Chaozhou longans ripen early, ready to eat in April

(Taiwan Business News) The usual longan season is around July, but Chaozhou fruit growers You Shuibin and Xu Kunfeng used production-period regulation technology to force longans to bear fruit in April, and several trees are loaded with fruit, with no loss of texture or sweetness. Harvesting has begun over the past couple of days, and the wholesale market price is estimated at around 100 yuan per jin.

"It's really rare to be able to eat longans now," said You Shuibin, who 10 years ago planted just over one fen of land in Chaozhou with longans interplanted with betel nut. A few years ago his friend Xu Kunfeng mentioned that he had the technology to shift longans away from the July and August production period and make them flower and fruit earlier.

Xu Kunfeng said this batch of longans had their flowers forced in August last year and bloomed successively from November to December, but this year's low temperatures and cold snaps caused many flower buds to "scorch" away, and some had poor pollination and formed empty shells.

Xu Kunfeng pointed out that this year counts as a poorer one: only 3 or 4 trees by the roadside fruited earlier, and their yield was relatively abundant. Harvest has now begun, while the remaining 20-odd trees are still setting fruit and will not be ready to harvest until about June. He said the production-period regulation technique is not difficult, but the biggest fear is climate causing trouble. He began adjusting 10 years ago, buying the "Lingjiao longan" variety from Dongshan in Tainan, China. This longan's production period is earlier than usual, so the success rate is relatively high. Although the technique is mature, climate variables are great, and sometimes it does not cover costs.