Anyone ever try planting Lychee's with the...

15 years ago

3 in a hole technique? I know a lot of people do this with other types of fruit trees and was wondering if it may work for lychee's? I know it will reduce the crop size from each tree, but I figure I am not going to be able to eat all of the fruit from three trees anyway. Especially since my wife hate them (she actually gagged when trying one). Sometimes I don't know about her. If I did this it would mean I could plant all of my Lychees in the ground (aside from the emperor) instead of only the sweetheart. Do the Sweethart, Hak ip, and Mauritius all grow at a similar pace? Can you think of any problems with trying this if I can keep all three at a similar size?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (9)

lycheeluva
15 years ago
i think it would be better to try and graft different varieties onto one plant growing in the ground.
jsvand5
Original Author
15 years ago
I am definitely going to try that at some point. Do you know what the best type of graft is for Lychee's? I have heard they are difficult.
Related Discussions
Anyone ever try dry apple cultivation?
Q
Comments (10)
Dry Apple farming is totally doable and is in fact practiced in Coastal Central California. One fellow in the CRFG here in Santa Cruz only waters his trees three times a year. Another fellow I know of down in the San Lorenzo river basin dry farms his entire orchard, no added water to any of the mature fruit trees. To do this, I recommend the following: 1) Stay away from standard rootstock, just because it's big doesn't mean it's drought tolerant. Stick with MM111, for some reason, this rootstock is incredibly tolerant of dry soils, so it's the way to go. I did some Summer grafting this year and discovered that many trees on Anknova had bark that was very difficult to peel, whereas MM111 bark peeled really well, indicating that the MM111 trees continue to grow in the driest conditions. 2) Start the trees with drip irrigation that you run for a couple of hours once a month so that the roots go very deep. 3) If you're on a hillside, terrace the hillside so that the locations where you plant the trees are flat. Now I speak from experience here, my orchard is on a hillside, and without terracing, I had a very tough time getting trees going even with regular watering. 4) Get bare root trees with the graft union done high so that you can plant the roots extra deep and bury part of the trunk. It will slow down the trees for the first year or two, but you will have stronger, deeper rooted trees in the long run. You will have to call around to find trees that are grafted a little higher, it's not so easy, because most commercial propagators start with 1/2 inch MM111 sticks that are short, and they bud graft them when they are less than a foot long. 5) Finally, mulch with mulched tree branches - the cheapest is to get tree cutting companies to deliver the branches to you. You do not want to let anything else grow, just mulch everything, because anything that is left to grow will suck the moisture out of the ground. You can use weed barrier under the mulch, or you can go the cheap way and use cardboard and thick layers of newspaper, which is even better than the plastic weed barrier. That's about it. In the third year, you should be able to switch to 2-3 deep waterings for the entire year, and then, you can slowly withdraw watering alltogether. Note, if your water table is below 20 feet, you'll always have to water some.
...See More
Anyone ever used 'The Smart Pot'?
Q
Comments (6)
Here is an email reply that I received from Smart Pots. "We do not have handles on our Smart Pots. I am working on a prototype but they only go to 15 gallon. At 20 gallons it would be very heavy to move and difficult in any container. What if you put it on a dolly like platform with wheels, would that allow you to do what you need to do? The Smart Pot does great in Roses. Here is an article. http://www.smartpots.com/Websites/smartpots/Images/articles/Subtropical-Plant-Science.pdf The Smart Pot will last 3 to 4 or more years. Depending on your location. The fabric has UV protection but eventually the sun will break it down. Charles Jackson charles@smartpots.com" It answers some questions but not necessarily what I wanted to hear, especially about life expectancy. But I'm wondering if I couldn't wrap some weed cloth around them to cut the UF effect. Just a thought. Sherry
...See More
Anyone Ever Try Red Plastic Around Tomato plants?
Q
Comments (2)
Hi mike50. I'm also wondering if red vs. black plastics make a big difference in growing tomatoes. I've used WOWs last year and this year. Last year it allowed me to plant out tomatoes in Portland, Oregon late April. I was harvesting tomatoes a few weeks before my friends. I think it really works. If you have extra 1 liter soda bottles, there's stuff on the internet about making your own. I plant tomatoes in pots so that wasn't an option (and I don't drink that much soda!). I planted my tomatoes out last week and so far they're surviving!
...See More
Anyone ever try one of these?
Q
Comments (2)
YES, I have one almost identical but the switch is on the right. Before that I had the Rapitest Soil Meter that had pH & Fertility readings. They both were about the same readings, don't know how accurate but I think when I had a professional soil test done the pH was almost the same or off just slightly (0.1)... BUT this year I tried the 4-way meter and for some reason it no longer is working... so I went back to the Rapitest meter but with a Ferry Morse label on it-- I can't find the original Rapitest meter I purchased, maybe someone borrowed it and never returned it, so bought the Ferry Morse version on ebay for around $21.50. I'm not saying your luck will be as good as mine for accuracy, but I've used the Rapitest one for about 5 years without any problems. You really are estimating anyway, since there's about a quarter inch between, say, 7 & 6, but it gets you in the ballpark at least. You can get moisture or just pH meters really cheap from Harbor Freight or on ebay, usually in the $5-$10 range. My main concern was using the fertility and pH functions & didn't really care about the light or moisture functions. I think I've used the fertility function even more than the pH function, especially with mixing batches of soilless mix & compost with a cement mixer for containers. Hope this helps. Mark
...See More
lycheeluva
15 years ago
not sure- i would call pine island and ask them.
dghays
15 years ago
Its unlikely they'll grow at the same clip, but you can manage them anyhow via pruning. The good thing about separate and not one tree, is you have a better chance of getting fruit any particular year. You'll discover that production is the main problem with lychees. A decent amount of years you'll get nothing. Was the fruit your wife tasted fully ripe? If not they don't taste that good. If you're good with grafting that method is good, if not the other way has benefits. Are you in zone 5?

