Lychee...Mauritius

[puglvr1]

My Mauritiuis is fruiting this year, last 2 years it bloomed but the first year late frost nipped it and last year I had blooms but the tiny little fruitlets all dropped. I found out it was due to drought I had NO idea I had to water mature/established Lychee trees, I thought they were like my Mango trees, I do not give them any supplemental water except what my sprinklers and Mother nature provides  ...this year I decided to water my Mauritius  once or twice a week once it started to bloom...

Not quite ripe yet, but I'm afraid the Squirrels and Birds will beat me to it before they are ripe...they don't seem to care whether they're ripe or not 
 



Pau, I would ask the some of the members here that grow them in California, all I know about my Lychee tree is it loves water...when it was young and not fruiting yet...I would fertilize mine monthly with a "light" fertilizer from March till Oct since is when mine are actively growing. Best of luck I think you should give it another try.

[Galatians522]

Nice job. Lychee gets spring rain and cloud cover where it is native in China. Our spring is the dry season.

[johnb51]

Mauritius lychee is a great fruit.  Enjoy!  I'm surprised that the birds and squirrels are getting them.  When our neighborhood tree had a lot of fruit a few years back, the squirrels and birds didn't bother them at all.  Unfortunately that big old tree got attacked by the erinose mites this past winter so it's in pretty bad shape now.  Very sad. 

[Mike T]

They do have a nice musky taste. When they are in China they are called tai so.

[puglvr1]

Thanks Guys! I have already seen some chewed up Lychee skins on the bottom of the tree, I've also seen Crows swoop down and grab one a time so I'm really worried they will be eaten up before they are ripe  :'(

I plan on pugging the tree this year, its getting too large for my liking. I'm not expecting any fruits next year which is okay, I want to keep the tree in a more manageable size 

Fingers crossed!!

[Mike T]

Rambutans and lychees cop a flogging from rainbow lorikeets and sulphur crested cockatoos around here and a flock can wipe out a tree's crop in mothing flat.

[palmcity]

I have already seen some chewed up Lychee skins on the bottom of the tree, I've also seen Crows swoop down and grab one a time so I'm really worried they will be eaten up before they are ripe  :'(

I would definitely pick my Mauritius if any were left as I finished them about a week ago. IMO Mauritius tastes great when only partially red with the greenish/yellow still on part of it. Mauritius at my house is sweeter than Brewster or Sweet Heart when still partially greenish. I usually wait for Brewster and Sweet Heart to get more fully ripe with less greenish left on the fruit before picking all of the fruit.

Squirrels and many bird varieties have eaten my lychee.

You mentioned Crows attacking yours and I think they are the smartest bird in my neighborhood. They tend to relay the message of good and bad to the other birds and I would not be surprised if you had gone from 1 crow to 20 crows attacking your lychee in 2 days. However since they are so smart here; when one gets shot and dies they caw caw caw in a flying circle wanting to know why and they spread the word and tend to avoid that place.

[puglvr1]

Mike T, that's incredible, I am not surprised that almost everyone has a problem with Critters eating their home grown fruits and vegetable no matter where they live.

Palmcity, good to know and thanks for the heads up. I picked  several stems last night of the one that had the most color and honestly they tasted pretty good, not super sweet but very good! I also had some plastic produce Clamshells and covered several of the bunches, hopefully that will keep the Crows/Birds at bay...

[palmcity]

I wrote my observations of watching crows and it was very satisfying to google crows intelligence and communication and see they were correct:

All in all, it does seem like crows have a special ability to communicate. It's mainly due to their high intelligence, but also because they live in social groups and have evolved to work together. Joe was right to notice their tendency to talk and congregate together, guard against humans, and chat with their young.Mar 30, 2022

Wow... Very interesting::: Two caws = “Where are you?” ( I will often hear a distant reply of two caws, as in, “I'm over here.”) Three caws = “Danger!” ( They'll do it whenever they see a dog or a person they don't know.) Four or more caws = Territorial. “Mar 14, 2019   (LOL I was definitely Danger when they circled me with the caw caw caw).

https://now.uiowa.edu/news/2014/12/crows-are-smarter-you-think

[puglvr1]

Very interesting Palmcity! Thanks for the link.

