Wow NTM!! Congrats on your Sweetheart Lychee fruits!! You really have the technique on hand pollinating down pat, I am truly impressed...Thanks for that great slideshow...I really enjoyed looking at your great photos!

Looking forward to more pics later...

Looks like you got a really nice fruit set. What is your technique for pollinating? Where exactly do you place the pollen on the females? My lychee's have me a bit confused. My Hak ip has still not put out a single male flower, but my sweetheart has a few male flowers starting to open but the females have not yet. I moved the hak ip right next to the sweetheart hoping the insects used some of the sweethearts males pollinate the hak ip's females. Do you have a pic of you whole tree?

Thanks for the compliments! I'll be sure to update further down the road.

@Jsvand- To pollinate, you use a tiny (10/0) brush, and apply the pollen to the female when the "Y" shape pistil starts to curl, then you just dust the top of the "Y." I think you should definitely try to cross pollinate your trees...the pollen won't last forever. I don't have a full pic of the sweetheart while it's inside...it's too big, and obstructed by the other trees. I'll post a full pic when they go outside in April.

Thank you NTM for the pictures and the great explanations. Your postings are always so educational. Looking forward to your updates, and I can't wait to see the full picture of your lychee tree.

ntm does it again! Man you should become a full on lychee grower. You are growing multiple varieties of Lychees in much colder USDA zones than is recommended for lychees. I am so happy you got males and females to open on your Sweetheart at the same time. The ovaries really look like they are swelling up nicely. I really love the way you document the whole process.

I know you said your Emperor lychees were pretty good but from what I've heard from people that have tasted Sweetheart lychees, you are going to be in for a treat with this variety. I'm interested to see if the seeds come out fully developed or with chicken tongues. I've heard that small plants, even when grafted, tend to have fully developed seeds at first and the proportion of chicken tongue seeds increases with age/size according to the variety.

Did you use the regular male flowers or the hermi males? how tall and wide is your Sweetheart? I am so anxious to see how your Sweethearts turns out. The Sweetheart are supposed to be very large fruits with small seeds of excellent quality. Keep us updated ntm, I'm crossing my fingers for you.

excellent work NTM!! hope I can hand pollinate my sweetheart like you did. I'd be happy if I can do 50% as good.

my sweetheart flower buds started in Jan has not opened yet, seem to develop rather slowly, compared to yours. It seems however, within a next week they should start to pop.

NTM are you going to thin the fruits at some stage or just let them fall by themselves? I wonder if your emperor was allowed to bear too many last year?

again, thanks for sharing.

Thanks again for the compliments everyone!

@Simon- I do have high hopes for my sweetheart's fruit quality. I'm tempted to add some potassium rich fert. to enhance sweetness, but I want to see the cultivar's merits before adjusting anything.
The only males available were the M2's, so I'll let you know about the proportion of chicken tongue seeds...I've read that pollen plays a part in it too. The M1's tend to promote them, while M2's are more "viable" (fully formed seeds)...if that makes any sense.
My tree isn't anything like Puglvr's lychees (which are/were fantastically full.) Mine tend to look like tree stick figures :( , but dimensions wise...it's around 5.5' tall, and the horizontal branches are about 5' wide.

@Phase- The pollen is the key to sweethearts, as I've found out. There isn't a whole lot to go around, so you need a steady hand...sort of like playing that game "operation." The nectar really gets in the way sometimes, and if you touch it, then you lose that pollen and need to clean the brush. You could also collect the nectar droplets prior to pollinating, but that's labor intensive. Oh, I guess I would also recommend using a sable/natural fiber brush and a plastic dish (yogurt lid) to collect the pollen...the static electricity developed by brushing the plastic lid helps adhere the pollen to the brush for pollinating.
I don't have a plan to selectively thin the fruits since lychees seem to do a great job of it themselves. Plus, it kills me to see them drop off, so I won't add to my anguish LOL. My emperor did have quite a load last season, but I think the reason it didn't fruit is because it doesn't get as much light as the sweetheart, I have the emperor under fluorescent lights now, and it hasn't sent any growth out since last August...I'm quite sure it'll pop hard (vegetatively) when I put it outside.

That's interesting what you mentioned about the M2's and full sized seeds. My Hak ip which is supposed to produce only aborted seeds did not put out a single M1, but is now loaded with M2's. My sweetheart is looking to be the opposite with M1's breaking first. These things definitely have me confused. I hope I was not sent incorrectly labeled trees.

jsvand5, interesting. I will let you know what flows my sweetheart will get.

NTM, where can I find a 10/0 sable/natural fiber brush like the one you used? thanks.

NTM, I have a question.

My Sweetheart is just opening the first blooms. No females yet. But next week we are in Florida on vacation and the GH will be under the care of a family friend. She has watered for me before, but never any pollination.

I'm worried that all of my females will open while we're gone and none will be pollinated.

