Author Topic: Lychee grafted onto Longan? (Read 55621 times)

simon_grow · « **Reply #100 on:** January 25, 2016, 01:46:49 PM »

The last leaf just turned brown. It was growing nicely for about two months but it did not like the cold weather and hail. The grafting cuts I made were really ugly so please don't let my failed attempt discourage others from trying.

Simon

meristos · « **Reply #101 on:** January 26, 2016, 05:09:26 PM »

Ok, will make a try shortly on very young plant, I'll let you know

behlgarden · « **Reply #102 on:** January 27, 2016, 02:04:37 PM »

one one lychee on longan survived winter freeze, however it has not grown much. hoping that it got enough chill hours for it to now thrive as temps. rise.

Rnguyen · « **Reply #103 on:** April 10, 2016, 07:52:02 AM »

Anyone else trying this? Any updates?

fruit4me · « **Reply #104 on:** November 13, 2016, 07:52:21 PM »

New experiment. Heung Lai and Pot Po Heung Lychee both grafted 4/2016
Heung Lai

Pot Po Heung

druss · « **Reply #105 on:** November 13, 2016, 08:16:12 PM »

Is there any reason for the lychee longan combo? Would species of nephelium work just as well?

simon_grow · « **Reply #106 on:** November 14, 2016, 08:27:58 AM »

Longan are more adaptable and generally considered easier to grow here in SoCal where the pH of our soil is very high.

Simon

druss · « **Reply #107 on:** November 14, 2016, 05:47:46 PM »

Cool, approach geafting gives the highest chance yes?

simon_grow · « **Reply #108 on:** November 14, 2016, 05:59:01 PM »

For me personally, approach grafting gave me the best results but others have had success with cleft grafting. Dr Francis Z pointed me towards this article for grafting Lychee. https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/fb/lychee/lychee.htm

If you have an established Lychee tree, the grafting should be easier than grafting into an unestablished tree. Lychees go through periods of active growth where sap is flowing and branches are receptive to grafting attempts. By innarching or approach grafting, you keep the scion alive longer as it has its own root system and if you are lucky, you will hit one of these window periods of active growth and the union will callous and heal.

Simon

druss · « **Reply #109 on:** November 14, 2016, 08:40:39 PM »

Might try it, my soil is also full of limestone

Bananaizme · « **Reply #110 on:** April 05, 2017, 08:32:45 AM »

I realize that this is a older thread but it got me thinking , has any growers / experimenters tried to multi graft lychee trees ? I have about 7 or 8 varieties of lychee and was wondering if it would be possible to create a multiple grafted tree ?

William

simon_grow · « **Reply #111 on:** April 05, 2017, 09:28:52 AM »

It should be possible but grafting Lychee is very difficult for me although Max and a couple others have had good success. What varieties do you have?

I've read that some Lychee varieties have different number of chromosomes so some grafts may not work is this regards.

Something that may help growers in SoCal is trying to graft Emperor Lychee scions onto Mauritius rootstock. Emperor can be very sensitive on its own roots. I have lots of small Lychee seedlings that I intend to approach graft together to create a multiple rootstock seedling Lychee. As some people are aware, Lychee seedlings grow very slow here in SoCal and as with mangos, small Lychee (air layers) will flower at under 1 foot due to cold stimuli.

I am still extremely interested if anyone still has a successful Lychee grafted onto Longan? If you do, it would be great if you can post an update.

Simon

fruit4me · « **Reply #112 on:** April 05, 2017, 01:46:39 PM »

Lychee on Longan graft update. Heung Lai is flowering and Pot Po Hueng still looks the same.

Both grafts are about a year old now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some fruits .

Max

behlgarden · « **Reply #113 on:** April 05, 2017, 03:23:43 PM »

its waste of time I think. I tried a lot, it took, was alive for 12 months, grew a little, then died. I believe its conventional wisdom to do airlayers only.

simon_grow · « **Reply #114 on:** April 05, 2017, 04:01:17 PM »

If we don't see accelerated growth, I would agree with Behlgarden. We should all be proud that we experimented in an attempt to push the boundaries and test the limits of our imagination and our skills as tropical fruit growers. Without pushing the envelope, we would still be growing only Mauritius and Brewster Lychees or even worse, Tommy Atkins Mangos.

Lychees are difficult to graft for some people, me, so there is a point where one has to ask if the effort is worth the reward. For a Lychee lover, a little more effort may be worth the reward.

Simon

Bananaizme · « **Reply #115 on:** April 05, 2017, 05:57:18 PM »

Simon

I'm thinking that in order to create a multi grafted tree , using the approach graft method might be best . However based on your comments about incompatibility, the resulting tree may not end up with as many varieties as one desires 😊

simon_grow · « **Reply #116 on:** April 05, 2017, 06:18:22 PM »

My primary objective with Lychee is to increase the rate of growth so that we can obtain a large, fruiting size tree in as short of a time as possible. One major roadblock is the Lychee roots sensitivity to soil, pH, especially but salinity as well. Here in our high pH soil, our trees require regular supplementation with micronutrients, I recommend foliar feeding to avoid soil pH issues.

Just to be clear, my current experiments are with innarching young seedlings to give them multiple rootstocks without mature scions so that all energy is focused on vegetative groeth and not flowers. When the multiple rootstock seedling gets slightly more mature, I will have to approach graft it with a named variety which unfortunately will mean it will flower soon after grafting but at least it will have multiple rootstocks instead of air layer type roots. The multiple tap roots may or may not be beneficial.

Simon

Bananaizme · « **Reply #117 on:** April 05, 2017, 07:58:37 PM »

Simon

I had always heard that seedling lychees grew very slowly and because their so sensitive to fertilizer burn you can't really push them , with that being said patrons on this board have told me that osmocote won't burn them. I haven't used it on my lychees yet . I have heard that fish emulsion is very good for lychees.How long does it usually take for you before your seedlings are ready to graft ? I don't really have any ph issues here. I make my own compost which really helps with the overall healthiness of my trees.

William

simon_grow · « **Reply #118 on:** April 05, 2017, 09:11:47 PM »

Sorry William, I completely missed your earlier question. Yes, I personally feel that approach graft or innarching is the best way to create a multigraft Lychee tree. I would not worry too much about chromosome incompatibility because it appears that the grafts by some of the more experienced Lychee grafters like Max shows that so far at least, there are no incompatibility issues. I urge everyone to try so that we can gather more data.

Yes, Lychee seedlings grow very slowly but the seedlings with a tap root for some strange reason seem to be more adaptable to adverse conditions once they get past about the 2-5 true leaf stage. This is similar to Mango(most are seedlings) http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=1835.0
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=21350.0
and Avocado http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=12844.0

Not sure exactly why and I don't have any scientific data but anecdotal evidence and reports seem to show that seedling trees do really well and grow extremely large and fruitful. Maybe it's because they don't have to expend as much energy on producing flowers and fruit and can thus use these additional resources to ward off diseases and spread its tap root far enough to find whatever nutrient it needs more of.

Lychee can be grafted young and I'm starting to find out that many if not most fruit species are highly susceptible to grafting at the epicotyl stage when the plant tissues are not fully differentiated. Once the epicotyl leaves are gone, young seedlings are still very open to grafting when their trunks are in the green wood stage. It is in the brown wood stage where grafting becomes more difficult and a grafted usually moves up the canopy to find younger green wood to graft.

By keeping careful records of your trees and neighboring trees, you can track when your tree is in an active stage of growth where cleft and other non approach type grafting may be successful. This is extremely important because we can often get scion material shipped to us but they are lacking roots.

In this experiment here, I was somewhat successful with approach grafting a very young Lychee untill an animal knocked over the pots and severed the connection. http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=17204.0

Simon

fruit4me · « **Reply #119 on:** June 28, 2017, 11:39:55 AM »

Updating progress for heung lai lychee. Over a foot of growth and holding onto thumb size fruits this year. I'm so so so excited!!!!!

simon_grow · « **Reply #120 on:** June 28, 2017, 02:11:25 PM »

Max, amazing results! Please keep us updated. I'm especially interested in what you think about the fruit. It looks like you have no leaf burn on your new growth. Awesome!!!

Simon

fruit4me · « **Reply #121 on:** August 11, 2017, 12:31:48 AM »

I have successfully fruited Huang Lai lychees from my longan tree. My proudest achievement in the gardening world. Fruit was so so so good. Flesh was juicy soft and melting sweet with very good aroma. Also, majority of the seeds were tiny. No rag and tanium after taste like some other lychees.

fruit4me · « **Reply #122 on:** August 11, 2017, 12:37:00 AM »

boxturtle · « **Reply #123 on:** August 11, 2017, 01:25:42 AM »

wow impressive!

simon_grow · « **Reply #124 on:** August 11, 2017, 02:29:55 AM »

Max, that is awesome! I'm glad the experiment worked. Now let's see if we notice any improved growth with this Longan rootstock or if there are other advantages or disadvantages. I'm still worried about delayed graft incompatibility but if it throws another vegetative growth after you harvested these fruit, that will be a very positive sign! That's just amazing!

Simon

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Author Topic: Lychee grafted onto Longan? (Read 55621 times)