Too late to prune/shape/pug young lychee tree? Need advise.

[kc_moses]

Hi everyone,

I have a 2 years old Mauritius and 1.5 year old Sweet Heart lychee that I sort of semi-neglected as I was focusing on learning to top/prune mango the past couple months. I recently just found out that it's recommended to prune lychee after fruit (i.e late June to mid July, in Florida). My lychee trees are too young to bear fruit so I have been letting them to do their own thing, well, that kind of back fire a bit. From what I read, lychee trees should have bush and spread out canopy, and maintain at no more than 15ft when it gets mature. So those are my new goal: to create as bushy shape canopy

Here are my problems (please ignore the lawn around the base of the tree, I normally clear the lawn at the base of the tree but I'm behind my lawn maintenance, and I will put more compost/mulch around the base these few days):
Grafted sweetheart current shape (leaning to one side so I try to tie and make it stay erect), 3 ft tall


I will clear the lawn at the base up to the drip line and put mulch/compost:


Sweetheart lychee learning, will the tie correct it in the future?


The sweetheart just finish pushing out new flush and almost turn dark green, is it too late for me to prune 4" off the new flush to create a more bushy tree for next year?


My biggest problem is the Mauritius, it's about 5 ft. No new flush, but I'm not happy with the shape/structure of the tree:


I will clear the lawn to the drip line and put mulch/compost:


The branch is all over the place dangling and spreading, I tried to tie them together to make them more vertical:


I don't now how the trunk get to this shape, it probably was leaning all over the place and I tried to tie it back straight so over time i just curl:


Top view of the Mauritius, and my biggest concern:


So if you were me what would you do?
1.) Too late to prune Sweetheart to make it bushy for next year? If it's okay to prune, just snip 2-4" off tip of each end?
2.) How should I prune the Mauritius to create a more vertically supported trunk?
3.) Should I pug the Mauritius? Where would be the cutting point (I never pug a tree before).

Any help would be appreciated!

[sunworshiper]

Great looking trees! I have no experience with lychees other than emperor, but I think you could safely tip any of these to work on forming the tree shapes. I agree with staking the trunk for helping a young tree get established. It won't become more upright than it is now, but it will harden its trunk into the tied position. Bbut I wouldn't tie up branches that can't hold themselves up. I'd prune to form a better shape. I don't think lychee appreciate being pugged though. With emperor, I try not to prune back to a point that has no leaves, sometimes those won't sprout, they will just die back.  I quite like that curly trunk shape, it looks nice and the two primary scaffolds should form a strong tree if some of the top weight is taken off to let them size up a bit. I'd suggest you remove all the ties on the branches then take a picture of the whole tree from whatever side allows us to see the branch structure of the tree best for advise on where to prune. From the pictures you have, I can't tell what the tree shape would be if it wasn't tied so it is hard to say which branches to prune. All the others I'd lightly tip to help them form a bushy compact tree. Even just pinching out the growing tip will cause branching you don't have to remove 4 inches if the shape is nice and you just want to cause branching.

[bsbullie]

I don't recommend tipping a lychee.  They have a tendency not to respond like a mango would.  It can also cause a partial die back of the limb you tipped (saying from experience).

Those trees are a bit spindly and really need to establish themselves and grow some.  They will naturally branch out in a atringer supportive manner.

[kc_moses]

Thanks everyone, here are more photos, and I removed the tie from the Mauritius to have a better view.



Since the tie is removed, it's clear that the right side will be dragging the tree to the right since the right side is more bushy/heavier:


The left primary scaffold in this picture is the bushy/healthier side, I should cut off some secondary scaffold to lighten the weight?


Top view of the scaffold, left side is the bushy with more new grow side:



All the tips on the Mauritius has new grow:


Should I pinch the new grow to promote branching? It's almost August now, if I pinch it will new shoot come out or the tree is ready to go dormant in August?


It looks like my Sweetheart could have new flush at the young tender tip, should I pinch it?


Thanks again for the advice!

[sunworshiper]

That's going to be a gorgeous tree - I really like the curly trunk. Listen to Rob over me for advice on tipping - he knows his stuff. Sounds like I got lucky tipping my emperor when it was new with not experiencing any die back. Your untied branches look like they are holding themselves up pretty well actually. I don't think I'd do anything to it now - just let the new growth flush expand. The right side in the first picture looks a little top heavy, but as long as it can hold up its own weight, it seems to be forming side shoots pretty nicely on its own. Once those elongate over a season or two, it won't look so bare in the middle anymore because the side shoots from the current branches will expand to fill that space. I think it is just a "teenager" and looks gangly while it is growing into its shape.

[kc_moses]

Thanks sunworshiper, I will leave them be and let the primary scaffold harden up in next season or two. And if one side get too heavy and start to drag the primary scaffold to the ground, I will try to cut some branches off.

I always listen to Rob, except when come to Durian because I want it so bad and I'm in denial