How to grow lychee at home?

Lychee is a tropical evergreen tree. Lychee leaves have an oblong pointed shape. The tree bears fruit: its small red fruits are similar to strawberries, but with white flesh and large brown pits, ripen within 120-130 days after flowering. Lychee fruit is sweetish, with a pleasant smell, slightly astringent, and tastes like grapes. Lychee can reach 35 meters in height. The tree is propagated in different ways, but we will describe below how you can grow lychees from a bone.

Lychee at home

Many gardeners are wondering whether it is possible to grow lychees from the bone at home. Honestly, this is a fairly simple task - you just need to buy a lychee fruit in the store and separate the pulp from the seed. Then wrap the seed tightly with a damp cloth and leave it there for 5-7 days, periodically dripping water onto the seed to ensure constant moisture. After the specified time has elapsed, the seed will swell and it can be planted in a previously prepared pot with soil and peat. Remember to make holes in the pot and put a large drain on the bottom to avoid moisture stagnation. Planting several seeds at once will increase the chances of growing the plant. Before planting, the seed can be chopped - this way the sprout will sprout faster. Do not immerse the seed too deep, 1-1.5 centimeters is enough. Pour soft warm water over the ground and cover with a plastic cup on top. Place the pot in a dark and warm place, even near a radiator. Look under the glass every day and water without letting the soil dry out.

If all recommendations are followed, seed germination will occur 2-3 weeks after planting. When you see the first thin stalk, remove the glass from the pot and move the last one to a shaded place. As you can see, lychees can be grown from seeds.

Proper watering and feeding

After the first 4-5 leaves appear, the plant can be transplanted into a larger flowerpot. Spray lychee twice a day from a siphon - after all, this is a tropical plant, accustomed to constant moisture. Do not let direct sunlight fall on the tree, otherwise the leaves will begin to dry and the lychee will wither. Watering should be moderate, without drying out, but also without excessive soil moisture.

1-2 times a month it is necessary to feed the tree with mineral fertilizers or manure. This will enrich the soil with useful substances and will promote flowering, and subsequently fruiting. Ripe fruits must be picked immediately, because overripe, they lose their great taste and begin to darken.

In the first year of the plant's life, it is necessary to prune, forming a beautiful crown. If the lychee does not bear fruit, do not be upset - at least the tree will be a great addition and decoration to your interior.

The benefits and uses of lychee

It has been scientifically proven that the use of lychee fruits helps to normalize the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, helps to get rid of constipation and lose weight. Lychee fruits can be eaten not only fresh, but also dried and dried.These fruits are perfectly preserved in canned form, they are added to ice cream, they are used to make excellent soft drinks and even wine. Lychee seasoning is a great addition to meat or fish.

Due to the rich vitamin composition, lychee fruits are recommended for use in case of vitamin deficiency and weakened immunity, as well as for the prevention of atherosclerosis. However, do not forget that excessive consumption of this fruit can lead to unpleasant bloating or cause an allergic reaction.

So is it possible to grow lychee from a bone? Observing all the above recommendations - undoubtedly yes. It is enough to be patient, and you will see for yourself.

Many exotic plants can be obtained from seeds. How to grow lychee from a bone at home, consider the photo below. In wildlife, this evergreen fruit tree reaches a height of 10-30 m! Small elongated fruits with a red skin have a sweetish taste. The skin is completely covered with pointed tubercles. The peel is easily separated from the pulp, which tastes like grapes. The fruit slightly knits the mouth. If you plant a dark brown oval bone in the ground, a sprout will hatch from it.

Growing lychee

In Southeast Asia, Chinese litchi is the most common fruit. Common names, in addition to those already mentioned, are liji, laysi, fox, Chinese plum.

The bone taken from store-bought fruit is quite viable! Do not sow a lot of seeds, as most of them will sprout. Procedure:

	Use fresh bones for planting. Because they quickly lose their germination.
	Prepare a small container with drainage holes to drain excess water. At the bottom, equip drainage from expanded clay or broken red brick by ¼ height.
	Prepare a nutritious substrate of garden soil and peat in a ratio of 2: 1. Deepen several seeds per 1 cm into the ground, pour it.
	Germination requires a greenhouse effect, so the container needs shelter plastic or glass can... If a suitable container is not found, build a frame and cover it with cellophane. Seeds sprout through 2-3 weeks in a dark and very warm place, such as under a radiator.
	The temperature should be within 35 ºС. As the seeds germinate, make sure the soil was always wet... Daily short-term airing of the greenhouse is obligatory.
	After sprouting greenhouse removed. The container is placed in bright place with air temperature 25 ºС. When the plants get stronger, they need to be dived into permanent containers.