Any suggestions on a simplified way to do this? What about having here brush with a feather duster or something like that?

SB

@Jsvand- Check out this page on the lycheesonline website: http://www.lycheesonline.com/flowertypes.cfm
It has everything you need to know about the flowers.

@Phase- You can find the brushes in any craft store/hobby shop. Just look in the painting section. Make sure they are natural fiber...otherwise you'll get synthetic bristles, and the pollen won't stick well.

@SB- Well, there are a couple options open to you, but you may want to just sweat it out for the week. I lost 30-40% of my females before the males showed up, but there were enough females in the following week(s) to make up for it.
Your other options are as follows:
- buy some mason bees (blue orchard bees) and stick them in the greenhouse. The timing could be a huge problem though.
- You could try to collect as much pollen as possible, then put it into a water bottle with distilled water, and spray it on. The problem with this method is: you need a ton of pollen to make it work. Also, I've never tried this, and I don't know a good ratio for the solution.
- If she has a steady hand, patience, and a 10/0 brush, then you could let her have a crack at pollinating them, or just collecting the pollen for you.
****I strongly advise against a duster. The nectar would be a nightmare. It would make a big sticky mess of the duster, and possibly damage the flowers/panicle while gumming up the pollen in the process.

I know it's not much help, but waiting until you get back seems like the best solution here.

Hey NTM, by my count, you are going to have about 1 million Sweetheart lychees. But seriously, looks like you were able to pollinate just about every single female flower on your tree. I know there will be some natural fruit drop but you should still get a very respectable harvest.

jsvand5, I know that the Pine Island Nursery Lychee viewer says that the Hak Ip always has aborted chicken tongue seeds but the commercial Hak Ip that we get at our Asian grocery stores down here in San Diego have about 90% fully formed seeds. I'm sure the age of the tree, the growing conditions and the temp affect whether the trees produce aborted or fully formed seeds, probably by changeing the proportions of male, female herm and male herm flowers.

When I used to hand pollinate my Cherimoya trees, I used a camel hair brush that I purchased from an arts and crafts store. I believe Michaels or sometimes Asian book stores carry natural fiber brushes.

I've heard people on other tropical fruit sites dilute pollen in RO or DI water and use that to spray flowers but I doubt that will work for lychees since you will need large quantities of pollen. Its probably easiest to just get a brush dab the mature yellow pollen sacs of the males and then gently dab the Y shaped females. Like NTM said your brush will get sticky so I used to use several brushes for my cherimoyas since the sticky brushes will need to be washed and take time to dry out.

NTM, How do you collect the pollen? I have tried shaking male flowers on top of some black plastic but I don't see any pollen.

@Simon- I wish! I don't count my lychees until they are about nickel sized. A couple popped off recently that were pretty big....very frustrating to see.

@Jsvand- The pollen has a short lifespan on the flowers...a couple of days at their peak. The stamen will look dusty and shriveled. If they look plump and full, then you need to wait a day or three.

Aww...my sweetheart lychee is doing nothing for me. :( Getting some new growth now. But I want some fruits...:( Guess I have to take good care of this tree so I get fruits next year. Should I cut the new growth? I need more arms...lol

NTM...great job as always. And thanks for all the explanations and pics.

Alas...both of mine are doing the new growth thing instead of producing blooms. My mango on the other hand has produced so many blooms, the branches are hanging down. Unfortunately anthrancnose looks to have made an appearance and I'm losing every blooom spike on the tree. I feel like pulling the SOB right out of the ground with my bare hands.

SB...do you plan on trying to hit any fruit oriented places?

Sucks about your mango Jay. Same thing happened to me on my carrie mango. All of the others seem like they will hold some fruit, but I really wanted to taste the Carrie this year. I think I started spraying a little too late.

@Ch3rri- I'd recommend that you keep the growth. The tree needs to build energy prior to fruiting anyway. It'll happen when the tree is ready.

@Jay- Thanks Jay. Is that your Nam Doc Mai that has the Anthracnose issue? My Mallika has some growth issue...I'm guessing Anthracnose as well. It might be time to find some Potassium Bicarbonate to take care of the fungi.

I sprayed a copper mix on but like John, I may have waited too long before spraying. I may just cut the remaining spikes off and hope the tree throws out more in several weeks. Really PO'd. That was the most blooms the plant has ever produced. What are you planning on using?

Mine did the same thing...my potted Glenn was loaded with blooms and every single bloom turned brown and fell off!! I sprayed with copper on the onset...so I can't blame it on that? Our weather here in Fl was very erratic, a lot of freeze this winter. I was constantly moving my mango in the garage and hauling it out every few days...not sure if that's what caused the blooms not to set?

NTM - thanks, that is my plan, then. Females started to open today, but really only a couple of M1s, and they are about done; so I have nothing to really work with pollination-wise just yet. I'm keeping fingers crossed that I'll have some females and males (M2s?) still there when I get back. I have several bloom spikes that haven't opened at all.

