Mauritius is probably the easiest to grow and fruit in south florida but which ones are you folks growing in florida and all over the us. Lychees are an extremely popular fruit from southeast asia that are gaining more traction around the world. Native to southern china, the lychee tree litchi chinensis is often grown for its showy spring flowers, which are followed by edible fruit. Lychee has potential in florida, according to jonathan crane, a tropical fruit crop specialist with the university of florida institute of food and agricultural sciences tropical research and education center in homestead. This southern china native is prized in chinese culture and is considered to be good luck. The sweet fruit goes well with stir frys and salads, and drinks, but they are so tasty that most lychees dont get that far. We sell our best sweetheart lychee or hak ip lychee and mauritius lychee online directly from our farm to your door. The tree is a handsome hardwood which reaches 2040 feet and in many cases it is used as an ornamental in landscaping. Lychee is a rare subtropical fruit native to southern china which was introduced to florida and california in the late 1800s. Lychee is also known as alligator strawberry for its red, bumpy skin.
Buy fresh lychees online, mangoes and tropical fruits from. The brewster lychee fruit season in south florida lychees online. Florida crops in season florida department of agriculture. Lychee fruit is high in the antioxidant vitamin c and the essential mineral potassium. The fruit of the lychee tree is covered by pink to strawberryred colored leathery rind.
The fruit is usually eaten fresh but can also be canned or dried. Lychee fruit store is a tropical fruit farm selling wholesale and retail. Get expert advice on lychee fruit and growing the trees. Lychee grows best in areas with warm, humid summers. The following videos provide information on fertilizer strategy, increasing lychee flowering and seasonal care considerations. Lychee trees are subtropical broadleaf evergreens that produce a sweet, exotic edible fruit. The lychee might not be on your grocery list, but june is peak season for the sweet, whitefleshed fruit grown from loxahatchee to homestead.
Florida is famous for its citrus, and rightly so, but plenty of other fruits and vegetables grow in the sunshine state. While the rind is inedible, the fruit itself has a lovely, sweet and distinctly floral flavor. Lychee fruit tree florida for sale click here to see growing instructions fruit scapes llc. Learn organic gardening at growingyourgreens recommended for you. Please practice handwashing and social distancing, and. Due to the popularity of the local food movement, many restaurants advertise farm fresh items on their menus. We are super excited that florida lychee are now in season. In fact, lychees contain more vitamin c than an equal amount of oranges or lemons, providing more than 100% of your daily recommended dose in just 1 cup. Flowers grow on a terminal inflorescence with many panicles on the current season s growth. Native to china, lychee litchi chinensis is cherished among aficionados for its perfumelike flavor and sweet juicy flesh beneath its roughly textured skin. Lychees have a rough outer skin that separates easily leaving you with a flesh that is sweet to subacid, aromatic and tastes unlike anything else on earth. The florida department of agriculture and consumer services encourages consumers to familiarize themselves with floridagrown crops and when they are available by viewing the florida seasonal availability chart above. The florida lychee season is pretty short, and typically runs from earlymidjune thru early july.
To those entirely unfamiliar with the fruit they may appear bizarre and the name slightly unappealing. Planting and caring tips for your lychee tree edison and. May 25, 2016 i cant speak to the supermarket prices as i dont live in florida, but the seller suzanne greene sent out an email saying she will be taking orders for lychees and that she had a good crop. Why such hatred of this inoffensive little fruit, you. The season is upon us for harvesting the fruit of the lychee tree. Pulp is translucent, crisp and juicy and has a sweet, pleasant flavor. Lychee is native to southeast asia and has been a favourite fruit of the cantonese since ancient times. Lychee gardening solutions university of florida, institute of. Even more so than the sweetheart and is along with the mauritius one of the two commercially grown lychees in florida. Print this months shopping list of fresh florida fruits and vegetables and look for them in your grocery store. Although lychee is grown commercially in florida, it is a rare plant to find in the united states where they are considered high maintenance and inconsistent in fruit production.
