STEM AGE, WINTER TEMPERATURE AND FLOWERING OF LYCHEE IN SOUTH FLORIDA

Lychee (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) is a subtropical fruit crop that is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world.
Now approaching 500 hectares, plantings in south Florida have increased several fold in recent years. ‘Mauritius’ and especially ‘Brewster’ flower irregularly from year to year causing unreliable cropping.
Cool temperatures are known to induce flowering, but other factors such as the age of the stems since the previous flush are also suspected of influencing the response.
Detailed experiments on individual branches were conducted to investigate the impact of flush age on flowering over three seasons.
In general, both ‘Mauritius’ and ‘Brewster’ stems must be about 15 weeks old to initiate flowering in response to cool night winter temperatures.
The greatest flowering occurred in stems that were 15 to 25 weeks of age in ‘Mauritius’, compared to 20 to 30 weeks for ‘Brewster’. Both the timing of cold weather and intensity of cool night temperatures affected the flowering response.

I International Symposium on Litchi and Longan

Q. Zheng, T.L. Davenport, Y.C. Li

flush age, litchi, Litchi chinensis

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2001.558.35