have any of your lychee trees in S. Florida bloomed yet

[lycheeluva]

other than Harry's Hak Ip, has anyone else achieved any blooms on your lychee trees yet this year?

[gabodymod]

Mauritius  (n0), sweet heart (no), koala (no). Is there hope?.


Guillermo

[lycheeluva]

there is definitly hope- in 2010, harry's  lychees didnt bloom till late March. so plenty of time

[fruitlovers]

there is definitly hope- in 2010, harry's  lychees didnt bloom till late March. so plenty of time

That is bizzare. Usually lychees flower in winter, except for very late bearing cultivars that may flower in late winter/early spring.
Oscar

[Cookie Monster]

My mauritius has strong leafy growth :-(.

[lycheeluva]

there is definitly hope- in 2010, harry's  lychees didnt bloom till late March. so plenty of time

That is bizzare. Usually lychees flower in winter, except for very late bearing cultivars that may flower in late winter/early spring.
Oscar

oscar- lychee blooms are induced by cooler temperatures- 50s and low 60s. usually S. Florida has a period of lower temps in late november and december which induces blooms in jan. but sometimes, s. florida has a warm winter and doesnt get cool temps till jan or feb, or sometimes not at all, which delays or prevents blooming. this year, s lforida has had a warm winter hence the sparse and late blooming

[jabomano]

Nothing on my Ft. Myers lychees either. No blooms on my Mauritius,  Brewster, or Sweet Heart. Leafy growth is all. Mangos, jakfruit and jaboticaba fruiting like crazy though.

[Sleepdoc]

Sweetheart and Brewster both have vegetative growth
Mauritius has no activity yet...

[phantomcrab]

I don't have any lychees but but there are many in my neighborhood. I have only noticed two of them showing buds. Usually there is a pretty good crop in my area. Many lychees are flushing now while others still appear dormant. Maybe the cooler weather due this week will stimulate flowering.

[HMHausman]

I am getting concerned.  The only real bloom is on Hak Ip, so far.  There are several that have not flushed yet...so there is still hope for Bengal, Kaimana, Ohia, Bosworth 3, Garnet, Red Ohia, Seymour, Peerless, Farwell Ranch and Brewster.  Sweetheart and Mauritius have completely flushed out new leaves.  Sorry to have to put Lycheeluva on suicide watch....but I don't think there will be any Maritius lychees produced in my yard this year.

Harry

[puglvr1]

Lol Harry...hilarious!!  " Sorry to have to put Lycheeluva on suicide watch....but I don't think there will be any Maritius lychees produced in my yard this year."

Don't do it Lycheeluva!! I'm sure there will be some lychees to eat this summer (although it might not come from S.FL). There is a small grove several miles from my house. I'll have to drive by and see if those are blooming? I have a very young Mauritius tree (planted last year) NO blooms. Also saw a couple of dooryard lychee trees around the area with NO blooms either and we were definitely a little cooler than S. Fl this winter.

[jb_fla]

My sweetheart and groff are blooming and my brewster is still dormant.  I am further north than most though.

[lycheeluva]

Harry-  there is still hope- I checked our email exchanges in 2010 and discovered that your lychee blooms only opened in late March-which means they probably became visible in early March. So you have at least two weeks for the blooms to appear. As for mauritius, well you have 2-3 lychees that taste so similar to mauritius that I will live in hope that they bloomq9.
Might I suggest you begin an online lychee diary/journal where you document the key facts about each of your lychee trees so that it can be referred to in troubling times such as these.

[bsbullie]

Harry-  there is still hope- I checked our email exchanges in 2010 and discovered that your lychee blooms only opened in late March-which means they probably became visible in early March. So you have at least two weeks for the blooms to appear. As for mauritius, well you have 2-3 lychees that taste so similar to mauritius that I will live in hope that they bloomq9.
Might I suggest you begin an online lychee diary/journal where you document the key facts about each of your lychee trees so that it can be referred to in troubling times such as these.

LL- the winter of 2009/2010 was MUCH different.  We had a long stretch of major cold through the entire month of January so the dormancy period was extended (which also set off the later blooms in March).  This winter we have had only a couple of short spurts of moderately cold to only cool weather and otherwise has been warm, unseasonably warm.  I would in no way compare 2009/2010 to 2011/2012 winters, hence I would not compare the lychee season of the two winters either.

[HMHausman]

Might I suggest you begin an online lychee diary/journal where you document the key facts about each of your lychee trees so that it can be referred to in troubling times such as these.

Good idea, Gerry.  In my spare time, I am going to go back to my Garden Web posts and e-mail exchanges and try to do a first flower, first fruit log to alleviate some of this consternation.  Now I just have to find some spare time.

