New Lychee Variety

Mike says...
Brendon I have never heard of it and only a fai zee siu could approach those dimension in Aust.I thought.It will have to be a renamed sth chinese or nth thailand sort I reckon.I wonder what its real name is?Have you seen them? If we know its colour,skin,shape,season,tree shape andfoliage type we could look through the tables of the 100's of chines ones to find a match.

Mike says...
Brendan most of the new ones are local types that get brough into commercial production.3 years is pretty normal for the first light crop.I wonder what it taste like? Maybe it could muscle fai zee siu out of the premier position if it has small seeds and a good tatse.100g sounds a bit exaggerated but if it is in black and white it must be true.
I bet it will be grown under licence or agreement with no one else getting trees.Mangoes,lychees,dragon fruit and wax apples are vulnerable to good overseas ones storming the market because we are behind with varieties.

Mike says...
Peter I suspect you are right but I'm optimistic after trying sensational lychees in Chang Mai.Look at how bad bengal lychees are and kwai mai pink (bosworth) are small and have only a sugar water flavour with no 'rose' or 'musk'.Fai zee siu are huge,with a small seed and great flavour,at least as good as mauritious.Yook ho pow was supposed to be a new wonder lychee that disappeared into the fog never to be heard from again.
There are factors like productivity and disease resistance that are as important to a grower as fruit quality.

Peter says...
We are so behind in WA. All what's there on the shelves is simply called lychee - no cultivar name. I would have no idea which one it is and the market is so small that there is no motivation to supply top quality to eager customers. They seem to just sit on the shelves until brown and tasteless. Every cultivar grown in someones backyard will be way better then what we get in the shops (even Bengal).
100g would be really sensational, but could be possible - you never know. If you think of the huge Thai guavas - they are about 10 times the weight of a ordinary one. Likewise some mango cultivars. Would be good to get someone in the discussion who knows about genetics - I think something like this is possible to appear fast (without long breeding effort), when chromosomes have tripled or more...

Mike says...
It looks all lychees are diploid and varieties are seedling derived, with a very low proportion as good as their parents.It seems there are no experts on lychee genetics but there is chinese expertise on 'expression' in different environments.The upper size limit I found for any reference was up to 42g max for one chinese type and anything over 28g is considered large.

Brendan says...
Here's a pic of the new Erdon Lee lychee.
The one top left seems fairly big.

Pic taken from mag :-(

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amanda says...
Wow...that's really impressive Brendan! Can't wait to hear more about this newbie.

chillilover says...
I would love to try one of those but i have a feeling these would be firstly very expensive till the novelty wears of and secondly maybe mild flavoured. Not as sweet and more watery then the current ones. Just bcos the plant has to focus more on the size then the flavour.

Brendan says...
I live about 60km from Sarina, so I'll have to go and have a look! I"ll find out if he's marcotting any, if so, I'm in. Might take Wayne too :-)

Mike says...
Apparently it is all true but the 100g fruit part is hard to swallow.I can just imagine Brendan and Wayne hurdling fences at Campwin Beach looking for someone called Tibby.Trikus if it was Yan, sth Johnstone then it must be right.

Mike says...
While even a small sprig can be grafted onto a marcot at home,I didn't really think you guys would be darting between the shadows and creating diversions.Raking your teeth over a huge seeds to get a veneer of flesh would make it like a bengal variety,except a huge disappointment instead of a medium sized one.

Mike says...
Jason when you're in the supermarket comparing prices and thinking about things like seed size you'll also need to know the skin thickness.Forgetting about taste for the moment, your surface area to volume spot calculations in your cost/benefit analysis won't mean much without that skin thickness data.

choke on a seed says...
mabey

BJ says...
Anyone hear any more about this one? I'd be interested to find out if and where they might send the fruit. I expect they won't release trees for 5-7 years, after their own orchard is at peak performance and their income stream from fruit sales is optimal and they need to diversify into selling trees.

David says...
Erdon lee Lychees for sale at the fruit shop outside Coles Garden City. Cost $39.99 per kilo. Pics to follow

Stephen.ly says...
Bought this today

Pictures - Click to enlarge
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lizze says...
Heard about this variety on ABC radio. As a former Nth Qlder, tropical fruit lover & hobby gardener I'm wondering if these are available to purchase on-line & shipped to SE Qld. I understand these have been only recently sold commercially into the fruit markets, but what about 1 grafted tree? thanks.

Fruitylicious1 says...
Hi Megs

Just wondering where did you sourced your E. Lee tree? What type of propagation technique was employed?

Happy gardening :-)

Fruitylicious1 says...
Hi Trikus

Thanks for the info. I have read that there are four ways to propagate lychees.

1. Seeds - selection of improved cultivars can only come from the selection of new superior seedling lychee cultivars though it will take somewhere around ten years to develop a new improved variety. Unless some cashed-up growers have managed to produce genetically modified lychees in the Lab which is highly unlikely.

2. Marcotting/air layering - the most popular and the easiest form of lychee propagation with 80% or more success rate among pro growers.

3. Cutting - has also good success rate but not very popular with commercial growers because of its longer holding time before planting.

4. Grafting and Budding - can also be done but, with limited success rate and needs grafting expertise and plant material compatibility to be effective.

Happy gardening :-)

theonetruepath says...
I just bought some in Coles New Farm, Brisbane, $33 per kg. Slightly bigger than normal, like 40-45g. Skin a bit thicker, not much, but the soft skin under the shell noticeably tougher and separates from the shell more than normal. Taste very good, strong rose flavour, plenty sweet and slightly acid. Sorry I took no pics, but very similar to the pic posted previously - slightly irregular shapes, not completely round. I would love to know how the tree handles Perth...

Megan9 says...
Erdon lee this season

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Markmelb says...
Ive tasted some large Lychees last summer and weren't impressed - bland and quit thick skin. Couldn't find a box with variety on it. Its seed was also was quite large

Farouk says...
wow that's amazing, a lychee similar size to a plum.

Farouk says...
Man that is ridiculous but i'd also pay that to eat something rare as this. I'd be keep the seed & treating it like gold, i'd try growing it.