It looks like heat stress to me. Lychees do not really do that well in dry climate when it gets so hot. Lychees prefer a little bit more humidity, and be sure that the tree is receiving consistent water this time of year (but don't drown the roots either).

I usually turn the hose on very low so it almost drips out, and then leave it for an hour to allow the water to soak deep down into the ground. (once or twice a week)

It also looks like the plant may have a slight nutrient deficiency. I would try to add some compost in there.

You can add fertilizer, but be aware that when a lot of nitrogen is added to the soil the tree is much less likely to fruit for the next few months afterwards. So consider when the best time of year is to apply the fertilizer and don't overdo it!

Just a guess, but it looks like lack of water to me. I noticed that you have very sandy soil and you have it in the ground. You also appear to be mulching with cypress mulch -- not bad, but it may not be enough to retain water in such porous soil. I'd give your tree a good mulching but not too high since it's an air layer. You should also try to water it more. Once a lychee starts drying out, it's hard to recover. You'll start getting leaf drop next. Anyway, like I said, a guess, but I had the exact same appearance on a rollinia that was water related -- these are just thirsty plants.

My mum's property has the same type of soil as you in Orlando. It is AWFUL for growing anything. My house down the road is much better though -- weird. To get anything to do well in that soil, you really have to amend the heck out of it before planting to help retain moisture. Twice a week watering for a young tree in that soil just isn't going to cut it for a lychee -- not happening. I have mine on a drip irrigation so that they are watered for a few minutes about twice a day and they are doing great. If you're lucky enough to have oak trees, I've found that oak leaves make an excellent mulch (cheapest too.) Just don't make it too heavy around the lychee if it's an air layer (no grafting union) otherwise your tree will root into the mulch since the roots on an air layer lychee only grow down about 8 inches. Good luck!

I have some old buckets at the house I'm going to try it this weekend and also do the same with my peach tree because it looks a little dry :/

I wonder if the light colored spots on the leaves could be due to the neem oil spray? Lychees tend to be very sensitive to ferts and sprays. I actually killed a couple of young lychees by giving them too much fert. With the young plants, I usually give them a very light occasional fish emulsion or liquid compost. I also heard that neem oil should be applied in the evening and then be washed off in the morning, otherwise the oil may cause leaf burn when the sun hits on them. So, did you use Neem oil because there was some kind of bug issue? Otherwise, if the plant needs more moisture, a water spray might do the job too.

Sometimes I also try doing a tiny clipping off the tip of the branches to help them rejuvenate new leaf growth. You've also mentioned that your lychee has bloomed and the fruit all dropped off. I was told that after fruiting, lychees should be pruned and the best time to do so is mid July. So, come July 15th, I will be doing the pruning on 5 of my in ground lychee trees . I've been doing that for the past several years now and they seem to be liking it. The other lychees I have are all still in the pot and I'll be doing the same for them as well.

I certainly hope your lychee will turn around for you. By the way, I love the Sweetheart variety. It doesn't grow really huge as I was told it's a dwarf variety. I didn't know until recently. I was wondering why it grew so slowly. Anyway, mine has been in the ground for the 7th year now and only this year it's producing fruit for me. The other years, its blooms were attacked by the web worms, but we found a spray for it that has worked. Although I didn't get a huge harvest .. only 70 fruit this year, the fruit is refreshingly sweet and the seeds are chicken-tongued.

Here are a couple of pictures of my Sweetheart--the fruit didn't appear as red when ripe because they're variegated. I just learned that from a plant vendor recently.

i am going to echo what bananafan said.

my lychee was looking really bad.

i have 1 in a 10g container, and one inn ground

the container one looked bad. i moved it from a 5 to 10gal and added compost and fish emulsion - its looking great now.

ive grown 6 of them from seed, and they seem to like organics and woody mulch. ive used chemical ferts once or twice to get a growth spurt, but normally i dont like to use them, especially on lychee. i think they are particularly dependant on mycorrhizae, you could try to add some, or just add a handful of rich soil from a forested area near your house. THat has actually worked really well for me in the past.

i cant stress enough about woody mulch or leaves. both is possible.

and by the way, i hate cypress. it inhibits micro-organism growth. go with pine, oak , maple, etc...