Harry

[lycheeluva]

harry- i know that one of your clients has a hopeless case. neglect his case and work on the lychee journal instead

[lycheeluva]

LL- the winter of 2009/2010 was MUCH different.  We had a long stretch of major cold through the entire month of January so the dormancy period was extended (which also set off the later blooms in March).  This winter we have had only a couple of short spurts of moderately cold to only cool weather and otherwise has been warm, unseasonably warm.  I would in no way compare 2009/2010 to 2011/2012 winters, hence I would not compare the lychee season of the two winters either.

bs- r u predicting a barren lychee year because if u r, ill have to ask you to step outside (i'm of the blame the messenger school)

[bsbullie]

LL- the winter of 2009/2010 was MUCH different.  We had a long stretch of major cold through the entire month of January so the dormancy period was extended (which also set off the later blooms in March).  This winter we have had only a couple of short spurts of moderately cold to only cool weather and otherwise has been warm, unseasonably warm.  I would in no way compare 2009/2010 to 2011/2012 winters, hence I would not compare the lychee season of the two winters either.

bs- r u predicting a barren lychee year because if u r, ill have to ask you to step outside (i'm of the blame the messenger school)

Not sure I would say barren but as of now, from what I have seen and heard, it will not go down in the books as a memorable one.  Again, due to micro climates I am sure there will be some "normal" fruiting but I do not think it will be a consistent heavy bearing season in any way.

On the other hand, from what I have seen, we appear to be heading for a very good mango season...of course all it will take is one late winter season freeze and it will all be shot to hell.

[HMHausman]

Checked again this morning.  There is some additional bloom on Early Large Red (having seen only one bloom pannicle on the entire tree last week).  I think I see a couple of spikes on the top of one of my Kaimana trees. Everything else is staus quo.  Interesting enough, my See Chompoo longans are blooming everywhere. Seems way to early for that...but I really can't remember that timing that clearly from the past. Unfortunately, I am going to have to agree with Rob as far as drawing comaprisons to the late blooming year that Gerry is referring to.  I hope I (and Rob) am wrong, but weather-wise, at least, there has been no comparison.

Harry

[Ethan]

In Central CA.. in the GH, I have Emperor, Kaimana, Sweetheart blooming, Hak Ip and Mauritus in the ground are pushing leaves.

-Ethan

[JF]

here is a pic of Minh's sweetheart and his neighbor's Mauritius pushing.
JF

[Squam256]

I believe I saw my Sweetheart trees pushing out some bloom but I haven't checked them recently as they are too small to be setting fruit anyways.

I know a guy in Royal Palm Beach with a farm a couple miles away from mine. His trees are flowering well from what he told me.

[fruitlovers]

there is definitly hope- in 2010, harry's  lychees didnt bloom till late March. so plenty of time

That is bizzare. Usually lychees flower in winter, except for very late bearing cultivars that may flower in late winter/early spring.
Oscar

oscar- lychee blooms are induced by cooler temperatures- 50s and low 60s. usually S. Florida has a period of lower temps in late november and december which induces blooms in jan. but sometimes, s. florida has a warm winter and doesnt get cool temps till jan or feb, or sometimes not at all, which delays or prevents blooming. this year, s lforida has had a warm winter hence the sparse and late blooming

Hi lycheeluva, yes i'm aware of that. But our temperatures here never get below 60. Usually night time temperature here in winter are around 65. And we still get blooms. My theory is that dry winters are a LOT more important than cold temperatures, but both can provide necessary stress for the plant. In Kona, dry side of our island, they have even warmer temperatures, but is much drier, and they have much better lychee fruiting than we do. So this seems to confirm my theory that lack of rain is more important than low temperatures for lychees to flower. Different cultivars will ofcourse react differently. Favorite here is Kaimana, which doesn't seem to need much in way of low temp. to bloom.
Oscar

[lycheeluva]

Hi lycheeluva, yes i'm aware of that. But our temperatures here never get below 60. Usually night time temperature here in winter are around 65. And we still get blooms. My theory is that dry winters are a LOT more important than cold temperatures, but both can provide necessary stress for the plant. In Kona, dry side of our island, they have even warmer temperatures, but is much drier, and they have much better lychee fruiting than we do. So this seems to confirm my theory that lack of rain is more important than low temperatures for lychees to flower. Different cultivars will ofcourse react differently. Favorite here is Kaimana, which doesn't seem to need much in way of low temp. to bloom.
Oscar

thanks oscar good to know- from now on i will withold all water from my lychees from mid autumn till mid bloom. any theories how months of dry are needed to promote bloom

jf- great pics- is the second pic taken in a greenhouse

[fruitlovers]

Hi lycheeluva, yes i'm aware of that. But our temperatures here never get below 60. Usually night time temperature here in winter are around 65. And we still get blooms. My theory is that dry winters are a LOT more important than cold temperatures, but both can provide necessary stress for the plant. In Kona, dry side of our island, they have even warmer temperatures, but is much drier, and they have much better lychee fruiting than we do. So this seems to confirm my theory that lack of rain is more important than low temperatures for lychees to flower. Different cultivars will ofcourse react differently. Favorite here is Kaimana, which doesn't seem to need much in way of low temp. to bloom.
Oscar

thanks oscar good to know- from now on i will withold all water from my lychees from mid autumn till mid bloom. any theories how months of dry are needed to promote bloom

jf- great pics- is the second pic taken in a greenhouse

You should withold watering from end of October till start of blooming. Water only if plants are going to croak otherwise. You want to stress them but not kill them. Once flowering starts you need to start watering again. Don't wait until mid bloom to start watering.
BTW, watering promotes new flushes, which you don't want during this time. So if you see a new leaf flush prune it off.
Oscar