I’d take you up if I were 100 miles closer 
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Hi IL847. Problem is, that we have in winter a lof of cold days. Of courne, not like in your area, but still…flowers dont like temperatures below -4’C (24,8’F). Where you have that pot in winter? Maybe thats the problem, why you dont have flowers…they need rest somewhere, where is colder, but not frost.
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All three of my loquat seedlings did fine in the December freeze unprotected (6 nights below freezing with coldest lows of 15°F and 18°F), here are some photos now that it’s been long enough that damage should be clear. Some of the immature leaves show slight browning, but the buds seem otherwise fine:
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Those look great. I don’t recall, did you tell us you grew them from seed?
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Mine too …although a little ragged!
Started from International District seed (thanks to @Bradybb) in August.
Low of 7F with burlap and bubble wrap for protection - protection bumped up temp to 15F.
Getting some quince rootstock and intend to graft onto quince with these as scions plus a few others from Akme Nursery.
I tried some greenhouse loquat grafting this winter on potted trees.
I covered the graft site with a small piece of hardware cloth around which I coiled reptile heat cable and then a covering of foam. That kept temp about 75F at graft site. 4 out of 4 took - makes me think loquat grafting super easy.
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These were seedlings I got from @Bradybb, from the International District tree. Which I just visited – looks pretty good:
It’s an attractive tree for sure:
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Wow! Are those fruitlets and not flower buds? So when do you think the tree flowered?
I’ve seen some Anna’s hummingbirds around, maybe they are the pollenizer?
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I would guess there are some kind of bees active in the winter here, or maybe the tree is big enough with enough flowers to just rely on the wind? I don’t know how long it takes for fruitlets to form on loquat, but those don’t look too recent to me. A month or two ago maybe?
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Just visited the International District trees again and noticed the leaf litter along the sidewalk below was littered with GERMINATING seeds! A few were sprouting already but mostly just turning green and cracking open. I guess the December freeze didn’t kill them!
I collected a pile that I’ll try to sprout in case anyone else wants seedlings of this tree later.
I looked at the edge of the public parking lot near the second tree on the alleyway, but no seeds there.
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Amazing that both seeds and seedlings can make it through a record cold winter! It also seems to thrive in ghouse temps - this is my Argelino in bloom:
Would be curtains if this was the time frame for its outdoor bloom but am hoping the ghouse is 2+ months ahead of outdoors.
Once the Int’l Dist. seedlings get a bit bigger I’ll graft those onto Provence quince rootstock and plant a block of them and wait.
I’d be curious to know the bloom date of the Int’l District tree. If you are back there at end of March, take a look and let me know?
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Oops. From your last post I see that it already flowered and had fruitlets at end of Jan!! We’re bound to have some more freezes and maybe even snow before April, so maybe the fruitlets are super hardy too!
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There are noticeable differences in cold hardiness among the three (maybe 4) seedlings I am growing from the International District tree. These were from seed collected and germinated by @Bradybb from the 2020 season, so they are about 18 months from seed now.
All of them were dormant (or mostly dormant) for the December freeze (low of 16°F), and their mature leaves show no damage. However, for the late February freeze (low of 25°), two (maybe 3) of the trees had already begun pushing new growth, and they had different levels of damage even though they are all planted in similarly exposed locations.
The double-trunk (possibly from separate seeds) tree looks to have crispy/frost-damaged new growth, but the terminal buds are alive and well to keep pushing more leaves:
One of the other trees was barely expanding its bud during the February freeze, and it’s now pushing new growth that seems healthy (it looks brown but feels soft and alive):
But that brings us to the final seedling, which was already well into its spring flush in February, but is now vigorously expanding those new leaves, which seem entirely undamaged:
Here’s what those last two trees looked like on January 21 (the last time I photographed them):
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‘Big Jim’ put out a decent amount of excellent fruit this year. It put out large clusters of Juicy Fruit gum flavored fruit minus the cloying sweetness. Such an under-appreciated fruit.
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I grew big Jim in San Jose and to me tasted like a apricot on the tart side. Jackfruit tastes like juicy fruit gum to many I’ve never heard that for loquat
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In my short experience, Big Jim needs thinning and ripening even into late May/early June (here in San Jose) to attain size and peak ripeness with lower acid in the fruit. Unfortunately, the fruit turns orange so much earlier than it ripens that birds go for it like crazy and even humans pick them earlier than the peak.
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Yes I used to thin and put frost fabric over it to keep birds from pecking. Best thing about loquats was their ripening time, after citrus and before early stone fruit
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Yes, I planted the tree for the same reason. Somehow, last season the Big Jim ripened one by one from late April to mid June - much like figs during their harvest season. It could just be the tree being young (third season). I grafted a few varieties some of which are holding fruit. Lets see how it behaves this season.
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Have I forgotten what Juicy Fruit gum tastes like? It’s been a very long time, I will defer to your assessment.
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Ha ha. Yes those gums aren’t as popular now but juicy fruit, double mint, and big red were very popular when I was growing up
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