Author Topic: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees  (Read 10799 times)

fruitlovers

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Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« on: March 16, 2012, 02:13:03 AM »
Today i cut down 3 Brewster lychee trees i planted over 20 years ago. I did it to give more light to the remaining trees. When i originally planted these Brewsters i purposely planted them close together (15 feet apart) figuring i would take advantage of fruiting for a few years and then later remove every other tree (to get 30 feet apart). Was good in theory only. Brewsters don't fruit very well here, and by the time i got around to removing them they were giant trees, and shading out some of my other preferred lychees. As i mentioned before, any part of a lychee tree that is shaded will not fruit. Oh well, live and learn!
This tree in the middle with survey tape is one of the ones i cut down. On left another Brewster i kept, to the right a Kwai Mi Pink (B3) and a Groff:

Tree after removal. Lots more light for the Groff and others:

Was really hard to do this because one of the trees had lots of fruit panicles:

This is what the inside of the trunk looks like. Lychee wood is used here for making drums and even for some furniture. It is very good, colorful, and hard wood:

Some of these trees got very large. This is the trunk of a Kwai Mi that i didn't remove. You can see my foot on the bottom for scale.

I rented a giant wood chipper to come in a few days so i can spread all the chips under the remaining trees. I kept about a dozen lychee trees. Soon will come the task of topping the remaining trees to get them to where fruit is more reachable. Because trees were too packed together they tended to get very upright to reach for the light under intense light competition.
Oscar
Oscar

HMHausman

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2012, 08:06:35 AM »
Yikes!   While I do understand the logic of your decision......it pains me on an emotional level to hear about this and see the pictures.  I would not have been able to cut these trees down....especially the one with fruit.  I can barely stand to trim mine at all.....never mind actually remove one to acheive prudent growing conditions.  I hope the previously shaded trees appreciate your move to provide a better life for them and they reward you with much fruit in repayment!

Harry
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lycheeluva

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2012, 08:25:31 AM »
echo harry's sentiments. you couldnt wait till after the fruit matures to do the cut?
gorgeous wood by the way

puglvr1

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2012, 11:27:48 AM »
Wow...those trees were HUGE!! Can you say "pugging"? Lol...I can see where the tress were shading many of your other smaller trees, but it does break my hear to see all those green developing fruits just laying on the ground, SO sad. But, honestly those tree were SO tall...its almost impossible to pick the fruits from the very top without killing yourself. Beautiful trees though, regardless. Thanks for the pictures.

Sleepdoc

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2012, 11:32:06 AM »
Ouch !  It's a good problem to have though ... :)

I may have some of that issue in the future...

Tim

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2012, 11:38:15 AM »
 :'( :'( :'(   very sad to see, I definitely don't have the gonads to cut down a tree that big, maybe a severe pugging but do what you must for best results though.
Tim

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #6 on: March 16, 2012, 12:53:11 PM »
At least you got the wood... it looks like it would be excellent to use for something .
Grow mainly fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

zands

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #7 on: March 16, 2012, 02:21:16 PM »
The deed is done but why not pugging then top working with other lychee varieties? Also pugging might have brought them into better production via new young wood and branches.

Also after pugging at say seven feet it would be easy to sell to someone with the gumption n guts to dig out the remainder and plant it at their house.

Jackfruitwhisperer69

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2012, 03:04:52 PM »
Hi Oscar,

Your Lychee tree are huge!

I noticed the Bamboo in the background! is it for wind protection(windbreaks)?
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of your life!

fruitlovers

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #9 on: March 16, 2012, 06:18:06 PM »
Ouch !  It's a good problem to have though ... :)

I may have some of that issue in the future...

I especially posted these photos with you in mind! Aren't you the one that planted 2 lychees 12 ft. apart? Thas is ridiculously close together.
Oscar
Oscar

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #10 on: March 16, 2012, 06:24:03 PM »
Yikes!   While I do understand the logic of your decision......it pains me on an emotional level to hear about this and see the pictures.  I would not have been able to cut these trees down....especially the one with fruit.  I can barely stand to trim mine at all.....never mind actually remove one to acheive prudent growing conditions.  I hope the previously shaded trees appreciate your move to provide a better life for them and they reward you with much fruit in repayment!

Harry

Main reason i did it now is because now was the window of opportunity to get all the work done. Just ran into a guy with a monster chipper for rent. Most of those fruits were at very top and unreachable. Also it's not difficult to find other lychee fruits to eat. I guess i forgot to point out that some of my other lychees also have fruits? ;)  But was hard to do it anyway. Better to have 12 trees that produce very well than 15 trees that produce very poorly and have all the fruits were unreachable. But  I hate cutting trees down, even when they are not fruiting. But sometimes it's just plain necessary. I've already put this off for too many years! But now i'm very happy i finally did it!  ;D
Oscar

« Last Edit: March 16, 2012, 06:47:24 PM by fruitlovers »
Oscar

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #11 on: March 16, 2012, 06:25:47 PM »
echo harry's sentiments. you couldnt wait till after the fruit matures to do the cut?
gorgeous wood by the way

I was hoping my post wouldn't give you a heart attack.  ;D  I could have waited for all fruits to ripen, and the birds would have had a lot more fruits to eat. Almost all at top of 40 foot tree.
Oscar
Oscar

fruitlovers

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #12 on: March 16, 2012, 06:29:59 PM »
The deed is done but why not pugging then top working with other lychee varieties? Also pugging might have brought them into better production via new young wood and branches.

