Author Topic: Lychee Thread  (Read 26757 times)

nch

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Lychee Thread
« on: December 21, 2013, 12:45:01 AM »
For all of us who grow, or would like to grow Lychees, to share our experience.
I'll post pics of my trees soon, but for now I have a question. I want to plant a 4' Sweetheart in a corner of my front yard, that can be seen from the street. It will need wind protection, but I don't want to use burlap or any materials that are too conspicuous. I am thinking of using clear vinyl tarps attached to stakes around the tree. Do you guys think that will work?

AnnonAddict

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2013, 12:53:11 AM »
About your question… I don't know. My lychee tree has wind protection from a large oak tree branch that fell from the oak tree closest to it. It has dark green, glossy, waxy, and brittle leaves that will break off if there is heavy winds. It has fruited before and produced a very large luscious fruit that had citrusy overtones. I believe it is a "Kaimana" variety which is a very inconsistent bearer but one of the best quality fruits.
Jackson


nch

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #3 on: December 21, 2013, 01:00:09 AM »
Thanks, AnnonAddict, you give me hope, because I just bought a Kaimana, and I read on PIN that they don't fruit well in CA. As long as it fruits and the fruits are good, I don't really care if it's not often. My Kaimana has very bushy shape. It looks really good. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

nch

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #4 on: December 21, 2013, 01:02:00 AM »
Of course, can't miss links from LycheeOnLine.

http://www.lycheesonline.com/lycheeinfo.cfm

nch

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #5 on: December 21, 2013, 02:15:10 PM »
Pics of my lychee trees.

Kaimana (left) and Sweetheart#2 (right)


Mauritius


Sweetheart#1


Brewster



AnnonAddict

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #6 on: December 21, 2013, 02:39:59 PM »
Nice trees Nch! My Kaimana looks nothing like yours, the leaves on mine are much more elongated.
Jackson

Felipe

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #7 on: December 21, 2013, 04:13:28 PM »
Litchis do need sun exposure, but do not like wind at all. Clear vinyl tarps sounds good...

nch

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #8 on: December 21, 2013, 05:55:29 PM »
Quote
My Kaimana looks nothing like yours, the leaves on mine are much more elongated
O dear, I hope mine a true Kaimana too. You know, the mature leaves toward the base of the tree are more elongated than the newer ones which are burnt at the tips.

Thanks, Felipe. I just went to Walmart to buy a clear vinyl sheet. I'll see how it works out.

nch

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #9 on: December 21, 2013, 06:14:39 PM »
Posting some tips from LycheeOnLine.
http://www.lycheesonline.com/HowToGetTreeToFruit.


Tips on Getting Your Lychee Tree to Produce Fruit

by Bill Mee and Krystal Folino
Lychee trees grow in recurrent cycles of growth followed by periods of dormancy. Typically, a South Florida lychee tree will experience 4 - 6 annual growth flushes depending on the age and size of a tree. The trick is to have the tree enter the cooler months in a state of dormancy so that the next wave of emerging buds develop into bloom spikes, providing that the temperatures are at or below 68 degrees F (20 degrees C).

Now that we have identified one reason why many lychee trees irregularly produce fruit in South Florida, we need to outline a possible solution to this problem. No amount of possible solutions can overcome a winter with daytime temperatures in the 80s and nocturnal temperatures in the 70s, but usually during most Florida winters we will experience one or more cold fronts moving in from the northwest.

The solution begins many months in advance of the flowering season, which typically runs from late December through January. The end, in this case, is flower bud formation and the means are pruning. To visualize this process you need to plot out a linear calendar timeline showing all of the weeks from July 1 though the end of January. Ideally, we want our trees to be ending a cycle of dormancy sometime between the end of December and the middle of January.

A typical cycle encompasses a period of approximately 10 weeks where the first five weeks involve a new growth flush forming and hardening off. "Hardening off" is defined as the leaves going from a delicate light green state to a tougher dark green condition. During the second 5 weeks of this cycle the leaves simply sit there and collect sunlight and do their photosynthesis thing. If you plot backwards from January 1 you will identify the end of July as the starting point of the two 10 week cycles.

