Longans...when are they ready?

[puglvr1]

A man down a few miles from me has a Longan tree loaded with fruits...bad news is they are very small due to the very dense fruits on each cluster, they didn't seem to get large because there were so many in a bunch 

Are they suppose to be brown when they are ripe? He said I can have all I want, I tried several of them and they are pretty sweet but they are small in size...not sure if I need to give them a couple more weeks to turn brownish?

[fyliu]

The brown color depends on the variety. Some are ripe even with green skin. My method is to look for the first sign of bird damage and harvest everything immediately. Realistically, just start eating some each day when it's relatively sweet until you run out of them

[FruitFreak]

Just harvested bunches down here

[bsbullie]

The brown color depends on the variety. Some are ripe even with green skin. My method is to look for the first sign of bird damage and harvest everything immediately. Realistically, just start eating some each day when it's relatively sweet until you run out of them

Birds will damage fruits before they are ripe.  Bad method to follow.  What variety is ripe with green skin?

[sapote]

In slower harvest climate in SoCal my longan will ripe in mid September with green skin, but they would ripe to brown skin in tropic.

[BrianL]

What's the season in SoCal.  I have some ripening in NorCal so  I assume they will take a bit longer.  Hopefully by Nov. they will be ripe?

[PurpleAlligator]

If not much flesh the fruit was not thinned. When the fruit is a bit larger than pea size 2/3 of the pannical should be removed. Then the fruit will get large. Too late now.

[sapote]

What's the season in SoCal.  I have some ripening in NorCal so  I assume they will take a bit longer.  Hopefully by Nov. they will be ripe?

I guess so. My CA91501 fruits are about 0.5" dia now, and will be up to 0.9 or 1" in mid September. How big are yours now?

[BrianL]

Kohala is getting big fast (dime size now).  Others are a bit smaller.

[fyliu]

There's a cultivar called 'little green skin'. The skin's mostly green when the fruit is sweet. Not a popular cultivar.

In my Socal location, normal harvest time is the first week of November. Recent years have pushed it 1-2 months earlier. Even so, a friend in Glendale had fruits on the tree at the end of December last year, the earliest ripening year for my longans. Nothing seemed to bother his longan fruits though. They were large sized with no flavor.

[sapote]

"They were large sized with no flavor."

This sounds like those well hidden fruits that I discovered very late in the season -- big but no flavor. So might be they had been picked too late?

[puglvr1]

Thanks all...here's what the ones I got look like...they are sweet but not real sweet, but I'm not a Longan expert and haven't had much experience eating them...only the second or third time I've had them...
   

[bsbullie]

Thanks all...here's what the ones I got look like...they are sweet but not real sweet, but I'm not a Longan expert and haven't had much experience eating them...only the second or third time I've had them...
   

Hard to tell from the picture but the skin still looks a little "bumpy" as opposed to being more smooth, is that the case?  How hard/firm are they?

If they are ripe, the care they received would have an effect on their taste quality.  Even with Kohala, which is considered the "worst" when compared to Biew Kew and Sri Chompoo, I have had some excellent tasting, very sweet fruit from growers who were meticulous in their care and I have had some that were bland and basically not worth eating.

[simon_grow]

Those Longan look like they could have been left a week or two longer as I still see tinged of green on them. They will be good enough to eat at this stage but full brown or mostly brown will maximize flavor and sugars as long as it's not over mature.

It may be the climate here in San Diego but the Kohala have been excellent quality with lots of flesh and a small seed. It is also the best producer for me. I have a Kohala in my yard and a Sri Chompoo and Biew Kiew at my friends yard. Kohalas can get slightly larger than a golfball but they are usually washed out in flavor at that size. In between quarter and golfball sized, they can be excellent.

I've posted this before and others have mentioned it as well but thinning the panicles and proper fertilization will greatly increase the size and quality of the fruit. I don't even bother purchasing fruit that were not thinned as there is little flesh relative to seed and the quality is usually poor. Here's a picture of some golfball sized fruit. http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=9315.msg161606#msg161606

Simon

[puglvr1]

They are pretty smooth, no real bumps...I will pick some more next week and compare the flavor and sweetness.

[sapote]

I agree with others that these fruits are picked a little early. See the fruit in lower right of photo, next to a back-side leaf, that it's not ready. 2 more weeks will be better.