Anybody growing longan in hot, dry climate? Thinking of killing mine.

[NewGen]

It's been in the ground for 5 years, extremely low production. In the spring, the whole tree has green, glossy leaves, and there are always lots of flowers, but the resulting fruit set is extremely low. Less than 5% is my estimate. But, whatever fruits I get, they're very tasty, small seeds, thick pulp. I think the problem is the hot, dry summer where I live inhibits pollination. What do you guys think? I give it plenty of water, yet the leaves look like this.
Thanks,
Trung

[fruit4me]

Trung
What variety is the longan? What do you fertilize with and how often? How much is plenty of water that you give?

[goosteen]

Mine is not doing too well either, buts it's only been in the ground 6 months.  Exotica in San diego has a huge one that was loaded with fruit last year, so there is hope.

[NewGen]

fruit4me,

Sorry I don't know the variety of this longan, my mother in law gave me as a gift. I give it almost as much water as what the bananas get, and you see how healthy the bananas look in the background. I must admit that my fertilizing schedule is haphazard. Since last December, I've dumped some Osmocote Plus around the tree under the canopy, some 10-10-10. The intervals are irregular. I have been probably subconsciously ignoring it the last 2 years.  My wife has been talking me into giving it another year.
Thanks,

[NewGen]

Mine is not doing too well either, buts it's only been in the ground 6 months.  Exotica in San diego has a huge one that was loaded with fruit last year, so there is hope.

I see longans in cooler weather in Orange County that are just loaded with fruits, the owners gave bags to my mother in law every year. Is Agoura hot and dry in the summer?

[fruit4me]

Trung
Im not no expert on this, but you should try clearing out all the weeds under the tree and put a thick layer of mulch.

[nch]

Trung, your tree looks sick to me. I don't know the cause, but I don't think dry heat is the main problem.

[simon_grow]

Hey Trung, your tree appears to be lacking Iron and Magnesium. I would also guess that the pH of your soil is around 8 or so and the pH of your water is probably around 8.2-8.4. This high pH makes it difficult for your plants to uptake certain nutrients. the Chlorophyll molecule is similar to human Hemoglobin molecule except that chlorophyll has a Mg in the center of the molecule instead of an Iron. The yellow leaves can be an indication of lack of Mg, Iron or Nitrogen or also very likely a lack of all three. I say this because these three elements are relatively mobile especially if you are watering often.

Without a soil analysis, it is difficult to diagnose the exact problem but you can always use a foliar spray to correct nutritional deficiencies without the danger of nutrient lock which can be caused by blindly applying multiple types of fertilizers.

My Longan plant had leaves that looked like yours before and I did a soil drench of chelated Iron and I also foliar sprayed with Southern Ag nutritional spray. I performed the foliar spray every week in the evening for 3-4 weeks and it corrected the problem.

If you do have high pH soil and or water, you may want to occasionally drench the root zone with low pH buffered water so that when you do fertilize, your trees can absorb more of the nutrients.

A Longan tree a couple blocks from me is about 15 feet tall and flowers every year and I e only seen it with very few fruit one time in the last three years. My small Longan was planted as a two foot stick about three years ago and it fruited every year including the first year it was planted. I believe it was due to proper nutrition and frequent watering while holding fruit. Remember that in general, if you water frequently, there is a possibility that you are watering away your fertilizer in which case you may want to apply less concentrated fertilizer at more frequent intervals.

Simon



Simon

[NewGen]

Thanks all for your advice!! Much appreciated. I'll get on it. Just ordered 3 cubic yard of compost from the city last week.

Interestingly, none of my other trees exhibit this sick appearance. I have guavas, atemoya, cherimoyas, plums, figs growing nearby in the same soil.

[nullzero]

Thanks all for your advice!! Much appreciated. I'll get on it. Just ordered 3 cubic yard of compost from the city last week.

Interestingly, none of my other trees exhibit this sick appearance. I have guavas, atemoya, cherimoyas, plums, figs growing nearby in the same soil.

All those other fruit trees you listed handle higher PH much better then a lychee or longan.

[simon_grow]

Hello Trung, here is some additional information:

The name of the foliar spray is Souther Ag Citrus nutritional spray and I bought it at Home Depot. I forget how often the instruction say to spray but to correct the micronutrient deficiency in my Longan, I used it once a week for 3-4 weeks.

