I saw a fruiting tree, in San Francisco, about 25 years ago. It was in one of the colder, more miserable neighborhoods. Around 25th and Hoffman. Cold ocean winds, clouds and fog, were the norm. In the same environment, my wild plum tree produced huge crops of fruit, once every ten years. No freezes, but pretty inhospitable.
I grew up on Loquats in So. California. It was our favorite fruit to "steal" even though we had our own tree. I grew 5 of them here in Hillsboro OR from seeds I acquired in Northern Loisiana. Gave all but one to the recycle nursery in HB. (They sell donated plants to raise money for POPPA, an organization that provides free or low cost spay and nuetering of pets). Mine has been in the ground about 18 months and is 2-3 ft tall. The literature says that the blossoms are killed by temperatures as low as 25 deg F so I don't expect fruit, but it makes a good looking "tropical like" tree.
Okay, I have a young Loquat which I planted in 2005, it is still alive and looks "EXACTLY" like it did the day I planted it, it hasn't grown not a smidget of any size. It's live but not maturing ot growing any.
Any ideas to what's needed to get this loquat to respond.
e.r.
Reviving this loquat thread...
My loquat (from One Green World) is about 10' tall and is currently flowering. I've got my 13' orchard ladder over it and am planning to hang a tarp over the ladder/tree Sunday night. Will also put some heat mats inside this "tent".
In the cold snap earlier this winter I did a similar thing which seems to have protected the flowers, but it lost some leaves. That time I used some jute cloth because I didn't think about using a tarp. But my tarp will provide more complete coverage.
Anyway I'm just wondering if others try to protect their loquat flowers from cold.
That's great Dave! Thanks for sharing. Did you protect it in last month's cold spell? Has it produced before. I assume this is a seedling.
I have a couple of young seedlings, and a couple of quince (actually rooted trees from John) that I've grafted some named loquat seedlings onto. Orange Dream, Sugarcane, Viking and Sunset.
I've tasted loquat only once. A coworker, I think lives in Camas, had a seedling tree that would produce occasionally. I thought the fruit were delicious. As good as apricot, which I love.
I've been looking for a Loquat for the past year. One Green World employees thought that they would have some seedlings by the fall, but it hasn't come to pass. It's doubtful that it would ever bear fruit in my location, but the tree is so lovely that it doesn't matter; having said that, getting fruit occasionally would be fantastic.
If anyone knows of a good place to purchase Loquat, there should be at least a few people on the forum interested in purchasing one.
jafar said
That's great Dave! Thanks for sharing. Did you protect it in last month's cold spell? Has it produced before. I assume this is a seedling.I have a couple of young seedlings, and a couple of quince (actually rooted trees from John) that I've grafted some named loquat seedlings onto. Orange Dream, Sugarcane, Viking and Sunset.
I've tasted loquat only once. A coworker, I think lives in Camas, had a seedling tree that would produce occasionally. I thought the fruit were delicious. As good as apricot, which I love.
Yes I did a similar thing with the previous cold snap and I didn't lose any flowers, other than the ones I knocked off, oops.
This is the first time it has flowered, thus my interest in preserving the flowers. I also want to see if hummingbirds feed from the flowers.
I think it is a seedling, but I'll check the tag.
If I get some fruit I'll let you know. I'm curious how your varieties do as well.
Please let us know what happens Dave. I have seen queen bumblebees and hummingbirds feed on loquat in January this year and other years previously.
I have never tasted the fruit. The one I was following the most exists near a sidewalk maybe 700-800 feet westward of SE 98th avenue and St. Helens 4-way stop sign, on the noth side of St Helens and in Vancouver. So far as of 9 AM this morning there were no damages on it what so ever. If things go worse I could let you know. I had transferred pollen from a far distant one I know of since none has ever existed on the St. Helens one before that I know of. In recent upgrades things are less easy to load images, but there are ways;
or here: rooney/2023/01/Edit_2023-01-30_1.jpg
9am this morning
Thanks Rooney for the photo. My leaves do not look nearly as perfect as those. But I get a lot of wind which I think the tree doesn't like. In fact I have to tie a rope to my orchard ladder "tent" to keep it from blowing over.
I'll try to get some photos of my tree in the next few days.
Here are some photos of my "tent" which I removed today: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hNPN.....E1nheWrA66
Also attached below, but they are oriented the wrong way. I am getting a new, larger tarp so I won't have to piece-meal it in the future.
I used seed starting heat mats and a couple of strings of incandescent Christmas lights as my heat source.
Probably all unnecessary, just being extra cautious until I learn otherwise.
Update of about 5 days after from St. Helens avenue loquat and post freezing weather;
or a larger clip> Rooney//2023/02/Edit_2023-02-04_1.jpg
update of same loquat branch
To try and straighten out the non productivity issues about loquat I am now drying pollen from another tree and so later on I will pollinate one of those whorls of flowers. If fruits form then another comparison will be made.
Two more things I learned about loquats recently is that in cool weather climates they do require cross pollination. This is the very same behavior for so many early flowering plum cultivars too. Not all Japanese plums but very many according to cultivar.
The other point is breeding selections which can be engineered to produce seedless loquats that produce more flesh per fruit.
ie. ishs.org/ishs-article/887_14
Hummingbird photo from 29 Nov. ‘18 NE Pdx
Was surprised to see fruit at all, albeit old/past. Never expected it, quite the opposite. But gives me a slightly different perspective. Older dried out and only so far fruit, photo from 14 Sept, ‘21. NE Pdx I didn’t even see it until just before snapping the picture. I’ll say loquat if fruiting, around here, will be mid June.
I haven’t done the reading/research, but it seems to me loquat must be at least some self fertile. My first acquaintance was a tree in Orland Ca. A fairly isolated circumstance, midst a 4 acre Ume orchard bordered by an almond farm across the irrigation channel and cattle silage across the road, so really just the one established tree within eye sight. Fruited annually.
In SE Portland a massive tree sets fruit probably 3 out of 5 years, not likely any other loquat around.
I’m pretty confident the the nearest other loquat in my NE Pdx neighborhood is about 1/4 mile away, I guess that is a possibility for cross pollination/pollination , but I feel it’s kind of unlikely. Joe L planted that one, he told me he thought it fruited sometimes, I’ve casually looked at it for the last 3years, nothing yet seen. It's well established, bigger than the one here.
I believe One Green World has a loquat growing uncovered just south of the driveway. It had flower buds when I was there about a month ago. From the Street View history it was planted in 2019?
You can see it on googlemaps next to the sign: https://www.google.com/maps/@4.....384!8i8192
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