Banana, great sweetheart Lychees, Congrats!!

I agree with the advise given here...I cannot stress enough how much water Lychee can handle and need especially this time of year when its SO hot! Trees planted less than one year are especially prone to drought when it comes to lychee trees...I would water every day or every other day...as mentioned I would add a nice layer of Pine Bark nuggets, I would also add a couple of bags of Cow Manure ( keep manure and Bark several inches away from the trunk) as it can cause rotting on the trunk...add the Cow manure then add the Pine bark on top...water often during times of NO rain...fertilize ligthly. Use Fish emulsion and half strength once a month from March thru mid Oct...then stop the fertilizer and hopefully by January you will have blooms :o)

Windbreak is also very helpful for young lychee trees...I had this up on my trees for the first 18 months or more and it kept the new growth flush from getting beat up by winds over 10 miles per hour...learned the new growths are very sensitive to high winds...

Link below from Lycheesonline.com...some great info.

http://lycheesonline.com/plantingtips.cfm

The first years the most litchi plants grow slow and don't have nice leaves....i think summer and dry could harm young roots.

Anyway i think that during winter it would be better and each year will pass the plant will become more resistant to the summer.

In few years you'll have your fruits...:)

My tree after 5 years...it really does really pay off to water and give it lots of TLC during the first 2 years. Watering it regularly and adding "wind shelter" made a huge difference to my tree...I was very fortunate it fruited on the second year and every year since...

Hi Puglvr,

It's nice to see how your lychee has grown! Is this the Mauritius lychee that you've mentioned before? I like the way you shaped the crown. I would have to prune my lychee trees shorter so I can manage them better. My Hak Ip (mistaken as Sweetheart in the past) has grown to 16-18 ft and it was a chore trying to protect the fruit. The birds this year found the tree and started to peck on it.

In any case, I will sure be pruning all of them down to a size I can manage. My Brewster did not fruit this year ... It has decided on an alternative year fruiting schedule, but when it does fruit, it produces a reasonable crop for me. So, what I did was I planted 2 more of the Brewsters :) I was happy to find out that Sweetheart is actually a dwarf variety, so I'm going to add one more next to it this Fall. So far, I'm liking the fruit from Sweetheart best. My 11-year non fruiting Mauritius had to go this Summer ... I think the damage years back had an adverse impact on it. I read somewhere that when pruning lychee branches, it should not be over an inch thick. As I thought about it, the freeze back then must have destroyed many branches that were more than an inch thick .. Perhaps that was the reason why it wouldn't fruit. Oh well, you lost some and you gain some. I just had to let it go so I can plant something else in my space limited yard.

Thanks for the idea about the pruning. I've been doing that for several years now. So far so good. However, there were reports of those who don't prune, but get fruit too. That was interesting, but some university extensions also recommended pruning back and I like the idea better as it really keeps the trees in good shape for fruit management and Winter protection when needed.

Daniel,

I like the idea of the 5 gallon bucket with a hole for a slow watering system. I'll have to try that on some of my younger trees. Yes, I agree for young trees, it's best to keep them well hydrated--especially with this intense Summer heat this year. Some variety of lychees really need that continuous watering--especially the Emperor. I've got one still in the pot and it's on a drip, but I still have to add water to it to keep it uniformly moist all the time.

Sorry to hear that you've got the bug issue. I'd prefer Neem oil over insecticides myself too. So, how tall is your lychee now? Although Sweetheart has a slow growth rate and remain rather petite, it does regularly flush and bloom each year. My Sweetheart does bloom a lot every single year for me, but because I didn't know it was the web worm attacking it, the blooms didn't make it for many years. Only this year, we successfully controlled the damage with BT (which is a bacteria culture that attacks the larvae of the web worms). Oak trees are nice for a shade, but unfortunately they're a host for those creeps.

I think your Sweetheart is going to do well and bloom next year for you. It would be all worth your effort :)

Thanks bananana and Daniel...

