I think this comes down to aesthetics. We all try to obtain some sort of "look" we want our plants to grow into. It's one of the many reasons to prune. The plant is not grafted so there is no concern that it is growth below the graft. I've seen many pics of people's trees that have more of a bush character than tree. I don't see the harm in keeping it on the tree. The more foliage a small tree has at this time, the better. My two cents here. I do notice how your plant has that characteristic "sweep" to one side many air-layered plants have. You may want to prune that part back and find a branch pointing the opposite way and give that a snip as well. This will encourage another flush and hopefully get the plant going in more of a proportional manner. I did this with my young sweetheart and mango. Flushing like crazy. That's four cents now.

Thanks Ohiojay. Your advice is much appreciated because I have absolutely no clue as to what the plant is doing and now I know better. I'm going to trim the plant as per your suggestion. If I don't plant it in the ground this season, I'll place it close to my lychee Mauritius which has been in the ground for a couple of years already. I heard planting lychees in close proximity to one another will promote cross pollination.

Which Lychee variety will best to plant in south fl. we have a total of 5 acres and how far apart can we plant them

Thank You
Jerry

Jerry:

Your question is very much open to debate. Historically, growers have planted Mauritius as a commercial crop, although some would argue that it will not bring the best dollar profit and may not be the best overall flavored lychee. Brewster is also a past favorite, but tends to be an alternate bearer. Some nurseries are pushing Sweetheart as the culitvar of the future. I have not seen a sufficiently good fruiting pattern to say I agree with them. For my money, I would go with Kaimana...assuming you can find them. I might suggest getting several culitvars and plant them out in sections and thereby you'll hedge your bets. According to the supposed experts, 25-30 feet of spacing is optimum for home gorwing. Grove spacing, obviously could be closer. However, these trees only fruit where the sun hits the foliage, so I wouldn't go less than 20 foot spacing. Good luck. Attached is a link you may find helpful.

Harry

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Lychee in Florida

jerry, visit Going Bananas in Homestead. Don and Katie exclusively grow Mauritius as its the only known reliable lychee producer, the others you have to hope for a good season.

they prune their lychees to about 4 foot every year after harvest. give them a call or email they were happy to show me around their grove