13201
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: lycheeeeeeeeeeeeeeees have hit town
« on: May 19, 2012, 02:29:03 AM »"Don't need freezing to induce flowering"
I agree. But, they do need some kind of shock. Either winter drought, or fertilizer, or something. I believe in tropical Thailand they do something to stress the tree into flowering.
My observations on my Mauritius is that it responds to temps below 32F by flowering. I'm sure that temp shocks the tree enough into flowering.
My tree has gone down to 28F with water freezing under it and has not shown any damage from cold. However, it is a large tree and I always want it to get nipped back so I don't have to trim it. I'll take photos of it this weekend and show how tall it is.
I also have the sweetheart, hak ip, emperor, sweet cliff, and brewster variety. I've tried kaimana but it croaked in the cold. It was a small tree and had no protection.
The Mauritius has been my best tree and also the oldest and in full sun. The others are in shade, so thus, less fruit. Which is okay. Eventually something will take out the canopy above it and then it can take over. LOL...I'm guilty of over planting...
Fertilizing lychees will not stress them, quite the opposite. It will induce new foliage flushes which will be counterproductive for fruiting. The something that is done in Thailand that you refer to to induce flowering is probably girdling, also called cincturing. This isn't done only in Thailand, it's done in a lot of tropical locations to help induce stress so that the trees will flower and fruit.