Also after pugging at say seven feet it would be easy to sell to someone with the gumption n guts to dig out the remainder and plant it at their house.

Even after working over to other varieties the same problem would have remained: too close together. These trees were way too big to transplant. Lychee is not a rare plant in Hawaii. Even if it was doable nobody would have wanted them. Also i have lots of other lychee trees both here and at another orchard.
Oscar
Oscar

fruitlovers

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #13 on: March 16, 2012, 06:31:24 PM »
Hi Oscar,

Your Lychee tree are huge!

I noticed the Bamboo in the background! is it for wind protection(windbreaks)?

Yes the bamboos are planted along my property line as windbreak, along with jackfruit, avocado, java plum, sapodilla, santol, and ice cream bean.
Oscar
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MarinFla

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #14 on: March 16, 2012, 06:42:51 PM »
Wow, too bad the big branches were so high that they couldn't be air layered! You would have had enough to have given all of us on this site large air layered Brewster tree presents! I am impressed you cut all that down yourself.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2012, 06:53:57 PM by MarinFla »

fruitlovers

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #15 on: March 16, 2012, 06:50:58 PM »
There was also another little problem of power line running through the trees. Anybody notice that on first couple of photos? Too many heavy limbs hanging over those power lines.
Oscar
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zands

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #16 on: March 16, 2012, 08:50:39 PM »
The deed is done but why not pugging then top working with other lychee varieties? Also pugging might have brought them into better production via new young wood and branches.

Also after pugging at say seven feet it would be easy to sell to someone with the gumption n guts to dig out the remainder and plant it at their house.

Even after working over to other varieties the same problem would have remained: too close together. These trees were way too big to transplant. Lychee is not a rare plant in Hawaii. Even if it was doable nobody would have wanted them. Also i have lots of other lychee trees both here and at another orchard.
Oscar

Lychee must be a rare plant since lychee thievery is such a big problem there. There is even a movie about called "The Lychee Thief". In fact it's gotten so bad I saw an episode of Dog The Bounty Hunter where the bail jumper was wanted for stealing lychees while high on meth. (joking)

Lychee Thieves | A film by Kathleen Man Gyllenhaal| Now available ...
lycheethieves.com/
Four local Hawaiian characters clash in Lychee Thieves, a short film inspired by a newspaper article about a lychee robbery in Hawai'i.

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #17 on: March 16, 2012, 10:42:38 PM »
Completly understand the reasoning behind the chopping....Oh but it hurts so bad to see it!!!! I hope your more productive tree grows fast and bears many fruits!!!!
And what beautiful wood!

fruitlovers

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #18 on: March 16, 2012, 11:09:19 PM »
The deed is done but why not pugging then top working with other lychee varieties? Also pugging might have brought them into better production via new young wood and branches.

Also after pugging at say seven feet it would be easy to sell to someone with the gumption n guts to dig out the remainder and plant it at their house.

Even after working over to other varieties the same problem would have remained: too close together. These trees were way too big to transplant. Lychee is not a rare plant in Hawaii. Even if it was doable nobody would have wanted them. Also i have lots of other lychee trees both here and at another orchard.
Oscar

Lychee must be a rare plant since lychee thievery is such a big problem there. There is even a movie about called "The Lychee Thief". In fact it's gotten so bad I saw an episode of Dog The Bounty Hunter where the bail jumper was wanted for stealing lychees while high on meth. (joking)

Lychee Thieves | A film by Kathleen Man Gyllenhaal| Now available ...
lycheethieves.com/
Four local Hawaiian characters clash in Lychee Thieves, a short film inspired by a newspaper article about a lychee robbery in Hawai'i.

You are assuming that all the lychee trees here bear fruit. But most of them don't or they do so very sporadically. So there is both, lots of trees, but never enough fruit. It's also a well loved fruit, so even in good production years there is never enough lychee fruit!
Oscar
Oscar

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #19 on: March 21, 2012, 12:41:04 AM »
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« Last Edit: April 16, 2014, 01:01:09 PM by Mr. Clean »
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fruitlovers

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Re: Removing 3 Large Brewster Lychee Trees
« Reply #20 on: March 21, 2012, 01:23:44 AM »
Iawace, yes you can do that with lychee. But it's best to start with lychee cultivars that tend to stay small to begin with. Richard Campbell calls the smaller mango trees "condo mangos", so i will call these "condo lychees". The best condo lychees are Kaimana, Wai Chee, and Groff. Even if you're gone for a few years and miss some pruning these trees will stay shorter and wider than most other lychee cultivars. You could also grow these condo lychees in a pot and fruit them in a pot, like Richard Campbell suggests for condo mangos.
Oscar
Oscar