Exotic fruits: Fragrant lychee and succulent mangosteen
Lychee
THE lychee is a tropical broadleaf evergreen plant native to China and Southeast Asia, where humid climate dominates.
The fruit of the Litchi chinensis is renowned for its sweet and fragrant flesh, encased inside a rough reddishpink peel.
The fruits come in clusters, as little as three fruitlets and as much as 30 in a bunch at the end of the branch. They can be eaten fresh, or frozen, or as processed products such as jam, purée and preserve.
The flower is sweet-smelling, with colours ranging from white to yellowish green.
Growing a lychee tree is a rewarding experience, but some patience is required as maintaining one can take between three and five years.
I have a tree in my orchard, plated several years ago and since then, it has borne good fruits two times.
Recently, I ‘marcotted’ (propagated via air-layering) some branches to grow new plantlets.
Here, I would like to share my experience to all gardeners interested in growing a lychee tree.
Pick your cultivars
– There are basically three common cultivars used in different parts of the world today. i.The ‘Mauritius’ variety has excellent fleshy fruit with one large seed.
ii.The ‘Brewster’ is a vigorous growing tree, with spreading upright habit. A good variety for production, it is well suited to any area with abundant moisture.
iii.The ‘Emperor’ variety is considered the best for container-planting, but it is a slow-growing tree with compact growth habit.
Propagation
– This plant can be grown through self-pollination, but planting multiple trees can increase fruit production. – Marcotting is the commercial propagation, done by making a cut into a branch and adding into the gash the rooting hormone, before wrapping over it a ready-made packet of moss or peatmoss known ‘fegi’. The roots would grow out of the cut area, and this is the section to be cut off from the branch and planted in a separate medium to establish a new tree.
– Propagation using seed takes more time, as the seed needs to be soaked in water for three days before sowing it in a potting mix, placed under shade.
– The lychee plant thrives in acidic medium with pH levels of 5.5 to 7.5, under full sun at least six hours a day. – Consistent watering keeps the soil moist, but just enough to not let it be waterlogged. – Space the young trees about 20 feet apart from each other; for some varieties, it is 12 feet apart. Do your research.
– Use a balanced fertiliser, rich in micronutrients.
– Pruning is necessary to remove dead branches and also to avoid overcrowding of branches.
– Mulching, by applying organic mulch around the base of the tree, can retain moisture and also suppress the growth of weeds.
– Run regular inspections to protect the tree against attacks by pests and diseases. Use copper fungicides and additives to improve fruit’s formation and quality.
Mangosteen
The Agroworld Magazine Issue 390 issue published a full series about mangosteen’s potential for export from Peninsular Malaysia.
The ‘manggis’ plant is found naturally in Southeast Asia, and it thrives in the hot and humid weather in Malaysia. A local ‘pantang’ (taboo or restriction) is that one should not take sweet things after eating mangosteen.
There are four major varieties of this tropical plant.
Garcinia mangostana
– the very common purple mangosteen. Ranging from 4cm to 8cm in diameter and 50gm to 150 gm in weight, the fruit is encased in a skin that is thick and leathery, inside which are segments of creamy white flesh. The taste is refreshingly sweet, with a bit of a tangy undernote. It is eaten fresh, or processed into products like jam, icecream or as an additional item in yoghurt.
Recently, I learned about one of our former colleagues having a dwarf tree, about four feet (slightly over 1m) in height, which bore good-quality fruits. This prompted me to look for other less-well-known varieties.
Garcinia dulcis, of which the fruit turns yellow when ripe. The flesh is juicy, but is more sour than sweet. It is native to native to the Philippines, Java, the lesser Sunda Islands, eastern Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea.
Garcinia cambogia is also known as ‘Brindleberry’ and ‘Malabar Tamarind’. Native to India and Southeast Asia, the fruit is used as a preservative and condiment. Resembling a small pumpkin, its colours range from green to muted yellow. Its sourness adds zing to many Southeast Asian dishes. Moreover, it is found that the rind contains a chemical called hydroxycitric acid (HCA), which has been studied for its effect on appetite, especially in the area of weight management. The Garcinia cambogia is also said to contain properties that could provide relief for joint pains and some digestive problems.
Garcinia madruno is also known as the ‘charichuela’ or the ‘lemon drop mangosteem’. It is native to the rainforests of the eastern Amazon. It has a yellowish rind, not unlike that of a lemon, which is used in making jam. The pulp is translucent white, is juicy and slightly aromatic, and the taste is pleasantly tart. It can be eaten raw, but it is also be processed into jam, preserve, and also be made into drinks. It can be found along the coastal areas in Peninsular Malaysia.
Well, I have planted only the local common variety, of which the fruits are fairly large and sweet. That said, I do want to remind you to not attempt consuming sweet things after eating a ‘manggis’!
Happy Gardening!