Also known as the Japanese plum, the loquat is a small evergreen tree with a dense, rounded, dark green canopy. It is a well-behaved little shade tree that grows moderately fast and reaches only 25 – 30 feet in shade with a 30 – 35 foot spread, but is often no taller than 15 feet in full sun with a 15 – 25 foot spread, making it a great choice for small yards and tight spaces. It can also be trained as a hedge.
White, fragrant flowers bloom October through February, and the yellow, fuzzy fruit is ready for harvest in early spring. Loquats are sweet and juicy, and there are numerous varieties, with a range of flavors.
Loquats grow well throughout Florida, enjoy full sun, and are drought-tolerant, although fruit production may be affected by lack of water, and the flowers and fruit can be damaged by freezing temperatures. Loquats will grow in full sun, part sun, or part shade, in just about any well drained soil (including sand and clay). They will have the best fruit and form in full sun.
By Aftabbanoori – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Classification
Alternate names
Japanese plum
Latin name
Eriobotrya japonica
Family
Rosaceae
Related species
Cultivars
Numerous.
- Champagne’ (March-May), best for USDA hardiness zone 9, has yellow-skinned, white-fleshed, juicy, tart fruit, one of the better fruits.
- `Gold Nugget’ (May-June), best near coast, has larger, sweeter fruit with orange skin and flesh.
- `MacBeth’ (April-May) has exceptionally large fruit with yellow skin and creamy flesh.
- `Thales’ is a late yellow-fleshed variety.
- `Coppertone’, a hybrid, has dense growth with copper-colored new foliage and pale pink flowers.
- `Variegata’ has white variegated leaves.
- Big Gem and Christmas produce the plumpest fruits.
Want to sample fruit from different cultivars? Go to the Loquat Festival.
Characteristics
- small tree
- evergreen
- non- native (origin: China)
- fragrant
- flowering
- full sun
- drought tolerant but drought reduces fruiting
- fast-growing
- winter interest
- some invasive potential in south & central FL
- messy leaf litter
- Sensitive to pests and diseases
- Short-lived as trees go (20 – 30 yrs)
- medium – low wind resistance
Description
A small evergreen tree with a dense, rounded, dark green canopy decorated in late winter and spring with clusters of apricot-yellow, pear-shaped, edible furry fruits. The 10 to 12-inch-long leaves are rusty-colored beneath and have a coarse texture. The tree usually has a single trunk with drooping branches.
White, fragrant flowers bloom October through February, followed by yellow, fuzzy fruit that are ready for harvest in early spring. Loquats are sweet and juicy, and there are numerous varieties, with a range of flavors.
No machine-readable author provided. Rickjpelleg assumed (based on copyright claims). – No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY 2.5, Link
Size
25 to 30 feet in height in the shade, with a 30 – 35 foot spread. Is frequently seen 15 feet tall with a 15 to 25-foot-spread in a sunny location.
Color
Dark green leaves with a rusty underside, white flowers, fuzzy yellow fruit.
Blooming season
October through February
Fruiting season
Late winter through early spring. Fruit are ready for harvest in early spring.
Lifespan
20 – 30 years
Wind resistance
Low – medium
Natural environment
Uses
Sweet, juicy fruit. The skin is thin and edible, and the fruits are easy to harvest. The flavor is reminiscent of its cousin the plum. The fruit has a large seed. Loquat fruits are excellent eaten fresh or made into jelly, jam, preserves and pies. Fruit must be tree-ripened for the best flavor. A mature tree may bear from 35-300 pounds of fruit per tree per year.
It espaliers well against a sunny wall, and makes a good screen due to its dense canopy.
Planting and Growing
Requirements
Hardiness zone
8B – 11. Can grow further north but probably won’t fruit.
Sun
Full sun, partial sun, or partial shade. Provides best fruit and form in full sun (> 6 hrs of afternoon sun). It likes some shade in the afternoon, especially if it’s not irrigated.
Water
Loquat should be well-watered until established, but can then survive periodic droughts. Drought reduces fruit.
Soil
Clay; sand; loam; alkaline; acidic; well-drained. Will do best at maintaining its dark green leaves in soil with a high pH. Root rot occurs in wet soil — does not tolerate “wet feet.”
Salt tolerance
Moderately tolerant of salt spray
Cold/heat hardiness
Mature loquat trees are very cold-tolerant and withstand temperatures as low as 10 degrees without damage. But the fruit and flowers are killed when the temperature drops below 27 degrees.
Planting
When to plant
How to plant
Dig a planting hole approximately two times the width of the pot and at the same depth as the root ball. Enrich the planting hole with aged mushroom compost, aged manure or composted pine bark mixed with soil dug from the hole (50:50 mix).
Gently remove the plant from the pot and place in the planting hole. To avoid burying too deep, make sure plant is positioned with the top most roots at the soil line. Fill the planting hole with the mix of soil and organic matter; gently tamp it in. Water thoroughly to settle the roots and eliminate air pockets.
If desired, construct a water basin around the base of the tree approximately 36 inches in diameter. Keep the area under the canopy of the tree clear of grass and weeds to minimize competition for water and nutrients. Mulch this area with 2-3 inches of mulch, leaving an area about 2 feet from the trunk mulch free or at most only ½ inch thick.