Jay, we're in Key West; anyone know what fruit oriented places I can visit?

SB

@Jay, Puglvr- Everything I'm reading about mango Anthracnose leads me to believe I'll be pruning back hard, and spraying with Bordeaux mix. There doesn't seem to be a silver bullet here, unfortunately. This is one of the reasons I love lychees so much...they're so easy to care for, with regard to disease.

@SB- I'm sure you'll return to fully flowered panicles. Especially since they just started to open now.

NTM, you're right about Lychees, so far disease wise, I have been very lucky! Both my trees, have been very low maintenance when it comes to disease/bugs.

As much as I love Lychees, Mangos are still my "most" favorite fruit, lychees a close second...

Might have to look for The Bordeaux Fungicide, I'll check the big box nurseries for next year..."If" I have blooms to spray by then.

Hey north tree man, any updates on your lychee blooms yet? Have you experienced the first phase of fruit drop yet?

When you think about it, its really cool that all of us with Sweetheart Lychee plants have a living tree that originally came off a single parent tree. I wonder where and how large the original Sweetheart Parent tree is now?

Simon- I'm crossing my fingers here, but I think the fruit have matured to a size/level that will take them to the end of the line. I only have about 13 left though :( Of course, there is no guarantee that a couple more won't pop off.

I would love to see the ancient Kwa Luk(hanging green) that is the Great, great, great, great(etc) grandfather of all modern Kwa Luk trees. Apparently, in China's history, they were all burnt/chopped down except for that one tree. Hence the reason Prof. Groff received only one Kwa Luk fruit in a box...as a gift.

I'll cross my fingers for your remaining Sweethearts to hold on untill harvest. I'm really wondering how large the Sweethearts seeds will turn out and how large the actual fruit will be.

I would also like to see the original Kwa Luk or better yet, I would like to get an air layer directly from that tree. Too bad it is so hard to find the better asian varieties here. I'm still looking for a Kwa Luk, Fei Tsze Sieu, Wai Chee and Hsian Lai.

Hey north tree man, any updates on your Sweetheart lychees? Just a heads up but if you would like to order some Sweetheart lychee fruit, you can get them at Lycheesonline.com. They are quite expensive, especially when you factor in the shipping but I really need to know how they taste and how large and sweet the fruit is! Hopefully you still have some holding on your tree.

Phase just posted that he has no fruit left. If you do still have some fruit holding on your tree, it would be interesting to see how they compare to the ones Lycheesonline have. I'm basically wondering if there is drastic variation between cultivars because of the location in which it is grown and the various growing conditions such as soil, pH, organic Vs Chemical, ect...

Simon, I don't recall saying I have no fruits left. they are sizing up but still small (much smaller than nickel size).

I thinned off many unopened flowers and weak spikes that have tiny flowers - my flower panicles were simply too dense and seem to take a lot of energy away from the tree. Now most of the flowers have either developed, dropped, or dried up. They seem to size up a little faster than before. Not sure if I did the right thing. That said, I still have some flowers opening up...

Hey Phase,you just made me so happy, LOL!!! I think I was reading through your post too fast and misunderstood you. I would be very careful about putting too much fertilizer on Lychee trees when fruit is developing. Leaf developement, Root developement and Fruit drop have been associated with each other in an article I read and fertilizer can stimulate both leaf and root developement.

Hey Phase, I finally figured it out. I did a search for Sweetheart Lychees and read your post from last year where you mentioned all the flowers dropped off and you had no fruit!

Hey north tree man, stop holding out on us. Lets see those updated pics already :) Hopefully you still have a good number holding on your tree but in case you want to order more. Lycheesonline is taking orders for Sweetheart Lychees.

@Simon- Yep, I'm on their e-mail list too, but I doubt I could bring myself to shell out for the next day air...way too expensive.
The final number of lychees is five. Four of which are twins. Maybe I was a little over-zealous with the pollination. The skins are very shriveled still (minimal aril formation), but they are bigger. Practically all of the aril formation happens in the last month of growth. I'll get some pics up in the next day or so.

Hey north tree man, thats excellent news. I think it would be great as long as you are able to taste some of your own home grown Sweetheart lychees to see if they live up to all the hype. Phase and I are going 50/50 on 10 lbs of Sweethearts and the shipping costs more than the actual fruit. If these Sweethearts really are huge and sweet with a small seed, I think they will be worth it. If this batch of your Sweethearts tastes good, you can pamper your tree and push it to have much more fruit next year or in two years if you want to give it a break.

Yup, I heard also that the majority of the growth happens very close to final ripening. You just want to be sure you don't give it too much or too little water or else it may induce fruit drop. Please do post some pics when you get a chance and when you finally taste the fruit, it would be great to hear how it compares to your Emperors.