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bananafan

Lychee Trees Update

bananafan
9 years ago

I have 4 lychee trees planted in the ground.

The oldest being a 9-year old Mauritius. It was damaged a few years ago to 3 ft tall. Since then, it has bounced back and it's now standing at about 16 ft, but it hasn't even fruited once! Right now it's still flushing new leaves, but there's no sign of any blooms. I'm just wondering if I have been sold a seedling instead of a air layered plant, or perhaps it's just the way it is. I also suspect that it might be due to its roots being disturbed when I placed a roll of patio blocks 6 ft from its base a couple of years back. Anyway, it's sad to watch this plant not fruiting.

This year, my 5-6 years old Hak Ip is sending out a lot of blooms and it looks like it will fruit this year. It had blooms all these years, except that they don't turn into fruit. My thought was it might still be a young plant, but this year I'm hopeful. We'll have to wait and see.

My 7-8 years old Brewster standing at 12-13 ft tall did very well last year with quite a nice crop for me, but this year, it's all quiet ... not even new leaves flushing. For this, I might be guilty for that ... I'm guessing when we built a potting shed next to it, its roots might have been disturbed.

My 7-8 years old Sweetheart is tall and lanky at 16 ft tall. All these past years, it had sporadic blooms which did not turn into fruit. Last year, I only got one miserable fruit out of it. This year it's blooming on 6-7 spikes only. Considering such a huge plant now, it's kind of disappointing too. I don't know the reason for this, but I'm beginning to think that it might be due to the stone mulch I did 5 ft away from around its base. Not sure though ...

Recently, I planted another 6ft tall Brewster. It came with a few almost dried up blooms ... I don't think it's going to do much this year, but it's ok. I'll try to be patient and let it grow up first.

The other lychees I have are all in a pot. A Mauritius, Emperor and another Brewster (which is flowering now at 4 ft height). Again, the potted Mauritius is a disappointment. It is at least 4-5 years old and hasn't even showed any blooms all these years. The Emperor is a new plant I got last year and it's not blooming either.

With regards to feeding them, I have learned not to be too heavy handed on them, so I feed them periodically and lightly with fish emulsion, compost plus and less frequently micros plus as well.

In summarizing, I would say my lychee planting is at best a hit and miss experience for me. I've come to the conclusion that lychee trees are very sensitive plants. They don't like their roots being disturbed at all and if they are damaged by cold, it might take them a long time to recover from the shock in order for fruit production. Anyway, this is just my hypothesis and I might have been mistaken or be wrong. If you have any useful suggestions or insights to share, I'd greatly appreciate them.

Here are some pictures of my lychees ..

Picture #1 (Hak Ip Flowering)

Comments (85)

  • sapote
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    flower and "burned" leaves

  • sapote
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Bees on flower. As about soil and burned leaves, I found my mangoes have burned leaves even when they were on pots with original soil from Mimosa nursery in Los Angeles and those I bought from TOP with Miracle potting soil and not my garden soil. May be too much strong sun and dry air?

  • puglvr1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Great pics sapote!! Nice blooms...I think you will have some delicious fruits this summer. Thanks for posting!!

  • sapote
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Puglvr, you didn't take those amazing Lychee photos with an iphone did you? The last pic shows the camera had wide open iris with very shallow depth-of-field and I don't think iphone has this feature. My iphone photos were terrible.

  • bananafan
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sapote,

    Some of my lychees also have leaves with dried off brown tips. I think that it might be the old leaves going to drop out soon .. giving way to some new flushes after bloomimg. Sometimes the new flushes will come alongside the blooms. This is just my guess, but it looks like your lychee blooms are going to set fruit for you soon. Please keep updating the progress of your lychee and thanks for posting the pictures.

  • bananafan
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Puglvr,

    How's your lychee fruitlets doing? I went out to check today and found that a few fruitlets survived the attack on my Hak Ip ... a very sad sight though to see the whole lot of blooms all gone.

    Sweet heart is fruiting sparingly and also has some fruitlets.

    I notice that my newly planted Avocado though .. was also attacked by the web worms. Almost all its blooms were cleaned out. Good thing, my other Avocado planted 3 years ago was ok and it's now setting fruit. I'll get some pictures to post later on.

    If you have more pictures of your lychee fruit development to update, it would be nice to see them :)

  • puglvr1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Sapote, those pictures were not taken with my iphone. My daughter gave me a very nice iphone last Christmas with a great camera. It has more megapixels than my current camera though I don't use it much since I prefer to take pictures with my Cannon for some reason,lol...

    Hi banana...I'm so sorry about the webworms attacking your one Avocado too...thank goodness you have another they didn't attack! I'm happy to hear that some of your Hak ip blooms survived the Neem spray and web worms damage...

    Its been very windy yesterday and today and I've noticed a lot of the baby mango and lychee fruitlets on the ground from this wind :o(...unfortunately this is very common and typical this time of year...I've lost quite a bit and I know I'm going to lose a lot more...I just hope the wind doesn't blow them all off the tree and save some for me,lol...

    I took these pictures today...

  • puglvr1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    It was a little hard to take a good picture today with the wind,lol...

  • sapote
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Puglvr, You'll have Lancetilla fruit bigger than the pot!!! Lancetilla have the biggest of all mango fruits I was told.

    You used a Canon no wonder your sharp pictures.

    Thanks for posting the photos.

  • puglvr1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks Sapote! I'm not looking to see a fruit mature off that Lancetilla, Its just way too small,lol...It's so hard to believe that Lancetilla is 6 years old. It suffered a couple of hard freeze damage...planted inground, super "pugged then dug up and planted back into a pot a year ago. Now its blooming surprisingly...Its been more of an experiment for me to see if I can keep it very small...if it doesn't fruit that's fine too.

    I'll keep you posted...but I really don't think it will hold any fruits...here's a picture of the lancetilla trunk thickness...

  • puglvr1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    And some teeny tiny baby fruitlets on my potted Maha Chanok...this one I'm hoping for a couple to mature...it will be my first from my tree. I was lucky enough to taste a Maha fruit last year (not from my tree) and boy was it very good!!

  • sapote
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think Maha is a super mango: In all of my mangoes, Maha is the bug-free healthiest, nice looking foliage, bear fruit easily, and I can't wait to taste its fruits this year. I have total six 0.7" long fruits on one stem after cut off all other smaller fruit stems. I'm concern if this will tax the tree grow but hope since it's in ground I will nurse it with all I could do: fish emulsion, aged fish pond water, cover up at cool night.

    Puglvr -- I see the pot top soil looks wet. How often you water it from now to end of summer? Do you wait until the top one inch or more soil to dry out before watering again?

    MDog -- you're in dry and warm climate Pal Spring and I think my climate is somewhat similar. How often you water the mangoes in ground during above 80F days? every 2 days?

    Thanks,
    Sapote

  • puglvr1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just watered that pot a few minutes before I took that picture. I normally water my potted mangoes anywhere from every 3-5 days depending on how quickly it dries out from end of March to end of Oct...right now its in the 80's and will be 90's soon enough...when our rainy season starts ( in mid June) usually I won't water as often and if we have rain every day...I might cover the pot with a plastic bag to keep it from being super wet and remove as soon as rain is over.

    I definitely let several inches of the potting soil dry out before I water it well again...I use a mix similar to Al's 5-1-1 mix...lots of small pieces of Pine Bark mixed in...

  • puglvr1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Here's a picture of some of the lychees...11 days since I took that picture above...its a slooow process but its finally growing slightly larger.

    I think I'm going to have to put a Bird Net on this tree...its going to have to be a pretty large one since the tree is pretty wide now...but last year I lost 70% of them to the Cardinals and other birds...

  • bananafan
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow Puglvr!

    Those baby lychee fruits are surely looking good and very healthy looking! I can see they are strongly connected to the pinnacles and that is a good sign. I think you're going to have loads and loads of crop this year. Don't let the squirrels beat you to them ... lol. I'd say bird netting is a good idea. I think you put something else last year. I don't remember what it was. I put individual meshed laundry bags with zippers over each pinnacle and they kept the birds and squirrels from them too.

    By the way, my Hak Ip managed to retain a few fruit after the cruel web worm attack. I would be very happy if I can get 10 fruit out of it this year. I may get a total of 20-25 fruit from the 4 lychee trees that are fruiting right now (two of them in the ground) and two of them in the pot, that is if they don't keep dropping on me.

    Thanks so much for the picture update. I'm sure you're looking forward to them plumbing up and changing color. The bright red really stand out among the green leaves.

    Here are some pictures of Hak Ip retaining a few fruitlets.

  • bananafan
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Another picture here of Hak Yip - a solitary fruitlet dangling here for its dear life!

  • bananafan
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    A few more fruitlets that survived for now.

  • bananafan
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sooo, as for me this year, I would just have to dream some lychee dreams by looking over some old pictures of my Brewster fruiting. Here's a picture of last year's Brewster harvest of 75 lychee nuts.

    At least, for now, it makes me happy to think that it's possible to grow lychees despite all the odds--whether it's the finicky weather, the temperamental fruit bearing pattern, the web worms, the rain storm and strong winds that threaten the fruit during their infancy and last of all the uninvited guests that want to have a large if not all of the share of the fruit ... lol. A sense of humor is much needed to keep growing this illusive plant.

  • bananafan
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Puglvr,

    Your mango fruitlets are coming along very well. Very nice fruit and healthy shiny leaves. You've done a good job for your mangoes. I have still a lot to learn .. lol. I think I might have over watered them. Maybe that's why their blooms get that mushy and fungi infested look and the fruitlets don't stay for too long.

    My Coconut cream mango is now blooming for the first time. I'm excited to see how it will develop from here and I'll be real careful about spraying things on them this time. I sprayed anti fungus spray and Neem oil on my Carrie mango blooms and the result was not good.

    Anyway, thanks for sharing your mangoes--keep posting pics as the fruit develop. It's always a happy sight to see things growing and growing :)

  • puglvr1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi banana, Congrats on your lychee fruits...looks like you will have some to taste this year. Wow!! Your Brewster tree produced a ton of fruits last year, they sure look really yummy!!

    Last year my attempts of saving them didn't work. I used those aluminum bags that I made for my mangoes but the birds and or squirrels got them anyways :o(...that's why this year I'm going to try the bird net...though I have no idea if that will work on the squirrels? But, I have to try,lol...

    Here's a picture from last year of the aluminum bags I tried using with NO luck!!

  • cyh527
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    wow. you guys all have giant lychee trees. How old are they? I heard lychees do not produce each year. Do you guys hand-pollinate?

  • puglvr1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi cyh527! My Lychee tree was planted Feb. 2011 so its just a little over 3 years old. I purchased it at Lowe's in a 3 gallon...here's a picture of it right after I planted it... our biggest obstacle is "freeze damage" since bananafan and I both live in zone 9 and we have a few days in winter that can damage or kill our mango and lychee trees :o(

    Some lychee varieties are known to skip a year or more...I think Brewster and Mauritius are one of the recommended for the most reliable fruiting...and even then they've been known to be alternate bearers...but pruning them appx. the middle of July gives them a better chance of hopefully flowering the next winter?

    This was taken Feb 2011

  • dangermouse01 (coastal central FL 9B)
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Be very careful when putting those bird nets over trees with small fruits already formed, they get caught on everything, branches, twigs, fruit, sticks on the ground, watch bands.........
    There is no weight to the nets so it is impossible to throw them over the top, they will get caught on something lower.
    Best thing I can think of, is attach each corner to a 8' pole, have two people (4 people would be better) each take two sticks, stand on both sides of the tree and lift the net over the tree until it is about centered then bring the net down (kinda like working a puppet).
    The ones I have (used on grumichama and cherry of the rio grande so far) are black and once on are nearly invisible from a few feet away depending on the sun. Which doesn't help when you are trying to put the on or take them off.

    DM

  • bananafan
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Puglvr,

    Ah, yes .. I do remember those aluminum bags now. I remember those critters were chewing through the bags. To keep those critters off their attention on your lychees, I wonder if placing some bird seeds close by to the lychee tree will distract them from messing around with your lychee fruit. I haven't had problems with squirrel stealing my lychees yet ... cross my fingers and hope they don't. The reason why I don't see so many of them might be because of the dogs the neighbors keep. I don't have a dog myself. Or, it might be the raccoons. Some years back, a squirrel was devoured by a raccoon and it left the head and tail on the ground. Perhaps that scared them away .. not sure though. Anyway, the netting should keep the birds from stealing the fruit if they don't find any gaps to get in the tree.

    It's amazing that it took your lychee only 3 years to grow to such robust size. I know you've talked about feeding them with fish emulsion. What else do you feed it with? Do you run an irrigation line to it, or do you water with a hose? Your lychee sure is a happy camper. Nice job with your taking care of it!

  • bananafan
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    chy527,

    As for my lychee trees, the oldest I have in the ground must have been close to 10 years old. The largest tree I have in the ground is a Mauritius that has been planted in 2007 which is about 7 years ago. This tree has never produced any fruit for me and I'm scratching my head as to what is happening ...

    The other lychee trees I have are a little younger and smaller between 5-7 years old and they do bloom every year, but it's hard to get them to keep the fruit. I usually end up with a very scanty fruit harvest because of some web worms disease that is in my yard.

    I'm glad though that for many years now, I didn't get a bad freeze, otherwise they'll all be "cooked."

    Do you have a lychee tree, or do you plan to plant one soon? I'd say even though they're kind of difficult trees to manage, it's still nice when they do produce fruit for you and the sweet taste of the fruit will make you forget all the troubles to go through .. at least it's this way for me ... lol.

  • bananafan
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Dangermouse,

    Do you own a lychee tree? Would you be able to share pictures of your tree if you have one? I love to see how lychee trees growing is here locally and elsewhere across the states.

  • cyh527
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Banana fan, your lychee trees look amazing. I only have a sweetheart, not sure where to get the other varieties? I don't think any of the nurseries here sell any other varieties : / Which variety produces fruit the best each year in your opinion?

  • cyh527
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    @puglvr1, never knew lowes sells these! how much were they? Can I special order?

  • puglvr1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for the heads up about the netting DM!! You are SO right, they do get caught in everything!! Not the easiest stuff to work with. I wish I had a very large piece of that aluminum screening which would just go over the top of the tree, but it would cost too much. The poles won't work for me since the tree is already almost 9ft tall at the tallest part and I won't be able to find poles long enought to hammer down the ground :o(

    Bananafan...as far as fertilizer goes, I fertilized my lychee tree very often...every 2 or 3 weeks when it was very young..I used "light" dosage...I've used Miracle Grow, the blue stuff and added fish emulsion and kelp...at half strength added it to a couple of gallons of water and watered it in every couple of weeks or so. I also add slow release "Dynamite Fertilizer" from HD...sprinkled that in about an inch in the soil every 6 weeks or so...did this for about the first 2 1/2 years and LOTS of water, they really love water, so I watered them very often..

    , I'm hoping what ever I end up using will do the trick..I live close to a County Park so there are many wildlife living amongst my neighborhood,lol...too many to count!!

    Cyh527, do you live in FL? I bought mine at the Lowe's in my area (highlands county) they had a tag that says it came from "Pine Island Nursery" from Miami...I think I paid $30 or $35? for the 3 gallon...I was fortunate enough its something they carry every year...Mangoes, Lychees and several other types of fruit trees.

    You can call your local Lowe's nursery manager and see "if" he/she can order it for you...Good luck!!

    This post was edited by puglvr1 on Thu, Apr 24, 14 at 14:47

  • dangermouse01 (coastal central FL 9B)
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Puglvr1, the poles are just to extend your reach to be able to get the net over the top of the 9' trees, a 5' person with a 8' pole should be able to get the nets about 13' high, then remove the poles and let the net drape over the tree.

    Bananafan, I have a Sweetheart and a Hak IP, have had both about 2 years (or is it 3). Both in pots and about 5' tall. Last year got 3 fruits of the Sweetheart, this year both are holding a dozen or so fruits.

    DM

    Sweetheart picture.

    This post was edited by dangermouse01 on Thu, Apr 24, 14 at 16:58

  • dangermouse01 (coastal central FL 9B)
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hak IP

    DM

  • dangermouse01 (coastal central FL 9B)
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hak IP fruits.

    DM

  • sapote
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow, many people have beautiful Lychee trees. Do you guys have Longan also? personally I think Longan has better taste and aroma than lychee; what do you think? My Longan is about 10 ft tall and it has tons of flowers now.

  • puglvr1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh... I got it now DM, thanks for clarifying :o)...my net has 1/2" holes so I need to find a pole that's at least 3/4" so it doesn't go through the holes,lol... Great Lychee trees DM...all of them are potted? Great job you're doing with them :o)

    Sapote, I like longans but I love Lychees! Luckily, longans are available after the lychee season is over...by then I'm ready to eat them...they're very good don't get me wrong...I just personally prefer lychees.

