How to germinate a lychee stone, indoor and outdoor plant

Germinating a kernel is a way to better understand how nature works and this is valid for adults and children alike. To successfully germinate a lychee stone, you just need to follow a few steps that we have provided for you here!

The lychee is a very popular fruit in France. Particularly during holidays where it has a pride of place in fruit baskets. Or all year round in our fruit salads! Germinate a lychee stone to have a lychee in your interior is a great way to remember where these strange fruits come from.

To germinate a lychee stone, choose it carefully

Lychee is a exotic fruit which comes from southern China. It is now cultivated in many tropical places on the planet, such as Brazil, Thailand, Madagascar and Reunion Island. This also means that the fruits undergo un long transport before arriving on our tables.

And at quality of the flesh is not necessarily damaged during transport, however this is not a trivial matter for this fruit. You will therefore need to take several lychee stones to have a greater chance of success.

Read also: how to germinate seeds – a melon seed

Multiple geographic origins for greater luck

Prefer several stones from lychees purchased in different places to increase your chances.

France, through Reunion, Mayotte, Guyana and Guadeloupe, produces 7,800 tonnes of lychees per year which, however, is not enough to meet all the needs of the French in this area who import several tens of thousands of tonnes per year… Faced with China and India which produce 2.5 million tonnes annually, a good reason to identify products from our islands!

How to germinate your lychee stone

Cleaning your lychee pit

Once your lychee kernel has been selected, clean it carefully with a brush, with clean water. This will prevent remains of flesh, sometimes tough on the lychee, from rotting or risking the development of algae and fungi which are harmful to the future seedling.

Prepare your core

Several schools then confront each other. To avoid getting confused, don’t think about whether or not it’s worth placing your lychee stone in water and just do it. Place it in a bowl of water. If your core rises to the surfaceit is dead anyway and we will have to use another one.

If your core goes to the bottom of the bowlleave it there for two or three days in order to soften its envelope and indicate, theoretically, that it can now germinate, because the conditions are ideal.

Place your lychee stone in a pot

Take a terracotta pot of diameter of 15 centimeters or more and place gravel or clay balls in the bottom. This step is interesting for lychee, but not as essential as for other stones such as those of apricot or cherry.

Once done, fill the pot with a mixture of potting soil of good quality (important for nourishing the first moments of life of your future lychee) and sable good grain size for 2/3 potting soil and 1/3 sand.

Lychee tree and its still green fruits © Longklong

Plant your lychee stone

Once your pot is full and your mixture is well packed, push your stone into it 3 or 4 centimeters deep covering everything and gently repacking.
Then water abundantly without leaving any water in the cup, either at this stage or at all other stages of your lychee’s life.

Trick : you can carry out the same process in a larger pot by placing several lychee stones. This will multiply your chances of having at least one that germinates and why not of having a nice gift to offer if you have several!

Place your pot in the right place

The lychee certainly needs water, but also and above all heat and direct light. If you forget its tropical origins, keep in mind that, in our latitudes, it will be impossible for you to overdo it in this matter.

A window sill well exposed to the south will do very well, but nothing prevents you from placing a film on the pot to make mini greenhouse. Or even, if you have one, put a transparent plastic container on top to achieve the same effect.

The die is cast, all you have to do is wait between 2 and 5 weeks grand maximum !

Lychee with its fruits © Chuchawan

How to care for your lychee seedling

Once your young lychee has a few first leaves and has gained a little vigor, place it outside. Caution: only when there is no longer any risk that temperatures do not drop below 8°C. Note that the gel, even brief, will have every chance of killing your lychee.

Find it a place in the sun (why not in a greenhouse), nice and warm, a little sheltered from the wind. This is to prevent it from drying out too quickly. And always keep it moist without having water in its cup.

A reasonable supply of fertilizer will be essential in spring. In spring only, so that it has proper growth.

All you will then have to do is wait to see your lychee reach the 2 to 3 meters high that it can have while remaining in a pot (compared to 15 meters in nature)!

Article updated