• WITH May to September lychee is actively growing and requires abundant watering.
• WITH September to the end of February he has a period rest. Watering at this time is reduced.

Care rules

If you provide the plant with favorable conditions for growth, you can count on fruiting:

• Chinese plum photophilous, therefore, you need to settle it on the southern or western windowsill. Plant from direct sunlight on hot summer days need to protectto avoid burns. In winter, additional lighting is required with a phytolamp. Laysi daylight hours should last 13-15 hours.

• Wood does not like draft.

• For vegetation it is necessary high air humidity... For this, spraying is carried out, a container with water is left next to it, etc.

• To water follows abundantly after the surface layer of the soil has dried. Waterlogging is unacceptableso that the roots do not rot. The water must be settled, at room temperature. Laysy does not tolerate drought.

• In autumn and winter, if you need from the plant achieve fruiting, you need to organize a rest period for him with a low air temperature of 10-15 ºС. This promotes the formation of flower buds.

• When grown at home, it is necessary to carry out tree crown formation... In addition, sanitary pruning is needed, during which dried and weak branches are removed.

• Since the plant is a large tree, it requires frequent timely transfer to a larger container... Replant your pet in the spring when it begins to grow actively.

• The first year of lychee can not be feed, start doing it from the second year life. For fruiting, fertilizing is required. For indoor cultivation, it is more convenient to use liquid mineral fertilizers every 1-3 months. In winter, the fox does not need fertilizer.

• The tree will bloom in the third year and, possibly, will form the first fruits.

• On a plant can parasitize scale insects, spider mites, aphids... Try cleaning the aerial part of the tree with soapy water and a soft sponge. After 10 minutes, rinse with running water. If this measure does not help, use insecticides for indoor plants according to the instructions, but not during fruiting!

Under favorable conditions, laysi will produce a bountiful harvest every year. As they ripen, the fruits are immediately harvested, preventing them from overripe. Otherwise, they will darken and become tasteless.

Lychee disease: leaves do not grow and turn yellow, causes (video)

Why are lychee fruits useful?

Their medicinal and nutritional properties have been known since ancient times. The composition contains folic, ascorbic acid and other vitamins, glucose, fructose, pectins, proteins. Fruit rich in mineralsThe most valuable of which are iron, phosphorus and potassium. Laisi does not hurt dieters as calorie content of these fruits - 66 kcal per 100 g... Lychee is most often eaten raw. From fruits you can cook compotes, make jams, preserves.

In folk medicine, the fruit is used to restore the gastrointestinal tract, health improvement of cardio-vascular system, regulation of metabolism.

Lychee: video review of an exotic fruit (video)

As you can see, it is not difficult to grow lychees from a bone at home. It is much more difficult to provide him with suitable conditions for the formation of fruits. Photos of plants hint that cute exotic trees will find a place on the light windowsill in the house and your heart!

For understandable reasons, the wrong opinion was formed that exotic fruits cannot be grown at home. Practice shows that it is not so difficult if certain rules are followed. The lychee fruit is one of those plants that can be cultivated independently, enjoying its fruits and excellent appearance. It is worthwhile to understand a little about the peculiarities of growing this foreign guest at home.

What you need to know about lychee

There are quite a few names for such an interesting plant. Lychee fruit is also called Chinese plum or Chinese cherry. In nature, lychee can reach 30 meters in height. Naturally, growing lychee at home does not allow the plant to develop to such a size: in most cases, its height turns out to be a maximum of 2.5 m. But usually lychee does not grow to such a size on the windowsill. Therefore, he will not need a lot of space if the owners want to grow a tree on their own.

Small fruits appear on the lychee, the diameter of which rarely exceeds 4 cm. The shape of the lychee berry is oval, while they themselves are covered with a bumpy skin. In many ways, the taste of such fruits is similar to that characteristic of grapes. Actually, this fact is also reflected in the alternative name of this plant. Many interesting beliefs and myths are associated with lychee. Therefore, all lovers of Chinese culture have now become interested in plants. But how exactly do you grow it at home? Now this is what we need to figure out.

How to grow lychee at home

There are quite a few aspects that must be followed when growing such a tree. You will have to pay serious attention to the air temperature in the room, the quality of watering, the composition of the soil in which the plant is planted. But it is worth starting precisely with planting, which is not as difficult as with many other plants. In general, the cultivation of Chinese grapes can be represented as follows.