    If I had more room for fruit trees...I probably would plant a longan :o)

    This post was edited by puglvr1 on Fri, Apr 25, 14 at 12:28

  • bananafan
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Chy527,

    Thank you for your nice comments about my lychee trees. They do grow big, but the question is whether they will be productive ... lol. Anyway, as to your question on where to get lychee trees, there are a few places you can buy lychees from. If you're in FL, try your local Lowe's or Home Depot first. They often carry many nice fruit trees including lychees. They should also be able to take your order for the specific variety of lychee you want I think. Otherwise, if you're within driving distance from Jene's Tropical Fruits in St. Petersburg, FL, they also carry many varieties there. You can also order online with them. I'm sure there are many other tropical nurseries here in FL. It depends where you're located.

    As to the variety of lychee that will produce fruit for you, I think it may be subjective. From my own growing experience, Brewster has done well for me. I've read somewhere .. don't remember where now that they're a little more hardy than the other varieties in terms of disease and cold resistance, but that is yet to be seen. We haven't had a hard freeze here for quite some years in a row now ... keeping fingers crossed. There was one year many years back when my lychee Mauritius was damaged from 10-12 ft to 3 ft.

    Growing lychees is fun if you will put up with their temperamental behaviors ... lol. I hope you'll be able to get some to plant soon.

  • bananafan
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow, DM, your two potted lychee trees are huge and healthy looking plants and only at a young age of 2-3 years! I have some lychees that are potted and are older than 3 years, but they don't seem to grow much for me in the pot. So, what do you feed them with?

    Are you planning to plant them into the ground at some point?
    I guess there are advantage for keeping them in the pots also--especially when the weather turns hostile.

    It's always a happy sight to see little fruit forming. Your fruitlets there look very promising. I do hope you'll have more lychees to eat this year. Thanks for sharing your pictures. Keep posting as they grow bigger.

  • bananafan
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sapote,

    It's exciting to hear that your longan has grown to 10 ft tall for you. It looks like you've done a good job with it to make it produce so much fruit for you. So, did yo plant it in the ground, or is it in the pot now? Does your plant have any disease problem for you?

    As for me, I have tried growing longans, but I have had not too good experience growing them. I don't know why. One was planted in the ground a few years back, but it had a bad case of white cottony aphids attack, or was it white flies? I'm not sure. I think longans are susceptible to this kind of white flies/aphids. Lychees are not so much so. They generally are quite disease resistance with the exception of web worms that attack my lychee blooms (in my yard/area) :( The second longan tree that I planted some years back did not end up well also. It was an accident. The neighbor's dog dug a hole under the fence and bit and shredded up the plant. It actually survived the attack, but it also succumbed to the white cottony disease. The only one thing though that I've found out about longans is that they are more cold hardy than lychees.

    With regards to the taste, I think they both are good tasting. Longan has a sweet dessert taste to it and lychee a sweet and sour/tangy taste. With longans, you can dry them and they'll keep the sweet in the flesh that will produce a nice tasting and refreshing tea for you. Most Asian stores carry the longan fruit in the dried form. I've bought one packet and will try it soon. I've tasted it before so I know it's good.

    I would love to plant longans again if I know how to take care of them. In fact, I just bought a longan (Biew Kiu variety). The 2-3 longans I had before that were all Kohala. Any feedback you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Any pictures to share of your longan?

  • cyh527
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Longan- I had a longan I moved out of the pot to the ground and all of leaves dried up. Do you think it'll come back? Any help would be appreciated!

  • dangermouse01 (coastal central FL 9B)
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Bananafan, I bought both lychee trees 2 years ago in 3 gal pots, skinny and probably just over 3' tall. They will probably end up planted in the ground later this year.

    Sapote, I got two longans a couple months ago, a Biew Kiew and See Chompoo that we air layered off a friends trees. Both are small (at 2-3'), the SC is flushing growth and looks good, the BK pushed one tiny flush and they turned brown and fell off. The roots still look good so I am still babying it along and keep looking for signs of green. Right now it is just a stick. Not sure what it really needs either, more water, less water, more sun light, less sun light. Time will tell.

    DM

  • sapote
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    bananafan, sorry to hear your Longan didn't do well. I guess somehow longan has more issues growing in Florida -- are you in FL? We in Southern Cal have an easy time with Longan -- i's so easy to grow beside being killed by the very cold below 29F winters. My longan is about 11 yrs old and was killed down to ground. I thought it was a goner and not even care to cut off the stump. Then one day in spring I saw a little thing -- looked like a seedling -- popped up. I opened up the soil to find out it's a seedling or from the death tree and sure enough it was from the deep root of the death tree. I dug up and moved it closer to the wall for protection and couple years later it was over 5 ft tall but skinny leg, then a very cold winter killed it down to ground level. This time I knew it would come back. Sure enough it did and the last 8 years we had no hard winter and now it reaches over 10 feet. Here is the top of the tree with flowers. The second photo is one of the horizontal branches.

