Lychee varieties

[koundog]

I am having some large oak trees removed on my property this spring and would like to plant some lychees in the cleared out space. I really enjoy eating lychees and i have none planted currently. My questions are to the people that have lychees growing would you plant them again? I keep reading how unproductive they are and how much maintance they are to get a few pounds of fruit living in florida that sounds an awful lot like growing citrus now. What varities would you recomend or what other fruit trees would you plant there instead ( no more mangos i have 14 looking for something different)

[Julie]

I have a 10 year old Brewster lychee that is producing for the first time. However you are located much further north from me so they may not be as unproductive in vero beach. The trees are not prone to disease like citrus. The best varieties are Mauritius, Brewster and sweetheart. Brewster is the least productive, in my opinion Mauritius has the best flavor and is also the most productive. Sweetheart has a very small seed. Personally yes I would plant lychees (I just planted a Mauritius recently) because lychees are a very good fruit  and I have space to plant other more productive trees. Other fruits I recommend are red custard apple, Ross sapote, sapodilla and avocado.

[Galatians522]

In years past I would have said that Vero was a great place to plant a lychee. Be aware, though, that we do have a new lychee pest in Florida known as the lychee erinose mite. When it was introduced to Brazil, lychee production dropped by 70%-80%. The state is currently working on an eradication program and many counties are quarenteened in an attempt to keep the pest from spreading. You might consider some other options for now, but reserve a spot or two for lychee if the eradication program is successful. Atemoya, Jaboticaba, Loquat, and Indian Jujube are some other fruits that you might consider.

[bsbullie]

Lychees may not like the location of prior oak trees due to the oak's toxins.  The toxins usually have a negative effect on lychees.

[Galatians522]

Lychees may not like the location of prior oak trees due to the oak's toxins.  The toxins usually have a negative effect on lychees.

Armillaria root rot, good thinking. Do you know of any fruit trees resistant to it?

[bovine421]

Are they going to dig out the stumps or just grind them?
If you rent a mini excavator large oak tree stumps are not that hard to remove. They have surface roots not a Taproot like a pine tree.
If you go out three or four feet from The Stump and break all the roots all the way around then grab one of the bigger outer roots and spin it. It'll come out but once you have it out. What your going to do with it is a whole nother subject.

[Galatians522]

Unfortunately, the fungus can grow and spread even from the smaller roots to my understanding.

[koundog]

Unfortunately the location of these trees east side of my house is where all of my utilities are buried underground no doubt the roots are under these things and the trees are close to my house so i think that stump removal will be out of the question i plan to have them grinded down to ground level given the unpredictability of the lychees im leaning more towards sapodilla and annonas maybe a jambu planted as far away from the stumps i can

[Julie]

If the oak trees were healthy, wouldn’t it be unlikely they would have Armarillia  root rot, right? I’m actually in the same situation, I cut down 2 huge oak trees so I could plant more fruit trees in my yard and still have to get the stump removed.

[bovine421]

Definitely plant those other trees you're thinking of as far away from the stump as possible. The only thing I can think of is have them grind as deep as possible clear out the mulch put in some good dirt and plant a guava Bush on top of it.

[Galatians522]

Those are some great questions, I decided that I wanted to k,ow the answers, too. So, I looked up this article by the University of Florida.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep478&ved=2ahUKEwj_jYv15ebuAhXyTjABHa8YBqgQFjAAegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw1uPCYuBcy-apneFcN42dxj&cshid=1613217347084

To summarize, removal of the stump and major roots can be helpful. Unhealthy trees are more likely to have the disease, but it can infect healthy specimens and can have a delay in symptoms for 1-3 years. A diverse planting has more resistance to the fungus than a monoculture stand. Mulberries and some figs are apparently two fruit trees known to have some resistance to the disease. Based on that, I would say go ahead and plant what you mentioned. If you have trouble with root rot, try planting a mulberry or fig.

[bovine421]

Those are some great questions, I decided that I wanted to k,ow the answers, too. So, I looked up this article by the University of Florida.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep478&ved=2ahUKEwj_jYv15ebuAhXyTjABHa8YBqgQFjAAegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw1uPCYuBcy-apneFcN42dxj&cshid=1613217347084

To summarize, removal of the stump and major roots can be helpful. Unhealthy trees are more likely to have the disease, but it can infect healthy specimens and can have a delay in symptoms for 1-3 years. A diverse planting has more resistance to the fungus than a monoculture stand. Mulberries and some figs are apparently two fruit trees known to have some r esistance to the disease. Based on that, I would say go ahead and plant what you mentioned. If you have trouble with root rot, try planting a mulberry or fig.

You know I was going to say Mulberry but I love guava so much
In the center of this photo is where a 60 foot tall and wide Laurel Oak tree was. In 2004 during Hurricane Charley the center of the tree got damaged and  started to decay which is not uncommon for a Laurel Oak. When Irma come to town she ripped it in half. Sad day brought tears to my eyes. Typically you would dig the stump out and find a less desirable spot and with a big machine  dig a hole about 20 feet down and bury it.  That was not an option. So the tree company used a stump grinder and grinded the stump as far as they could. What a mess mulch  piled 3 feet high. After hauling the Mulch away and filling the holes in with dirt is what you see now. In the center of the photo is a bamboo stick to the far right is a mulled white mulberry tree about 30 feet away from the center.

We just we don't just have a messaging problem we have a photo posting problem to

[palmcity]

Mauritius, Brewster and sweetheart. Brewster is the least productive, in my opinion Mauritius has the best flavor and is also the most productive.

Agree Except for production as my sweetheart has been the most productive.

I cut down 2 huge oak trees so I could plant more fruit trees in my yard and still have to get the stump removed.

I don't think you have to get the stump removed.

I cut down 4 large oak trees & 2 medium 2 ft diameter trunks and never removed nor mulched the stumps

The 2 medium are no longer visible as time and rot are actually on my side in this instance vs. the physical body I communicate from  .

The other 4 are giving back nitrogen & humus to the surrounding areas. Also dragon fruit are helping to eat the bark etc.

A small to medium (less than 8 ft tall) mauritus is within 20 yards of one of the chopped big oaks and no problems have been observed over the past 3 years.

Perhaps it will come a different time for the tree and I but for today hope of tomorrow is high.

[bsbullie]

20 yards is 60 feet, that is far distance.  Not the same as right on top of the location of the tree or where the mb sin canopy was.