Banana, I'm going to try these bags again this year...but this time I had to make them larger than the ones I used last year so I can tie them on the bottom of the bag...the ones from last year were too short and I could not tie them and so any little wind knocked them off or if a bird just pecked at it a couple of times it fell off...hopefully this will work better than last year...I'll let you know?

I ran out of the screening...I will have to buy another roll next week...I was going to use the Bird Net...but honestly the thing is such a pain in the neck...it gets caught in every thing it touches and rips so easily plus some of the lychees are still pretty small they go through the holes,lol...

And here's my largest Pickering mango...I have about 3 or 4 this size...most of them are much smaller than these...

Hi Puglvr,

Thanks so much for updating your lychee fruit development. I posted a message earlier, but it didn't go through. Anyway, I spilled water on my keyboard and it was acting out and not typing properly. Now I'm using a back up keyboard .. at least it's working for me now.

Wow ... your lychee fruit sure has grown a lot since and they are still in good numbers. Your mango looks fabulous too. Unfortunately, I only have a few left on my tree and my mango fruitlets have mostly dropped off already. Your idea of the mesh netting there looks ok to me. Do you think putting a second layer will help strengthen it more? Lychee trees do have a tough life ... if not for web worms which is in my case, then the critters are after them. But, I think with the protection, you should do ok. At least they'll have to go through a lot of bother to get the fruit and hopefully they won't bother them and you can keep all the fruit to yourself. Your hard labor sure deserves the treat.

I don't have much going for me in terms of "lychees," but I do have some surprises this early summer. My 5 Surinam cherry trees have yielded me lots of crop. At first I didn't like the taste, but now I'm liking it. It has a hint of the pineapple taste to it. It's really refreshing when they're eaten fresh. I have a lot of birds in my yard, but surprisingly, they seem to have disappeared and did not peck on the fruit too much. My Cherry de Grande was fruitless for 7 years, but this year, it finally yielded a bunch of cherries for me. The taste is somewhat like the regular cherries except that it's a little sour, but not too bad. The Surinam cherry is sweeter. I made a cold slaw with coconut milk, almond butter and pineapple and then used all these cherries as toppings. Amazingly, it tastes great with grilled fish.

Here's a picture of tonight's salad.

Hi banana, Wow!! That salad looks delicious!!

Congrats on getting fruits from your Surinam cherry trees, that's great! I must say I've never tried them before...

I also used a few of those plastic produce container (the ones I used on mango fruits) on some of the Lychee pannicles...we'll see how those work. The one disadvantage I can think of using those plastic containers are sometimes they can heat up and burn part of the skin...

Here's a picture of some mangoes I used the plastic container...

I took a picture with the lychees inside the plastic produce container...

Puglvr,

That is really a brilliant idea! It looks like it will be strong enough to keep out the peckers and chewers. I would have to try that on what is left of my lychees and some on my new Biew Kiew longan. The wheel of innovation never stops turning and that is a great thing to have :)

Thanks for sharing the idea.

This post was edited by bananafan on Mon, May 12, 14 at 18:33

Hi Puglvr,
I've been looking at your posts and realized you have some pretty aggressive critters. :). I've never had a critter chew thru the screen fabric like they did with yours. So, I saw these at the big box stores and thought of you. They're about $2.36 but made of aluminum (reusable). I was thinking you could put them on then put the screen bags over them. Of course because they're so costly, you could use it only on the 'special' fruits. âºï¸Â

In the aisle with gutter supplies

Other fruit

Thanks banana, I hope it works for some of your fruits as well!

Hi Trini, thank you for posting those pictures!! wow, I've never seen those! I'm glad you told me where to find them at the big box stores ,appreciate it! Too bad they are a bit costly, but like you said I can get a few to protect some of my "best" mango,lol...Thanks again for posting!

Yes, unfortunately I DO have some very aggressive critters in my yard. The first year I had almost 100% success with just the aluminum bags...but the following year I guess they got smarter and figured out how to chew through them :o(

Here is a link to a "make your own" wire cage.

DM

Here is a link that might be useful: Ed Lin cages

DM, thanks so much for posting that link! That is very helpful but I'm afraid that material/wire cage looks to be too hard to work with...I can see me ending up in the emergency room with cuts and bleeding to death :o),lol...

I wish they had something inbetween the aluminum window screening to that heavy duty gauge they're using there...plus I cannot possibly make 50 of those,lol...that's about how many I will need and hopefully as the years progresses I will need at least 100!! But maybe by then I won't mind sharing a "few" mangoes with the Critters since I will have more than I can eat and share :o)

Thanks for the link though!! It is a GREAT idea!!

Took these a couple of days ago...very slowly coloring up. Now I just have to hope the Critters and Birds leave them alone!!

Maybe a couple more weeks...

I believe Mauritius is one of the earliest variety to ripen?

Puglvr,

Very nice looking cluster of lychees. This is what healthy fruit development should look like.

For many of my trees, what fruit that remain are all scanty sporadic individual fruit nuts. I think I might have to fertilize them more regularly and see if they would do the same thing for me like yours do. I'm also wondering if the web worms here have been the main culprit in destroying my crops.

Thanks for the pictures. I hope yours will turn red soon for you and you'll get to eat all of them without sharing any with the critters ... lol.

Thanks banana! Took this today, its SO close I'm tempted to pick some of the reddest ones before the Critters get them before I do,lol...

Don't forget to trim them around the middle of July...as per instructions from Lycheesonline.com

I fertilize my lychee trees (when its not fruiting) once every 4-6 weeks with half the dosage of fertilizer recommended...I've found that they like frequent (but less quantity) especially during the summers months when we have abundant rain...it really responded well last year...Just make sure you use "less" but more often....

Puglvr,

Your plastic box is really a good idea. I don't think the critters can get to your lychees this time.

Actually I just came back from vacationing. When I came back home, I found my Anna apples all cleaned out. I have a tree with both Anna apple and Golden Dorsett. There were about 8 Anna apples turning red, but none from the Golden Dorsett. I haven't seen any raccoons or squirrels around recently, so it must have been the opposums that committed this heinous crime. I should have done something to protect them. Oh well, when coming to garden harvest, it's always man vs. animals.

Thanks for the reminder on the pruning. I remember your having mentioned 6-8" before. Last year, I removed 2-3 ft off from my Mauritius, Sweetheart and Brewster as they were really getting very huge. I don't know if that was a mistake or not, or at least was the reason for the scanty and no show of fruit. I will most certainly try the light feeding 4-6 weeks from now on and see what happens next year.

I've always enjoyed your pictures and I especially love the sight of lychees turning red. Have you counted how many fruit you have so far? I'm glad this year, your Mauritius is producing a lot more crop for you. I do hope you'll be able to enjoy your harvest soon :)

Thanks banana!! I hope you had a great vacation :o)

I'm SO sorry your apples were taken by Critters...it is so heart breaking to put so much love, work and care into our trees and plants...and to finally see them fruit only to be stolen...unfortunately you're so right, its always man vs. animals!!! doesn't make it any easier though does it!

Its kinda hard to tell exactly how much there are on the
tree but I would venture a guess of about 120? Give or Take...way more than last year for sure!!

Yesterday afternoon, I went to check on them and found one of the "mesh bag" laying on the ground with 2 holes chewed through and NO lychees inside...at that point I decided I had to pick the ones that were the reddest, I couldn't risk another year with them winning and eating all my lychees....here's what I harvested!!

Puglvr,

I love the bunch of red lychees!!! :) Remember to chill them before eating. I always refrigerate them before eating and the taste is refreshing and top notch. I know I can buy them from the Asian stores here as this is the season to eat them, but home grown lychees ... they're special. So savor the taste and remember the experience. Say, have you ever fallen in love with a specific fruit tree in your garden yet ... lol? It is good to have a larger crop, so you can eat them non stop for a couple of weeks.

