Should I plant lychee while flowering?

[FV Fruit Freak]

Hello,
I have a sweetheart lychee in a 7g pot that has several panicles on it (picture below) some of the flower buds have started opening. If someone has some knowledge or first hand experience planting lychee while flowering, and could shed some light, it would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
NJ

[simon_grow]

Transplanting it into the ground will disturb its roots because you want to straighten out any circling roots. When you disturb the roots, you can trigger fruit drop. Lychee naturally has several rounds of fruit drop as the season progresses. Because your tree is so small, I would plant it now at the risk of losing fruit.

Young trees often don’t set fruit and even if it did set fruit, it probably won’t be ripe until around August or September. This means you won’t be planting your tree till around Fall and it would have lost all that time that the tree could have spread out it’s roots into the soil.

You could get luck and transplant your tree into the ground and your tree may still set fruit so I would definitely plant your tree in the ground now.

Simon

[spaugh]

Its a good time if year to plant it.  Maybe wait till we get past this heatwave and do it next week. 

[OCchris1]

I would be more concerned with the winds drying up your flowers rather than the risk associated with the transplant.  Plant it now and keep it well watered and it will likely take off. Next year you'll probably get some good fruits.

[Cythompson159@yahoo.com]

Yes, you likely won’t get any lychee any how despite having flowers. I now have a lychee in a 30 gallon and despite having many flower panicles it had only a hand full of fruit this year, sadly that were knocked off by the hail storm last week. My friend has many lychee trees and grafts and sells them. He told me last year I would get no fruit despite several panicles and this year he said only a few. I did not believe him but he was right. Get it in the ground and don’t worry about a possible couple of fruit. I will pay better dividends sooner.

[FV Fruit Freak]

THANK YOU for dropping some knowledge genteleman, I’m very grateful and it’s MUCH appreciated. Babygirl’s going in the ground this week for sure now. Hope you guys get giant yields this season.

Peace,
Nate

[puglvr1]

Good luck with your new Lychee tree...if it were mine I would plant it right away (as long as you are okay about possibly losing) a few fruits. For me the benefit of planting it now so it can start growing sooner rather than later is worth losing a few fruits...but that's just me 

Last year I had blooms but a late frost in March damaged the flowers, this year looks to be a better year. Fingers crossed I will get some this year 

[cmichael258]

Good luck with your new Lychee tree...if it were mine I would plant it right away (as long as you are okay about possibly losing) a few fruits. For me the benefit of planting it now so it can start growing sooner rather than later is worth losing a few fruits...but that's just me 

Last year I had blooms but a late frost in March damaged the flowers, this year looks to be a better year. Fingers crossed I will get some this year 

Your tree looks great. Mine had a lot of blooms this year but hasn't produced any fruit. My large Kent has very few as well.

Hope you have better luck!

[puglvr1]

Thanks Cmichael! Took these today, some look promising, hope some of it make it through to maturity.
 

[FV Fruit Freak]

Got my sweetheart in the ground, hopefully she’ll be as sweet to me as her namesake and bless me with some tasty fruit! Mmmm... Thanks again for all your help on the matter my fruit forum neighbors!

Nate

[OCchris1]

Looks good Nate. Just be sure to keep it well watered.

[spaugh]

That looks like a nice protected spot for that tree.  Good luck, keep us posted. 

[FV Fruit Freak]

Thanks fellas! Will def keep you posted on the progress.

[FV Fruit Freak]

Just a quick update. Since planting in late April all the fruit fell off except one (see picture). There has been a big flush of new growth the past couple months with the warming of the weather. This tree proves what all the experienced members on his forum talk about, which is, removing the fruit when the teee is small will boost vegetative growth. Almost all the branches are flushing new growth except the one holding fruit. Thanks again for everyone’s advice, I’m happy I put it in the ground based on your folks recommendations.