What to Do About Lychee Flower Rot? Causes and Control Measures Explained

Various problems, big and small, arise during lychee production, and flower rot is one of them. It affects the fruit-setting rate of lychee and, in severe cases, leads to a total loss of harvest. So what causes lychee flower rot? How should it be controlled? Let's take a look at the detailed explanation below.

I. Causes of Flower Rot

1. Excessive shortening of flower spikes. In production, many fruit growers, for early- and mid-maturing varieties, remove the first batch of flower spikes by hand or use chemical agents to kill the first batch of flower spikes so that a second batch grows. The reason for doing this is that the second batch of flower spikes has more female flowers, which can noticeably raise the fruit-setting rate and increase yield. However, because the chemical agents often fail to reach the target, the newly grown flower spikes end up short, and due to their poor air permeability, flower rot occurs during rainy weather.

2. During flower thinning, if all the flower buds are removed and only some flower clusters at the top are kept, densely growing clusters of flower spikes will form at the top, resulting in flower rot.

3. If damaged flowers are not removed in time during rainy weather, other flowers will develop flower rot.

II. Prevention Methods

1. After the first batch of flower spikes is removed or treated with chemicals, carry out flower thinning promptly when the second batch of flower spikes regrows, so that cluster-like, densely bunched flower spikes do not form, thereby improving air permeability between the flower spikes.

2. During the flowering period, in rainy weather, shake the branches in time to shake off the flowers that have already rotted, thus avoiding flower rot or the occurrence of disease.

III. Remedial Measures

Once flower rot occurs, the first step is to shake the branches to remove the rotten flowers, so as to prevent the other flowers on the same flower spike from rotting along with them. If it rains when the flower spikes are too dense, thin the flowers in the rain to improve the air permeability of the flower spikes. When flower rot is severe, promptly cut off the rotten flowers on the flower spikes, thin the flowers at the same time, and spray foliar fertilizer; before long, new flower spikes will grow again, and the proportion of female flowers will be higher.

The above is an introduction to the causes of lychee flower rot and its control measures. We hope it helps you. For more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.