Months
J   J   J   J   A   A   A   A   S   S   S   S   O   O   O   O   N   N   N   N   D   D   D   D   J   J   J   J
Pr         fl   fl   fl   fl   fl   dr   dr   dr   dr   dr   fl   fl   fl   fl   fl   dr   dr   dr   dr   dr   bl   bl   bl   bl
J = July, A = August, S = September, O = October, N= November, D = December, J = Jannuary

Pr = Prune, fl = flush, dr = dormant, bl = bloom

The numbers correspond to weeks

Basically, you have to synchronize your tree(s) to a known starting point so that they will be at their most susceptible point when conditions will be optimum for bloom formation around the start of the New Year. What this means is that if you prune your trees around the middle of July, just after the harvest (if you had one) they will just be beginning to flush out at the end of July to the beginning of August. This is one of the reasons why post harvest pruning tends to lead to higher crop yields.

Not to despair completely if your tree is aggressively flushing out as we speak, which means you can forget about fruit. It is possible to prune off part of the new growth thereby inducing lateral bud formation in about 10 days. If a cold front moves in within the intervening 2 weeks you may still have a chance to get flowering and maybe fruit.

simon_grow

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #10 on: December 21, 2013, 06:25:13 PM »
Your trees all look really healthy, a lot healthier than some of mine.  Once you get your trees into the ground, they should take off nicely.  The plastic you are considering using may create too much of a greenhouse effect during the heat of Summer and you may have to remove it in the hottest months to prevent burns.  I use shade cloth or frost cloth that blocks out 15% of the sun.  You should get great cross pollination with all the different varieties you have there.
Simon

nch

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #11 on: December 21, 2013, 06:42:51 PM »
Thanks, Simon, even though I can't take any credit for how they look. I bought the first one barely 3 months ago, and the newest one few days ago. Only one of them can be in the ground for now, because of yard space. I picked the larger Sweetheart. Just getting the ground ready. I think it has flower flush.

nch

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #12 on: December 21, 2013, 09:55:01 PM »
Link to an old thread about fertilizing Lychee trees. Thanks to all who posted on it.

http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=1788.0

nch

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #13 on: December 21, 2013, 09:58:59 PM »
Article on pruning to induce flowering.
http://hilo.hawaii.edu/panr/writing.php?id=254

DECEMBER PRUNING OF VEGETATIVE FLUSHES AFFECTS FLOWERING OF 'KAIMANA' LYCHEE IN HAWAI`I
MIKE A. NAGAO, ELODIE B. HO-A, MELVIN S. NISHINA, FRANCIS ZEE
Vegetative flushing in late autumn and early winter is associated with irregular flowering of lychee (Litchi chinenesis Sonn) trees during spring and can result in inconsistent yields. This study was conducted to determine if pruning of vegetative flushes emerging on 'Kaimana' lychee trees in early winter could enhance spring flowering. Results of this study showed that vegetative flushing during the winter reduced flowering of Kaimana trees and that pruning of young flushes, which emerged during early December, stimulated flowering. Pruning of emerging vegetative flushes significantly increased the number of panicles developing on trees in February compared to trees on which flushing branches were left unpruned. Pruning also increased the number of panicles developing on each pruned branch by stimulating the production of multiple inflorescences from nodes located immediately below the pruned terminal.