  • sapote
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You can tell from the photos we don't have any kind of bugs on longan. I mean none. :)

  • puglvr1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Very NICE Longan Sapote!!! You live in CA? If you do you guys have less problems with bugs and fungus than we do here in FL :o(...totally jealous,lol...bugs and diseases/fungus love humidity and heat...lots of both here in FL unfortunately. You guys also have a much better bloom set and fruit set due to the lesser humidity also.

  • sapote
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    thank you Puglvr, and yes we're in southern California. I agreed that our climate is better for longan and might be for Lychee too, but your Florida is much better for mangoes :)
    Last year my Longan had very little fruits but year before it had many, and so this year is its time for fruits again. I don't know about Lychee but no birds or pest care to eat the longan fruit -- might be they don't see the fruits since they are not colorful and it's not a native plant?

  • bananafan
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh, Sapote, your Lady Longan looks beauuutiful! I love all the white blooms. If I could give her a hug, I would :) Thank you for sharing such beautiful pictures. It's an eye candy to me.

    Sorry to hear that it had to go through such difficulties, but it is worth your patience to bring her up. I hope you'll continue to have mild weather in CA so she can bloom and fruit every year. I wonder though if Longans are alternate bearers like lychees? Or are they more consistent in fruit bearing each year?

    Anyway, I did acquire a new Longan (Biew Kiew) just this year. It is a 4 ft plant and it's now blooming with no disease (yet!) and hopefully not at all (keeping my fingers crossed for now).
    It's taking it a long time to set fruit. I'll try to post pictures of it soon.

    Please update the development of your longan fruit as and when you're able to do so. It would be nice to see all those mature fruit hanging on the tree.

  • sapote
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Bananafan, I forget what variety of my Longan; is Lady Longan its name? The fruits usually are ready by October. I think Longan is also an alternate bearer, less one year and many one year. They are quite easy to air-layer -- about 3 months and you can have a new tree.

  • bananafan
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sapote,

    Lol ... Lady Longan surely isn't its name. I was trying to personify your longan tree. The blooms look so pretty and it made me think of a bride carrying her wedding bouquet and hence at the top of my head I referred to her as "Lady Longan."

    Do you have a picture of the whole tree to post?

  • sapote
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    bananafan

    I will take the photo when I have the chance. Talking about Longan big tree, couple years ago when we visited Vietnam and stopped at my wife's grand father 150 years old house in Hue -- the old capital, there was a huge Longan tree in the yard -- the trunk at the base was about 36" diameter and the top was taller than the 3-story apartment near by. I asked the house keeper of how did they harvest the fruit and she said they auction the fruits on the tree to the high bidder and the buyer somehow with very tall latters they climbed up the tall tree and paper-bagged all the fruits to protect from the fruit eating bats, then they climbed up again when the fruits were ready. It's amazing big tree and I think it was at least more than 75 feet tall. I will try to dig up the photo of this huge tree and let you guys see for yourselves.

  • Catalina1235
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi, So nice to see all your photos!
    I planted two Lychee trees, one almost died from cold weather, I saved it with blanket.. however the other's root got chewed off by gophers....
    Anyway, we have this one for more than 10 years, it's about 6' tall. This year is the frist time bearing 5 fruits. How can you tell which spiece it is, and how can you tell it's ripping? I saw the Asian Supermarket selling the half red/half green ones, but I picked one from my tree with the same color. it's juice but so sour.... Thank you for sharing your experience!!!!

  • puglvr1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Most lychee varieties needs to be very red to be sweet...not all but "most"! The redder it is the sweeter it is...my lychee which is Mauritius is one that doesn't necessarily need to be very red...but the longer I leave it on the tree and the redder it gets, it much sweeter. Lychees do not ripen after picking...so you must pick them ripe or they will be sour.

    Its a little hard to tell by looking at the tree what variety it is...but its a little easier to tell by the size of the fruits and the seeds (sometimes)...not always.

    I'm not an expert but post some pics of your fruits, maybe someone here can make an educated guess...

    Very Pretty trees!! What variety of Mango is that in the back? Huge blooms and what zone do you live in? Your profile doesn't say...

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