Hey all,
Has anyone had any success bending loquat branches to induce precocious fruiting? I have a couple of relatively large seedlings (probably 4-5 years old so far), and I’d really like to get them to fruit in a couple of years. I noticed that by bending the fresh shoots on my Asian pears, a fruiting spur is formed after a few weeks. Does this principle hold true for loquat seedlings?
Thanks!
I wouldn’t think so. Loquats fruit at branch end. They are Rosaceae, not Pomes. Fertilizing right now with soluble (not time delay) P and K could work. Loquats in our area are currently in full bloom – harvest is January-February. Also consider growing a better cultivar; e.g. Big Jim.
I would like to, but I had trouble finding one locally. I ended up with these seedlings, which have a wonderful shrubby structure. I’d like to exploit that to make the tree more amenable to backyard orchard culture; however, scion wood is rather difficult to find and I’m unsure about the viability of grafting new varieties onto the many branches.
If there is significant fireblight in your area then grafting loquat is not recommended.
Be aware that there is a fruitless species of Loquat. The leaves have sawtooth edges.
Loquats are inherently dense in branch structure and as such a good candidate for backyard orchard culture in temperate climates. I like to keep the main trunk free of branches in the first 18"-24" to insure no unwanted animals or plants reside there. After harvest in the spring I do a little thinning and overall head it back to 8’.
Citrus food is a good choice for Loquat. 
I’m pretty sure I got Eriobotrya japonica. It doesn’t look like bronze loquat.
I’ll give it a shot with the P and K supplementation next year. The plants look substantial and very dense as is.
Fireblight is in my area. Thanks for the heads up!
Pomes are under family rosaceae, and my understanding is that loquats are among the pomes. It’s a function of how the fruit is formed and structured: