Tree · Sapindaceae
Lychee
Litchi chinensis
Give it heat, acidic soil, and a cool winter rest, and this tropical tree hangs its rough red fruit as the reward.
Full sun
Every 3–7 days
USDA 10–11
20–40 ft · 6.1–12.2 m
Overview
Lychee is an evergreen tropical tree from southern China, its dense crown carrying soft, sweet, perfumed flesh sealed inside a rough red shell. The tree grows slowly, building a broad, rounded head of glossy foliage that stands for decades. In open ground it climbs to 20 to 40 feet (6 to 12 m) tall and spreads nearly as wide.
It is a demanding tree, and climate sets most of that demand. It wants steady warmth and frost-free winters, which pins it to USDA zones 10 and 11 or a sheltered pocket. Flowering turns on a single thing: a lychee needs a brief cool, dry spell in winter to push pale flower panicles from its buds, and without that chill the buds open instead into another flush of glossy leaves.
Where it settles, the crop hangs thick. The red fruit ripens from May to July, peaking in June, and a mature tree bends its branches under the load. The tree keeps to alternate bearing, so a branch heavy with fruit one year can hang nearly bare the next.
Care
The short version: full sun, fertile well-drained acidic soil, and steady moisture through the growing season, then a cooler, drier winter rest to push out flowers, with shelter from frost and wind.
Light
Lychee wants full sun to fill its rounded crown with glossy leaves and set a heavy crop, though it takes some partial sun. A wind-sheltered spot matters as much as the light, since the brittle wood beneath the dense canopy breaks in storms.
Water
The soil stays consistently moist through active growth, and above all while the tree is young or hanging fruit. Water eases off in late fall and winter for the cool, dry rest that pushes flowers from the buds. Standing water and salty water are not tolerated.
Soil
The roots want fertile, well-drained acidic sandy loam rich in organic matter, at a pH of 5.0 to 5.5. The tree cannot cope with salinity, so salty ground or water browns its growth and sets it back.
Temperature
Lychee holds its glossy foliage across a range of about 32°F to 95°F (0°C to 35°C) but stays genuinely frost tender, and a freeze browns then blackens the leaves and kills branches. A short cool winter spell, by contrast, is what pushes it into flower.
Humidity
The tree favors humid air, around 50% to 80%. Dry air suits it poorly, which is part of why its dense crown fills best in warm, humid regions.
Feeding
Feeding is seasonal through the growing season, roughly March to November, with a complete fertilizer that includes micronutrients. Lychee draws heavily on manganese, zinc, and iron, so micronutrient foliar sprays during growth keep the new leaves deep green rather than pale and yellowing.
Pruning
Light pruning after harvest shapes the rounded crown and holds its size, clearing out dead, crossing, or weak branches. An established lychee needs little more.
Repotting
A young container tree is potted up every 2 to 3 years until it is ready for the ground. Once established, it goes into open soil, where its wide crown and long roots have room for the long haul.
Size & spacing
A mature tree reaches 20 to 40 feet (6 to 12 m) tall with a broad crown spreading 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 m). That much open room, well clear of buildings, gives the rounded canopy space to fill and lets wind pass through it.
When to plant
Lychee runs on the warm season and will not take frost. Planting falls in spring once the cold has passed and the soil has warmed, the tree pushes its pale flower panicles from late winter into spring, and the red fruit is picked from May through July, with the heaviest load in June.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Spring, after all danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed
- Harvest: Flowers late winter to spring; fruit ripens May to July, peaking in June
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 10–11
Temperature: down to -1°C
Troubleshooting
Most of what troubles a lychee shows on the tree itself and traces back to climate and soil, not pests. Scarce flowers, pale new leaves, and cold or wind damage cover nearly all of it. The symptoms below match what you see on leaf and branch to a cause and a fix.
Leaves browning to black and branches dying back after cold or wind
Lychee is frost tender, so after a cold snap its glossy foliage turns brown, then blackens, and the injury can run back into whole branches that die. Strong wind cracks the same brittle wood and tears at the dense crown. Covering and warming young trees through a frost, and settling them in a wind-sheltered spot, keeps the leaves whole and the branches sound.
Fix:
- Protect young trees during frost with covers or added heat
- Relocate or shelter trees from strong wind
Dense green flushes but scarce flowers or fruit
When bud after bud opens into another spray of glossy leaves and no pale flower panicles appear, the tree has usually gone without its cool, dry winter rest, the brief chill that turns those buds toward bloom instead of foliage. Lychee also keeps to alternate bearing, so a branch heavy with red fruit one year can hang nearly bare the next. Holding back water and nitrogen through late fall and winter coaxes the panicles back.
Fix:
- Provide a cool, dry winter rest by withholding water and nitrogen in late fall and winter
- Avoid heavy nitrogen that drives vegetative growth at the expense of flowers
- Be patient through alternate-bearing cycles
Fresh leaves paling between green veins
The newest leaves fade to pale yellow while the veins stay green, and their thin margins crisp brown, the mark of a tree that cannot pull enough iron, zinc, and manganese from the ground. Alkaline or salty soil locks those micronutrients away, and salty water etches the damage deeper into the leaf. A chelated iron and micronutrient spray, soil eased back to a pH of 5.0 to 5.5, and clean water bring the deep green back to new growth.