Bananas, sprouted coconuts, yellow dragonfruit and soursop are almost always available yearround. The harvest of this delicious fruit only lasts about 6 weeks. They are adapted by developing leaves that repel water, and are called laurophyll or lauroid leaves. Lychee, litchi chinensis, evergreen tree of the soapberry family sapindaceae, grown for its edible fruit. Lychee fruits are oval or heartshaped, 1 to 112 inches in length and contain inedible seeds. Isolated or single lychee trees will usually set acceptable amounts of fruit. Lychee is a popular tree in hawaii, valued for its delicious fruit. Lychee fruit is a rarity in the united states, probably because it isnt commercially grown on the mainland with the exception of small farms in florida. Far too many growers sell partially ripe lychees in a rush to get their fruit to market. The lychee bears fleshy fruits that mature in 80112 days depending on climate, location, and cultivar.
The caribbean fruit fly, anastrepha suspensa, has attacked lychee fruits in florida. Lychee tropical fruit buy fresh from florida consumer. Lychee growing in the florida home landscape 3 season of bearing midmay to early july in florida, depending upon variety. This particular fruit produces mostly chicken tongue lychees which contain fleshier fruit with smaller seeds. The commonly accepted season for brewster lychee fruit in south florida may june is incorrect. Crane discusses two types of lychees grown in south florida, the effects of temperature on lychee flowering, fruit. Fresh fruits include lychee, longan, dragon fruit, jackfruit, mango, sapodilla, sugar apple, canistel, black sapote, custard apple, etc. June is peak season for lychees, grown from loxahatchee to. Plus a lychee store offering fresh fruit, trees and other hardtofind lychee products.
Really delicious lychee gels with the cube of fruit suspended in each gel. During the vegetable season we offer great value family packages and during the. Lychees are an international fruit now, from australia to brazil, burma to africa. With its unpredictable growing habit and short season the end of may to early june, the lychee litchi chinensis is a member of the soapberry family and close relative to the longan, the smaller, goldenbrown fruits that make their appearance later in the south florida summer. Its native to china but can grow in certain warm regions of the u. The trees were introduced to florida in the 1930s and some of the larger. The best climates for lychee production have a dry, cold but nonfreezing winter period lasting 3 to 5 months. In summer, these evergreen trees produce juicy, bright pinkred fruits with. Freshest and most delicious lychees you will ever taste. This slow growing dwarf variety makes them easy to grow in small spaces or in containers as they only mature to a height of 810 feet tall and 58 feet wide. I cant speak to the supermarket prices as i dont live in florida, but the seller suzanne greene sent out an email saying she will be taking orders for lychees and that she had a. Planting and caring tips for your lychee tree june 7, 2011. Lychee is a subtropical fruit that can be grown in south florida, on your solution for florida friendly gardening from the university of florida s center for landscape conservation and ecology. Lychee growing in the florida home landscape1 edis.
The panicles grow in clusters of ten or more, reaching 10 to. Nov 27, 2017 lychee has potential in florida, according to jonathan crane, a tropical fruit crop specialist with the university of florida institute of food and agricultural sciences tropical research and education center in homestead. This is primarily due to the short period of time in which the fresh fruit is available, and its frustratingly short shelf life. Origin the lychee litchi chinensis is the sole member of the genus litchi in the soapberry family, sapindaceae. This delicious, fragrant fruit has been popular in china for over two thousand years, and once you have tasted a lychee, you will know why. Depending on where the lychee comes from, the season will range from may through september. Lychee does not fruit satisfactorily at sea level in tropical. Varieties mauritius is the major commercial cultivar and bears more regularly than brewster, which is the second most grown cultivar table 1. The lychee is a subtropical fruit tree thats as beautiful as it is delicious. Lychee trees should be heavily mulched and grow very well using organic methods. In 2010, we started growing and selling the native florida wild everglades. Buy lychees, mangoes and other tropical fruits from florida at our online store at yp farms.
The best i have ever tasted are also among the hardest to grow. Read on to answer those questions, and learn about growing lychee trees and harvesting lychee fruit. Birds, bats and bees damage ripe fruits on the trees in china and sometimes a stilt house is built beside a choice lychee tree for a watchman to keep guard and ward off these predators, or a large net may be thrown over the tree. Since some fruits ripen multiple times of the year, it is hard to be precise. All florida department of agriculture and consumer services offices will be.
