How many years does a lychee tree generally take to bear fruit?

Lychee is a famous fruit produced in southern China. Together with banana, pineapple and longan, it is known as the “four great fruits of the south”, and many people love to eat it. So, how many years does a lychee take to bear fruit?

1. How many years does a lychee take to bear fruit?

If it is a lychee tree propagated from seed, it generally takes 6-7 years or even more than 10 years to bear fruit. If it is a lychee tree propagated by grafting, it generally takes 3-4 years to bear fruit. If it is a lychee tree propagated by air layering, it takes about 2-3 years to bear fruit. The fruiting period can generally last more than a hundred years. In many traditional lychee-producing areas, thousand-year-old lychee trees still flower and bear fruit normally.

2. When do lychees ripen?

Lychees generally flower from March to April, and the fruit ripens from June to July. The inflorescence is terminal, the pedicel is slender, and the calyx is covered with short golden-yellow down; the fruit is oval to nearly spherical, and the peel is bright red when ripe, with scaly protrusions on the skin; the flesh is yellowish-white to milky white, soft, smooth and juicy, sweet or slightly sour.

3. How much lychee is appropriate to eat in a day?

Adults should generally not eat more than 300 grams of lychee per day, and children should not eat more than 5 at a time. If you eat too many, it is easy to get heaty and cause tonsillitis, pharyngitis, etc. To avoid getting heaty, you can drink a little salt water or herbal tea before and after eating lychees, such as mung bean water, winter melon water, or raw rehmannia soup.