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Lychee is a tropical delight which is known for its juicy, sweet flesh. It is mostly consumed in harsh summers and dry days when everyone seeks something cooling and refreshing.
Lychee is also known as the eyeball fruit because of its reddish-brown seed located in the centre of its white, juicy flesh, which has a sweet taste. Its versatility allows it to be incorporated to make sauces, jams, purees, and preserves which have a delicate, sweet flavour with a subtle hint of floral notes.
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Cultivating lychee at home is a rewarding task, which gives an opportunity to relish fresh lychee fruits right from the backyard. This guide will take you through the steps of growing lychee from seeds, covering everything from seed extraction to harvesting your home-grown lychees.
Tips To Grow Litchi From Seeds
Extracting The Seeds
To kick start the process, you’ll first need fresh litchi fruit. After enjoying the juicy pulp, carefully extract the seeds from the fruit. Make sure to extract seeds from ripened litchis, as these types are more likely to germinate. After that, wash the seeds gently under water to remove any remaining fruit pulp and ensure it does not have any sign of damage.
Also Read: How To Grow Taro Root In Your Kitchen Garden
Sowing The Seeds
Once you get the seeds cleaned, then now it's time to plant them. Select a small pot or a container with good drainage holes in the bottom and fill it with a mix of potting soil and compost. Also, plant the litchi seed about 1 inch deep in the soil. Make sure the seed is positioned horizontally, as this helps it grow correctly. Water the soil lightly, ensuring it’s moist but not waterlogged.
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Germination Of Seeds
Put the pot in a place with a warm and bright light factor but without sunlight shining directly. Litchi seeds normally take about 1 to 4 weeks to sprout. During these days of sprouting, keep the soil moist. Warm temperature is necessary during the process of seed germination, and maintain a preferable 25 - 30 °C
Potting
After about 4 to 6 inches in height and seeded leaves, the seedlings are transplanted. Take a bigger pot or a place in your garden where there is a lot of sunlight available. Use your handy gardening tool to pull out a seedling from the pot and make sure not to damage the roots, then plant in the new pot. Well-draining soil with a high content of organic matter
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Provide Optimum Conditions
Soil Requirement
The litchi plant requires slightly acidic soil with a pH of 5.0 to 6.5. In addition, for perfect growth, the soil should be well-drained and rich in organic matter
Watering
The litchi plants need continuous moisture, mainly during the early stages of growth. Hence, the plant ought to be watered regularly with no water clogging, as it might lead to the rotting of the roots. The soil ought to be kept at a medium level of moisture, mainly during hot and dry weather days.
Sunlight And Temperature
Lychees grow best in subtropical, warm climates. Be certain that your plant receives, at a minimum, 6 hours of bright sunlight a day. Litchi trees prefer temperatures ranging between 20-35°C (68-95°F). If you live in a cooler climate, you may want to grow them indoors or in a greenhouse.
Care Of Lychee Plant
Pruning
To come up with a strong structure with healthy growth, it is quite necessary in development. It should be trimmed lightly, and all dead or damaged branches removed, forming the tree. Make sure you prune your litchi tree after it has fruited to stay in shape and size.
Image Credits: Freepik
Fertilising
Feed your litchi plant with fertilizer regularly or a balanced fertiliser every 2 to 3 months, to be more specific within the growing season, inorganic compost, or with well-rotted manure; it works well enough to meet the requirements.
Harvesting
At harvest time, lychee fruits should be harvested in clusters or bunches. One should cut the stems that have multiple fruits using secateurs, a gardening tool. In addition, care must be taken not to harvest when the fruit is green, as it will not be able to further ripen after picking; always pick the lychee fruit when the skin turns pink or red from the plant.
