Lychee ID + deficiency ID please

[Diospyros]

Hello fellow lychee enthusiasts,

I recently bought a nice lychee tree from a spanish nursery and the tag was with no help re the name of the variety as it only said "New varieties".
I wouldn't have bought it had I had the choice, but it's all the place had to offer in terms of lychee and I reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally wanted one.
Sure, I could have grabbed the mauritius that was eyeing me right next to it but Mauritius is said to perform poorly on the mediterranean coast for whatever reason and it was later confirmed to me by someone at Brokaw Spain.

And to add insult to injury, before I could fit it in my suitcase, I had to chop it down to a stub before it could fit in my suitcase so I could bring it back home cause there was no way the flight co would have allowed me to take it with me inside the plane.

It bounced back pretty nicely I must say but now, I stand next to it everyday, looking on the internet, scratching my chin trying to find out what variety it could be...

I can narrow it down to 3 or 4 varieties that are commonly sold in Spain when it comes to lychee and those would be : Mauritius, Wai Chee, McLean's red and Kwai May Pink...

On top of that I seem to have another problem with some kind of deficiency as the leave appear somehow chlorotic.

I'm not yet too familiar with lychee and I'm not sure what it might be... I just know that those leave better be much greener soon if i wanna have a healthy tree...


Thanks!!

[sunworshiper]

I'm sure others here might have more insight, but when my lychee leaves look a little yellow, I will either do an iron drench or a nutrient spray. I do both at least once per season and my lychee does well. Iron drench usually has the quickest effect. But my tree is in ground, maybe others can comment on if it is a good idea to do one for a potted lychee.

[bsbullie]

Make sure lychee stays hydrated (do not let it dry out).  Young lychee trees, especially potted, can have survival problems if tbey dry out and are very finicky and stubbirn about taking up nutrients.

[Diospyros]

I'm sure others here might have more insight, but when my lychee leaves look a little yellow, I will either do an iron drench or a nutrient spray. I do both at least once per season and my lychee does well. Iron drench usually has the quickest effect. But my tree is in ground, maybe others can comment on if it is a good idea to do one for a potted lychee.

My first guess was that it might be an iron dificiency but I wasn't quite sure because I only bought it a month ago and I can't remember if it was like this then. I would probably would have noticed it. They had it under drip irrigation and I'm guessing fertirrigation too?!

I'll try giving it some iron and see how it reacts, I don't see much foliar spray around here, at least they're not available for the home gardener.

I'll let you know how it worked, thanks a lot!!

Make sure lychee stays hydrated (do not let it dry out).  Young lychee trees, especially potted, can have survival problems if tbey dry out and are very finicky and stubbirn about taking up nutrients.

Yep, I water it every 3 days or so. The nice thing with these long 1,5 gallon pots is even when the top few inches are dry, there's still plenty of water at the bottom for the root to drink up from.

I give it good showers everytime but I'll be extra careful knowing what you've told me about nutrients. That's very helpfull, thank you!!

Any guess about the variety?? If the pictures aren't clear enough or don't show enough details I can take more... I'm really desperate to know. I usually don't buy anything if I don't have the name of the variety unless it's something that's really really really delicious that I have personally tasted, but that was an opportunity I couldn't miss. And now I'm stuck and it's really bothering me....

[sunworshiper]

glad you have iron available. I see you are in France. Southern ag's Foliar sprays are available via Amazon here - maybe there too?

No idea on variety, I don't know how to tell the varieties apart by the foliage. The good thing about lychees is that while some varieties have slightly different flavor, none are poor quality that I've experienced. So I'm sure whatever kind it is it will be delicious!

[Diospyros]

I'll check amazon!!

Thanks for your help guys. And You're right I can't see how lychees could be bad tasting. They are gems!!! I'm so glad I could get my hands on this tree.

Now what's even better is that as it turns out I may come to Miami (and Mexico) for work later this year which means I should start looking for nurseries and varieties I may be interested in. Just when I thought it couldn't get any more interesting.... ^^