I've picked a lot of mine between yesterday and this morning, they are quite delicious, not super sweet but just the right amount of sweetness. Shared with a couple of friends and they also thought it was very tasty... Of course I would have liked to have kept them on the tree a little longer but such is the life of dooryard fruit growers living with many critters in Florida.

So far the 20 or so produce Clamshells I placed on some of the bunches are still hanging on and hasn't been touched...Once they start attacking them is when I pick ALL of them 

[Fiddler]

My scoped pellet rifle is one of my most indispensable gardening tools. All I have to do is make an example of one crow, and the rest immediately get the message and stay away. By the way, raccoons are big lychee-eaters at night. You'd be surprised if you shine a flashlight out there once in a while.
   While the discharge of firearms (like shotguns and .22's) is generally illegal in most suburbs, pellet rifles shouldn't be a problem.
    Nonlethal "deterrents" like fake owls, aluminum foil flapping in the breeze, etc. are generally a complete waste of time.

[puglvr1]

My scoped pellet rifle is one of my most indispensable gardening tools. All I have to do is make an example of one crow, and the rest immediately get the message and stay away. By the way, raccoons are big lychee-eaters at night. You'd be surprised if you shine a flashlight out there once in a while.
   While the discharge of firearms (like shotguns and .22's) is generally illegal in most suburbs, pellet rifles shouldn't be a problem.

    Nonlethal "deterrents" like fake owls, aluminum foil flapping in the breeze, etc. are generally a complete waste of time.

[/b]


Fiddler, I couldn't agree more with that statement!!! Tried them all 

[Tropicalgrower89]

The squirrels laugh at non lethal deterrents in my yard. I have been trying tossing a bucket of my own urine on the trunk of my pantin mamey tree to see if that deters them a bit. I do notice less of a presence now. Maybe it is because of that or that there is a dove nest in my tree.

[thesimsdude]

I have a mature Mauritus, Sweetheart, and Hak Ip. By FAR the Sweetheart is a superior quality fruit. Better seed to flesh ratio and much more sweet. (If you like them sweeter). Sweetheart is the Variety to have!!

[puglvr1]

Back in 2011 when I planted that Lychee tree, there were very few Lychee trees for sale in my pretty small town... just a couple of Nurseries, Home Depot and Lowe's and they sold only Mauritius at the time I wanted to plant one. I initially wanted a Sweetheart Variety but Miami was the closest nursery that sold them at the time and I didn't feel like the almost 6 hours round trip Lol...now I don't have any more space and don't want to start over planting a small tree  ...

The tree back in 2011 when I planted it...

Protected it from wind for at least the first 3 years...

[murahilin]

Back in 2011 when I planted that Lychee tree, there were very few Lychee trees for sale in my pretty small town... just a couple of Nurseries, Home Depot and Lowe's and they sold only Mauritius at the time I wanted to plant one. I initially wanted a Sweetheart Variety but Miami was the closest nursery that sold them at the time and I didn't feel like the almost 6 hours round trip Lol...now I don't have any more space and don't want to start over planting a small tree  ...

The tree back in 2011 when I planted it...

Protected it from wind for at least the first 3 years...

I think you made a good choice with Mauritius. I like it more than most other cultivars I’ve had because it has more flavor and is not just sweet. Emperor might be the only cultivar that I like more than Mauritius.

[Pau]

Which lychee is the hardiest? Mine died after planting in ground. Was too late on providing wind protection and i gave it fertilizer (later found out it dont like nitrogen?). Im going to give it another shot, but first im learn more about its care.

[puglvr1]

Thanks Murahilin, since I own the tree I don't regret planting Mauritius...I've grown to love the taste.

Picked most of them today after finding a bunch of knocked down Clamshells lychees gone  on the ground, between the wind and the varmints I didn't want to lose anymore.




Pau, pick a variety you like the taste of and plant that one...All I know about Lychees is they LOVE water. I made sure they had a lot of water especially the first couple of years. I fertilized mine once a month "lightly" from early March through October...since you live in California, you might be able to ask some of the people that grow them there, our climate is a little different so what works for me may or may not work for you...Best of luck! Might be worth a try planting another 

[Pau]

I was in LA and picked up another lychee. I looked for the healthiest one and thought it was sweetheart lychee. Today I saw the tag and it said mauritius. I googled it and it brought me back to this page.... lol. I will do your method of protecting it and set irrigation for it. This time around I will only feed it worm casting.