Sweetheart Lychee in Northern California

Sweetheart Lychee harvest!!! I purchased a fairly large Sweetheart lychee tree from Ong Nursery in San Diego in June 2008 during a trip with my friend Jack Swords who encouraged me to buy the biggest I could afford. Our tree has been in the ground for over 10 years and has endured some winters with temperatures perhaps down to 24-26F with minor damage, though we covered the tree with frost cloth during those coldest years. In the past three winters the tree has not been covered at all and we've got down to 28-30F a few times. Our tree has flowered for at least the past 5-6 years but never developed anything except little "fruitlets" (maybe reach 1/4" long) that dropped off. I'm guessing warm or hot weather and low humidity during bloom may be killing the pollen and affecting pollination. I hope to try putting up a shade cloth structure over our tree and maybe trying some automatic misting during bloom next year. But, finally, today we picked our first crop of two fruits after waiting over 11 years. They were very sweet with a nice flavor reminding me of some of the best grapes, and a small chicken tongue seed. The second fruit had an even smaller seed.

[@michaelromero1873]

I never water or fertilize my lychee trees. This year there is a big crop so I am putting a little water so they don't loose fruit before the rainy season starts. Your tree looks excellent. good post.

[@enscribe]

Love it when a plan pays off! lol. That's pretty impressive even for 11 years to me. Thanks for sharing.

[@LindenRanch]

Awesome... I will give this a try too here in zone 9. Easy to add some thermal mass in the winter and mist in warm weather. Well worthwhile.

[@oldmanfigs]

Hello Harvey! When I lived in Florida There was an old trick for pollinating mango and leeche using flyes. Started with a bucket of putrified mess. There are also people online using this method with successful results.

[@MinhTran-ol9wg]

Hello Mr. Harvey I live in Fla my Leechee tree has a lot of flowers but only 1/3 of the tree has fruits this year and the treeis in second year that has fruit love them very sweet 😊😊

[@maxliu8107]

Lychees love a lot of water. Start watering more frequently when it starts to flower and do not apply any nitrogen fertilizer, potassium and phosphorus ok.

[@Figaholics]

I had heard that, I watered this every day or two.

[@DiegoRodriguez-tl3wp]

After reading all the comments I think that the main point has not been mentioned: The average ideal temperatures for the lychee to set fruit are according to La Mayora Agrologic Institute 20-22º Celsius. Where I live we usually don't get those temps until mid May but with Global Warming the usual doesn't seem to be a good guide anymore. In any case as a general rule the later the variety, the higher the chances to get a good crop of lychees in subtropical climates with fresh springs. I have too a Fay Zee Siu (aka Sweetheart) tree but mine is younger than yours, I let it flower for the first time this year (I stopped spraying it with giberelic in autumn to avoid blossom), but it didn't set any fruit. Another early variety though, Kaimana, did set about 45 fruitlets, it dropped most of them as a result of a fail in the watering system, still I did manage to get some to ripe. If your springs are fresh as mine, you may get better results with late cvs such as kway may pink, salathiel and wae chee. Also you may try to increase somehow the mean temperature during blossom for your early ones in order to increase the crop. Good luck.

[@mykvass]

fascinating how many tropical fruit trees you are managing to grow in zone 9

[@xaisthoj]

I heard you're suppose to stop irrigation during cold dormancy, that means keeping the rain from irrigating it as well. The dry period is suppose to encourage it to bloom. Winters are dry in southern China.

[@Figaholics]

I've heard that also but we have had abundant flowering for many years without keeping rain from watering our tree. Fruit set continues to be poor, however. This may be due to the variety not being suitable for our climate.

[@jimmytran9585]

I love it, can up data more

[@AceHardy]

👑

[@zawape]

Lichee is a delicious fruit.

[@eldiablo67]

Hi what fertilizer do you use and can u use it for longan too?

