The Tropical Fruit Forum

Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: savemejebus on August 10, 2019, 11:50:18 AM

Title: Out with the old...
Post by: savemejebus on August 10, 2019, 11:50:18 AM
1 of 3 useless lychee trees (sweetheart) was on the chopping block this morning. Some heavy duty loppers, a chainsaw, and some serious elbow grease... took a few hours but the hole is reclaimed and will now be filled with a Super Haas avocado picked up from Fruitscapes yesterday.

With any luck, the lychee's mangled corpse will send a strong message to the other 2 trees that they better make some fruit sometime soon. For as much as I'd like to keep them, I'm out of space and they are growing like crazy which makes pruning/management very difficult.


(https://i.postimg.cc/jCqfWpxB/20190226-084611.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/jCqfWpxB)

(https://i.postimg.cc/v1dgGj2q/20190810-091614.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/v1dgGj2q)

(https://i.postimg.cc/47Wmb3fq/20190810-102425.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/47Wmb3fq)
Title: Re: Out with the old...
Post by: achetadomestica on August 10, 2019, 01:26:36 PM
Do you think it doesn't fruit because lack of cold? Did you give it 1-2 months
dry in the Winter? My brother's wife came from China and her father has lychee
trees and every year they produce fruit. My brother said it gets 40F every night
for 30 days during the Winter, he also said it rarely frosts. Perfect cool dry month?
Title: Re: Out with the old...
Post by: savemejebus on August 10, 2019, 01:36:24 PM
Do you think it doesn't fruit because lack of cold? Did you give it 1-2 months
dry in the Winter? My brother's wife came from China and her father has lychee
trees and every year they produce fruit. My brother said it gets 40F every night
for 30 days during the Winter, he also said it rarely frosts. Perfect cool dry month?

We don't get much in the way of chill here in west Broward. Last year, between the 3 trees, we got a total of 3 lychee fruits. Not bushels... individual fruits. From what I can tell, lychee is not very reliable in our area.
Title: Re: Out with the old...
Post by: brian on August 10, 2019, 02:29:31 PM
The wood looks really nice.  Maybe you can make something out of it.  Looks kinda like american hornbeam / Ironwood
Title: Re: Out with the old...
Post by: gnappi on August 10, 2019, 02:45:38 PM
I'm in Coral Springs also and I got well over 20 pounds of fruit from my sweetheart this year, go figure.

Title: Re: Out with the old...
Post by: simon_grow on August 10, 2019, 03:01:30 PM
If your tree is growing like crazy, maybe it was getting too much Nitrogen? If you knew you would be chopping the tree down anyways, it would have been a good experiment to girdle a couple of the major branches in Winter to see if it would bloom and hold fruit better.

Simon
Title: Re: Out with the old...
Post by: PahoaJo on August 10, 2019, 04:22:58 PM
Girdling lychee is a common trick to get them to fruit.  Wouldn't hurt to try.  I think here in Hawaii, where we also don't really get chill hours, it is done in fall, usually September.
Title: Re: Out with the old...
Post by: murahilin on August 10, 2019, 05:49:44 PM
Are you giving them lots of potassium around July-August?

Title: Re: Out with the old...
Post by: spaugh on August 10, 2019, 06:16:59 PM
That tree could have been top worked with Kaimana.  It looked like a beautiful tree by the way.  Sad to see that it got chopped down and removed.
Title: Re: Out with the old...
Post by: Chandramohan on August 11, 2019, 12:57:31 AM
Can Kaimana flower and set fruit without chill hours?
Title: Re: Out with the old...
Post by: Mango_Seed on August 11, 2019, 02:50:27 AM
Change is the only constant. Poor lychee tree. You should have a service or something.
Title: Re: Out with the old...
Post by: Orkine on August 11, 2019, 01:12:58 PM
He has 2 more.  Perhaps some of the suggestions may result in some fruiting next year.
Title: Re: Out with the old...
Post by: PahoaJo on August 11, 2019, 01:49:00 PM
Can Kaimana flower and set fruit without chill hours?

Yes, it is probably the most popular and common variety in Hawaii, where there are no chill hours (for the most part).
Title: Re: Out with the old...
Post by: Johnny Eat Fruit on August 11, 2019, 01:58:31 PM
Good Job. I too have recently removed (5) dud trees that are either nonproductive, inconsistent in production, mediocre quality or too big and labor-intensive to keep Trimming.

My Gold Nugget mandarin, Cot-N-Candy Aprium, two peach trees and one plum were on the chopping block this year and were hacked down last month.

I love the appearance of my Pdero walnut tree but I only have about 20 nuts from a 15-foot tree and last year was the same. That tree will likely be removed next year. 

Johnny