SEEDLESS lychees catapulted Sarina Beach farmer Laurence ‘Tibby’ Dixon into the news as growers and consumers alike delighted at the thought of pure fleshy balls of pip free fruit.
He is quick to shut down any claim he created seedless lychees though, ‘I developed the seedless variety within Australia, I didn’t create them’ he says.
The road to a seedless variety adapted to Australian conditions, happened somewhat organically after many years growing the trees on his Sarina Beach property in the Mackay region.
Mr Dixon entered the world of farming in the 1970s when lychees were relatively unknown in Australia.
“We decided to put five acres [two hectares] in just for a trial to see how they went,” he said.
“They turned out to be a very successful crop and I was only the fourth commercial grower in Australia.
“We decided to expand and ended up with 7,000 trees.
“We continued from there and got involved in the industry.”
He was president of the Australian Lychee Growers association for six years and said during that time research and development was of key importance.
“At the time the industry was self-funded so we pursued the national levy and within a couple of years got the national levy in and the federal government provided us with dollar for dollar funding,” he said.                                                                                                                                  “From there the industry progressed well because it had the capabilities for export and research development.
“To me that was the most important thing that happened when I was involved in the industry.”
He also imported new cultivars into Australia.
“And of course, the net return to growers is a lot greater than it was ten years ago now the new varieties are out there,” he said.
“Varieties that produce at an earlier age and have a commercial production [of fruit] within three to four years are the most exciting.
“They are also more consistent and to me that’s a big thing.”
Seedless lychees were developed by Mr Dixon using selective breeding techniques and cross-pollinating flowers. His breeding program was founded on a single seedless lychee he imported from China for $US5,000 more than 20 years ago.
He named two of the new Australian lychee varieties Su Lin San and another San Su Lin. The names taken from the first letters of his daughters’ names – Susan, Linda and Sandra.
“The seedless lychee is just a niche in the market, it’s not the be all and end all because if you look at tonnes per hectare as a commercial grower, you must have that tonnage per hectare year over year during the lychee season.
“Most growers have around four or five varieties that ripen early, mid and late.
“You do get more [money] for the seedless lychees but they require more work than other varieties.
“You also have to be careful because if they are in a paddock with other cultivars you could have seeds in some of them because of the pollination, the bees go from one cultivar to another.”
Mr Dixon said on average 98 percent of the new lychee varieties were seedless, akin to the seedless watermelon that tends to still contain a few seeds.
“A commercial grower can tell the difference when harvesting but I personally believe it’s not the be all to end all to the lychee industry because the industry is about getting fresh fruit grown for export,” he said.
“America’s opened its doors for our exports as has Canada, New Zealand and Singapore.
“There are other countries that take our lychees but you need to send them over by the tonne for growers to make money.”
He said the attraction of seed free fruit lay in the idea of it being something you could give to a baby or small child without fearing they could choke on a pip.

“Another attractive feature is you get more fruit when there is no seed bec