Author Topic: lycheeeeeeeeeeeeeeees have hit town (Read 12752 times)

lycheeluva · « **on:** May 16, 2012, 09:41:00 AM »

finally, my 10 month wait is over and lychees are available once again. today is the first day they have hit the market this year. unusually, it is the brewster variety that has hit town first. usually mauritius comes first. These are from mexico and are marketed under the brand name STA stella. checking out their website, I see they only grow brewster. hopefully, mexican mauritius will hit town soon.
man these are good. not quite mauritius good bust still damn damn good. right now they are selling for $6 a pound but the price will come down to around $4 a pound pretty soon.

Jsvand5 · « **Reply #1 on:** May 16, 2012, 10:25:08 AM »

Sounding like you will have better access to lychees this season than people in south fl.

bsbullie · « **Reply #2 on:** May 16, 2012, 11:04:23 AM »

Quote from: Jsvand5 on May 16, 2012, 10:25:08 AM

Sounding like you will have better access to lychees this season than people in south fl.

We have a lot of Asian markets here in SFla that I am usually able to find them at in addition to any local sources. I am not that worried about availability, more the price (then again I don't live on a three month lychee diet either).

emegar · « **Reply #3 on:** May 16, 2012, 12:08:53 PM »

Hooray for lychees! I was quite excited to find both lychees and jackfruit in my local asian market the other day. It took me a good two hours to clean the jackfruit (I clearly need to work on my technique). I'm not sure what variety of lychees I bought, but they were also from Mexico. I've found them to be good, but quite variable. Some are fairly large, some small. Some have been very sweet, while others are fairly tart, or somewhere in-between. Seeds seem to mostly be medium to large, though.

simon_grow · « **Reply #4 on:** May 16, 2012, 12:56:14 PM »

Mauritius Lychees have hit town(San Diego) at 99 Ranch Market, The Fruit Shop, Mitsuwa Market and Nijiya. I believe they are from Mexico. The ones that are larger and more colored actually taste quite good. Sweet tasting with that bit of Mauritus acidity.
Simon

SWRancher · « **Reply #5 on:** May 16, 2012, 02:31:15 PM »

I have got to go today and check the local Asian markets here for some.

Jackfruitwhisperer69 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 16, 2012, 02:41:35 PM »

Hi Lycheeluva,

you sure are lucky

We will only get lychees from June onwards.

lkailburn · « **Reply #7 on:** May 16, 2012, 02:41:47 PM »

Haha did you send off some fireworks! Yum

-Luke

natsgarden123 · « **Reply #8 on:** May 16, 2012, 04:28:03 PM »

Quote from: bsbullie on May 16, 2012, 11:04:23 AM

Quote from: Jsvand5 on May 16, 2012, 10:25:08 AM
Sounding like you will have better access to lychees this season than people in south fl.
We have a lot of Asian markets here in SFla that I am usually able to find them at in addition to any local sources. I am not that worried about availability, more the price (then again I don't live on a three month lychee diet either).

where do you go?

fruitlovers · « **Reply #9 on:** May 16, 2012, 06:10:35 PM »

Quote from: lycheeluva on May 16, 2012, 09:41:00 AM

finally, my 10 month wait is over and lychees are available once again. today is the first day they have hit the market this year. unusually, it is the brewster variety that has hit town first. usually mauritius comes first. These are from mexico and are marketed under the brand name STA stella. checking out their website, I see they only grow brewster. hopefully, mexican mauritius will hit town soon.
man these are good. not quite mauritius good bust still damn damn good. right now they are selling for $6 a pound but the price will come down to around $4 a pound pretty soon.

I find the first lychees taste best, even if they aren't really the best of quality! It's the effect of lychee yearning for a whole year. Here we already have several varieties available: Brewster, Kaimana, and another one that looks like Bengal (very large seed but very tasty), but not sure. Price ranges from $2.50 to $3.50 a pound. My guess is that it will come down to $2 a pound when there is more of a glut on the market. Trees are heavily laden here this year and fruits came super early.

