Very nice! Them red fruits are so darn attractive!

Jealous. I have three potted lychee and two in the ground. Trees are three years old and not a single little fruit this year. Granted I only got about three last year, but I suppose the trees are still too young.

Thank you all for the nice comments. Actually I was a little whinny when I saw so little fruit this year, but I must learn to be more thankful .. given that lychees are known to be poor fruit producers (as far as private growers go). I'm sure the commercial growers know a lot more growing tricks than we do since they do that for a living ... lol.

Longanluva, I suppose you also grow longans? How are they doing for you.? I'll try to update mine. Only one is fruiting among the 3 of them. However, the fruit seems to take forever to develop ... Until now, they're only a little larger than pea size. I'm not sure of they're going to mature into "real" fruit for me this year.

Marcus, your Emperor looks very attractive there. Nice shape and a full crown filled with little fruit. I'm sure you're looking forward to seeing them turn red soon. I do hope you'll update when the fruit is ripe and share how the taste goes. I really haven't tasted one as yet even though I do have one little Emperor sitting in a pot which I've almost forgotten before you posted your picture ... oops!

Chrobrego, the two you have in the ground will grow fast for you before you know it and hopefully they'll bear the quantity and quality of fruit you're expecting. When in the pots, they really don't do much ... I'm afraid. As in my case, I also have some in the pots and they virtually are struggling. I wish I have enough space to plant all of them in the ground. I think the pot is too constricted and there isn't much going for them ... I'm also afraid to fertilize them too much when they're in the pots due to their high sensitivity to fert. This doesn't make things better as pot bound plants for lychees unfortunately.

So, if you have the space, perhaps planting them will be nice. Do you have pictures of your lychees to share?

All the best to all your lychees, everyone. :)

Bannafan, Mauritius lychee taking a break this year, only about 4 panicales of fruits this year. It's just as starting to change color. Probably another 3to4 weeks away. My 3 yrs old emperor is holding a handful of fruits. Will be first time trying this variety, so very excited! I have 4 longans trees planted together in the front yard loaded with pea size fruits this year. A and a few grafted panicales of fruit on the back yard tree. Tree in the back low production cause pruned too late in the season last year.

Here's my little emperor

Longanluva,

Thanks for sharing all the beautiful pictures of your lychee trees. I'm impressed with the results of your grafting--a lychee to a longan! So, does it mean that one tree with two kinds of fruit?

How tall is your Mauritius now? From the picture, it looks like it's about 5 ft? For such a small plant to produce so much fruit, that's really awesome. Is the bigger tree behind the Mauritius also a lychee? If so, what variety it is?

Your Emperor is doing very well. I think Emperor is a dwarf variety, but I don't know how big it will grow up to.

In any case, your lychee trees are doing very well for you. Do they fruit every year for you? All of mine seem to be alternate fruit bearers.

I hope you'll get to enjoy your harvest soon!

Bandana, I will post a pic when lychees are ripe. My emperor is at least fifteen years old, definitely a dwarf variety perfect for containers.

Bananasfan

Yes. My longan tree will have both types of fruits on the same tree this year. Longans and lychees on the same tree! I have two types of lychee grafted on the lowest branches on my longan tree. Only the Heung Lai is fruiting. Here's a pic.

My mauritus in the back yard is about ten feet tall. It's about 6-7 years old. Last year was the first year it went into full production. Tree was completely loaded. This year only a few panicles of fruit on the lower branches. Here's another shot

Longanluva,

I really love your idea of the Lychee graft on Longan tree. If only they can produce a mixed fruit variety of "Ly-gan," that would be very interesting. Do you do that because the Longan tree is a more cold hardy tree than Lychee? I'll have to learn how to do that and try it on one of my Longan trees one of these days.

Now I can see that your Mauritius tree better. It's a much larger specimen than I originally thought. I thought there were 2 trees--one smaller one in the foreground and the other larger one behind it.

I also like your idea of the green netting for fruit protection. Where do you get those netting and do they actually protect the fruit from birds and other critters? They definitely look nicer and lighter in weight than my plastic food containers.

Any way, great pictures and good job on your lychee growing. Thanks again for sharing.

Bananafan

I believe there's already a "Ly-gan". That be the sweet cliff lychee. It's believed to have been crossed with a longan. If only I can obtain some scions for the sweet cliff, That would really be awesome to add to my longan tree. In my mind, the idea of having a Longan tree producing lychees would be the coolest thing ever! Also, in the hopes of imparting the toughness of the longan onto the growth of the lychees. For example, lychees tend to suffer from wind damage and are super sensitive to fertilizer burn. Longan might be a really good alternative rootstock for lychees. But, not all lychees of course. Only certain varieties. Which I'm still trying to find out which works and don't. So far. Heung lai is the best. Sweetheart not so good. Still trying to get my hands on scions to experiment with. If you know anyone that can help me out, let me know. Thanks.

As for them green mesh bags. I get it off eBay. It's was like 16 bucks for 100 bags. It doesn't really protect against critters. Maybe birds, but for sure not rats. It's just a way of saying "don't touch my fruits". My house is not gated. Have experience fruit thefts many times. Just recently, I caught a lady stealing my neighbor's kumquat. I just gave her the evil stare.

Do birds love immature Lychee fruits?

I don't have any bird issues in my area. Just 2 legged bandits and goffers.

