Someone just brought a branch in to work, which was purchased from an Asian store. I love it! Tastes a little like lychee!
And you know where my mind went immediately! Yep, you guessed it! Can I grow these babies in a pot in zone 6b? They obviously would need to be brought inside during the winter.
Is anyone successfully growing these in pots in a colder area?
They are usually pretty large trees, so I would imagine they might be a challenge to grow in a pot, but I’ll be curious to hear the answer, too. Sometimes it’s surprising which enormous trees will still produce when kept small.
There are videos on youtube about folks from FL getting lychee friot from container trees. Definitely a lot of work and not as forgiving to attempt it in zone 6.
The good news is if you want to try, the seeds are super easy to sprout. Planted seeds from eat fruit sprout immediately.
I saw the videos on YouTube. I’m a little confused as to whether the seeds create a true to type tree. I know the trees as self-pollinating. I might give them a try in a pot and see what happens.
I planted both Lychees and Longan from seed about 10 years ago. I’ve gradually reduced the number (mostly by ignoring/under-watering as is my habit with potted plants) and am down to 3 Longan trees and no Lychees. I’ve never gotten any fruit from them, though I did get a pineapple one time.
One Longan:
Two Longan in fabric pots:
We have a jackfruit tree growing in our house. It’s maybe 8 feet tall now. Almost got a sunroom addition out of it, since my wife started the seed.
2 out of 2 longan seeds germinated for me in between a moist paper towel. The rational voice inside me is telling me: “Great! That was fun. Now abort mission ASAP.” I also here a silly voice telling me to pot the germinated seeds. I’ve been trying to tell the silly voice to go away for the past week or so, but I haven’t had the heart to toss the germinated seeds. I know that this experiment is not worth the trouble.
Is anyone growing longan successfully? I am tempted to try growing in a pot but reading up about longans it seems like they need very particular temperatures and dry periods to trigger the plant to even flower… That seems complicated to replicate unless you live in a perfect climate.
I am trying but my plant is dying…
I may try again in the far future once i can get a giant greenhouse up. I keep failing in pots
Thanks. That’s frustrating! What zone are you in? You can’t try growing in-ground?
I read conflicting info with how cold tolerant they are… Ranging from USDA z8-10…
And they are naturally big trees it seems they don’t always adapt well to living in pots.
I bought them in Colorado Springs zone 6b. Moved them with me to Washington state, zone 8b.
They’re alive but not happy.
I wouldn’t risk it under zone 9
I have a couple 1yo seedlings in pots. The tallest is about 2ft. They did fine in my small greenhouse when temps got around freezing, but the rest of the time they are outside. A bunch of the seedlings died (got them from fresh fruit) I think I have 3 left.
I still have one left, though there isn’t really any point in me keeping it. If anything, it is smaller/less healthy than when I posted about it 3 years ago.
I’m not sure if the issue is me not up-potting it at the right time, not watering it well enough, or bringing it in too late from a frost. Maybe all 3…
If I was going to try again (in a greenhouse or warmer climate), I’d want to plant the ones I ate in Hawaii (purchased on Honolulu, I think grown on the big island) this past November. They were quite large and had relatively small pits. Very tasty.
I have one I think on its 3rd year in a 15g. Maybe it’s 4th year. It flowered and fruited last year but fruit did not hold. It’s flowering now actually. I will take a picture when the sun is out.
Thanks! It’s impressive you got it to that size from seed, though, the trunk is nice and thick. It’s annoying they are so finicky 
Wow, that’s awesome! Do you think it might hold fruit this year? Will you plant it in-ground at some point do you think?
Not sure if it will hold. I would like to plant all my trees in ground but I plan to move eventually and don’t have the space either way 
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Here are some pics. And a seedling my friend gave me a couple years ago.
The eternal problem! Yet somehow there is always enough space to squeeze in just one more plant! 
They are looking nice and healthy, wow! Looks promising 
Most things are easy to grow in California 
This is great! I’m all about the not so talked about fruit trees. I finally got a grafted Kohala longan tree back in Early Feb. It’s been in the greenhouse since but no new growth yet.
Looks great! Surprising that its a grafted tree. Here they are all air layers.
