Lychee success in SoCal

[simon_grow]

They get overripe and around my area, the outer skin will get dark spots and the Lychee looses the Rose flavor. They can hang on the tree for some time before this happens.

Simon

[Johnny Eat Fruit]

How far is the trunk of your Bruster lychee tree from the wall in your house? (Garage)

I will be planting my Bruster in the ground next spring and want to make sure I place it far enough away. Just wondering on recommended Spacing for these trees.

Beautiful Tree BestDay.

Thanks

[BestDay]

I have been keeping mine from 9-12’. Right now it is about 12’. I will remove the air layers soon and prune the rest of the tree. I would say 12 is a good minimum size.

Bill

[sapote]

Too long on tree then the fruit flesh turned light brown or rust and loosing its taste.

Less fruit on such a big tree could be due to Bill's cooler coastal climate is my guess. On the opposite side I had a hard time growing a Lychee tree -- 7 years old and it was only 3 feet tall and less than 1" trunk dia, gave me about 8 fruits total in those years and finally died. I think the location was too hot and no shade for the young tree.

[sapote]

I'm going to buy either a 3 or a 7 gallon Sweetheart Lychee this weekend from Champa Nursery in El Monte, $60 or $95 respectively. I could do another air-layer on my brother giant tree but don't want to wait. This time I will heavily add kitchen vegetable-fruit waste on top around the tree to simulate the southern China mountain condition. I have been adding kitchen waste to my mango trees and this helps to keep the soil moist and tons of earthworms.

Should I buy the 3 or the 7 gallon?

[FV Fruit Freak]

I'm going to buy either a 3 or a 7 gallon Sweetheart Lychee this weekend from Champa Nursery in El Monte, $60 or $95 respectively. I could do another air-layer on my brother giant tree but don't want to wait. This time I will heavily add kitchen vegetable-fruit waste on top around the tree to simulate the southern China mountain condition. I have been adding kitchen waste to my mango trees and this helps to keep the soil moist and tons of earthworms.

Should I buy the 3 or the 7 gallon?

I’m no expert but maybe take both the 3 and the 7 gallon out of their pots and check the roots to make sure they’re not badly root bound. I’d also base my decision on overall health of the tree and shape.

[simon_grow]

I'm going to buy either a 3 or a 7 gallon Sweetheart Lychee this weekend from Champa Nursery in El Monte, $60 or $95 respectively. I could do another air-layer on my brother giant tree but don't want to wait. This time I will heavily add kitchen vegetable-fruit waste on top around the tree to simulate the southern China mountain condition. I have been adding kitchen waste to my mango trees and this helps to keep the soil moist and tons of earthworms.

Should I buy the 3 or the 7 gallon?

If you can afford it, I would definitely go for the larger tree. Normally I select smaller trees but for Lychees, I would recommend you go big, just not too big.

Most people are already aware but in case you don’t know, Sweetheart is a great fruit but production can be low.

Simon

[BestDay]

If the trees look healthy then buy the bigger one. Just be careful this time of year some people sell freshly removed air layers in pots. You want a plant that has been in the pot long enough for o root out and be happy.

As a side note I ate one of my lychees yesterday and it was delicious. Very sweet and tender. I’m going to eat one a week to get a feel for when they are at peak ripeness. Then next year I’ll have a better idea of when they are ready.

Bill

[sapote]

Wen to Champa nursery on Saturday and it was a very nice place with many different exotic fruit trees – they all in great shape and well cared. I bought a 7 gallon Sweet-heart and hoping the label was correct – hate to spend 3 to 4 years and find out it is Sweet heart. I took Bill’s advice on the final 2 candidates: one was taller than the other but when I dug my fingers into the soil and it just loose and falling apart while the other tree  with roots holding the soil. So the taller was recently repotted or air-layered. I took the smaller tree.

One of the best nurseries in SoCal

[boxturtle]

Dang that lychee tree is beautiful! what do you fertilize it with?

[BestDay]

Nothing fancy. I give it vitoro citrus fertilizer from Home Depot. It has 2-3” of bark nuggets as mulch. I know it likes that.

Bill

[boxturtle]

no leaf burns? how much and how often?

[BestDay]

I fertilize it two or three times a year.

Bill