left this winter, so I'm not out of the woods yet...

You can see some of the blooms are brown  >:( :'(

(http://s28.postimg.cc/54rqtal95/IMG_3645.jpg) (http://postimg.cc/image/54rqtal95/)

(http://s28.postimg.cc/t9sgb05jt/IMG_3646.jpg) (http://postimg.cc/image/t9sgb05jt/)
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: nch on January 30, 2014, 06:15:49 PM
I think my Mauritius and Sweetheart are putting out flower buds too.
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: nch on January 30, 2014, 06:19:04 PM
[imghttp://(http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t651/achoi45/DSCF8226_zps00a5f255.jpg) (http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/achoi45/media/DSCF8226_zps00a5f255.jpg.html)][/img]
[(http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t651/achoi45/DSCF8229_zps70273ade.jpg) (http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/achoi45/media/DSCF8229_zps70273ade.jpg.html)][/img]
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: LarryG on January 30, 2014, 08:52:26 PM
I was happy to discover blooms on my two Hak Ips and two Sweet Hearts last week. My Sweet Cliff and Kwai Mai Pink (Bosworth 3) are still in dormancy so I expect they might bloom as well. My Emperor has been flushing new growth for a couple of weeks so I don't expect it will bloom this season. I hope the all the rain today (more than 3") will be good for the new blooms.
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: bradflorida on January 30, 2014, 08:56:52 PM
Catamijo - youve got me worried.  Youve got 15 lychee trees that you put in the ground 3 years ago, and no blooms.  I'm not feeling too optimistic now about my 8 trees which I planted in the ground less than a year ago :)

Brad
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: FlyingFoxFruits on January 30, 2014, 08:58:33 PM
i got a 25 gal sweetheart thats flowering up a storm...if it doesn't get sold this year, maybe I'll finally get some fruit off of it...I've had it for  about 4 yrs.
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: BluePalm on January 30, 2014, 10:11:55 PM
My Sweetheart (about 9' tall) has flower panicles on it. Hopefully it won't do the "Sweetheart Shuffle" (again) and look to have a promising crop...only to have every small fruit drop off.
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: fruitlovers on January 31, 2014, 12:40:40 AM
i got a 25 gal sweetheart thats flowering up a storm...if it doesn't get sold this year, maybe I'll finally get some fruit off of it...I've had it for  about 4 yrs.

Are you sure you want to sell it? Lychees are mighty good! But if you really want to sell it suggest waiting till it's fruiting. Hard for customers to resist when they see fruits already on the tree.
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: Cookie Monster on January 31, 2014, 07:22:48 PM
my 20 foot tall mauritius has about 25% leaf flush :-(. In the 7 years it's been in the ground, I've had 1 (one) full crop.

The guys who fertilize the grass (from the home owner's association) were kind enough to fertilize the entire front yard (including my mauritius) with what appeared to be urea at just the perfect time for it to leaf out instead of flowering.. :-(
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: Squam256 on January 31, 2014, 08:04:33 PM
Quote
my 20 foot tall mauritius has about 25% leaf flush :-(. In the 7 years it's been in the ground, I've had 1 (one) full crop.

Time to ax that thing and plant something else.

Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: FlyingFoxFruits on January 31, 2014, 08:31:20 PM
the problem is it never sets fruits!   I guess its susceptible to fungus, being that its panicles are so tightly clustered.

i got a 25 gal sweetheart thats flowering up a storm...if it doesn't get sold this year, maybe I'll finally get some fruit off of it...I've had it for  about 4 yrs.

Are you sure you want to sell it? Lychees are mighty good! But if you really want to sell it suggest waiting till it's fruiting. Hard for customers to resist when they see fruits already on the tree.
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: Cookie Monster on January 31, 2014, 09:25:42 PM
HAHAHAHA I'm not quite there yet, but the idea has crossed the mind at least once. I'll give it a couple more years and see where we're at. Guy down the road has a mauritius that's borne fruit 7 or 8 years out of 10, but it's older than mine. So, I"m holding out hope that with age will come more fruiting :-).

That said, a mango tree would fit nicely in that spot :-).

Quote
my 20 foot tall mauritius has about 25% leaf flush :-(. In the 7 years it's been in the ground, I've had 1 (one) full crop.

Time to ax that thing and plant something else.
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: natsgarden123 on January 31, 2014, 09:39:23 PM
HAHAHAHA I'm not quite there yet, but the idea has crossed the mind at least once. I'll give it a couple more years and see where we're at. Guy down the road has a mauritius that's borne fruit 7 or 8 years out of 10, but it's older than mine. So, I"m holding out hope that with age will come more fruiting :-).

That said, a mango tree would fit nicely in that spot :-).

Quote
my 20 foot tall mauritius has about 25% leaf flush :-(. In the 7 years it's been in the ground, I've had 1 (one) full crop.

Time to ax that thing and plant something else.

Now, how many mango trees can a person have?   :)
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: JF on January 31, 2014, 10:52:09 PM
My sweetheart is blooming and I've seen them blooming around the area. Here is a Mauritius and sweet Cliff in bloom.


(http://s17.postimg.cc/aeqc6gmjv/image.jpg) (http://postimg.cc/image/aeqc6gmjv/)

(http://s17.postimg.cc/wpe76fju3/image.jpg) (http://postimg.cc/image/wpe76fju3/)
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: nch on January 31, 2014, 11:38:01 PM
JF, those trees put my 3-panicle per tree to shame. I hope I can get at least one fruit per tree.
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: BENDERSGROVE on February 01, 2014, 12:09:33 PM
One of my M auritius is pushing blooms all over! Oh yeah!
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: mikesid on February 01, 2014, 04:05:27 PM
My Maritius, which I planted out 2 years ago looks like it's gonna leaf out, but my Hak Ip, and my Emperor look like they are flowering for the first time. Hopefully I finally can justify these plants with some fruit production this year.
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: Sleepdoc on February 03, 2014, 05:05:20 AM
Nothing at all on my trees :(.  My 10 ft Brewster pushed out new growth about a month ago, which I removed completely.  The others have been sitting idle.  Hoping for some flowers soon !
Title: Re: First Lychee Blooms of 2014 Season
Post by: strkpr00 on February 11, 2014, 07:57:58 AM
Well all hopes are dashed as it turned out to be a new growth spurt, my second tree is still dormant. :(