1. Planting lychee at home

As is clear, the correct planting largely determines how well the lychee will develop in the future. You should start by buying the fruit itself. Regular fruits that can be purchased at the store will do. The fruit is cleaned, a stone is removed from it, and then washed well. Without waiting for the bone to dry, it is placed in a container with soil. It is better to use several seeds at once to increase the likelihood of good seedlings emerging.

The first shoots appear about 15 days after the lychee is planted in the ground. Every day before shoots appear, the soil must be watered. In addition, it is necessary to maintain a suitable temperature. It is about + 35 ° C. Accordingly, you will have to keep containers with bones in the sun. To speed up the emergence of sprouts, the container is also covered with cellophane or polyethylene.

So that when planting lychees, growing at home does not cause big problems, immediately after the sprouts appear, you need to carefully maintain the temperature at a maximum of + 25 °C. Under the right conditions, the sprouts will gain strength very quickly. Usually they soon reach a height of 20 cm. After that, the aerial part of the lychee stops growing. But on the other hand, its root system is constantly developing. So that the roots do not meet resistance as they develop, the tree should be transplanted into a large pot from the previous small container.

2. Competent care of lychee fruit

When the tree gains strength, it is necessary to provide it with the right conditions for further development. There are several points here that require special attention. First, the lychee needs to be properly lit. It should be borne in mind that such an exotic fruit loves light. The ideal option is to constantly keep it on the window if the daylight hours lasts at least 12 hours. In winter, as is understandable, this is impossible. In order for the lychee to also receive sufficient lighting in winter, it must be provided with additional lighting.

The next important condition for the good development of a tree is associated with its watering. Here it is necessary to act very carefully, since both drought and too abundant watering are dangerous for lychee. In this case, you can be guided by the state of the land in the pot where the plant is grown. As soon as it gets a little dry, you need to immediately moisturize. It is also desirable that the air in the room is humid. If the air humidity is low, the plant must be periodically treated with water from a sprinkler or spray bottle. Water that is used for watering or sprinkling the fruit must be well settled. Liquid that is too cold or too hot will not work. Its temperature should be at room temperature so that the plant does not get damaged. Otherwise, the root system may stop growing after a while.

And, finally, for lychees, the room temperature plays a fundamental role. Even in winter, it should not drop below + 20 ° C. Since lychee belongs to the thermophilic varieties, growing this plant at home is often associated with difficulties. It will be possible to accelerate the growth of Chinese grapes if daylight hours are used to the maximum in spring and summer. It is necessary to constantly keep the lychee on the window if a particular side of the house is under the sun all the time. In this case, the tree will receive a sufficient amount of lighting and will be able to develop faster.

3. Fertilizing lychee at home

Now it's worth talking a little about how to fertilize this fruit. Sometimes it seems to gardeners and gardeners that lychees can grow more actively if fertilized as often as possible. In fact, it is also necessary to fertilize this fruit correctly and in small quantities. It is especially important to be careful when fertilizing the plant in the first year of lychee development. The first time you can use top dressing in about 3 months from the moment the tree sprouts. A small amount of top dressing is used, which is primarily rich in minerals. After that, you need to leave the fruit without fertilizing until it is at least a year old. And from the second year of life, lychees are fertilized every 2 months. In this case, the probability that the plant will actively develop will be as high as possible. It remains to be recalled that over-fertilization is also dangerous for this tree, so too much fertilizer should not be used.

Some rules for caring for lychee

It will be helpful to elaborate in more detail on how to provide the lychee with the best conditions for growth. The fundamental point in this case concerns humidification. The natural habitat of this plant assumes the presence of humid air throughout the year. It is best for lychee to grow at home, in which this feature is observed. Ideally, use a humidifier all the time. In this case, the lychee will be able to grow normally with sufficient moisture.

Fluctuations in air temperature are possible, but still they should be characteristic for a particular season. In summer, lychees are accustomed to the fact that the temperature is stable at about 25-30 ° C. In winter, it may be less, but only slightly. If the owners themselves get hot from constant attempts to heat the air in the room, it is better to use local heating with an infrared lamp. You do not need to direct this type of lamp at the plants, but it is quite possible to place it next to the fruit. If you take these rules into account, you will be able to provide your "pet" with suitable conditions.

