Organic N is released more slowly than most chemical fertilizer N, and it may be more difficult to manage the time of availability and depletion of N from mulches and manures. Flowering New growth flushes occur several times a year. Under suitable conditions, one of these flushes, usually in the late winter months after January 1, may develop into a flowering flush. Favorable conditions for flowering and fruiting do not occur every year in Hawaii, or in any predictable sequence or pattern. When favorable conditions do occur, flowering takes place between February and April.
Fruits mature three to five months after flowering.
Flowering and fruit are usually poor whenever an adequate period or combination of cool or dry weather fails to occur. The best climates for growing lychee have a warm, wet spring and summer followed by a cool, dry fall and winter. Ideal conditions for lychee production occur in subtropical Guangdon and Fujian, China, where the trees are planted along dikes and stream banks as well as in orchard blocks in frost-free, lowland areas. In Hawaii, excessively wet weather during October through December initiates vegetative flushing when the trees should be undergoing a rest period, and these flushes use stored carbohydrates that is preferably reserved for flowering and fruiting. Breaking off late-flushing vegetative terminals may inhibit vegetative growth and result in better flowering.