|
|
|
Agriculture, Thursday, March 9,
2000 |
|
Tips on
Lychee Growing |
|
by Zac B.
Sarian |
|
|
Many
lychee trees in the Philippines are now in bloom and their
fruits are expected to be harvestable by May or June.
We have asked Bernie Dizon to give some advise on
growing this exotic fruit tree. Will lychee grow in most
parts of the Philippines? His answer is yes, if one plants
the right variety or varieties.
He explains that many of the lychee fruits sold in the
Philippines are of the temperate variety which will not
fruit in most parts of the country. Furthermore, there are
female and male trees, so when they are propagated from
seeds, there is a big possibility that the tree will be a
male and therefore will not bear fruit. Besides, when the
lychee is grown from seed, it might mot bear fruit in less
than 10 years.
The recommendation is to plant grafted trees whose
scions came from trees that are already fruiting under local
conditions.
One of Dizon's favorites is a variety with narrow
elongated leaves introduced in the country by the late Dr.
Dioscoro L. Umali of Los Baños. This produces fruits that
are mostly seedless; some have very small seeds.
Tress of this variety have been fruiting very well at
the Central Luzon State University, at the Ninoy Aquino
Parks and Wildlife Nature Center in Quezon City, at the farm
of atty. Boy Lazatin in Tiaong, Quezon, and in many other
places. Dr. Paula Umali of Quezon City has also a tree in
her backyard.
Another variety that fruits well under local conditions
was introduced by Sr. Ramon Valmayor, formerly of the UP
College of Agriculture at Los Baños. This produces red
fruits. Its leaves are broad and rounded. Dizon has also
mother trees of this variety which he has been using to
produce grafted planting materials.
One lady farm developer made a good profit from her
lychee plantation in Negros Oriental sometime ago. She
planted one hectare to lychee and when they started to
fruit, she sold the whole farm to a Manila business
executive at a handsome price.
Another variety that Dizon has been propagating
produces big fruits, virtually double the size of the two
other varieties.
The lychee, he says, loves full sun. One trick to
induce the tree to bear fruits is to subject it to drought
stress for a few weeks. Then the tree is irrigated and
fertilized.
Dizon points out that if the tree is always producing
new shoots, it will not bear fruit. To make the fruits
sweeter, he applies fertilizer with a high potassium content
plus micronutrients (like rhizocote, boracol or biozome).
Lastly, he recommends the planters should see to it
that their planting materials come from reliable sources -
those who have mother trees that are already fruiting in the
Philippines. Some unscrupulous sellers might be selling
seedlings from imported fruits which will not bear fruit in
the Philippines. Others might just go through the process of
grafting but using scions that came from non-fruiting trees,
Dizon said. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
