Lychees

[dtw]

I love them, so I thought I would grow some.

Here they are.


Has anybody had success growing them in the UK?

[dtw]

[calendula]

I've only ever grown them as house plants as they have a lovely colour leaf/stem - I guess heat and humidity over a long period would be needed - this might be useful

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/lychee.html

[davholla]

I heard Bob Flowerdew once say on the radio that it is not very easy and they need lots of heat.

[jennym]

Just googled - some prefer slightly acidic soils, don't like frost and grow to 40 ft tall, some to 100 ft!
Hope you've got a very large glasshouse  ;D
When they grow lychees commercially, they do a great deal of pruning to keep the trees under 20ft high.
I saw them growing in Australia, but this link from the US gives some concise info:
http://www.lycheesonline.com/lycheeinfo.cfm#GrowingLycheeTrees

[cleo]

I heard Bob Flowerdew once say on the radio that it is not very easy and they need lots of heat

Didn`t he also say that he thinks they need some kind of spore? in the soil to grow properly and that is why shop bought ones never prosper

[Amazin]

I think there's also a question of timing. I read somewhere that once lychees have been picked, the seeds/stones are only viable for a very short time so by the time they're shipped over here they're unlikely to take. I think if you buy them slightly underripe you've got a better chance.

But never mind what I think, come on dtw, tell us how you did it!

(and congratulations!)

;D

[Biscombe]

I have a baby tree growing in a very large pot in the courtyard, 3 years and very little growth! you have to be patient to grow this one  ;) ;)

[dtw]

I got my lychees from Waitrose, dried them out for a couple of weeks.
I sowed 13 and 11 came up, not bad.  :D

The compost was Miraclegrow and I gave it a good soaking after sowing
and put them in my heated propagator (I don't know the temperature,
as it doesn't have a thermostat).