Banana, yes this is my Mauritius lychee...it didn't fruit as much as last year but the birds and squirrels were kind enough to "share" some with me this year, Lol...one morning I went to check on them and found SO many shells/seeds on the ground! I decided to pick them a little sooner than I would have liked but it was either eat them when they weren't at their peak or NOT eat them at all! I'm very sorry you lost your Mauritius...I had to cut down my Pickering mango tree because we put a screened patio and the poor tree was smack in the way...I was bummed out but it was necessary :o(

This was the tree when I planted it , very spindly...I'm a true believer in pruning my fruit trees for manageability...but I know one day it will be difficult for me to do so as I get older, Lol...for now I'm going to try to keep it at around 10ft-12ft maximum , not sure how long I'll be able to do that...

Planted spring of 2011

Daniel, when I planted that poor little tree I never thought I would ever see it this big, Lol...I've had fruits on it every year except the very first year I planted it. Its been a great tree :o)

Puglvr,

Yes, I do hear what you're saying about getting older
and having to keep up with a very active yard. While gardening is a
healthy activity to do, it sure involves lots of muscle and skeletal
work. I'm glad though that lychee trees don't shed too much and that
makes things a little easier.

I used to plant a lot of tall
bananas that are a chore to clean when they die off. Since i still
appreciate having them around, I only plant the dwarf varieties now. My
Raja Puri banana is now fruiting at a stem height of 5 ft and the
daughter is following suit at only 3 ft stem height (I was rather
surprised). I've posted some pictures in the link here if interested:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4026633/banana-raja-puris-fruiting

I
certainly will also be planting another Sweetheart lychee
soon--probably in the Fall as this is not a good time to plant it (with
the intense heat and all). By the way, do you know if the Emperor
lychee is a dwarf? Are there any other lychees species that belong to
the dwarf genus?

With regard to pruning, I was going to start
tomorrow, but I realized that all my lychee trees are flushing like
crazy. Do I go ahead to prune them anyway?

Sorry, Daniel, for the side track in your post here. Do keep us updated on how your plant is doing and enjoy your Sweetheart :)

bananafan2,

I'm not sure if the Emperor is a dwarf, but it is VERY VERY slow growing. I've had mine in a 25 gallon pot for over a year and it's not grown very much at all. It has produced about 3 lychee in the first year -- kept them on for the heck of it. The fruit are HUGE, but not as nice tasting as the sweethearts in my opinion.

Puglvr,

Your tree is gorgeous! I'm very jealous. This is my second year with my tropical trees, and I just can't wait till they start producing a bit. I'm in Orlando too, so hopefully we'll have a few more warm winters.

Banana, since your trees are flushing and so are mine...I think I will forego the pruning. pruned them lightly after fruit harvest first week of June so that will have to do. I can't see pruning off the new flush only to get new flushes unless you need to take the height down a feet or more? Then I would go ahead and prune, if your intention is to keep them a little shorter you can prune them now...otherwise I would let it ride :o)

As far as Lychee dwarf, I think Emperor is the only "slow growing" variety that I know of. As Chrobrego mentioned its probably considered a dwarf because it is a very slow growing variety...

Thanks Chrobrego, I had a Lychee tree I planted in 2008 and when it was 3 years old we had a severe freeze and it killed it to the ground...so you can imagine how thrilled I am with this tree after losing that one many years ago...I hope its finally old enough to handle more frost...Good luck with your trees.

Thanks Chrobrego and Puglvr for the tips on the Emperor lychee. I'm not too sure how it will perform. It did bloom a lot this Spring, but only a few small fruit formed. For now, it will probably have to stay in the pot until I have a space for it to be planted ..lol

As for the pruning, I think I will prune the height down as long as they will continue to flush after that.

According to lycheesonline.com ( Chart) they can flush ( in south FL) as late as early Nov. so you should be good to trim now Banana...they actually recommend you prune around July 15...so you're right on schedule!

http://lycheesonline.com/HowToGetTreeToFruit.cfm