Sept, October Best Time For Lychee Sowing: Experts

MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd September, 2016) : Agriculture experts said on Friday that lychee could be grown in Punjab and September and October were the best months for its plantation.

In a release issued by the media liaison unit of Punjab Agriculture Department, experts said that a lychee plant can produce 50-80 kilograms of fruit on an average and its varieties include Bedana, Surahi, Gola and Shui Tung.

Usually, its trees attain height of 15-22 feet. For planting its saplings to develop an orchard, farmers first need to dig one cubic feet ditch in a way that plant-to-plant distance is maintained at 8-10 metres.

The ditches should remain open for 15-20 days so that enemy pests are killed. In the third stage, the dug-out soil should be mixed with two equal parts of fertile soil (Bhal), and natural fertilizers, obtained from rotten leaf.

Ditches should be filled with the mixture in a way that its surface is a bit above the ground so that it match ground level after the field is irrigated. Lychee can be planted in different kinds of soil; however, soil around river Ravi and Sutlej is the best for the purpose.

It can also be planted inside mango orchards in Multan and Rahimyar Khan; however, none of its plants should be under the shade of any mango tree and all should have direct access to sunlight. A plant of the age of ten years should get 10 kilogram of natural fertilizer, 3-4 kg Urea, 3-kg single super phosphate, and two kilograms of potassium sulphate in December.

Fertilizers be applied three feet away from the plant to avoid damage to its roots. Light irrigation be done after fertilizers application.