Squam256 · « **Reply #10 on:** May 16, 2012, 06:29:24 PM »

Been eating up Hakips and early Mauritius for the last couple days here in PB county.

lycheeluva · « **Reply #11 on:** May 16, 2012, 11:21:09 PM »

squam- are the lychees you are eating from florida or mexico?

Central Floridave · « **Reply #12 on:** May 17, 2012, 10:27:55 AM »

$6/pound is a pretty good price for New York. Can you imagine what it takes to get fresh lychee to market there?!?

Unfortunately none of my lychee are holding fruit this year. I got good production the past three years, but this year is an off year. It is probably due to no freeze for me this year and lychee really like the temp to drop a little below or near 32F to induce flowering.

lycheeluva · « **Reply #13 on:** May 17, 2012, 10:41:41 AM »

Quote from: Central Floridave on May 17, 2012, 10:27:55 AM

$6/pound is a pretty good price for New York. Can you imagine what it takes to get fresh lychee to market there?!?

Unfortunately none of my lychee are holding fruit this year. I got good production the past three years, but this year is an off year. It is probably due to no freeze for me this year and lychee really like the temp to drop a little below or near 32F to induce flowering.

Central- lychees do need low temps to induce flowering but certainly they dont need temps as low as 32 and lychees will sustain damage at temps below 32. the general consensus is that lychees need temps below 68- personally, i think the temp drop needed is more like 40-50, but not 32. My lychee is fruiting this year ad I bought it indoors once the temps hit below 45.

$6 a pound is ok but the prices here will go down to $3-4 a pound retail in a couple of weeks, and when i buy them by the box (20 pounds) i usually pay $2-3 a pound. you are right, i dont know how the poor lychee farmer makes money on those prices. if the distributor is selling at $2-3 in NY, and he has to pay for the fruit to be trucked up from miami and he is probably not even buying them direct from the farmer. most likely the farmer is only making about $1 a pound. which seems horribly low.

Central Floridave · « **Reply #14 on:** May 17, 2012, 10:58:06 AM »

I doubt they are Florida lychee at $1/pound then. Most likely from Mexico.

My lychee have gone down to 28F with no burn to them. And, when it does drop below 32F they flower really good in the spring. I only saw a low of around 35F this winter and the duration was only a few hours in the morning. 09/10 winter was super cold and we had a week of lows around 29F. I got a ton of fruit after that. 10/11 winter had a few cold snaps below 32F and again my big mauritius fruited a ton.

My biggest lychee (mauritius) is around 20 feet tall and am in the process of knocking it down to 10 feet since they didn't flower this spring and it was too tall to harvest. Plus it is growing into the power lines. My other lychee are all smaller and are not in full sun so I don't get as much production from them. But, they weren't always shaded out and about ten years ago I was getting good production out of them. Since then everything has grown up and over most of my lychee and now they are understory plants (unfortunately)...

lycheeluva · « **Reply #15 on:** May 17, 2012, 11:18:43 AM »

central- right now the lychees are mexican. in a couple of weeks the florida crop will hit town. the florida lychees are a little more expensive but not much more

Central Floridave · « **Reply #16 on:** May 17, 2012, 11:35:13 AM »

I can only speak for lychee in my yard but I've heard south Florida lychee crop is nil this year. Anyone else have any reports? I wouldn't expect Florida lychee this year and/or very expensive due to supply and demand. I think this year is a down year for Florida lychee.

lycheeluva · « **Reply #17 on:** May 17, 2012, 11:40:54 AM »

that seems to the the general consensus, though lycheesonline sees to report a decent sweetheart lychee crop

Central Floridave · « **Reply #18 on:** May 17, 2012, 12:42:27 PM »

Just checked lychee online...Your Price: $14.00 per pound....wow...

Like I said $6/pound is great price!

I'm not getting any lychee this year. Good news is my longan trees have a lot of developing fruit currently!!!

SWRancher · « **Reply #19 on:** May 17, 2012, 01:51:49 PM »

Quote from: Central Floridave on May 17, 2012, 12:42:27 PM

Just checked lychee online...Your Price: $14.00 per pound....wow...

