Read a commented lychee tree profile here with compact information about its origin and growth. You can find out how to grow a lychee tree yourself, plant it correctly and care for it here.
What is a lychee tree and how do you care for it?
A lychee tree (Litchi chinensis) is a subtropical, evergreen tree in the soap family, known for its delicious stone fruits. It prefers warm, bright locations all year round, high humidity and cool winters. Care includes regular watering, fertilizing, cutting and repotting.
Profile
- Scientific name: Litchi chinensis
- Family: Sapindaceae
- Synonyms: lychee tree, lychee plant,
- Origin: South China, Vietnam
- Growth type: evergreen tree
- Growth height: 2 m to 10 m
- Leaf: pinnate
- Flower: panicle-shaped
- Fruit: Drupe
- Winter hardiness: sensitive to frost
- Use: potted plant, ornamental tree, fruit
Origin
The origin of Litchi chinensis is not clear. The lychee tree has probably been cultivated in China for more than 2,000 years. From there the first varieties reached Myanmar at the end of the 17th century, and later to India and Thailand. Today the lychee plant is grown in many subtropical regions. The main growing countries are China (primarily in southern China), Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Madagascar, Mauritius, India and Australia.
Video: This is how lychees end up on the supermarket shelf
Growth
For good reason, the lychee plant is the only species in the lychee genus. With its incomparable habit, the lychee tree does not tolerate any other soap tree family (Sapindaceae) next to it. Characteristic key data of growth in short version:
- Growth type: evergreen tree with a rounded, low-set crown, shiny green pinnate leaves, yellowish-greenish inflorescences and delicious drupes in a red, warty, bumpy shell.
- Growth height: 8 m to 10 m in subtropical growing areas, 2 m to 3 m north of the Alps as a container plant.
- Branches: round-shaped with reddish-brown bark, smooth, striped or with white cork pores.
- Trunk: upright, gray-black bark.
Characteristics that are interesting for hobby gardeners are very slow growth, pronounced sensitivity to frost and good cutting tolerance. Furthermore, flower induction is dependent on cool temperatures of around 10° Celsius in the weeks before new growth.
Bloom
The lychee tree flowers monoeciously with separate sexes. Male and female flowers sit on a lychee plant as distinctive inflorescences. Bisexual flowers also rarely occur. Important flower characteristics in brief:
- Inflorescence: richly branched, upright, 40 cm to 75 cm long, consisting of numerous individual flowers.
- Single flower: fragrant, four- or five-flowered, 3-5 mm in diameter,
- Flower color: greenish to yellowish-whitish.
- Inflorescence axis: rusty to gold colored, felty hairy.
- Position: terminal, sometimes lateral.
- Flowering time: Spring
- Pollinators: bees, bumblebees.
Male flowers can be recognized by 6 to 8 stamens that protrude above the calyx. Female flowers contain a 1.0 to 1.5 mm pistil. The 2 to 3 carpels are fused to form a 2 to 3-chambered ovary, with each fruit chamber containing a seed.
Fruit
Have you ever asked yourself: How do lychees actually grow? The basic requirement is pollinated female flowers in spring. The flowers then undergo a transformation process into delicious fruits with a distinctive appearance. These properties characterize a lychee fruit:
- Fruit stand: hanging with 2 to 30 lychee fruits, terminal or rarely lateral.
- Single fruit: spherical to ovoid, 2 cm to 3.5 cm tall.
- Fruit shell: thin, leathery, pyramidal-warty to spiny, pink, later light red to red.
- Flesh: juicy-sweet, whitish to pearl-colored around a reddish-brown core.
- Seeds: inedible, 1.5 cm to 2 cm in size.
The ripening time from pollination to the lychee fruit being ready to harvest is around 100 days. In their subtropical home regions, lychees ripen in summer. The growing season in the Central European climate is too short for the long ripening process. When cultivated as a container plant, a lychee tree rarely bears fruit.
Leaf
With a decorative foliage, the lychee tree bridges the waiting time for its first blossoms. You can easily recognize an evergreen litchi leaf by these characteristics:
- Leaf shape: petiolate, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, pinnate in pairs (4 to 8 short-stalked leaflets).
- Leaf size: 10 cm to 25 cm long.
- Leaf color: Shoots bronze-colored, later shiny deep green above, matt green below, frosted, thinly hairy.
- Arrangement: alternate, spiral.
Near inflorescences, the leaves move closer together and are arranged almost oppositely. This botanical peculiarity gives the crown a particularly lush look.
Plant lychee tree
As a hobby gardener, you have the choice. You can dig deep into your pockets and buy a grafted lychee tree or grow a lychee plant yourself. Read these tried and tested short instructions for growing in the greenhouse or on the windowsill. You can find out where and how to properly plant a lychee tree here:
Drawing a lychee tree
Growing lychee plants from seeds is a green, long-term project that starts with time pressure. Lychee seeds can only germinate for five days. It takes five to ten years from seedling to the first flowering period. Given the very slow growth, a 10 cm flower pot is perfect as a growing container. The sensitive roots can develop he althily without having to endure risky repotting maneuvers. The ideal substrate is a mixture of equal parts potting soil, coconut fiber, expanded clay and sand. How to proceed correctly step by step:
- Remove the dark lychee core from the pulp intact and clean it.