Lychee fruit - a tropical guest in an ordinary apartment

This plant does not have any incredible requirements for growing. Therefore, you can safely grow it at home or in an apartment. Then the lychee will delight you with delicious fruits, although not immediately. It remains to be patient to wait for the fruit to appear. And then you will be able to enjoy the taste of Chinese grapes, not bought in a store, but grown on their own almost on the windowsill.

Some people believe that growing an exotic fruit at home is a pipe dream. However, daring gardeners broke the established stereotype and received a cute lychee tree with its unique fruits as a reward. To do this, it is enough to understand the basic rules for growing a plant and a nice overseas guest will settle at the window.

External characteristics of the tree

In natural conditions, the tree is found in China and Thailand. It grows up to 30 meters high and bears fruits similar to cherries or small plums. There are other names for the tree, such as:

• "Paradise Grapes";
• "Fruit of Love";
• "Chinese Cherry";
• Ligi;
• "Lisi";
• "Chinese plum".

The lychee tree belongs to the Sapindovye family and is perfectly cultivated at home. In an enclosed space, the plant can reach 2.5 meters in height, which is quite acceptable for a houseplant. On the territory of Russia, the fruit is also grown in gardens. Moreover, it is carefully protected from frost and dry winds. These extreme conditions lead to loss of foliage and cracks in the trunk and branches.

Lychee has oblong fleshy leaves of a slightly shiny character. The color is dark green. The main vein runs along the center of the plate, from which there are branches in different directions.This "embossing" is considered the highlight of the overseas guest. In shape, the leaves resemble an elongated ellipse, lowered to the base of the plant.

The egg-shaped fruit of the lychee tree is small in size, approximately 4 cm in diameter. Outside, they are covered with a pimply skin. The taste is reminiscent of grapes or plums, as indicated by the different names of the tree.

The exotic lychee fruit is widely used to treat various heart diseases, obesity problems and hematopoiesis.

Home Growing Secrets

Since the plant has a number of beneficial properties, many grow it as a houseplant. However, for this, the following aspects should be considered:

• air temperature in the dwelling;
• competent watering regime;
• soil composition for planting.

The process of how to grow a lychee tree at home begins with acquiring the fruit itself. The ripe fruit is cut, removing the stone from it. After that, it is thoroughly washed and planted in prepared soil.

It is advisable to immediately lower the stone into the soil, since it quickly loses its germination. To achieve the ultimate goal of growing a lychee tree, it is best to use multiple seeds.

When the bone is already in the ground, the container is covered with a plastic bag to create a greenhouse microclimate. Then the container is placed in a warm place and the first leaves are expected to appear. As a rule, after 2 or 3 weeks, the first greenery rises from the soil. During this period, the film is removed so that the plant can actively develop. It is from May to early September that the lychee tree needs to maintain the correct temperature regime, which does not exceed 35 degrees Celsius.

When the first shoots appear, the room temperature should be within 25 degrees.

After the formation of green shoots, they must be watered moderately every day. Thus, conditions are created that resemble the natural environment in which the lychee tree grows. Over time, the seedlings will rise above the soil up to 20 cm in height. From this point on, the root system of the plant begins to develop, which slows down the growth of the ground part of the fruit.

So that the roots can grow freely in different directions, it is advisable to transplant the seedling into a voluminous container.

Rules for the careful care of exotic fruit

When the tree begins to take root and rise above the ground, it needs to be provided with enough light. The ideal place for him is the sill of a large window. It is important that the plant has access to lighting for 12 hours a day. In winter, wise gardeners use artificial lighting.

Home care for a lychee tree provides for competent watering. The plant does not like extreme drought, as well as excess moisture. Therefore, it is advisable to constantly monitor him. If the humidity in the house is low, the seedling should be sprayed with a spray bottle. For this, the water is first defended in order to clear it of large impurities and bring it to room temperature. Otherwise, the plant may suffer.

It is important to feed the plant in a timely manner. The first time this should be done 3 months after planting. To do this, use a top dressing that is rich in minerals. The next dose is applied when the tree is 1 year old. After another year, fertilizers are poured into the soil every 2 months. Thanks to competent feeding, a magnificent lychee tree will grow in the house, as shown in the photo provided.

The plant is only pruned in the first two years to give it a beautiful shape. Subsequently, only dried branches or foliage are removed. If you do frequent pruning, the process of formation of paniculate inflorescences is disrupted. This means that the fruits will not appear soon. Despite this, many gardeners admire the lychee tree at home. It might be worth trying to grow an exotic tree and enjoy the taste of the overseas fruit.

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