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Hi guys,
I live in Pa'auilo at 2200' elevation. I have a huge non-producing but otherwise crazy healthy Lychee tree. Any tips to get her to produce fruit, or am I just too high up for that?
Mahalos!
AKpilot
We're all here, because we're not all there!
We're all here, because we're not all there!
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I've heard that you girdle the tree about 1/4 inch, either on the trunk, or on a limb (only that limb will fruit).
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As stated in this CTAHR manual, you are a little over the lychee 2000ft recommendations, so you may have so problems with production. This guide has a lot of helpful info on lychee in Hawaii:
https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/f_n-2.pdf
Here is an older (1956) tech manual from Florida that covers girdling for fruit production... I would be very careful with this, as disease & death of the tree can also happen...
https://fshs.org/proceedings-o/1956-vol-...YOUNG).pdf
Standing in a crowd, lots of cross talk .. I heard a person say, you need to beat it on, like that do with lychee. I could not break away and never looked it up yet. Carey, ever hear about that one ?
ETA, Yep, its a thing. Maybe works for political therapy ?
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Here is an Aussie link, but bear in mind, the timing is for down-under!
http://rfcarchives.org.au/Next/CaringFor...ng5-81.htm
Stress sometimes works for longan and lichee that don't produce.
1. Per Komohana Extension, I tried 2 gallons of clorox under the tree. Yellowed some of leaves of the longan but did not work. Sodium hypoclorite can be tried too. I believe that is bleach?
2. "Beating up the tree" is another method. It involves driving pieces of metal into the trunk.
3. I read that in China, setting off fireworks under the longan, leaves a residue that can help in the fruiting.
I ended up chopping down the beautiful healthy longan, but regret not trying the girdling. Also, maybe heavy pruning, topping half the tree off wouldn't have hurt as I was down to my last straw anyway.
As for your elevation of 2200, you might get some literature from Komohana Extension to see if that is affecting fruit production.
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Don’t feel bad AKPilot. Our Lychee flowered like crazy this year, but all the rain and wind has taken all but 10% of the blooms off.
We never girdled or did anything to stress it into blooming, it just took a few years. Every year we got more fruit, and this year would have been a bumper crop if the weather had cooperated.