For the low pH water, I do not recommend vinegar as it does not have much buffering capacity. I use General Hydroponics pH down that you can get at a hydro store or online. You should get your water tested for pH at a petstore so you know what you are starting with. The test is sometimes free. For me, my water pH 8.2 out of the tap and I add 1 teaspoon of the pH down to a gallon of water to bring the pH down to about 4.3 or so. Your Longan wants s pH around 6.5 but I bring it down this low because my soil also has high mineral content and is also around pH 8.2-8.4 so the soil itself has a lot of buffering capacity which will raise the pH.

I only add this acid water a couple times a year or whenever I see any nutrient deficiencies. I usually add this acid water before I think the plant is about to veg or flower so it can take advantage of the micronutrients. I also add pelleted Sulphur which breaks down slowly and gradually decreases the pH.
Simon

[simon_grow]

This thread has a lot of useful information:
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=241.0
I'm trying to follow Patrick's plant steroid regimen but I keep making excuses when I miss a foliar spray. I definitely notice a difference when I foliar spray often.

Simon

[NewGen]

Thanks Simon,

The soil is ALWAYS gonna be high pH, so why don't you/I need to do the lowered-pH water all the time, as opposed to just a couple times a year? In a similar vein, why don't we need to do the foliar spray all the time, instead of just 3-4 weeks?

[raimeiken]

I have two in ground here In Phoenix and they handle the heat very well in full sun.

People have mentioned already about high PH and needing Iron. I supplement mine with chelated iron in the soil. I've also found that longans respond very well with foliar feeding. I use Foliage pro in my foliar mix with some chelated iron. I get huge deep green leaves on mine with this mix.

[simon_grow]

NewGen, if you do it more frequently, your plants will probably explode with new growth but I figure it's better to start you off slow so you can correct the issue first. If you immediately follow Patrick's protocol, it can be overwhelming and you may give up saying it's too much work or takes too much time.

If you drench too much with fertilizers whether it's organic or not, you can get a build up of salts that can lead to nutrient lock.

If you drench too much with low pH water, you may harm the earthworms and other organisms in the rhizosphere. Too much Iron and micronutrients can also be detrimental because of the lead in some products.

Simon

[raimeiken]

This thread has a lot of useful information:
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=241.0
I'm trying to follow Patrick's plant steroid regimen but I keep making excuses when I miss a foliar spray. I definitely notice a difference when I foliar spray often.

Simon

foliar spray makes a huge difference. I used to be skeptical on it until I started regularly doing it this past spring. It works really well especially here with our high ph soil and water, which locks up a lot of nutrients in the soil, you make that readily available via foliar feed.

[NewGen]

Do I need to be worried about foliar spraying on the flowers? Will the wet spray negatively affect pollination?
Thanks,

[simon_grow]

I always avoid spraying flowers because I don't want to wet them, possibly causing fungal issues and also wetting the individual pollen grains. I try to spray on both surfaces of the leaves and I use a surfactant to break the surface tension.

Simon

[EvaMKV]

I am so sorry about your plants. Have you tried creating a better habitat for them? Like making a special room with AC and a stable temperature. I don't know if you have to option to do that, but that would solve a lot of issues. I've recently installed an AC in my living room, and my plants are getting better. During summertime, I don't even know what to do in order to protect them, but now, I am just turning the AC on and they are fine. I've even done an [spam link] in order to make sure that everything runs smoothly and I am really satisfied with this decision

[waldi1]

HI TRUNG,
I HAVE PINGPONG LONGANS AND THEY PRODUCE LIKE MADE
SOMETIMES I PUT WOOD ASH AND WATER TWICE A WEEK
AVERAGE TEMP IS 33 C
SALUDOS
WALDY

[johnb51]

I am so sorry about your plants. Have you tried creating a better habitat for them? Like making a special room with AC and a stable temperature. I don't know if you have to option to do that, but that would solve a lot of issues. I've recently installed an AC in my living room, and my plants are getting better. During summertime, I don't even know what to do in order to protect them, but now, I am just turning the AC on and they are fine. I've even done an [spam link] in order to make sure that everything runs smoothly and I am really satisfied with this decision

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