Gary
jsvand5
Original Author
15 years ago
dghays, I'm in zone 9. I figured with having 4 different types I should get at lest some fruit every year. The fruit my wife tasted was definitely ripe. If anything maybe a little over ripe. I thought they were great but I don't think she will ever even try one again. Can you think of any problems with the 3 in a hole method for lychee's? I was mainly worried about problems with the root systems. The only reason I am considering it is because I am not sure how long I will be able to keep the Hak ip and mauritius going in a pot. I have 30 gal pots ready for when they are big but I am not sure how long it would be until even that would not be big enough.
ohiojay
15 years ago
You know...you have to look at the positive aspect of your wife NOT liking lychees. You don't have to share.
jsvand5
Original Author
15 years ago
lol, yea I'm not complaining. I just found it odd that she hated then SO much. I can see not liking them because they do have a different taste than most fruits, but she actually almost threw up. She is a strange one.
dghays
15 years ago
You should consider putting in your zone since the 5 throws people off. I don't think there would be a problem beyond the normal considerations of growing multiple plants in one hole, mostly dealing with pruning. I find it a great solution for certain situations. There will be root contention, but plants almost always have some of that going anyways.

Gary
north_tree_man
15 years ago
If you are going to graft a lychee, I'd recommend you use a vigorous rootstock for it; like a Brewster, or a Hak ip. I also agree with DGHays, in that, you do have a better chance for pollination by keeping the trees separate, and slightly varying fruit as well.

Anyone ever try planting Lychee's with the...

Comments (9)

lycheeluva

jsvand5
Original Author

Related Discussions

lycheeluva

dghays

jsvand5
Original Author

ohiojay

jsvand5
Original Author

dghays

north_tree_man

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Anyone ever try planting Lychee's with the...

Comments (9)

lycheeluva

jsvand5Original Author

Related Discussions

lycheeluva

dghays

jsvand5Original Author

ohiojay

jsvand5Original Author

dghays

north_tree_man

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

jsvand5
Original Author

jsvand5
Original Author

jsvand5
Original Author