Probably will just try rooting it this time and go with the grafting next season.
Hi @jsteph00921,
Marc at fruitwood has been able to root loquat cuttings as does Sam at OGW. But their success rate isnât very high. In both cases, they used non lignified cuttings, to the best of my knowledge and a high humidity mist environment.
I did have a couple of vegetatively propagated loquats - both of which were propagated by air layering. But they died over winter.
My suspicion is that loquats produce weak roots when vegetatively propagated and that will lead to weak growth. Seedlings are really the best way to produce rooted plants. And then graft over them.
Now is not the best time to graft. But if you have a warm place and strong grow lights, you can attempt it.
Thanks for the insights. Much appreciated.
I have two seedlings from the much talked about International District loquat tree in Seattle, and they are quite vigorous. Such a gorgeous tree. Adds quite a flair to my garden.
Have you had the fruit from the International District tree? Iâve never had any and would like to know what kind of fruit I can expect.
I suppose Iâll just go ahead and try rooting this cutting that I have. Might not take but itâs better than not trying at all.
Whatâs your opinion about seedlings? Would it be better for me to graft some scions onto my seedling if I want superior fruit?
And if thatâs the case, what cultivar would you recommend? Do you use some kind of frost protection and lights for heat with every tree?
It is very good for a seedling and nearly as good as named varieties.
It may be worth growing out seedlings as Kaz does but it will take years ( a decade maybe) to see fruit. It is likely that the fruit is very good from a good parent.
In the PNW, we need protection to get fruit. The flowers are destroyed below about 27F. I use a fleece blanket and Christmas lights. They work well until the tree gets large. Which is why I like to keep them small.
How does the International District tree yield ripe fruit? Does someone protect it once the cold weather sets in?
Too bad there isnât a way to get the loquat fruit to ripen in fall before cold weather. If it wasnât for autumn ripening of a few citrus cultivars I wouldnât be able to get fruit from those up here.
I actually think the loquat is nice as an ornamental tree. Iâd like to have fruit from it, of course, but it isnât imperative.
Iâd been under the impression that a larger loquat tree could more easily yield fruit unprotected than a smaller one. My thought process was that the larger tree would create a canopy beneath which the groundâs heat would protect the fruit from cold damage. I have no basis for believing this other than my own flights of fancy. So is that far off base?
Thatâs exactly right. You need the right microclimate. That tree has the perfect one overhanging a house/restaurant which is heated. The bullocks tree is similar and has the ideal microclimate. Without this, none of the Seattle or even PNW trees would consistently produce fruit.
To get fall fruit, you could try bronze loquat. It is supposed to be edible.
The tree in Chinatown is so large it creates its own microclimate, and it also basically leans on top of a 2-story concrete commercial building that may be venting hot air under the canopy from a kitchen or furnace.
A small tree is easier to protect. A large tree is less likely to need protection. There may be many years or even decades to grow from âeasy to protectâ size to âdoesnât need protectionâ size.
EDIT: Just saw @ramvâs reply while I was typing. What he said!
4-6 years on the average for my seedlings.
Agree, itâs one of the tree that will get you fruit early. Itâs fairy fast compare to other trees from seed. If your weather is over 90 degree, then it will need protection for the 1st year in the ground.
I was reading about loquat bloom times and some literature I found listed bloom times as late as February. Do you know the name(s) of these latest blooming cultivars?
I found weather data for the Willamette Valley. A table listed the last freeze date in spring and the temp of that freeze. It dropped below 30 degrees for the last freeze exactly once between 1996 to 2022.
Here is the table:
Am I correct in assuming that a super late blooming loquat is the way to go? If it virtually never drops below 28 after January, the fruit would set in spring and ripen by mid summer in the significant heat we get in this area.
What are your thoughts?
All my varieties will bloom as late as March or later. Many start blooming around late summer. Almost all will have first blooms by early Fall. I have atleast 15 varieties blooming now.
Some even have small fruit by now! Latest variety that I grow is Kanko/Kando. Also one of the tastiest.
Yes, but i where can i find scionwood for that? Iâve been unsuccessful in finding it
Howâs it going?
You seem like the best guy on the forum to ask about this newly discovered âcrudâ that appeared suddenly on one of my two seedling loquats.
These are both grown from seeds sourced at the International District tree in Seattle.
As you can see in the pics, the tree on the left of my front entrance is completely fine, not a single imperfection at all on any of the leaves or branches.
The tree on the right is a different story. It has always been less vigorous than its sibling, and specifically it doesnât want to grow tall.
Worse yet, over the last couple of days I noticed this funky black growth emerged on the leaves and hit the small newer growth really hard. The newer leaves look shriveled. The larger, mature leaves have this slimy black lesions
Any idea what this could be? And if so, what treatment would you recommend?
From everything Iâve read so far the worst case scenario is fire blight.
I would not worry about it now. It appears to be fungal, not fireblight.
Fireblight attacks trees in warmer weather like spring.
Just my own personal opinion, Iâm by no means an expert with Loquat. It doesnât look serious, but most things donât start off looking like theyâll drastically affect the health of tree. IMO treat it like a plague carrier and separate it as far away from your healthy plant(s) as you can. Better safe than sorry in my book.
cut off the bad leaves, if it does the same on other good leaves, then you have a problem to solve.
Given the time of year and the fact that the only leaves affected were the young tender ones, I suspect this is just cold damage. The other one without damage is probably just more hardy. I grew out a bunch of seedlings from the International District tree as well a couple years ago and a fair number of them were not hardy enough to survive for me so there is definitely potential for inconsistent hardiness between seedlings from this tree.
This was my first guess as well! I have seen quite a bit of variation just in my three seedlings of that tree. I believe @jsteph00921 said it was around 22°F on a couple nights a week or two ago. Iâve seen some damage on one of mine at that level, though one of the others nearby showed no damage even at 16°F. So definitely lots of variation.
Seems everyoneâs presumption was the correct call.