Shade

[850FL]

I have limited room left, with 3 large avocados, 2 large lychees to plant. Which of these can be stuck kind of in dappled shade and still grow and produce?

[bovine421]

I'll take a stab at it and prime the pump and give you my uninformed opinion. I think I read somewhere where lychee grows in a dense tropical environment and likes to be protected from the wind so that would be my guess.

[johnb51]

I thought avocado was the understory tree that likes to be protected from wind.

[LycheeLust]

If it were me I would give the lychee the best spot cause it’s the best fruit

[bovine421]

I thought avocado was the understory tree that likes to be protected from wind.

John I would like to change my answer to guava :)Lol

[bsbullie]

Lychee needs the sun to fruit.  Avos can take some light shade but no a lot.  Maybe you are maxed out for plantings...unless you want ornamental fruit trees...

[Jagmanjoe]

What is causing the shade?  If it is a tree or 2 you may just want to remove them in favor of tropical fruit plantings.

[Galatians522]

As Rob said lychee needs sun to fruit. More sun means more fruit. Shaded branches in our lychee grove rarely fruit.

[850FL]

What is causing the shade?  If it is a tree or 2 you may just want to remove them in favor of tropical fruit plantings.

Some overhead live oak cover and 20 types of bamboo surrounding the property.. some shoots are 30 foot.. But there’s some real big hammii’s that get 50ft and ol dude doesn’t want to chop the tops off to get more light down in the understory..

Unfortunately much of the bamboo was planted before we got fruit trees in there, so they tend to hog light

[850FL]

I'll take a stab at it and prime the pump and give you my uninformed opinion. I think I read somewhere where lychee grows in a dense tropical environment and likes to be protected from the wind so that would be my guess.

I was thinking along these lines! Ive got this little horde of lychee seedlings and some of them stuck in the shade.. some in the deep shade, and been up in there for a year or so and won’t die. I’ve had many more mangos and avocados crap out (as seedlings) in the deep shade than citrus, lychees or longans. Fortunately the spots I have left aren’t in as deep of shade as these seedlings but still not full sun either and really even bordering part-sun..

+1 for wind protection
+1 for frost protection
-2 for lost produce

I did read in several places that lychee needs full sun to produce well..

[850FL]

I thought avocado was the understory tree that likes to be protected from wind.

I was thinking also that since they come from cloud/rain forests in C America and wouldn’t mind being in the understory protected from hot sun and wind (avocados tend to burn pretty easily, no?)? I think certain varieties fare better in shade than others. I think they like bright scattered understory light as opposed to either deep shade or full sun imo... However from experience with a bunch of hass seedlings, deep shade is a no go

[850FL]

Lychee needs the sun to fruit.  Avos can take some light shade but no a lot.  Maybe you are maxed out for plantings...unless you want ornamental fruit trees...

You’re right, we’re just about maxed out and need to start scouring for another property soon! I was thinking of planting the rest of what I have in similar groups.. meaning, plant the rest of my citrus saplings in a triangle with plants only 2-3 ft apart. And the  same with avocados and the others. The reason being that similar roots are less competitive towards each other than different roots. Two lychees next to each other will compete less intensely (root-wise) than a lychee and an oak

[850FL]

I thought avocado was the understory tree that likes to be protected from wind.

John I would like to change my answer to guava :)Lol

Guava?! Tropical guava? I guess yeah I do have a few in shady areas and they do alright. Seems like the more temperate ones may have a chance at being even more shade hardy (dark green glossy leaves)

I find it funny how tropical guavas go partly deciduous yet take much less frost than evergreen cattleiums for instance

[johnb51]

Other than the small clumping bamboo why on earth would anyone plant bamboo which totally takes over an area?

[bovine421]

Other than the small clumping bamboo why on earth would anyone plant bamboo which totally takes over an area?

John I just realized guava was not even an option presented by the original poster. Hopefully this image is not my third strike

[850FL]

Other than the small clumping bamboo why on earth would anyone plant bamboo which totally takes over an area?

Neighbor block out, plant stakes, and some are worth up to 200 for a 10 gallon propagation..

We have mostly clumping and the clumps aren’t giant they’re just tall

[Galatians522]

I'll take a stab at it and prime the pump and give you my uninformed opinion. I think I read somewhere where lychee grows in a dense tropical environment and likes to be protected from the wind so that would be my guess.

I was thinking along these lines! Ive got this little horde of lychee seedlings and some of them stuck in the shade.. some in the deep shade, and been up in there for a year or so and won’t die. I’ve had many more mangos and avocados crap out (as seedlings) in the deep shade than citrus, lychees or longans. Fortunately the spots I have left aren’t in as deep of shade as these seedlings but still not full sun either and really even bordering part-sun..

+1 for wind protection
+1 for frost protection
-2 for lost produce

I did read in several places that lychee needs full sun to produce well..

For what it is worth, I have observed wild citrus (sour orange, key lime, rough lemon, rangpur lime, pineapple orange, various tangerines, and grapefruit) growing completely under the shade of massive live oak trees. They fruit every year with about half a crop. In contrast, we had one row of lychees in our grove that had a viburnm hedge (planted as a wind break) that was approximately the same height as the trees. Even this small amount of shade (about 4 extra hours) drastically reduced production. If I had to guess, I would say that row produced less than 25% (maybe even as low as 10%) of what a similar row with full sun did. I can't speak to avocado.

[850FL]

I'll take a stab at it and prime the pump and give you my uninformed opinion. I think I read somewhere where lychee grows in a dense tropical environment and likes to be protected from the wind so that would be my guess.

I was thinking along these lines! Ive got this little horde of lychee seedlings and some of them stuck in the shade.. some in the deep shade, and been up in there for a year or so and won’t die. I’ve had many more mangos and avocados crap out (as seedlings) in the deep shade than citrus, lychees or longans. Fortunately the spots I have left aren’t in as deep of shade as these seedlings but still not full sun either and really even bordering part-sun..

+1 for wind protection
+1 for frost protection
-2 for lost produce

I did read in several places that lychee needs full sun to produce well..

For what it is worth, I have observed wild citrus (sour orange, key lime, rough lemon, rangpur lime, pineapple orange, various tangerines, and grapefruit) growing completely under the shade of massive live oak trees. They fruit every year with about half a crop. In contrast, we had one row of lychees in our grove that had a viburnm hedge (planted as a wind break) that was approximately the same height as the trees. Even this small amount of shade (about 4 extra hours) drastically reduced production. If I had to guess, I would say that row produced less than 25% (maybe even as low as 10%) of what a similar row with full sun did. I can't speak to avocado.

Wow that’s crazy What you’re saying here is basically almost exactly what I would have expected (with citrus and lychees)
Now I got to ask.. you said all those citrus were ‘wild’.. do you mean they’re seedlings that were thrown in the ground, seedlings that were not intentionally planted, or grafted saplings that were forgotten about and got overgrown??

[Galatians522]

Wow that’s crazy What you’re saying here is basically almost exactly what I would have expected (with citrus and lychees)
Now I got to ask.. you said all those citrus were ‘wild’.. do you mean they’re seedlings that were thrown in the ground, seedlings that were not intentionally planted, or grafted saplings that were forgotten about and got overgrown??
[/quote]

By wild I mean that they are in all liklihood seedlings that were not planted by humans and have grown in the woods with no care. It is very common in this part of the state and to the south. The ones I mentioned are mostly on state land in areas that were never cleared, so I am pretty confident that no one planted them.