This year, I can only have a few tasting of lychees here and there. From all the lychee trees I have, I think if I'm lucky, I could get slightly more than a dozen fruit from all of them. Some of them are turning red already. I'm not too excited like I was with my Brewster crop last year which yielded I think a little over a 100? Don't quite remember exactly.

For mangoes, only a few. I'm also expecting a few avocados from a newly planted tree and some bananas and blueberries. The only thing that is prolific now is the Wax Jambu. It is the first year here with me and it's blooming like crazy. Will see if the fruit turn out ok. I've had a busy summer this year attending to many extended family affairs and I think I'm kind of slacking off with my garden. I'll try to catch up with them soon again.

Thanks for the nice lychee pictures, Puglvr.

I'm happy to share the pictures banana...this is my first year getting a very nice crop from this tree so I'm very excited for sure!! I have several more bunches to pick today...we had about 2" of rain last night and I think that sweetened them up. I really need to pick more before the Critters get wise to them :o)

Its hard to keep up with our gardens when "life" happens! Tending to family, jobs and the other chores is very demanding. Hope things slow down a little for you so you can catch up...

And you are so right...nothing like eating home grown fruits from your very own garden :o)

Hopefully next year will bring us both a very bountiful Lychee and mango season...

Here's my Keitt tree...these are suppose to be late variety so maybe August they will be ready?

This was taken about 2 weeks ago...

Just picked some more...only a few left on the tree now...at least I feel like I've had more than the Critters this year :o)

Puglvr,

Nice pictures of your mangoes and lychees. I'm glad you got to eat most of your lychees. You did beat the critters to those succulent lychees this time .. lol. Wow, your mangoes certainly are plumbing up. I'm sure they would have yellowed up by now.

After our vacationing, the family all fell really sick with a nasty cold and a lingering cough (except me which is a good thing), so instead of taking care of my plants, I've been taking care of sick patients. I was pleasantly surprised though to find my Wax jumbo and figs secretly fruiting behind me while I was not watching. I'm glad there are some plants that don't need much pampering to do their thing. It's a bonus to have them in the garden when my favorite ones aren't doing great. There are a few fruit here and there on my lychee trees. I'll wait until the harvest is over to start feeding them. I'm glad I don't need to water them so far this summer. The rain is just pouring and pouring and I'm having a new crop of mushrooms already ... lol.

Anyway, enjoy your lychee and mango harvest and thanks for sharing the pictures.

Thanks banana! I'm sorry to hear that your family got sick. Hopefully they are on the mend and soon you'll be able to check and nurture your plants as well...

Thank goodness for other fruit trees that need minimal care, its nice to have a few of those to fall back on.

My lychees were excellent...a few I may have picked a little sooner than I would have liked since I know it could have been sweeter if I left it on the tree a little longer...but I just couldn't let the Critters get them all this year,lol...overall I'm very pleased...Now I can apply some fertilizer to the tree before a nice "rain" this week...that should get the new growths growing...just in time to tip prune them in Mid July as per the recommendation from lycheesonline...

Everybodies trees look great. I can only dream of the day when I may be able to pick fresh lychees or mangos off of my trees. We visited China a few years ago, but it was in late May and the longans weren't ripe yet. Next time, we'll have to time the trip better.

I have a Sweetheart lychee. How long from fruit set to harvest.

Also same question for a Nam Doc Mai mango.

When do the lychees and mango bloom for you guys?

This post was edited by vanman23 on Tue, Jun 24, 14 at 14:56

Hi Vanman23, in FL our mango and lychees bloom around January or Feb. and once sometimes late December...they bloom in winter basically. I think Sweetheart lychees are ready late June or July and though I do not have NDM mango I think the fruits ripen from June to July as well...

Good luck with your trees...