Yes very exciting 
I heard rumours of spring flowering loquats, but could never track them down, and this sounds even better. Perhaps robust to late frost damage to flowers too due to follow up flushes. Apparently the sport was noticed in a Spanish plantation of type Algerie, so hats off to whoever noticed that!
This is very exciting and I hope you are successful.
I have over 2 dozen varieties of loquats and they ALL bud out in late summer/early fall. They sometimes have late flowers in spring. But they have to keep the buds alive all through winter in order to achieve this. This is very difficult in a place like Seattle in most years. As a result, the crop is much smaller than one might initially assume from the volume of flowers.
I hope it isn’t linguistic gymnastics when Lubera says that this variety flowers over a very long season. Some of my loquats also technically flower over a very long season (9+ months). The question is “Do they also bud out over an equally long time?”
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It sounds like the answer is yes based on the second link from the international symposium on loquat:
Up to 13 different flowering flushes and subsequent fruit set, included mainly in 3 groups, have been identified in this variety.
The full article is paywalled in case anyone has access and might be able to share more details with us? I found one third-party description of the cultivar based on that paper with a little more detail than the abstract, but not much:
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I have to say I am still skeptical. 13 different flowering flushes is great but did they all bud out at the same time or at different times? I want to hear an authoritative – “they produce flower buds in spring – after all danger of late winter frosts”.
Some of my loquats also fruit in summer here – as late as August. But the buds were set during the previous summer.
I sincerely hope to be proven wrong.
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I think the definition of “flowering flush” is pushing new buds? Maybe I’m wrong but that’s how I understand it.
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I was able to get access to the full version and here’s a table that clarifies things, keeping in mind this was done in Spain so it might be different in Ireland or the PNW:
The paper makes clear that the “flushes” are referring to new buds forming, so those are the 13 arrows with roman numerals on the first line.
Also keep in mind all of group C produced inedible fruit.
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Interesting, thanks for getting access. Early May is a fairly safe time for flowering here after last frosts giving a 5-6 month window for the fruits to ripen before frosts threaten again. Who knows but given I thought my chances were zero to grow it here, it’s pretty cool.
What were the details of the inedible fruit, I saw mention of much smaller fruit, but were they all seed and no flesh, too astringent, or something else?
The text is thin on that point, it just said they “became small” and were “not commercially viable” but the table on fruit characteristics only included the weight, which was less than a sixth the normal size, they didn’t even bother with measuring the firmness, brix, or acidity:
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I wonder if thinning fruit from other flushes could influence this. The graph looks pretty grim though, that’s a shame.
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How much did it cost to get full access to the document?
Worth a shot! Especially being quick to remove all fruiting buds for group A, which emerge while group C would be ripening.
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For approximately 23 years, leading up to 2020, I lived exclusively in the Bay Area: Berkeley for a decade, Sonoma County for the remainder. I left SoCal for university back in 1997 and there was NO WAY I was moving back to the inland empire after graduation. Nowadays, I split my time between my house in the Willamette Valley of western Oregon and the Anderson Valley region of Northern California. I have a small bit of land about 30 miles from the coast in Mendo where I maintain a food forest and a VERY rustic cabin. Was an old hippie compound so the infrastructure is interesting to say the least. Between the two spots I grow nearly everything I grew in SoCal growing up, true guavas and bananas being the two major exceptions. I still haven’t tried the Cherimoya in Philo, but I am not optimistic. I’d love to do some plant trades/exchanges if you are interested. Just send me a direct message. Pax!
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I interpreted that as they were too small to be commercially viable, which isn’t to say they wouldn’t still be good for eating.
I would agree, but the fact that they didn’t even measure brix or acidity makes me suspect the fruit failed to develop at all really. But they really weren’t clear, so you are correct that either is possible.
Has anyone in the PNW seen this on your loquats? Some kind of little larva/caterpillar that moves in “inchworm” fashion, it killed two new leaves, apparently by tunneling in the central vein before the leaves unfurled.
It got squished. So far it’s the only one I’ve seen. Maybe @LarryGene has an ID?
When I was checking all the other trees for them, came across a guardian in this one. No one is gonna lay their eggs in this leaf!
Where is the tree in the International District?
611 8th Ave South
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Thank you!
I’ve never actually been. Do you live in Seattle? Someone sent me a couple seedlings from the Seattle tree and they are current growing happily in front of my property.