Salathiel, confirmation of the variety

[Jose Spain]

Hi everyone,

I ask the experts in lychee to confirm if these pics match with what I should expect of a Salathiel lychee. I bought it in a pretty big nursery specialised in subtropicals and I don't have reasons to doubt of the variety other that the tree came without label. After a cold winter the tree, just planted in ground, produced a strong bloom, so I let it just 3 fruits to check out their characteristics. The tree bloomed after Kaimana and FZS and before Wae Chee. Its growing slowly. Fruit is delicious and of two fruits, both had chicken-tongue seed (the third is still ripening). The rest of its characteristics I think can be check in the pictures:

[fruitlovers]

Apparently Salathiel is an Australian version that is either same as No Mai Tze or a type of No Mai Tze. The No Mai Tze is considered in China as one of the best tasting cultivars. I have one Salathiel tree but it never fruits. It needs a good cold spell to induce flowering, which we never get.javascript:void(0);

[Jose Spain]

Here in Spain Salathiel has been tested in La Mayora since 1990, results were low vigor, bad adaptation to heavy soils, ripening from August 25 to September 16 and the highest % of chicken-tongue seeds (42.3%) among all the varieties tested. Weight of the fruit is low in comparation to other varieties. (Source: FRUTOS TROPICALES EN LA COSTA ANDALUZA, Julián Díz Robledo and Jose M. Hermoso González). Now I'm pretty sure my tree is Salathiel, it's been sold in that nursery for decades and it's a serious one. It's just that came unlabelled, so you know, to grow a tree for years to find out that is not what you thought... is not funny.

Let's see if Simon or Mike see the post and can give us their opinion, there are not too many pictures in internet of leaves and fruits of Salathiel and for inexpert observers like myself is difficult to say one cv from another at the beginning. To me it seems Salathiel when I compare my pictures to the ones in this web https://www.daleysfruit.com.au/buy/lychee-salathiel-tree.htmfor example, but these 2 lychees I picked up yesterday are my first harvest of this fruit so...

[Mike T]

Salathiel are very red and small with a small seed and they like cooler lychee areas. It is a very nice tasting lychee.They have a distinctive longitudinal indented band.I don't think it is salathiel in the pic but I cant be sure.

Just for interest keep an eye out for some emerging varieties that are in Australia.

[Jose Spain]

They have a distinctive longitudinal indented band.

Actually all the 3 fruits had this distinctive longitudinal indented band!!  I just thought that was normal in lychees so I intentionally avoided that band when I was making the pictures, thinking that this way I'd show the skin better. Here are 2 just made photos of the last remaining fruit of the tree showing the band:






 Regarding size:




Those new varieties seem awesome Mike, last one has virtually not seed. 
 

[Ulfr]

Looks interesting Jose, I’ll let Mike respond because I don’t know enough to confirm.

Just for interest keep an eye out for some emerging varieties that are in Australia.

I have red ball here. Do you know anything about it Mike? I only know the general description you see around.

The coin used is 31.65mm (1.246 inches) diameter for those interested.

Edit: saw a erdon lee at the nursery today. Tempting, but don’t think I can justify the space for a third lychee. They are just bigger right?

[simon_grow]

My Salathiel has died but it did have smaller leaves with a slight bend to them just like No Mai Tsze. I really couldn’t differentiate between the two. In China, NMT is a slow grower and does not Fruit every year.
Here is a video of Salathiel, it’s probably been posted before
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-HxOcXUhCIY

I’ve never tasted Salathiel before but I asked around previously and others have said that it is very similar to NMT if not one and the same.

I have heavy soil at my place and I intend to innarch my NMT with seedling rootstocks in hopes that it will tolerate my heavy soil better.

Simon

[Jose Spain]

Yes the leaves in that video are exactly like the ones in my Salathiel. FZS and Kaimana that are planted close to Salathiel have quite different leaves, much larger and more straight (they are slightly different between them too).

Good luck with that NMT trying Simon. I think heavy mulching is key when soils are heavy. My trees rapidly occupied with their roots the down layer of mulch. I read somewhere that gypsum helps to make soils less heavy too.

This is Salathiel:



Kaimana:



FZS is pushing new flush now: