In The Garden WITH BROWNIE
Did you buy some local lychees this summer?
If you didn’t – you really missed out as they were so lovely, juicy, and sweet.
Australia produces about 3000 tonnes of lychees, from around 250 growers. Our growing season is the longest of any country in the world, and they are grown here from the Atherton Tablelands to the north coast of New South Wales.
It is a native tree to subtropical China, where it has been in cultivation for more than 2000 years. They were introduced to Australia by the Chinese gold prospectors close to 150 years ago. Lychees can be grown in the backyard – given that you have some spare open space.
The lychee is a compact tree that can grow up to 12 m high and 12 m wide and fruit for a few months between November and March (depending on the variety).
Lychees are very suited to the local region – in fact, we have some very large farms in Landsborough and Glass House Mountains.
Even though there are about 16 popular commercially grown varieties, the local home grower can probably stick with choosing between the following three:
Wai Chee
This is the good all-rounder. Lovely colour, small to medium fruit, sweet flesh, and a consistent producer through January, February, and March.
Kwai May
This is another good producer with smaller seeds and very sweet flesh. It will fruit early from November to February.
Erdon Lee
If you’re looking for something different, this variety produces very large dark red fruits (about egg-sized), but they do have larger seeds and form a wider spreading tree.
To grow them, select an open site protected from strong winds, especially westerlies, but with full sun. Prepare the ground with some compost and aged manures.
Trees can be planted in spring, late summer, or autumn. Handle the young tree very carefully when planting. Carrying it by the stem can wrench or tear the root system. Tie the planted tree to a stake and add a tree guard for protection.
Lightly fertilise once after planting, and then every 3-4 months in the second to fourth years. In the fourth year, only feed at flowering and after harvest.
During the first four years, pruning is directed at developing a symmetrical well-branched tree. Long limbs should be shortened to encourage new shoots to develop.
Bearing trees usually require minimal pruning, but the skirt of the trees might need pruning to prevent leaves and fruit from touching the ground.
A plant will generally take four years to fruit and 10 years to become fully productive. When the fruit is orange-pink or deep-red, depending on the variety, and provided its taste is acceptable, it is ready to harvest.
The main pest problems will be birds (like lorikeets), bats, and possums – so think about protecting your crop with netting or bagging the fruit as they develop.
Lychees form a lovely open-shade tree for the garden all year round, so if you plant one as a feature tree, you’ll have the added benefit of the sweet fruits in summer.