AnnonAddict

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #14 on: December 21, 2013, 10:48:25 PM »
My kaimana put out hundreds of little fruits last time it flowered but only two set and ended up morphing into eachother.
Jackson

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #15 on: December 22, 2013, 12:16:23 AM »
My kaimana put out hundreds of little fruits last time it flowered but only two set and ended up morphing into eachother.
Do you have bees around? Bees, or other pollinators, are necessary for flowers to set fruit. Colony collapse also causes lychee collapse.  :(
Oscar

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #16 on: December 22, 2013, 12:19:16 AM »
My kaimana put out hundreds of little fruits last time it flowered but only two set and ended up morphing into eachother.
Do you have bees around? Bees, or other pollinators, are necessary for flowers to set fruit. Colony collapse also causes lychee collapse.  :(
Yes, we have bee's quite a lot too due to the fact we have a hive in the yard!
Jackson

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #17 on: December 22, 2013, 12:30:24 AM »
My kaimana put out hundreds of little fruits last time it flowered but only two set and ended up morphing into eachother.
Do you have bees around? Bees, or other pollinators, are necessary for flowers to set fruit. Colony collapse also causes lychee collapse.  :(
Yes, we have bee's quite a lot too due to the fact we have a hive in the yard!
Great you have a hive, that's a very big help toward getting good lychee fruit set. Bad fruit set can also be caused by very low temperatures during flowering. Wind can also knock flowers off.
Oscar

AnnonAddict

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #18 on: December 22, 2013, 12:32:38 AM »
Neither wind or cold was present when it flowered or when the fruits were developing. I have read elsewhere(Pine Island Nursery) that it has verry irreguar crops but they did not supply a reason.
Jackson

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #19 on: December 22, 2013, 12:35:35 AM »
Neither wind or cold was present when it flowered or when the fruits were developing. I have read elsewhere(Pine Island Nursery) that it has verry irreguar crops but they did not supply a reason.

Kaimana was selected here as a regular bearer in tropical conditions, but it makes sense that in sub tropics or temperate areas it would not be a regular bearer. What doesn't make sense is that i think Ong nursery reported it fruits well in SD area.
Oscar

AnnonAddict

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #20 on: December 22, 2013, 12:39:24 AM »
Neither wind or cold was present when it flowered or when the fruits were developing. I have read elsewhere(Pine Island Nursery) that it has verry irreguar crops but they did not supply a reason.

Kaimana was selected here as a regular bearer in tropical conditions, but it makes sense that in sub tropics or temperate areas it would not be a regular bearer. What doesn't make sense is that i think Ong nursery reported it fruits well in SD area.
No way...
Jackson

nch

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #21 on: December 22, 2013, 12:45:33 AM »
AA, did you hand pollinate? LycheeLuva, Simon, and other posters have some good tips here.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropicalfruits/msg0208151221943.html
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropicalfruits/msg0208151221943.html
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropicalfruits/msg040122376304.html
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropicalfruits/msg0410260324490.html?13

Oops, I found this link in my Lychee bookmark folder. The thread was started by Jackfruitwhisperer69. My apologies, Jackfruitwhisperer69. How do I combine the 2 threads?
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=643.0

I am so envious of the lychee trees in the videos. BTW, those are great videos, Jackfruitwhisperer69. Thanks so much for posting them.
« Last Edit: December 22, 2013, 01:12:19 AM by nch »

simon_grow

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #22 on: December 22, 2013, 01:01:29 AM »
Yup, Quang has fruited his Kaimana and I believe Mark may have tasted it, not positive. I have definitely seen his Kaimana when it was flowering and holding fruit. I remember I was surprised that it bloomed and held fruit even though his tree is in part shade.

I have several Varieties of lychees and I noticed that the female flowers on Kaimana has much smaller ovaries than other varieties. This may be caused by my trees being so small but I did notice this on both my Kaimanas. This is the opposite from what I experience with Emperor Lycjees which have some of the largest and strangest looking female flowers/ovaries.

I believe Kaimana will fruit fine here in San Diego.

Simon

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #23 on: December 22, 2013, 03:33:06 AM »
I believe the information on lychees online is helpful, but the schedule/routine of when the tree flowers/fruits here in SoCal is somewhat different?

nch

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Re: Lychee Thread
« Reply #24 on: December 22, 2013, 10:03:16 AM »
Quote
I believe the information on lychees online is helpful, but the schedule/routine of when the tree flowers/fruits here in SoCal is somewhat different?

I agree, and Simon has said the same thing, but for now, Lycheesonline is about the only reference we have.

 

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