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Wed, Jun 27, 07 at 12:08
| I would like to know if Lychees grow and fruit well in Southern California. For what I hear, they require between 100 and 200 chill hours. I understand that Eggo has a Emperor Lychee growing but besides that I have not come across anyone else.
I would like to hear about some success stories before I make this investment. Also, What may be the best variety to plant in this area. Thanks |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Depends on your definition of fruiting well. =) Clusters and clusters of fruits, probably no. Sparse/couple of fruits here and there on a bloom spike, yes. This is just my opinion from various observation. Lychees seem to bloom some years and will sometimes skip a year or two. And even when they bloom, they do not appear to set fruit easily also. I think this is a lack of pollinators as bees/large wasp seems to be the best pollinators for them but they seem to attract tiny tiny bugs and insects for the most part. It seems that bees ignore the blooms at times maybe just due to being unfamiliar with the flower. Also blooms does not seem to send out quite a fragrance or large amount of nectar. The two most commonly planted varieties is Mauritious and Brewster and is reported by many to do well here. From my observations that seems to mean sparsely fruiting tree. =) Emperor has done well for me but I am not certain if its just my micro climate. I'm hoping to get an airlayer of those two varieties to test side by side with my Emperor to see how it fares as far as blooming and setting fruit. |
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| I've got a Brewster growing in my yard. Its about 12 years old and about 12 feet tall. Right now it has about 10 fingernail size lychees on it. They look as if they are going to hold on the tree and ripen, but you never know. Most years I don't get any fruit at all. Just to let you know that it is possible, here's a ripe fruit from about 2 years ago.
My Longan (Kohala) and Lychee trees are planted together in a raised bed. Actually I planted 3 of each kind of tree in one hole for each kind of tree so I have a triple Lychee and a triple Longan in the same bed about five feet apart. The Longan is larger and produces lots of fruit every year.
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| Triple lychee? 3 Brewster in one whole? Have you thought about adding another variety in the hopes of better production. hehe, I seen other 12 feet lychee trees with 12 fruits. So I assume it is one fruit per foot for lychees here. =) I remember those pics Cagary. You gotta send us some of the latest pics of your greenhouse though. |
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| forgot here's some pics of Emperor. Last year. Hard to see all the fruits but there was actually about 3 dozen fruits on this 4 1/2 foot tree.  Last year. close up.  This year. hard to see but there are dozens and dozens of little fruitlets that seem to holding up well, along with tons of new growth.  This year. close up.  Another Emperor. Its only a 1 1/2 foot tall plant with about a dozen fruitlets. Looks like the fruit is gonna hold. But I know I must pinch them off. =(  |
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- Posted by racor_2006 SoCal (My Page) on Fri, Jul 6, 07 at 14:37
| Great pictures Eggo. It looks like Emperor would be a good potted Lychee for me but I have made some calls to see if anyone has it in stock but they don't. I called Mimosa nursery in LA but are sold out until next year and Roger Meyer doesn't carry this variety. I wonder if anyone carries this variety locally in Los Angeles? Thanks |
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- Posted by racor_2006 SoCal (My Page) on Fri, Jul 6, 07 at 14:50
| Nice looking trees Cagary. I wish I had the space to plant those but I may be restricted to potted one like Emperor. Thanks for the pictures |
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| Here's a photo of this years crop: They are about 15 feet in the air. |
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