Like I said $6/pound is great price!

I'm not getting any lychee this year. Good news is my longan trees have a lot of developing fruit currently!!!

$14.00 per pound, thats crazy.

lycheeluva · « **Reply #20 on:** May 17, 2012, 04:10:44 PM »

its so funny when i came home and calle d out i had lychees, 3 out of 4 kids came running down the stairs and immediately started digging in. it reminded me of the nature programs where they show you the little cubs going hungry until it rains and then there is plenty and the cubs all get to feast on the plenty

puglvr1 · « **Reply #21 on:** May 17, 2012, 04:34:55 PM »

Quote from: lycheeluva on May 17, 2012, 04:10:44 PM

its so funny when i came home and calle d out i had lychees, 3 out of 4 kids came running down the stairs and immediately started digging in. it reminded me of the nature programs where they show you the little cubs going hungry until it rains and then there is plenty and the cubs all get to feast on the plenty

Lol...Funny story LL!! Enjoy your lychees!!

Nancy

fruitlovers · « **Reply #22 on:** May 17, 2012, 05:28:30 PM »

Quote from: Central Floridave on May 17, 2012, 10:58:06 AM

I doubt they are Florida lychee at $1/pound then. Most likely from Mexico.

My lychee have gone down to 28F with no burn to them. And, when it does drop below 32F they flower really good in the spring. I only saw a low of around 35F this winter and the duration was only a few hours in the morning. 09/10 winter was super cold and we had a week of lows around 29F. I got a ton of fruit after that. 10/11 winter had a few cold snaps below 32F and again my big mauritius fruited a ton.

My biggest lychee (mauritius) is around 20 feet tall and am in the process of knocking it down to 10 feet since they didn't flower this spring and it was too tall to harvest. Plus it is growing into the power lines. My other lychee are all smaller and are not in full sun so I don't get as much production from them. But, they weren't always shaded out and about ten years ago I was getting good production out of them. Since then everything has grown up and over most of my lychee and now they are understory plants (unfortunately)...

CentralFloridaDave, lycheeluva is right. Lychees don't need temperatures close to freezing to induce flowering. Chill hours for lychees is very different than chill hours for temperate frut. Lychees come from areas in Southern China that rarely ever have a freeze. Actually prolonged freezing temperatures are injurious to the lychee trees. The actual temperatures needed to induce flowering will depend very much on the cultivar. Most chinese cultivars need a certain amount of hours below 55F to have good flowering. Many of the cultivars developed here and other tropical areas don't ever get 55F and still flower. Kaimana is a good example of that. In Thailand also they developed tropical lychee cultvars that will flower even though they never have temperatures below 65F.

behlgarden · « **Reply #23 on:** May 17, 2012, 05:33:40 PM »

Quote from: puglvr1 on May 17, 2012, 04:34:55 PM

Quote from: lycheeluva on May 17, 2012, 04:10:44 PM
its so funny when i came home and calle d out i had lychees, 3 out of 4 kids came running down the stairs and immediately started digging in. it reminded me of the nature programs where they show you the little cubs going hungry until it rains and then there is plenty and the cubs all get to feast on the plenty

Lol...Funny story LL!! Enjoy your lychees!!

Nancy

So real. My two boys and wife jump for joy each time I have bag full of lychees. My Boys simply eat them as if it was their dinner, LOL. most that I bring home gets eaten in under 2 days, it be 2lb or 5lb. Have not bought this year yet, right now diggig into Altufo mangoes and they love them too!

Squam256 · « **Reply #24 on:** May 17, 2012, 06:57:23 PM »

Quote from: lycheeluva on May 16, 2012, 11:21:09 PM

squam- are the lychees you are eating from florida or mexico?

Florida, Palm Beach county specifically.

The lychee crop failed in most of south Florida this year but seems to have faired slightly better in Palm Beach county.

News:

Author Topic: lycheeeeeeeeeeeeeeees have hit town (Read 12752 times)

natsgarden123