18 Longan seedlings

wait about 15 years for fruit

After waiting 15 years, maybe one of the 18 will be good quality fruit.

is this information from experience?

i think the fruit were from vietnam....i think most trees that grow there are from seeds and most are pretty good. I was hoping more like 15 of 18 will be good.

i will probably try grafting them before the 15 years is up. they sure are cute though.

Hey jun, nice looking seedling you have there. From what I've read, seed grown Longan are highly variable. If you have a lot of time and yard space, it would be very cool to grow those out and see if any have exceptional fruit. If you get something very good tasting with regular bearing, you can name it after yourself and even patent the cultivar. I'ver read that some Longan seedlings fruit as early as 8-12 years when grown from seed, don't remember where I read this though.

I prefer to go for a sure bet and purchase air layers of named cultivars. Good luck with your seedling, please keep us updated.
Simon

i prob don't have enough time or yard space, but I think I know some people who may want these as a cool looking houseplant. i googled a link to some lady's page who had a really nice looking one indoors, but i can't find it anymore.

And if they bear good fruit, that's just a bonus. I do have a kohala tree, maybe i can graft that onto them later on. Longan fruit are plenty here at the asian supermarkets, I just thought it would be fun growing indoor fruit trees from seed, sure beats ficus.

June:

I planted out many longan (and other fruit tree seeds) when I was new to this hobby many years ago. Most of the seedlings died, or got pot bound eventually and turned into unintentional bonsai specimens. However, every once in a while, one tree caught my eye and seemed to be calling to be planted out in the yard. One such tree for me was a Kohala Longan seedling that I stuck in the ground approxiamtely 15 years ago. Here's what the tree looked like this year when it fruited for the first time.

On 7/2/10

I didn't take a picture of the hanging clusters of fruit in early August, but suffice it to say that there were 10 pound clusters of fruit hanging heavily on the end of virtually each and every branch. The fruits were nicely flavored and very sweet. There was not a great flesh to seed ratio, however, and I am not sure if that was becuase of the characteristic of this particular tree or whether the heavy clustering limited the flesh production. I will try next year to thin out the clusters by hand to see if i can get the fruit to size up more and give a better ratio of flesh to seed. In any case, having it fruit for the first time was very exhilarating. BTW, this tree was totally blown over and uprooted by Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and so there was some major limb damage that has kept the tree somewhat manageable in size. For perspective, that is a 5 foot tall chain link fence between the tree. Good luck with your young seedlings.

Harry

Hey Harry, your Kohala seedling looks awesome. I love to see seedling fruit trees doing well. I'm glad they were nicely flavored and very sweet, the heavy production it just an extra bonus. I bet the tree would have flowered earlier if it didn't get blown over. Hopefully you will get a better flesh to seed ratio with some thinning. You should do a taste test with this seedling tree compared with named cultivars, if its in the tops of the taste test, you can name it after your kids and if you don't have any kids, I'm more than ok with you naming it after me, LOL!

harry, that longan tree is breathtaking, with or without fruit. Maybe next year the flesh to seed ratio will increase. And if it doesn't, someone discovered the seeds have anti-cancer properties. there is value to everything.

Harry, my first longan plant was a seedling from a friend. After waiting years (8-10) it finally flowered and unfortunately produced tiny pea sized fruit with almost nothing in them. I again let it fruit once more and I had had enough at that point. (out with the saw)
I grafted various named cultivars on the water shoots over time.
The only good thing I can say for the original tree is that it seemed to flower quite easilly where I am. Lucky you.
Ronald

Jun,

What a beautiful learning experience. Even if they all don't produce excellent fruit. I wish I would have planted more seeds and trees in my younger days. I think there is valid research that says if you take young branches from your seedling, maybe around 3 years old, graft it to a more mature tree, it will fruit earlier. That way you can see what type of fruit, if any, the seedling will bare. This process might save you five to eight years. Have fun.

I just did a graft onto my Longan seedlings. these were 1 yr old kids and my longan was fruiting tree. Not sure it will take but I got 15 years to keep experimenting before it fruits itself, LOL