Lychee: Seed vs Air-layered

[Weboh]

I want to grow lychees. I've been learning a lot about them; one of the things I learned is that they don't grow true from seed so most people don't recommend growing them that way. But, as I understand it, all that means is the fruit from the seed won't be exactly like the fruit from the tree. Why is that a problem? I understand if it's being grown commercially it would be nice to have fruit that holds up better in shipping or trees that fruit at a specific time or something.

Is there any advantage to air-layered for someone not growing it commercially? Do not all lychee trees fruit or something? I know not all trees fruit reliably but I'm thinking if I have a couple it won't be an issue. I've read that air-layered trees have shallower root systems and are a bit harder to care for because of it (and would probably be ripped up easier in hurricanes? I'm in Florida, so that's an issue).

Is there someone that can explain better why air-layered seems to be preferred?

Thanks.

[andrewq]

it’ll take 10 years for a seed to produce fruit (if ever). getting lychee fruit is a complex. in winter, different trees have different cold tolerance and dormancy patterns, so an inferior cultivar may not survive cold winters. then, they have different chill preferences/requirements to flower.

sometimes the seedling die suddenly for no apparent reason. i have a couple seedling grown for fun (about 2ft tall after 4-5 years), but my main focus are the air layers.

air layer can produce fruit in following spring, and would be of superior quality.

would highly recommend against seedling. it’s a ton of time and effort for marginal gain.

[simon_grow]

If you grow a Lychee to fruition from seed, it will likely take a long long time and the fruit can taste horrible with huge seeds and little flesh. Imagine planting just one seed, waiting 10+ years for Fruit only to find out the Fruit sucks. In that time, you would have wasted the space in your yard and a Lychee tree will probably be fairly large by the time it fruits.

The various Lychee selections have been propagated for a reason. They have been selected for particular flavors, color, size of seed, amount of flesh, ripening time, dry type flesh, water type flesh, etc...

I grow Lychees from seed but I am only using them as rootstocks. I grow them up to a certain size and innarch them with a named variety. I’m doing this because like you, I want a Lychee tree with a strong taproot.

I would highly recommend purchasing a named variety of Lychee so you can ensure you get good quality fruit.

Simon

[simon_grow]

You may be interested in these threads
Lychee grafting experiment
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=27018.0

Lychee grafted onto Longan
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=315.0

Simon

[fruitlovers]

When you air layer a plant the result is a plant that is genetically the same age as the mother plant, not just that the fruit is genetically identical. Air layered lychees typically take about 3 years to start fruiting.
When you grow a lychee from seed you are starting from ground zero. You have a plant that will go through a long juvenille stage. Seedlings can take a long time to fruit, may not be good quality, may have large seed, or may even not fruit at all.
About which type of plant is better for hurricane area, Bill Whitman in his book Fifty Years with Tropical Fruits, says that lychee air layers are best, because if knocked over they will sprout from the root and be genetically identical. Grafted plants will often break at graft union, and if sprouts up from trunk will not be the same as what was grafted on.

[Weboh]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I guess I'll be going with air-layered. Apparently lots of people have had a bad experience with lychee grown from seeds. I guess it's not like apples where there are 100 varieties that only taste a little bit different (sure, lots of people may have a favorite but if they ask for an apple they'd probably be just a fine with a red delicious as they would a honeycrisp).

I also don't want to put in the effort needed to grow a lychee tree from seed if the seedlings are that fragile. I've never had much success growing anything from seed, come to think of it...

[luc]

I brought some seeds back from Asia ( ages ago ) the fruits were really huge , about 40 - 50 grams . What a disappointment .....! So I swear by air-layering .

[achetadomestica]

If you have room plant an air layer and plant a seedling.
I planted a couple grafted avocados but last year I planted 6 seeds and one of them
has a double trunk. I planted that one and I grafted a different one. I thought one
day I could graft 2 different types on this double trunk one? The seedling made it through
a 30F night and didn't blink. I am actually liking it more and more and want to see what it
turns out to be. Plant 10 lychee seeds and pick the best one and graft the others?

[murahilin]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I guess I'll be going with air-layered. Apparently lots of people have had a bad experience with lychee grown from seeds. I guess it's not like apples where there are 100 varieties that only taste a little bit different (sure, lots of people may have a favorite but if they ask for an apple they'd probably be just a fine with a red delicious as they would a honeycrisp).

I also don't want to put in the effort needed to grow a lychee tree from seed if the seedlings are that fragile. I've never had much success growing anything from seed, come to think of it...

That's ludicrous. I should ban you from the forum for blaspheming Honeycrisp apples.