Longanluva, I'm curious how "Ly-gan" will taste. I should try eat both longan and lychee at the same time to find out. I'm glad to hear you don't have any bird issues.

Francesco, as to your question if birds like immature lychee fruit, I can say they like to peck on my lychee fruit when they turn a little red, but before they're fully ripe. This has caused damage to the fruit and they became inedible.

This year, I've completed all my harvest for my Brewster lychee. Even though the other 4 lychee trees aren't producing ... I'm still thankful for what I have. I won't expect to see Brewster the next year since it's an alternate year bearer. I can only count on my Hak Ip or Sweetheart (hopefully both) to fruit for me next year. Anyway, here are all the harvest for my Brewster.

The first batch of harvest on 7-1-17: Only one side of the tree produced nice looking fruit. The fruit are a lot larger than the last harvest. The fruit on the plate came from the other side of the tree. Several of them didn't taste good.

The bunny photo ritual during each lychee harvest. Of course, he got to eat some of the fruit ... Actually, he started to munch off the leaves first.

This is the second and last batch of harvest on 7-8-17. This year, the harvest all came a little later. The last harvest, I was able to harvest around the first and second week of June.

has my lychee been nonproductive because I don't own a bunny? ;)

Andi,

I wish it was that simple .... lol. But, I do hear what you're saying .. Lychee fruit production can be really unpredictable and I really think these plants have a mind of their own. They make up their mind when to produce fruit and when not to. My first lychee was a Mauritius and I waited year after year for more than 10 years before I knew that I wasn't going to get anything out of it. It was a sad day, but I had to see a fully grown tree of 14-15ft went to the ground this year. Now, I'm planting a Jujube in its place. Anyways, knowing that I might be disappointed by them not producing fruit for me, I actually have planted 6-7 of them and each year, only one or two will attempt at fruiting. In the economy of land space, it doesn't sound very logical. Plus, we have to fight a host of pests in our area--such as web worm infestation. It was my dear hubby who did all the spraying ... and I felt bad with all the work he has to undertake, but he said it was ok 'cause it was for the fun of it. Whenever I feel let down with the poor production, I actually would go shopping for some at an Asian grocery store and it does make me feel better that I have "lychees on demand" .. lol.

So, how old is your tree now and what variety is it? I heard Sweetheart takes up to 7-8 years before fruit production. My Sweetheart took at least that long before it made some edible fruit. Prior to that, it was just producing flowers and then dropping them all off. I do wish yours will produce fruit for you soon. If yours is still young, I would say hang in there. Give it some time to grow stronger and then fruit production hopefully will follow soon for you. I wish you all the best and do keep us updated how yours is doing.

For the people with lychee in pot/container, what kind of fertilizers do you use?

foliage pro.

it's the best. I've used kelp/seaweed, organics, other. FP is far and away the best. the nitrogen source is not urea (which will burn lychee leaves). it also contains all the macro/micronutrients for growth. the organic fertilizers are too unreliable for lychees in my experience.

another good option might be Osmocote plus.

lycheesonline recommends Mycostim, which is mostly cottonseed meal.

Thanks Andi. For some reason i am having growth issues with mine (new leaves comes out curly). Will try Foliage Pro and see it does.

post pictures. that sounds like it could be wind damage or heat.

fertilizer selection can cause the tips to burn or cause mineral deficiency.

keri-guy, lychees are rather sensitive to fertilizers .. use them sparingly once you decide which is best for yours. I also came to realize that wind can cause damage to lychee leaves and their fruit. For young plants, perhaps placing them close to your house might help protect them from the wind?

Hi Andi,

Here are couple of pictures i just took. Just few weeks ago i was having growth spurt and now nothing at all. I gave them Fox Farm Comeback and Sledge Hammer as i was getting no new growth and was thinking i over feed them. I will try feeding FP once i get it and see how it does. I want it to get ready for next years season with new growth this year.

Hi bananafan,

Thanks for your reply. It is mostly protected from wind. I gave them Fox Farm trio formula earlier this year and it seems they it did not like it. Will try what Andi suggested and worm casting.

are most of the leaves coming out normal or slightly damaged?

I've seen some of my leaves look like that when they are damaged by wind or friction with adjacent hardened leaves

otherwise, the leaf tips don't look burned so you probably aren't over fertilizing.

i fertilize twice weekly with FP 2.5 mL/gallon and ProTekt 2.5 mL/g in the spring. now Ive increased FP to 5mL/g. of note, I use 5-1-1 soil so I'm confident I can wash out residual solutes at will. I did have to be careful with making sure the containers don't dry out between waterings

Just fyi to others not to use Fox Farm trio on mangoes or lychee trees. Did not have any luck with it. Their Sledge hammer and comeback formala works good if needed.

Hi Andi,

It seems FP is working. I am seeing new healthy growth. Hopefully ill have some fruits next season. Thanks again for your help.

Just fyi to people who were concerned about lychee fruits and kids.

http://zeenews.india.com/health/revealed-litchi-deaths-not-caused-by-the-fruit-banned-pesticide-endosulfan-is-to-blame-2027850/amp

Thanks for the article, keri-guy. Good info. Will consider going organic moving forward.

I read the other paper about lychees causing it. I think there is some truth to it based on the science.

also, thousands of years of experience by the Chinese

My sweethearts and Brewster are only a couple of years old now. Looking nice, but it will be a long time before they fruit I think.

I just got twelve new sweetheart lychee for $20 each.