Lychees- help please!

I have got 4 lychee seedlings about 6-7" tall. The biggest is just putting out it's second layer of adult leaves. I have grown them to this stage before, and then lost them because when taken out of their propagator [unheated] the leaves dried up and dropped off At the moment they are in the greenhouse under a large dome to keep the humidity up. I am going to try to keep the greenhouse frost free over winter. Has anyone any advice and/or experience? I don't necessarily want lychees, just pretty plants!

 

Hi Liz, sounds very exotic try this site hope it helps www.lycheesonline.com I would like to know how you get on growing them.

 

I tried once Liz, but didn't get as far as you have, mine never germinated.
:D

 

This may not help but I've found using a heater with a fan helps stop cold pockets, just a thought. good luck.

 

I grew a lychee indoors and it survived on a sunny windowsill until it got too big (they are tall trees!) No special treatment, just watered when needed. Sometimes I think you can molleycoddle things too much, I just let 'em get on with it.

I plant all sorts of things and I have lemon, orange and some pink grapefruit on the go at the moment. The grapefruit is an oddball. You can get more than one seedling to grow from a single pip, ââ?¬Ë?polyembrionyââ?¬â?¢, and one of the ones I planted in January is already showing a flower bud although it's only about 4" high.

The next one is I've some passionfruit seeds to try.

 

Hi, The passion fruit should give you absolutely no problem in the early stages. I got a miniature forest and chose some of the seedlings for special treatment. One has been in the garden all summer and wilts at the first sign of lack of water, but is a nice little bush after 1 year. The best one is under the dome with my lychees, it's leaves are twice as big as the others. I've always had trouble getting my citrus seedlings to grow on. How do you treat the small plants? Last year I had some lovely little kumquat seedlings but lost them at about 4" high. I'll try again when I can find some more, not much exotic fruit in Warminster. Ginger and sweet potaoes are easy, also peanuts!

 

Liz: Thanks for the info on Passion Fruit

Citrus normally have a deep taproot when they are seedlings so you need a deep pot (I use rose pots). Also, they don't like to be overwatered (Think Spain!) and hate having wet feet. Always stand their pots on gravel to keep the drainage free and the roots aired. Chances of getting edible fruit outdoors in the UK are remote but they are all worth growing just for the scent from the flowers and the novelty.

You can plant the pips directly into compost or you can germinate the seeds in water (change every few days to prevent mould) for 2-3 weeks before planting as soon as the seeds split and show green. I've done it both ways, 20 - 25C seems to be the recommended temp for germination but I've managed with less than that. The Lemon is 3 years old now, no flowers yet, about 2ft high and lives outside during the summer but I put it in an unheated greenhouse over winter. Lemons are pretty hardy but need protecting fom any cold frosty winds which dries out the evergreen leaves. They also like a bit of shading during really hot spells because the bark can get sunburnt. Seville oranges are supposed to be amongst the most hardy but do grow big and have thorns to match!

I haven't had the opportunity to try kumquat, I did try some seeds given to me by a friend from a pot grown Calamondin but they didn't come to anything.

 

Hi Frogesque, thanks for the tips, I'm inspired to try again! The grapefruit sounds interesting. It is the flowers I'm aiming for, I love the smell! I have difficulty findind lime seeds- have you had this exp[erience?

 

alot of grapefruits even flower as 1 yr olds too

a great book to look out for is the pip book by keith mossman...I think its out of print but still crops up on ebay

 

Hi all, even more keen to start some grapefruit seeds.
I bought The Pip Book when it first came out, lent it to someone, never got it back......... bought a used copy from Amazon a few years back. Still excellent!
I still haven't managed to get an avocado plant to branch, and it was one of the first seeds I tried.

 

Liz, I've been looking for lime seeds for years.
For some reason they seem to think we like seedless varieties in the supermarkets.