[@Figaholics]

I sometimes apply some 15-15-15 soluble fertilizer, but only light doses. I also sometimes apply a liquid fertilizer with iron, manganese, and sulfur but only available to large scale commercial growers (but I use on hobby plants also).

[@bobc.8224]

@@Figaholics I have Lychees Sweet heart, Hak Ip and the fertilizer I use is ( Bloom Special 2-10-10 ) Lychee's don't like Nitrogen the little nitrogen the better they are. I'm in Central West Florida.

[@Figaholics]

@@bobc.8224 Thanks. I think I have only given my tree nitrogen a few times over the past 10 years. In 2020 I gave only the PhotoGreen (iron, manganese, and sulfur) and a liquid potassium fertilizer. My soil is already high in phosphorus. My tree grows very well and has lots of flowers but very poor pollination. Sometimes boron sprays are used in some fruit and nut trees to improve pollen viability, I may have to try that, but I suspect this variety is particularly prone to problems with low humidity as I have heard by others that it has not fruited well in California.

[@f1uzure]

I always thought the sac valley was just too scorching hot for lychee, being close to the river changes

[@Figaholics]

We were about 104F today with 23% relative humidity. Pretty hot, but it does okay.

[@TheWalkingAmazon]

Hello sir! Is it possible to purchase a sweet heart lychee tree from you? Thank you

[@adnanchinisi7871]

Heard they might need cross pollination

[@GG-sy2rg]

What’s the lowest temperature there?

[@Figaholics]

This past winter about 28F. Most winters in the past 10 years have been 28-30F for a few days a year with maybe down to 24F a little over 10 years ago. In January 2007 we got down to 20.4F but my tree was planted the following year.

[@mykvass]

OMG it looks ripe to me

[@rprimbs]

I've been told that Sweetheart lychees fruit biannually at the best. The Brewster is supposed to be more reliable.

[@Figaholics]

a friend in on the Big Island of Hawaii reports that Sweetheart is the most reliable producer there.

[@ultragamer4960]

Where in NorCal are you? Since there are a lot of varying climates in this part of the state.

[@Figaholics]

I'm in southern Sacramento County, in the delta. USDA zone 9b, Sunset zone 14. Where are you?

[@ultragamer4960]

Figaholics Sorry for the late reply. I’m in Merced County (Los Banos) in zone 9 A/B. Do you go give it full sun?

[@TropicalGardenGuy]

No nitrogen!

[@Figaholics]

No nitrogen is too drastic of a statement! All plants need some nitrogen. Some growers say that lychee show leaf burn pretty easy from nitrogen fertilizers but I suspect that is mostly due to the form of nitrogen used (some have higher salt content). I give my tree very little nitrogen, mostly fertilizing with potassium. My soil is naturally high in phosphorus. I've heard from some that Sweetheart doesn't fruit well in California but I want to try putting up a shade cloth and misting in summer to increase humidity during pollination. I also want to try other varieties.

[@TropicalGardenGuy]

@@Figaholics I guess I should have little or no added nitrogen! We do have natural occurring nitrogen in the air and soil that seems to be enough . With my first lychee tree, I figuired that since fruited so well that it needed extra nitrogen. I gave it about a cup of 10-10-10.... it didn’t fruit again for 5 years!

[@Figaholics]

Nitrogen in the air provides nothing for plant nutrition. Nitrogen in the soil gets depleted. I am educated in this subject and monitor plant nutrition levels in my crops closely so have a good understanding of the subject. Show us your lychee crop! :)

[@Figaholics]

I was reading this paper from Hawaii, they suggest proper timing of nitrogen and also specific pruning practices www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/f_n-2.pdf

[@TropicalGardenGuy]

@@Figaholics yea saw a video from a Florida lychee grower that fertilized using the nitrogen restriction method as well. The only problem I find that our growth flushes are different in dry California. So I just don’t use nitrogen fertilizer at all on my lychee and it seems to work fine. Once it gets bigger I may have to figuire out a different application timing for our climate.