Bosworth 3 (Kwai Mai Pink) Lychee

[HMHausman]

Here's a shot of my 15 or so year old Bosworth 3 lychee putting on its best fruit set ever.

[fruitlovers]

Amazing that the B3 is fruiting already. Here it is usually the last of the season lychee.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

NICE! Looks very healthy.

are the fruits ever pink?

thanks for sharing!!!

Here's a shot of my 15 or so year old Bosworth 3 lychee putting on its best fruit set ever.

[fruitlovers]

Yes the B3 is pink when mature, never turns red. Not a good selling point as most will think it was picked pre mature.

[HMHausman]

Not sure I would call the mature color pink.  At least the ones that I  have seen at my house, at Bill Whitman's and at Zill's have had more of an almost yellowish cast.  But they are definitely not red. That's for sure.

[fruitlovers]

Not sure I would call the mature color pink.  At least the ones that I  have seen at my house, at Bill Whitman's and at Zill's have had more of an almost yellowish cast.  But they are definitely not red. That's for sure.

Yellowish cast sounds like they were slightly sun burnt.

[HMHausman]

Could be, I guess. They were grown in full sun. But all three places the same or similar color?  Perhaps our South Florida, environment, growing conditions, water, and soil had some effect on this. I remember the first time I saw this cultivar at Zill's I was amazed that the fruits looked so yellow.....but in kind of a good way.

[fruitlovers]

Could be, I guess. They were grown in full sun. But all three places the same or similar color?  Perhaps our South Florida, environment, growing conditions, water, and soil had some effect on this. I remember the first time I saw this cultivar at Zill's I was amazed that the fruits looked so yellow.....but in kind of a good way.

Too bad i don't have a photo of Kwai Mi Pink. For once the name gets it right. They really are pink. I have a couple of trees. None of the fruits here have any yellow color.

[johnb51]

How is the flavor of the fruit?

[HMHausman]

Too bad i don't have a photo of Kwai Mi Pink. For once the name gets it right. They really are pink. I have a couple of trees. None of the fruits here have any yellow color.

No photo?  I am shocked.  You are slacking Oscar.   Maybe my memory and mind's eye are way off on this.  I might have a shot of mine somewhere in my archives on yard updates.   In any case.  I think the flavor of Bosworth 3 is quite good.  What I always like to point out is that, Bill Whitman, who could have had any lychee he wanted in his yard,  grew three types.  They were Bosworth 3, Kaimana and Emperor (more for its impressive size). I think that speaks considerably about the quality of B3. At least as far as technology available at the time he was growing lychees

[BMc]

B3 is a beast and fruits over a huge range of climactic and soil conditions here. I accidentally knocked off a branch one day with lots of near mature but green fruit on. I decided to eat them anyways and they were surprisingly good. Quite citrussy, like a wampi or similar.

[fruitlovers]

Too bad i don't have a photo of Kwai Mi Pink. For once the name gets it right. They really are pink. I have a couple of trees. None of the fruits here have any yellow color.

No photo?  I am shocked.  You are slacking Oscar.   Maybe my memory and mind's eye are way off on this.  I might have a shot of mine somewhere in my archives on yard updates.   In any case.  I think the flavor of Bosworth 3 is quite good.  What I always like to point out is that, Bill Whitman, who could have had any lychee he wanted in his yard,  grew three types.  They were Bosworth 3, Kaimana and Emperor (more for its impressive size). I think that speaks considerably about the quality of B3. At least as far as technology available at the time he was growing lychees

It's just that i'm usually too busy eating them to even think of taking a photo. Lychee is my king of fruits! I notice i have very very few photos of lychees.  Have a fond memory of a long ago field trip to Kona experimental station. It was in June an they had a big table with big piles of about 8 different types of lychees for us to sample, resample, and double sample. At the end we took big lychee doggie bags. home We were all in seventh heaven.    Anyways, one of my favorites from that side to side comparison was B3 and the other was Kaimana. I know Mike T is always putting the B3 down, but i really like it. Also it is the most consistent bearer at my place.

[Pancrazio]

I have heard some claims regarding this cultivar: at least a people i know (on a italian site) says it is at least marginally more cold hardy than other lychee cultivars. Is there something true in those claims?

[BluePalm]

Harry, your tree seems small for being 15 years old. Is the Bosworth 3 normally a smallish lychee tree?

[bsbullie]

I have noticed a similar off color as Harry stated from the fruit grown at Excalibur.

From what I have tasted it is good but not excellent.

[HMHausman]

Harry, your tree seems small for being 15 years old. Is the Bosworth 3 normally a smallish lychee tree?

I have three planted out.  The first was an air layer from Bill Whitmam's tree.  It is taller than the one pictured here, but not growing all that well.  That could be a function of being run over by a truck back in about year five of being planted out.  A friend trying to haul a giant chipper out of the back of my yard, bowled it right over as a result of the poor turning radius of his truck.  I up righted it and it survived, but was never a vigorous grower thereafter. On top of that, the surrounding lychee trees, planted before these, have grown much taller and partially shade my Bosworth 3 trees.  The other two, of which the picture is of the largest, were purchased from Fairchild gardens as tiny Kwai Mai Pink air layers.  They have survived but not flourished in my yard.  They fruit but are tiny for their age.

At Zill's the tree they had that I saw was planted out but it was one of the first time fruiting, so the tree had not achieved much size. The only other tree I have seen planted out  was at Whitman's.  His was a nice sized tree....quite spreading. It was a wide as it was tall, or so it seems in my mind's eye thinking back  almost 20 years.  I think my experience with these trees might not be typical.

[puglvr1]

Wow...that tree is loaded!! Very nice lychee tree. I hope mine grows up one day and look close to that...keeping it alive and growing it is a year to year thing living in my zone     Its a crap shoot,lol...

[fruitlovers]

I have a couple B-3 trees. They are not small trees. Mine are both about 25-30 feet tall, and not full grown.

[HMHausman]

Found a picture of my Bosworth 3 fruits taken back in July of 2010.  They seem to have a two tone thing going on.  More yellowish at the top and pink underneath.  Admittedly, they are more pink than I remember.  In my mind's eye, I still visualize a very yellow looking fruit at Zill's, where I first encountered the tree in fruit.

[fruitlovers]

WEre you looking at those fruits through jaundiced eyes? No yellow when they're healthy. I did find some photos i took and will post later.

[HMHausman]

My mind's eye could be very jaundiced.  I'll look forward to seeing what real B-3 are supposed to look like.  Thanks in advance for correcting my "yellow journalism."

[fruitlovers]

This is only shot i have, taken of B3 with mangosteen. I think there actually is some yellow in the background of B3, but overall appearance is pink: