Longan

Longan trees require sandy soil and temperatures that do not typically go below 4. Longan's are successfully grown from Central to South Florida, as well as Southern California. Longan's constitute a main ingredient in a variety of desserts and can made into a liqueur.

Longan is a prolific bearer and thrives in monsoonal regions with pronouncedrainyand dry seasons. Longans are best marketed on the fruitstalk, or they should atleastretain a short piece of stem. Longan is consumed throughout Asia and is a major crop in Thailand.

Longan fruit contains several vitamins and minerals, including iron, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium, and large amounts of vitamins A and C. Longans have less finicky fruiting habits than lychee. Longan is a handsome evergreen tree which can reach up to 100 ft. Longan are very popular in Asia where they are usually eaten raw or poached. Longan is a subtropical tree well adapted to tropical climates with distinctive wet/dry periods and subtropical areas with a cool, nonfreezing fall/winter period.

Longans produce more reliably in areas characterized by low non-freezing temperatures (59°F; 15°C or less) and a dry period during the fall and winter (October-February). Longan is tolerant of dry soil conditions. Longan is not tolerant of excessively wet or flooded soil conditions When ambient temperatures are high, young trees may decline and die with as little as 5 to 10 days of flooding or constantly wet soil conditions. Longan trees are tolerant of windy conditions and young trees can generally be established on windy sites.

Longan is not tolerant of saline soil and water conditions. Longan may be grown from seed, however, cultivars do not come true from seed, may be slow to bear, and the fruit of inferior quality. Longans grow fairly fast and at maturity, are large trees.