leaves are large and waxy dark green
blossoms & fruits
loquat fruits
LOQUAT TREES
Eriobotrya japonica
native to south-central China;
aka Japanese Plum, Chinese Plum or Maltese Plum (Turkey)
Large evergreen shrub (if pruned such) or majestic landscape tree
can grow 15-33' tall; but normally about 15-20';
dark green, tough, leathery leaves; zones 8b-11
Loquat trees naturally grow symmetrically, and have a dense, compact crown. The glossy, dark green foliage makes for a beautiful, hardy evergreen specimen tree in the landscape. Fruits profusely in the late fall to mid-winter, depending on the species.
Small, white, super fragrant 1" flowers appear in autumn or early winter, and the fruits ripen mid-late winter or early spring. Grows outdoors in zones 8-11. Can be container grown in colder areas, because it tends to stay smaller in colder climates. Also, the colder the winter, the earlier your loquat blooms.
Loquat fruit grows in clusters and are oval, rounded or pear-shaped. Fruit is sometimes described as a mixture of peach, citrus, apricots & mild mango. Both the skin and the flesh is like that of a peach: a slight fuzz to the outside, but if grown right, the juicy flesh is irresistable from the first bite. You eat skin and all.
Loquats have a high sugar, acid and pectin content. They are high in vitamin A, dietary fiber, potassium, and manganese.
Specific Varieties
SEEDLING GROWN
We're finding the seedling grown loquats have more vigorous growth, overall hardiness, and higher quantities of fruit than the grafted ones. Their immune systems appear to be better developed. Our 15gal sizes generally bear fruit in the first year after planting.
'Peach Kissed' is our most commonly available seedling grown loquat. It produces very juicy, reasonably large fruits in January and February, has a great flesh to seed ratio, and wonderful flavor like mangoes, apricots and peaches combined. So much juice it drips down your elbows like a peach.
'Pineapple Pleasure' is another of our varieties. It too, produces large juicy fruits in January and February, but the flavor has a tangy twist of pineapple combined with the likes of mangoes and apricots, with a citrus-y overtone. Another drip-down-the-elbows experience.
Starting your own seedling loquats are a fun project, but they generally don't produce fruit for 8-10 yrs! The professional nurseries are pushing the plants with lots of fertilizers to get results sooner, and so a 5yr old tree (15g) can produce fruit. Flavor can vary a bit from plant to plant, but juiciness seems to be pervasive.
POPULAR GRAFTED VARIETIES
It has been our observation that the various grafted varieties are slow to thrive, taking an extra few years to grow dense and produce a healthy crop of fruits. But there are several species that are worth a mention.
'CHRISTMAS' loquat: This grafted variety is very early: it ripens mid to late December, ahead of the frosts and produces copious amounts of huge fruits -- up to 1.5" in diameter. Fruit is bright yellow with a tangy apricot flavor.
'YEHUDA' loquat: also produces very large, sweet, juicy fruits, ripens February to March in Florida. Yehuda has been a bit more vigorous than the Christmas in our experience.
typical 4.5yr old 15g loquats
ORDER HERE:
#1 in stock: 'PEACH KISSED' seedling grown loquats in 15g / ready to bear.
and sometimes 3g & 7g, at least in the spring; ask us;
Limited availability on grafted loquats: please check with us b4 ordering.