Lychee farm stripped bare by visitors stocking up for Lunar New Year celebrations

Ted Knoblock welcomes hundreds of visitors to his lychee farm in the lead-up to Lunar New Year. (ABC Rural: Keely Johnson)

Hundreds of Ted Knoblock's lychee trees have been stripped bare as Chinese and Vietnamese visitors stock up for Lunar New Year celebrations.

Mr Knoblock started farming lychees at South Boambee on the Coffs Coast more than 40 years ago after relocating from Melbourne.

"We were looking to grow snow peas, but we had a Chinese fruit merchant come in and he said he couldn't buy any lychees," Mr Knoblock said.

"So that's how it started and now we have more than three hectares full of five different lychee varieties."

In the lead up to every Lunar New Year Mr Knoblock welcomes hundreds of visitors to his farm to pick their own lychees.

"Initially we had predominantly Chinese people coming up from Sydney by the busload for a day of picking, but now the Vietnamese are our biggest visitors and to a lesser extent, Bangladeshis," he said.

Mr Knoblock says the lychee harvest in Queensland finishes too early to meet demand in the new year. (ABC Rural: Keely Johnson)

'Great experience'

Bethany Phimmachanh has been visiting Mr Knoblock's farm for several years.

"We like to visit and get the best fresh lychees to take back to Sydney for Lunar New Year," she said.

The lychees are hand-picked, weighed and paid for before being taken back to Sydney. (ABC Rural: Michael Cavanagh)

Ms Phimmachanh said she and 20 other Vietnamese friends and family would visit the farm together this year.

"We normally take a bus of 40 or so people but because of COVID-19 we've had to halve that," she said.

"It's a really fun day — it's really nice to have the experience of actually picking them from the tree.

Lychee picking has become a tradition spanning generations in some families. (ABC Rural: Michael Cavanagh)

The bright red Bengal variety is the most popular in Asian communities.

"We buy the lychees on the branch with leaves and all to take it home and to braid it and make wreaths," Ms Phimmachanh said.

The decorations are used in religious ceremonies, featured at feasts and given to family and friends.

Mr Knoblock said hail netting saved his crop in storms last year.  (ABC Rural: Keely Johnson)

Welcome income after storms

Mr Knoblock said the visits from his loyal customers coincided with the harvest this year.

"The timing of the Lunar New Year was ideal for us this year," he said.

Bethany Phimmachanh says it's cheaper to buy these lychees than it is from Sydney supermarkets. (ABC Rural: Keely Johnson)

Mr Knoblock's farm is the southernmost lychee farm in the country and harvests at a different time to those in the north.

"Each year pricing is different," he said.

"If central and southern Queensland has a really big crop there is a tendency to flood the market and that pushes our returns down.