The first year is a critical time for the establishment of a new loquat tree. Water thoroughly twice a week on light soils and once a week on clay soils. Soak the entire root system deeply – this usually takes 40 minutes. Established loquats should receive at least 1 inch of water each week. Water regularly, especially during dry periods. Fruit may drop prematurely if insufficiently irrigated during dry spells.
Loquats don’t like to be crowded. Plant 10 – 15 feet from other trees.
Propagation
Propagation is by seed, cuttings, or grafting of cultivars. Germinate seeds in a damp paper towel.
It is self pollinating.
Fertilization
You can use a good citrus fertilizer like Espoma Citrus tone, or 10-10-10. Make sure that the fertilizer contains iron, zinc, manganese, magnesium, molybdenum, copper and boron. These minor elements are very important to plants and most soils are low in these elements.
Spread the fertilizer evenly under the entire canopy of the plant avoiding a 6-inch area around the trunk. Water in. Chestnut Hill Nursery writes: “In North Florida, we fertilize in late February as the weather warms and the trees come out of dormancy, and again in late May and late July/early August.” Withhold fertilizer in fall and winter to slow growth and encourage dormancy during cold weather. Never fertilize after August as this will promote new growth late in the year which will be subject to freeze damage.
Do not overfertilize since this could increase sensitivity to fire blight disease.
Maintenance
Prune for strong structure. Branches will have to be pruned to grow up, as they tend to droop with time under the weight of the developing branch. An adequate clear trunk needs to be developed early in the life of the tree to provide for vehicle clearance if you’re planting near a driveway or street or want to walk under it. Sprouts along the trunk can be a maintenance nuisance.
Harvesting
Perfect” looking yellow fruit will be tart. Loquats taste sweetest when they’ve developed an orange hue and dark spots.
Don’t refrigerate your fresh-harvested loquats; eat or preserve them within 48 hours.
Diseases/Pests
Loquat are sensitive to pests/diseases. When I put our baby potted loquat outside, the leaves got eaten, probably by beetles or grasshoppers. The leaves are tough, so it’d take an insect with tough jaws to chomp down the leaves. Probably the same ones that are chewing through the tough leaves of the old bird of paradise.
Scales and caterpillars are occasional problems.
To reduce fireblight problems, provide good air circulation and keep away from other fireblight hosts, such as other Rosaceae, Pyracantha, pears, apples, etc. If leaves and stems blacken from the top downward, prune back one-foot or more into healthy wood. Sterilize shears with a mixture of one part bleach to nine parts water between cuts.
Root rot occurs on wet soils. Locate the tree in a well-drained soil.
Freezing temps and over-watering can cause fruit to split.
Cautions
The seed is poisonous if ingested.
Eriobotrya japonica should be treated with caution in the central and south zone in Florida, may be recommended but managed to prevent escape. It is not considered a problem species and may be recommended in the north zone in Florida.
Loquats have a lifespan of only 20 – 30 years.
Loquats have medium to low wind resistance.
Landscape Planning
Loquat’s small size, urban tolerance, and neat, upright growing habit make it a great tree for small spaces, right-of-ways, on curbs, and near driveways. It’s often planted by the city as a median tree. Note that an adequate clear trunk needs to be developed early in the life of the tree to provide for vehicle clearance if you’re planting near a driveway or street or want to walk under it. It is not suited for planting next to the street if trucks pass close to the tree since adequate clearance is not possible, but it is successful in wide median strips. It also blends well into informal shrubbery borders.
Loquats have a lifespan of only 20 – 30 years, so don’t plant where taking it down will be a problem.
Notes from the Jungle
Ownership
Placement around the house
Plant where it’ll have some shade in the afternoon, which is currently the north half of the back yard or north of the pine in the front. Might tolerate the cut-out as the sun will move past it in the late afternoon and it will get some shade from the sun and maybe from the moringa. We’ll be planting small border trees around the cut-out and that will make shade, but we don’t have them yet; might plant hamelia patens around the border to make a quick shade border for now so we can plant some partial-sun plants without frying them. Not sure whether I want to plant the little loquat of unknown pedigree and unknown fruiting potential from the Green Thumb fest, or go buy one of known cultivar or some size. (That is, I’ll plant the little loquat in any case, but might want to get a better-grown, known cultivar if I want one either in the front yard or the cutout for expected size, appearance, fruit.)
Plant near drought-tolerant plants, not near plants in a frequent-watering zone. Wet feet will kill the tree, and overwatering will kill the fruit. (They absorb too much water and split.) However, the young tree should be near its own sprinkler head for the first year or so.
Come to think of it, I don’t want a fruiting tree in the cutout to attract ants and rodents, so scratch that. Maybe buy a cultivar for the orchard. This little guy can go in the front to make shade for the planned little patio. Or if we want to buy a cultivar, we can put the little guy in the back north of the Dominican sabal.
‘Coppertone’ would be very pretty out front.
Links
University of Florida Gardening Solutions
EDIS extension: Eriobotrya japonica: Loquat
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