Fix:
- Apply chelated iron and micronutrient foliar sprays
- Acidify the soil and mulch with organic matter
- Stop using saline irrigation water
Toxicity
The soft, translucent flesh inside the ripe red shell is a safe, well-loved fruit, so the tree itself is no household hazard. The real caution sits in the unripe green fruit and the smooth seeds, which carry hypoglycin linked to dangerous drops in blood sugar, and the hard seed is a choking risk. Only the ripe flesh is eaten, the seed is discarded, and green fruit and pits are kept from children and pets.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Safe for
People
Cats Caution
A lick of the soft, translucent flesh will not hurt a cat. The glossy brown seed at the center is the trouble, along with any green fruit still in its shell, since the hypoglycin they hold can drop blood sugar and leave a cat unsteady or drowsy, and the hard pit can lodge in the throat.
Dogs Caution
Dogs tend to bolt a fallen fruit whole, red shell and smooth pit together. A little of the pale flesh is fine, but the swallowed seed can jam the gut, and the toxins packed in seeds and unripe fruit can leave a dog weak or shaky from low blood sugar.
Horses Caution
A horse seldom comes near a lychee, and the ripe flesh is no known trouble in moderation. Even so, the smooth dark seeds and shell-clad green fruit are worth clearing from the ground, since the hypoglycin behind the fruit's hypoglycemia has not been cleared as safe for horses.
Rabbits Caution
Beyond the smallest taste of the sweet flesh, lychee suits rabbits poorly, since the sugar sits badly with them. The hard central seed and the green unripe fruit carry the same hypoglycin that can send blood sugar tumbling.
Livestock Caution
Grazing animals meet lychee as windfall lying under the tree, red-shelled and split. The soft pulp is mild, but the smooth seeds and green fruit carry hypoglycin, so drops within reach of stock are worth raking up.
Birds Caution
Birds peck eagerly at the juicy, translucent flesh, and a little does them no harm. The smooth brown seed is the concern, both as a choking hazard and as a store of the same hypoglycin found in green fruit.
People Ripe fruit safe
The pale, perfumed flesh inside the ripe red shell is a popular fruit and safe to eat in moderation. The danger sits in the unripe green fruit and the seeds, which hold hypoglycin linked to dangerous low blood sugar, above all in undernourished children eating many green fruit on an empty stomach. Only the ripe flesh is eaten, the smooth seed is discarded, and the pit is kept from small children as a choking hazard.
Caution: UNRIPE lychee fruit and the SEEDS contain hypoglycin A and MCPG, toxins linked to dangerous low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), most notably in undernourished children who eat many unripe fruit on an empty stomach; the hard seed is also a choking hazard. Ripe fruit eaten in moderation is safe.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
A handful of named cultivars do most of the work in home and commercial groves, set apart by the size, shape, and color of their fruit and the seed inside. These are the ones worth knowing.
Brewster
A vigorous early introduction from China carrying large red fruit, it grew into one of Florida's leading commercial cultivars.
Mauritius
A dependable, heavy-cropping cultivar grown commercially across warm, humid regions.
Sweetheart
Its large heart-shaped fruit tends to hold a small shriveled chicken-tongue seed, which leaves more of the translucent flesh to eat.
How to propagate
Lychee is propagated mostly by air-layering, since cuttings root poorly and seedlings are slow and unpredictable. The route chosen sets how true the tree runs and how long before its red fruit appears.
Air layeringModerate
Warm growing season, spring into summer · Roots in about 8-12 weeks; trees typically fruit in 3-5 years
Air-layering, also called marcotting, is the main commercial way to multiply lychee, since ordinary cuttings root poorly. Worked in the warm season from spring into summer, the girdled stem pushes out pale new roots in about 8 to 12 weeks. The result is a true-to-type tree that hangs its first red fruit in roughly 3 to 5 years, far sooner than a seedling.
SeedModerate
Sow fresh seed immediately, as viability lasts only a few days · Germinates in 1-2 weeks; seedlings may take 7-10+ years to fruit
The smooth brown seed dies within a few days, so it goes into the soil fresh the moment it is scooped from the flesh, and a green shoot breaks the surface in 1 to 2 weeks. The wait after that is long. A seedling can take 7 to 10 years or more to fruit, and the fruit it finally bears is variable, which is why this route is not the one for quality.
GraftingDemanding
Growing season · Union forms in weeks; fruiting in 3-5 years
Grafting during the growing season knits the two stems into one union within weeks and gives a tree that fruits in about 3 to 5 years. It carries a chosen cultivar forward, though for lychee most growers reach for air-layering instead.
Myths
Every part of the lychee, the ripe red fruit included, is dangerously poisonous.
The soft, translucent flesh inside the red shell is a safe, everyday fruit eaten the world over. The real concern is the hypoglycin A and MCPG held in the unripe green fruit and the seeds, and even then harm shows up mainly when undernourished children eat many green fruit on an empty stomach. The ripe flesh is enjoyed and the smooth seed discarded.
A productive lychee grows easily from a seed.
Seedlings crawl along, often taking many years to bear, and vary so much that the fruit rarely matches the parent. Air-layering is the reliable route, giving true-to-type trees that carry their red fruit far sooner.