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Fruit tree growing guide
Lychee seed lives only a few days once it leaves the fruit, so sow it fresh and warm. Seedlings make handsome trees and rootstocks, but they fruit late and not true to type.
Lychee seed is recalcitrant: it cannot be dried. Take seed from fully ripe fruit, wash off the flesh and sow at once. Seed left in the open at 30 °C (86 °F) loses all viability within about a week, and every day of delay lowers germination.
If you must wait, keep the seed moist and cool, for example in damp peat or sealed in a plastic bag; never let it dry.
Not needed. The thin seed coat lets water in freely.
Not needed. Cold storage is only a way to keep seed alive, not a germination treatment.
Not needed. Fresh seed is already fully hydrated.
Warm. A HortScience study found best germination in moist, shaded sand at 35 ± 2 °C (95 °F); a Brazilian trial at 25 °C (77 °F) still gave 74-83% in washed sand or carbonised rice hull. Indian summer conditions at fruiting time suit it well.
Shallow: about the seed's own thickness of cover.
Light and airy: washed sand, carbonised rice hull, or a sand and compost mix. These gave the best balance of water and air in trials; dense media gave slower germination.
Keep moist at all times; drying is fatal to the seed and to the young root.
Not needed; germinate in shade.
Fresh seed germinates within about 7 days in good conditions; a few stragglers follow over the next two weeks.
Move seedlings into deep individual pots or bags soon after emergence, keeping the root ball intact. Grow them on in light shade, protected from wind and from heat; young lychee is easily scorched.
Plant at the start of the monsoon (June-July in India) into 90 x 90 x 90 cm pits, 8-10 m apart, in a sheltered sunny site. Water every 2-3 days while establishing and mulch to keep the soil moist.
Lychee wants a dry, cool, non-freezing winter, a warm spring and a hot, humid summer. In north-east India it is grown up to about 800 m altitude.
Deep, well-drained, slightly acidic loam rich in organic matter; it is very sensitive to salt.
For fruit, air-layered (gootee) plants of varieties such as Shahi or China bear in 3-5 years; use seedlings as ornamental trees or rootstocks.
Leave fruit on the tree until fully coloured and sweet; it does not ripen after picking. Cut bunches with a short piece of branch.
Sow lychee seed as soon as it arrives and keep it moist and warm.
Only days at room temperature. When seed is dried to about 20% moisture, germination falls from 100% to under 20%, so sow immediately or keep it moist and cool for a short time.
No. Seedlings vary and may take 10 years or more to fruit. Buy air-layered plants of a named variety if fruit is the goal.
Yes while young, in a large pot of free-draining, slightly acidic mix in bright light. Lychee needs a cool winter to flower, so potted trees rarely fruit indoors.