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deathpepperguy

10-fruit lychee tree: Possible?

17 years ago

Hi! This is my first time posting...hope I don't mess it up too bad! : ) Anyway, I was thinking of grafting multiple varieties of lychee together, and I just had a few questions.

First, seeing as how lychees seem to be infamously hard to graft, is it even possible to get many different cultivars to grow together on a single root stock?

Second, what is the maximum number of MAIN branches a lychee tree can have? Will too many branches cause them to shade each other out and kill them? Does it make any difference if the tree is dwarfed?

Third, my ultimate goal is to get about 10 varieties grafted together. Will so many branches (assuming they all live) impact the amount and quality of the fruit?

Also, I may try the same thing with rambutans and longans. Any advice?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

pepperguy

Comments (12)

  • 17 years ago

    Don't see why it is not possible...as long as you can strategically place the grafts and the plant is big enough to support all of them. The best scenario would be to do approach grafts with branches from the living tree. But that means lugging your plant all over the place. Might be a reason most lychees and longans are air-layered.

  • 17 years ago

    read the article below and you will realize anything is possible.

    the main problems you will have is the grafts taking, and the branches growing at different rates.

    if you keep it pruned evenly then it is possible. if not out of ten grafts the stronger ones will outgrow and eventually choke out the less vigorous growing varieties.

    Here is a link that might be useful: miracle mango tree

  • 17 years ago

    Wow, thanks! That's some kind of mango!

    It is going to be quite the challenge getting all the different types of lychee together, not to mention merely getting the grafts to take. Should be fun!

    As a side note, does anyone know how rare the Hanging Green variety is, and/or where I may be able to get one?

  • 17 years ago

    what zone/location are you?

    im assuming this tree will be in the ground, no?

    i recently visited Pine Island and they have about 10 different varieties that arent on their webpage, i made a thread a week or so ago about it. they are not ready for sale now though, they are still air layerings rooting.

    you might be able to graft different types that are related to lychee as well, like longan, pulasan, rambutan, mamoncillo, guarana, etc. but i have personally never witnessed a grafted lychee because they air layer so easily.

  • 17 years ago

    Technically, I'm still in zone 4, but I hope to change that soon! 10b sounds quite nice, I think.

    I saw that thread! I'm very interested in these new varieties, and will be checking back often. Thanks for the tip!

    Say, you don't happen to know of any good sources of lychees (and other tropical fruit, for that matter) that ship internationally, do you?

    Hmm...multiple species on the same tree? Brilliant! I like it! Worth a shot anyway, right? There are all kinds of similar but seperate lychee relatives I'm interested in grafting. If I could get the korlan, pulasan, hairless rambutan, etc. to grow together, that would be perfect! It'd be quite the space saver.

  • 16 years ago

    Rambutan is my wife's favorite fruit, and seeing is that I live in Missouri, I would have to build an enormous green house, or I would have to bring it indoors for the winter. Does anyone know where I can find a dward version that produces sweet fruit. If anyone can help me they would oficially be my hero. Please Help.

  • 16 years ago

    Hello. It is possible to multi-graft Rambutan, but Longan and Lychee are difficult. There were some experiments conducted several years ago in India on grafting lychee trees, but it wholly proved to be unsuccessful. Some grafts too but they eventually succumbed to some sort of fungal or bacterial infection at the graft base.

    I would definitely try it though, you never know. I have never personally worked with grafting Lychee or Longan mainly because it is not necessary for me. Let us know how it goes.

    I think Longan would be easier to graft than Lychee.

    I do not think that grafting a dwarf onto a full growing tree would be a bad thing, but I do think it would be if it were the other way around. Brewster on Emperor for example would be a big mistake. I don't think the Emperor could handle being the rootstock and I definitely don't think if top-worked the Emp. could handle the weight and growth habits of the Brewster.

  • 16 years ago

    Deathpepperguy: Jene's Tropicals (tropicalfruit.com)can sometimes ship internationally depending upon what it is. Lychee in the State of Florida (USA) must be bare rooted and doused with a couple chemicals in order to be shipped. I have also heard of Pine Island Nursery (Miami) being able to ship internationally too. Also if you are in the business, it could be possible to attain air-layers or some other plant materials of Lychee from TREC in Miami. The fee is $55 USD for the phyto and you of course would have to pay for shipping. I believe they will ship plant material 4 times per year.

  • 16 years ago

    might be better off planting multiple varieties in one hole.

    anyone know of this being successful with lychee?

  • 16 years ago

    Pepper Guy:

    Theoretically, it is possible to multi graft lychees. It is also possible to win the Power Ball jackpot by purchasing one ticket.....a long shot decribes the possibility of it in very generous terms. But, that being said, maybe you'll be the first to do it....and I will love to hear one day you telling me that my assessment of the liklihood for success was way off. Keep us posted on your attempts.

    Harry

  • 16 years ago

    it has been done before but grafting lychee to me is a practice in futility.

    people have been known to do miraculous things in botany, there is someone in Japan who has successfully grafted banana plants.

    Here is a link that might be useful: bananas.org thead by Mauro Gibo

  • 16 years ago

    Mango_Kush: It is possible. One really crude way i have seen people graft is to put a young plant in the V of a tree and cover it with dirt and let it sit there for about 2 years and then it just sort of grafts itself on there. Planting several together would work too, but the trees would not get very big. Crowding would be eventual and could kill off the weaker ones.