Lychee is a fruit crop with a distinct flavor and look.
It is indigenous to China, although you can also find it in some warm parts of the United States, Florida, and Hawaii.
Because of its red, rough surface, lychee is sometimes known as the “alligator strawberry.”
Lychees are round or oval in shape and range in diameter from 1 to 2 inches. Their glossy white flesh has floral aromas and is fragrant and delicious. The lychee fruit tree is a beautiful ornamental cover tree with excellent aromatic fruits as a bonus
The global lychee market is forecasted to have a compound annual growth rate of 3.5 percent in the period 2020-2025.
Because of the increased demand, you should know how to grow and care for the lychee fruit tree.
What are the Benefits of the Lychee Fruit?
The lychee fruit is consumed and has several benefits.
Lychee is high in antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins, which assist in protecting the body from stress by regulating and balancing blood flow.
Lychees are high in phenolic acids, which defend the body from viruses like flu and colds.
They also help to slow down the aging process and improve overall health. Lychee is a good source of nutrients that help with blood formation and circulation.
How To Grow Lychee Fruit Tree
Lychee trees are a common sight in Southeast Asia and India, but they can also be grown in other parts of the world. Lychee trees are fast-growing, with fruit ready to harvest within three years of planting the tree.
The lychee fruit tree requires tropical conditions. It grows well in warm climates, such as Florida, and sheltered areas, such as California. After the danger of frost has gone, plant your lychee in the spring.
Planting
Purchase lychee fruit at a grocery shop or a farmer’s market. Pick a few of the beautiful round fresh fruits and keep the brown seeds after eating.
Ensure that the fresh fruit you purchase is both fresh and fully ripe. Large seeds germinate more quickly than tiny seeds. Sources are only good for a few days after being extracted from the fruit, so plant them as soon as possible. Wait until you’re ready to buy lychee fruit.
Lychee seeds need to be planted in warm soil during the fall or early winter (before mid-November). Plant them in a large container with drainage holes in the bottom so that water does not collect inside the pot during watering.
Soak the Lychee seed for three days in cold water. Fill a cup or dish halfway with water and immerse the seed fully in the water to improve the possibility of germination. The brownish covering will begin to split after a few days, indicating that the seed will sprout. Keep the water fresh; replace it once a day.
Lychee grows best in soil that is deep, fertile, and drains well. Lychee does best in acidic soil-plant lychee trees in a wind-protected area. The wind can catch up with their deep canopy, and this may cause the trees to topple over.
Fertilize
Fruit trees do not require fertilizer every year or even in exact quantities. If you overfeed them with nitrogen, plants will produce a lot of leaves but very little fruit. Fortunately, the fruit tree can tell you what it requires; all you have to do is to measure.
Measurement of the Previous Year’s Growth
Measurement is generally done for you to establish a regular production of fruits.
First, find the growth rings from the previous year. The growth ring on the branching is the spot on the tree where the fruit tree began to grow the last season. The newest growth on the branch will usually have a different color than the remainder of the branch.
Second, measure the growing ring to the branch’s terminal. These measurements should be repeated numerous times around the fruit tree.
Calculate the average of these measurements in the third step. This is the fruit tree’s “annual increase” from the previous season.
You should repeat this process for each of your fruit trees. Although you have numerous fruit trees of the same kind and age, they might not have developed at the same rate, requiring different fertilizer amounts.
Water
During the growth period, lychees require constant watering. Too much salt in the soil, particularly in the Southwest, necessitates regular watering to minimize salt build-up. Lychees should never be left in standing water since it stunts their growth. During the first few weeks after planting, irrigate the new plants 2 to 3 times a week, but minimize once the tree has established itself.
Pruning
The lychee tree is pruned every year around the time the fruit is picked or immediately afterward. Lychee gardeners snip off around 4 inches (10 cm) of the branch point that produced the fruit as the bunches of ripening fruits are picked. This lychee tree pruning technique ensures that a budding fruiting branch tip will emerge in the exact location for the following crop.
It’s crucial to know when to trim lychee to ensure a decent crop. When you prune a lychee tree at produce or within two weeks after harvest produces a perfectly timed, outstanding crop. When you prune lychee trees several weeks after harvesting the fruit, the next crop will irregularly yield fruit.
Controlling Lychee-Eating Bugs
The clover mite is the most destructive pest that eats lychee leaves in regions where they are farmed. It goes after new shoots. On the upper side of the leaf, look for bubble galls and a wooly coating on the underside.
A stinkbug is the most destructive of the lychee tree pests. The vivid red markings on it may help you identify it. It bites and kills new twigs, and the fruit that grows on them falls to the ground. In this situation, lychee pest treatment is straightforward: shake the trees vigorously in the winter.
It is necessary to build a microclimate control system.
You can get rid of the bugs and bats as they fall to the ground.
In this case, you can also use a hail net to protect your lychee tree from pests.
Mulching
Mulch is among the most effective strategies to store moisture during drought seasons.
It should be regarded as a great practice even in non-drought settings because it has various additional favorable consequences.
Mulching is a task that you may complete at practically any time of year. Mulch is most effective for boosting plant development when spread in June when the soil has begun to warm up. You can still expect excellent results if you compost in July. Mulching for winter survival should be done after a few snowfalls have happened in November.
Harvest
Pick the fruit by clipping it just below the stalk with clean blades and rubbing off any dust accumulated on the skin before storing it for shipment or eating raw.
FAQs for lychee trees grow
How big do lychee trees grow?
Lychee trees are not the easiest plants to grow, but they do produce fruit, so they’re worth the extra effort.
The plant can grow up to 30 feet tall and 15 feet wide, with a canopy that spreads out about 5 feet from the trunk. It takes about 4 years for a lychee tree to bear fruit, but when it does, you’ll be rewarded with as many as 100 fruits per year!
How to cut lychee?
Lychees are a delicious tropical fruit that you can grow in your own backyard, and they’re easy to grow if you know how. Here’s how to cut lychees, so that you can start growing your own lychee trees!
- First, find a good spot for your lychee trees to grow. Choose a sunny spot in your yard where there is well-drained soil and plenty of space around the tree. The space between each tree should be at least 4 feet wide.
- Water your lychee trees regularly throughout their first year of growth to help them establish strong root systems.
- Prune back branches that do not grow straight up approximately 4 inches below their tips as soon as they reach about 8 inches long (this will allow them to grow straight up instead of sideways). Prune off any branches that are touching each other or crossing over each other too much (this will help prevent disease).
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Conclusion
If you want to grow lychee at home, you must take proper care of it.
Plant it accordingly and prune it when you should.
Also, keep pests away from your plants as much as you can by orchard netting.
After all, it sucks to see your hard work go up in smoke.
Lychee fruits are beneficial to your health and your struggles for growing and caring for them are worth every effort.
Grow and care for them following the above methods and your health will not suffer anymore.
If you’re looking for the best strategies and tips to grow and care for your Lychee orchards, look no further because Eyouagro got your back.
We have agriculture crop covers to keep insects and birds away, keep bats away, and protect hail damage as they can damage your Lychee plants.
By adjusting the microclimate in fruit cultivation, the yield of fruit cultivation can be improved.
We also provide a variety of netting accessories to meet your needs. Our main goal is to make farmers’ lives easier and assist them in taking care of their crops.
If you want to know more information or make an inquiry, then visit our website at EyouAgro or send us an email at info@eyouagro.com.
