Lychee

About Lychee

Lychee is a dense, rounded evergreen tree from southern China that bears clusters of bumpy pink-to-red fruit with sweet, juicy, translucent white flesh around one shiny seed. In the U.S. it fruits mainly in south Florida's coastal areas and in Hawaii, where it needs a cool, dry winter to bloom well. Crops are often uneven from year to year.

UF/IFAS lists zones 10A-11 and limits Florida plantings to southern coastal areas; young trees are damaged at 28-32 F and big trees can be badly hurt at 24-25 F (UF/IFAS). In Hawaii it grows from sea level to about 2,000 ft and needs a dry winter with temperatures below 59 F to flower well (University of Hawaii), which rates lychee low-risk as a weed; we found no U.S. invasive or noxious listing in the sources we checked.

When to plant

Timing is counted from your average last spring frost (and first fall frost). Sow & Tell works out the actual dates for your ZIP code.

No source ties planting to a frost date. Plant air-layered or grafted trees (seedlings don't come true and can take 10 or more years to bear); they start bearing in 3-5 years (UF/IFAS). Space trees 25-30 ft from buildings and other trees in Florida; Hawaii guidance ranges from 18 ft for upright types to 24-36 ft for vigorous ones (UF/IFAS; University of Hawaii).

Soil

Well-drained, acidic sandy soil with some organic matter; muck soils give lots of leaves but little fruit, and rocky limestone soils need extra micronutrients (UF/IFAS).

Choose well-drained, acidic sandy soil; don't add fertilizer to the hole, mix any compost no more than 1:1 with native soil, and plant on a mound in flood-prone spots (UF/IFAS).

Feeding

• Young trees (under 4 years), every 8 weeks: complete fertilizer with 6-8% nitrogen, 2-4% phosphate, 6-8% potash and 3-4% magnesium, such as 6-6-6-2 or 8-3-8-3, with 20-50% of the nitrogen in organic form. 1/4-1/2 lb per tree each time in year one (about 6 times a year), then 1/2-1 lb 4-5 times a year in years two and three (UF/IFAS).
• Bearing trees, late February or early March through August only: the same fertilizer. 2-3 feedings a year; skip nitrogen from August until late winter so the tree doesn't push new leaves instead of flowers (UF/IFAS). Hawaii growers feed only after flower clusters have fully formed (University of Hawaii).
• March through October, 2-4 times: micronutrient sprays with magnesium, manganese, zinc, molybdenum and boron. On limestone soils, drench chelated iron (EDDHA) into the soil 2-4 times from April through September; iron sprays on leaves don't work well (UF/IFAS).

Late-season nitrogen, fall tip pruning, or watering from September until bloom can trade next spring's flowers for leafy growth (UF/IFAS; University of Hawaii).

Harvest

Let fruit ripen fully on the tree, since lychees picked early are not sweet; ripe fruit is plump with the full color and size of its variety (UF/IFAS). Cut the whole cluster with several inches of stem. Florida harvest runs mid-May to early July, peaking in June.

Lychee gives one crop a year, ripening mid-May to early July in Florida, but bearing is often uneven: a mature 'Brewster' may give a big crop only about one year in three or four, while well-tended 'Mauritius' bears more steadily. A dry, cool winter and no late-season nitrogen help it bloom.

Varieties (12)

From the UF/IFAS variety table (vigor, habit, fruit size, color, flavor, bearing and anthracnose ratings) and University of Hawaii trials; sources document 12 lychees.

Pests to watch for

Eriophyid mites (rust, bud, blister and gall mites), Scale insects, Mealybugs

Diseases and problems

Anthracnose, Mushroom root rot, Parasitic lichen, Algal leaf spot (red algae)

In the kitchen

Best eaten fresh, soon after picking; the fruit can also be frozen whole in the peel, canned without the peel, or dried in the peel (UF/IFAS).

Keeping it: Lychees taste best soon after picking; keep them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for 5-10 days (UF/IFAS).

Safety: The sources we checked list no toxic parts, and we found no research-based guidance on pregnancy, drug interactions or allergies for lychee.

Pets: Not listed by the ASPCA