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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I have never tasted a Loquat that tasted like Juicy fruit. But Juicy fruit is absolutely Jackfruit flavored. Isoamyl acetate is a major part of that jackfruit flavor not that Juicy Fruit would ever confirm using it. Though it seems unlikely that an industrial byproduct from whisky making in Illinois, would escape the notice of a an Illinois chewing gum maker.
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So far only one of those seeds that already seemed to be germinating two months ago has sprouted successfully, though I think another new shoot might’ve been devoured by a slug that got in the greenhouse a few weeks ago. Mostly the rest still look green, so maybe they’ll sprout yet.
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Of the 12 seeds I sprouted last June (from Brady B), I’m surprised at their variability now. I’m guessing it’s due to how well each withstood the outdoor low winter temps. It’s the reason you grow out a hundred -avocados or loquats!
I’ve planted out the best looking one. But some of the others are definitely rejects!
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I am into Loquats! As of last year that is. I had never heard of them before and I happened to go to Exotica Nursery in Vista CA and they had a huge Golden Nugget Loquat. I tasted it and I was hooked! I see Loquat alllll over SoCal now and even found a seedling growing on my grandma’s property that she didnt know was there. Our friends have a huge one in their yard, unknown variety, and I picked buckets full last year and made Blackberry Loquat Jam. I took seeds from those and grew out a bunch of baby trees.
I am impressed how resilient they are. When my mom died, I gave up gardening and sort of neglected them. Even with that, they somehow survived. They survived being watered too much. This one has new leaves growing after the original died from overwatering I think.
The other seedlings look good as well. Labeled Clemente Loquat as I got the fruit in San Clemente
And then because I do not like waiting, I bought a larger fruiting tree. A Big Jim. I was a little underwhelmed by the flavor as it was like a mild melon. I was missing the acidic hit at the end like other Loquats I have had. It is a young tree and I just put in the ground a few weeks ago. It languished in a nursery pot for a year.
Im hoping to graft new varieties as it gets bigger and I get better at grafting.
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I just visited the Seattle International District tree again, and some of the fruit are starting to swell a bit, but not getting close to ripe yet:
Interestingly, it looks like the smaller tree on the alleyway behind the house (presumably a seedling of the main tree) had all its flowers/fruitlets killed by frost this winter, so it must be less hardy:
I am not sure if anyone has posted a photo of the branch structure under the canopy of the main tree, so here you go:
Someone gave it quite a prune job since last summer at some point, now the lowest branches are well out of reach from the sidewalk, you’d have to park a truck under it and climb on the roof to reach the lowest limbs now.
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OK, so I was called out and deservedly lashed over the Juicy Fruit connection. I’m ok, pride a little bruised, but I’m over it. Last year I made some tasty loquat wine and this year I made some really nice fruit leather. Just don’t sleep on loquats as an early fruit worth growing. Carry on good people!
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