Planting and caring tips for your lychee tree edison and ford. Tropical fruits are a specialty in the sunshine state and during their bountiful season, origins can be traced to regions around the world. It is a tropical and subtropical fruit tree native to the guangdong and fujian provinces of china, and now cultivated in many parts of the world. Your lychee order will be hand picked, packed and shipped from our farms, and delivered to you within your specified duration. Lychee are similar in foliage to the family lauraceae, likely due to convergent evolution. Crane recently gave a presentation at the fruit crop management short course in early november, where he discussed lychee. Lychee also written litchi, lichi is a large, longlived, subtropical, evergreen tree that bears fruit from may to august in hawaii. Typical size is 1 to 1 34 inches in diameter, 12 to 1 ounce. The real season for fresh lychee fruit is midjune to midjuly.
Anthracnose is generally not a major problem on lychee fruit growing in the home landscape. Lychee season 2018 is fast approaching mid may to july 2018 2018 lychee season is fast approaching and we will soon accept preorders for lychees on this online store. With a name that means gift for a joyful life, the lychee is best eaten fresh, so take advantage of the luscious lychee when it is in season. Because it does best in warm, humid climates, lychee thrived in hawaii, florida, and then california in the latter years of the 1800s.
If you live in a warm enough climate, you might be lucky enough to have a tree in your backyard. Florida lychees are organically grown and can be enjoyed as is or used to make smoothies, soups, cocktails, etc. Mauritius is the leading commercial cultivar in florida. The emperor variety will begin shipping next week as will the brewster variety be wrapping up. Jun 07, 2011 planting and caring tips for your lychee tree june 7, 2011. Fruit and trees can be picked up at the farm in loxahatchee groves, fl or at the home in boca raton, fl. Among the many types of tropical fruits grown in florida during the summer, surfside has a few favorites. From a small family farm in miami, florida, handpicked at the ultimate ripeness and delivered straight to your door. We primarily grow the following two types of lychees. The emperor lychee tree litchi chinensis emperor is a beautiful tropical dwarf tree that produces large, juicy fruit larger than that of the regular lychee tree. Lychee season typically begins in may or june, runs through the. Florida lychee s are organically grown and can be enjoyed as is or used to make smoothies, soups, cocktails, etc.
Florida lychee fruit organic, fresh, delicious and at. Jul 30, 2019 fruit is often referred to as natures candy, and theres no questions why. This document is fe496, one of a series of the food and resource economics department, florida cooperative extension service, institute of food and agricultural sciences, university of florida. Lychees are an intriguing fruit, with a rough, cobbled, bright red rind with a pale. Lychee is a tropical fruit that is unique in appearance and flavor. The emperor is the largest of the lychee fruit, sometimes getting as few as 10 to the pound. The past years lychee season was a disaster for most growers. If you do, youre probably very interested in how and when to harvest lychee fruit. Stored in fridge, these make an unbeatable really refreshing snack. Welcome, short, sweet lychee season edible south florida. Fruits vary in shape from round to ovoid to heartshaped, up to 5 cm long and 4 cm wide 2. How to grow lychee trees how to grow tropical fruit trees. Florida seasonal fruit calendar fall season september october november akee avocado ambarella banana barbados cherry acerola bignay capulin jam fruit carambola cereus pitaya cherimoya coconut downy myrtle egg fruit canistel feijoa pineapple guava fig guava hog plum yellow mombin ilama papauce jujube karanda keiapple umkokolo. Lychee trees require a cool dry winter and a wet hot summer for best fruit production.
When you bite into the pingpongball sized fruit, its thin, leathery skin cracks to reveal a burst of sweet, fragrant juice. For the next month the common varietals that grow in miami will ripen and be ready for consumption. First, many of the seasons are the opposite of what they are in more northern states since the summers get too hot for many crops. As its botanical name implies, litchi chinensis originated in china. On the outside here you can see why some people would call them the chinese strawberry, because it looks like a strawberry, with a bumpy leathery skin, but on the inside we have this perfumy, flowery, aromatic flesh, that looks like a little peeled grape. For only a few special weeks at the end of may and june, the treasured red, golfball sized fruits known as lychee or litchi are in season in south florida. In south florida the lychee season is from late may to early july, and at this time they can be found in ethnic markets and gourmet restaurants throughout the country.