You won't know the sex of the flowers until they open up all the way. Go back over NTM's pics so you know what to watch for. Not sure what the heat will do. Nice pics. Try not to get discouraged if these first blossoms do nothing for you.

the lychee blossoms will probably be visited by bees. i wonder if that will increase my chance of succesful pollination. am super excited about these blossoms.

Nice blossoms! I will keep my fingers crossed for you. I'm sure the bees will be a great help in pollinating, better success rate. I wouldn't think the heat will be a problem, since here in Florida, our day temps in Jan and Feb. are usually in the mid 70's and sometimes low 80's. Although we don't usually hit 90's that time of year, so I'm not certain about when it gets that hot? It will probably be okay. I know the Mango flowers survive those temperatures here. Good Luck!

Nice blossom. was it in a greenhouse? Please keep us updated.

No greenhouse.
bought tree in April 07. stayed outdoors till november 07. then indoors under a grow light till april 08. back outdoors since then.

The blossoms don't like heat much. Keeping the temp around 70 is ideal for flower bloom and pollination. I'm not sure of the exact temp break point on blossoms, but I think anything over 85 could be detrimental. SB had this problem with his sweetheart blossoms. Don't get discouraged though...wait and see.
The pics will be ready when the lychees are ready to go in my mouth. They are starting to change color now.

I could bring the tree inside once the blossoms open and place it under a grow light and hand pollinate.
what do you think peoples?

lycheeluva,

I think you should put a shade cloth on top of the tree. Maybe a 30% shade cloth or something to filter the sun a bit. Better this way so the buds won't drop. I know some flowers drop if there is temperature change.

I had no problem with the flowers opening. My flowers looked great. My problem (I attribute to heat, as NTM says above) was that they failed to release any POLLEN.

stress- its been 95 or so for 2 days and is expected to be in the 90s for the next 2 days at least. so far the blossoms have not yet opened. do you think any damage has already been done? do you think i should bring my trees indoors untill fruit set begins

I think we're in somewhat uncharted water here. If it were me, I'd leave them out, just because they are already acclimated to the outside environment...keep them shaded and well watered. But don't be surprized if there is a long delay until they opened. Just comparing my experience to NTM's experience...my blooms were later, and therefore they got more heat, and they seemed to take an awfully long time to open. I'm not sure which part of the equation was responsible for my lack of pollen.

One thing I will do is to move up my chill period. My trees didn't get a good chill until Jan/Feb. This winter I will deliberately drop the temps in November/December, and I'll see if I can avoid exposing the flowers to so much heat next year.

I dont really have the ability to shade the tree as I dont have any shade cloth or any equipment to set up a shade cloth. but my porch only gets sun from about 8am to 2pm. I closely inspect the blossoms about 5 times a day on the weekends and every morning on work days.

yes- my blossoms are taking forever to progress- but then again- the whole growth flush has taken forever- it kinda started in Feb march even before i took the trees outside. and before this growth flush, they did absolutely nothing for about 8 months to a year. how ironic would it be if my lychee fails to fruit in NY, not because of the cold, but because of the heat. the heat here is brutal. we have 2 days in the mid 90s, and another 3 days of this expected.

I'll keep everyone posted. Im wondering if outdoor heat for some reason is not as bad as greenhouse heat. its incredibly humid outside. dont know if that helps.

LL, I purchased the screen replacement material from Home Depot and used that for shading. Works fine and if you want more shade, double it up.

LL- You're definitely facing an uphill battle with the temps this week, but just wait and see.

eric from pine island is convinced the 95 degree heat wont be a problem. ive also heard that lychees succesfully set fruit in india during 90 degree weather. so im hopeful.

NTM- you said there r 3 types of flowers- a male, a female and a mixed male female.
do you take the pollen from the male or from the mixed male-female to pollinate the female?

The M1 (male) pollen has a tendency toward faulty/aborted pollination and chicken tongue seeds. The M2 (hermaphrodite) pollen is more reliable and provides fully formed seeds, generally. The M1 blooms first, then the females, then the M2's. This is why cross pollination benefits lychees since every cultivar has a different proportion of the three flower types, and the timing can be tricky.
My Emperor had an overwhelming majority (~70%) of M1 pollen, so I used that, for the most part. My advice to you would be to pollinate with anything and everything available. Most of the females will drop off at later stages, so you need to pollinate as many as possible, using any pollen available, for success.

There's no hard and fast rule with the temp issue, all I know is what has been insinuated in the resources I've read. The gist, of which, seems to be that lychees prefer cool/dry winters, warm/mild Springs for flowering, and hot/humid summers for ripening. Also, that hot temps are an issue during the flowering period. Remember that cultivar also plays a big role here. In hawaii, 'Kaimana' fruits regularly, but 'No Mai Tsze' rarely if ever flowers, and never fruits there. My tree is right on schedule, so that's what I attribute my success with. Ideally, you should get your tree on a similar schedule so that the flowers form in December/January. Hope that all helps.

Would anybody tell me how to pollinate the flowers if we do not have bees. My lychee have many many flowers but they all fell off every year. It started blooming at the end of March or beginning of April and this year the temperature fluctuated so much in April and May. I think that was the reason the flowers dried up even we did have fair humidity at night. May be I will cover it next year. Or may be I chose the wrong kind for my climate. I do not know what kind it is either. Same thing happen to my longan.

Thanks for any input.

NTM...the prize for any lychee eater is finding fruit with chicken tongue seeds! This is what we should be striving for. Who wouldn't want more flesh per fruit? But you make some good valid points concerning the pollination. That will be my excuses when looking for another lychee tree in Florida next week! Are you going to try and join us? It'll be a hoot!

Audreyca, I've read where folks have taken male flowers from mangos and somehow shook the pollen off into water. They then put the mixture into a sprayer and sprayed their trees. They had some success...not sure how much. I would assume you'd have to have lots of male flowers to work with to get a good concentration. I would say you are at a point where trying anything at all is better than sitting and watching all your flowers dry up and fall off. Good luck.

Jay- Trust me, I know that chicken tongue seeds are prized, but when I say faulty/aborted; that means you could have no fruit at all. Both pollination types come with drawbacks and benefits: M1 has the possibility of having complete fruit drop, and M2 will have large seeds. Needless to say, beggars can't be choosers...and I was a beggar!
I would LOVE to join everyone down there, but I will be in Bonaire that week, then we'll be stopping in to Miami on the way back, so I'll miss it by a week. We need to set things up earlier next year.

Audreyca- I agree with Jay about collecting the pollen and spraying it on the female flowers. Otherwise, you'll need to just get a small paintbrush, and make like a bee...depending on tree size, of course. Hope that helps.

I bought both the longan and lychee grafted. It is too late to save any lychee flowers now since they are all dried up. So I am working on the longan now. This afternoon I collected some male flowers, and put them in the water. I will use a syringe to spray on the female. I do not have many female flowers or may be they have not opened yet. I wonder if I can save the male flowers in the water or not. I saw ants. I think the ants eat up the pollen too. I will try my luck. I wonder if I use a paper bag with holes to cover the flowers to help with the humidity. Thanks for the tips

audreyca,

You should visit lycheesonline to learn how to pollinate the lychee flowers. It show you how the male and female flowers look like. Below is the link. I'm preparing myself too...LOL Hope this help.

Here is a link that might be useful: link to pollinate lychee