- Place seeds in 50° Celsius water for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Pour growing soil into the pot over a drainage made of expanded clay, lava granules or clay shards.
- Press the soaked seeds lying on their side into the substrate and sift over them to a height of 1 cm.
- Pour with a fine spray of lukewarm, soft water.
- Place the cultivation container in the mini greenhouse in a bright, warm window seat.
Keep the substrate slightly moist at all times. Ventilate the small greenhouse daily to prevent mold from forming. The germination time is between one and four weeks. A seedling is fertilized for the first time after two months. The seedling is very comfortable with regular spraying with lukewarm water.
Location
A lychee tree unfolds its full splendor at this location:
- All year round in a temperate, airy winter garden or greenhouse.
- From May to September/October preferably in a sunny, wind-protected location on a balcony or terrace.
- Important: Shade in the blazing midday sun, high humidity of 70% or more.
Excursus
Ripe lychees are he althy – unripe lychees are poisonous
With their reddish skin and juicy flesh, lychees are a very he althy treat for the palate. 100 g of fresh fruit contains a whopping 40 mg of vitamin C and many vital nutrients at a slim 77 calories. For unripe lychees, however, the following applies: snacking is prohibited. Naturally contained hypoglycin A can cause dangerous low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) if the unripe fruits are consumed in large quantities. This warning is aimed at hobby gardeners whose lychee tree surprises with fruit. Lychees from the fruit shelf are harmless.
Take care of the lychee tree
Even soil moisture is mandatory. All other care aspects follow this. In order for a litchi tree to produce the desired flower buds, it depends on the correct overwintering. Vegetative propagation does not require an epic amount of patience. Anyone who can trace the damage back to the correct cause can eliminate problems in no time. Care tips worth knowing explain the details:
- Watering: If the substrate surface is dry, water thoroughly with rainwater or low-lime tap water.
- Humidity: Spray leaves regularly, fill coasters with expanded clay and water.
- Fertilizing: fertilize liquidly every 10 to 14 days from April to September.
- Cutting: cut back individual, extra-long shoots in March, place scissors over a leaf or a bud.
- Propagation: cut cuttings in early summer, defoliate the lower half, let them root in lean potting soil.
Wintering
The lychee tree keeps its flowers under wraps in a location that is comfortably warm all year round. A bright, cool winter at 10° to 15° Celsius is beneficial for bud formation. A temperature-controlled bedroom, a light-flooded stairwell or a wintering tent with a frost monitor are well suited as lychee-friendly winter quarters. Adjust the water supply to the reduced demand. A practical moisture meter (€39.00 on Amazon) in the substrate shows when a lychee plant needs to be watered.
Repotting
You should repot a lychee tree every two to three years, regardless of whether the pot has roots or not. The best time is in spring. A suitable substrate is peat-free pot plant soil in premium quality with coarse-grained additives such as expanded clay or lava granules and coconut fibers as a peat substitute. Size a new pot so that there is space for a maximum of two fingers between the root ball and the edge of the container.
Diseases, pests, care errors
Diseases, pests and care errors throw a lychee tree off track. A look at the following table reveals common malfunctions and their causes. Useful tips explain effective countermeasures for quick problem solving:
| malicious image | Cause | What to do? |
|---|---|---|
| Brown leaf edges | Overfertilization | repotting, fertilize more sparingly |
| Dried leaf tips | Drought stress | spray daily, water as needed |
| Yellow leaves | lime surplus | watering with rainwater |
| White webs, silvery speckles | Spider mites | spray, fight in the greenhouse with predatory mites |
| Shedding of leaves in winter | Cold, lack of light | overwinter brightly at 10°-15° C. |
Popular varieties
Numerous litchi varieties are grown in the subtropical regions and exported to Germany as fruit. The Far Eastern hybrids are not available from us as seeds or young plants.
FAQ
Where do lychees come from?
Litchis in the fruit aisle of supermarkets have had a long journey. The delicious fruits are grown in subtropical countries. Important suppliers for Germany are China, Madagascar, Mauritius, Vietnam, Thailand, South Africa and India.
Is the lychee tree hardy?
A look at the origin leaves no doubt. The lychee tree comes from subtropical countries and is not hardy. The exotic fruit tree should only be exposed to its short-term minimum temperature of 0° Celsius in an emergency. As a rule, temperatures below 10° Celsius are acknowledged by the shedding of the leaves.
Where do lychees grow?
Lychees grow on a lychee tree. The lychee tree with the botanical name Litchi chinensis is the only one of its kind. Within the soap tree family (Sapindaceae), the exotic fruit tree forms its own genus. Its sought-after fruits develop from numerous individual flowers that gather to form large, yellowish-greenish inflorescences. After a ripening period of three months, the fruit clusters with 2 to 30 lychees each dangle from the branches.
Where can you buy a lychee plant?
Purchasing sources for lychee plants are few and far between in Germany. The reason is the high demands on location and care. We looked around for you and found two specialist retailers for Litchi chinensis. At Flora Toskana you can buy a refined lychee plant locally in 89278 Nersingen or in the online shop. For a tree in a 7 liter pot with a height of 60-80 cm you pay from 79.90 euros plus shipping costs. In the online shop of zitronenlust.de you can sporadically buy Litchi chinensis from 40 euros.
