Loquat cuttings easily take a year to root successfully, most will fail. That is why most people graft loquat, or germinate the seeds.
If he has a magic trick, that makes Loquat cuttings root in less than a year, and makes it so most of the cuttings donāt fail to root, that would be a great piece of information to share.
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Iāve got some sprouted loquat seeds I saved from a grocery store fruit I bought over a month ago. So far best seed was the most neglected one, left outside in near freezing temps in shared pot with old soil. Repotted it, but still left it outside. Seems to be doing well. Ones kept indoors are significantly behind.
From Marc ā-
ā I have good results usually (around 50%) rooting loquats, but the takes are too low with feijoa for me so I graft them instead. Grafting usually works pretty well. Mark and I were working on projects together to try to find a better way to clone feijoas, but havenāt found it yet.ā
He describes his rooting method on his website.
I believe it is based on intermittent misting.
Thatās what he told me too.
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Thatās not what he explained to me. He calls them seedling plugs because they arenāt from a āpureā grafted specimen. They are cuttings from a seedling that is of mature, fruit production age.
I have no idea what size they are. Probably really small. Which doesnāt matter since they grow super fast. One seedling I planted in the ground inside a greenhouse last summer put on nearly 5 feet of growth in just a few months. The specimens I have outside arenāt too far off. The seedlings from the international district tree put on about 3 feet this past summer.
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Iāve probably already said, but Iām pretty sure that like 20 years ago Northwoods, who supplied One Green World, was selling feijoa on their own roots.
And I successfully started a seedling from Larryās fruit. Itās runted at my old place, but I should dig it up and transplant here in a few months.
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I think it is possible to do feijoa on its own roots. The technique is probably different. I think @Bradybb had some success.
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I noticed this loquat at a local park last year here in Victoria, BC. With the -11C lows we hit last winter it was quite fried. This year, so far there are flowers and pollinators. Picture from today. Iāll post any positive updates!
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Thanks Biff. I know that tree too!
Iāve enjoyed visiting it over the last 4ish years to check on and smell the flowers during the winter. I ran into someone at the park who sounded like they have been visiting for many years and only recalled maybe seeing fruit on the tree once.
Iāll also share if I notice fruit starting to form.
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Hey, the seedling is finally blooming! Guess it decided 9 years was long enough.
Soon Iāll finally find out if itās a keeper or better served as a rootstock.
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Itās always exciting to see seed turned into fruit. My 3 loquats from seeds all have good flavors and sweet. Some want it to be sour. So, canāt please them all. My brotherās loquat that I gave him, finally flowers too this year (he planted it in the worst location). It took him 9 - 10 years, while it took me 4 - 5 years.
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Did you plant the seed? If the fruit it came from was good, the fruit is likely to be good too.
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I discussed this a few months ago, this is about all I know of it:
I donāt remember ever tasting the fruit from the parent tree before so itāll be a surprise.
That is a very good variety - aka Healdsburg. I think Patrick Schafer used to sell scionwood.
I got a bunch of Patrickās varieties years ago when I was starting out. My trees are large now and I lost a few varieties to rabbits but still have most of them.
Please post ripe loquat photos when they are ready.
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I hope Iām not sharing something thatās already been shared. I just stumbled upon a video on YouTube and Iām impressed. A large and very sweet fruited reliable producer in Heidelberg, Germany, zone 8b.
The guy in the video mentioned the variety came from Brazil. I did a quick search on varieties popular in Brazil and based on how itās characterized in the video, my best complete guess is that itās a variety originating from Japan called āMizuhoā. If true, I noticed it in the OGW catalogue. Anyone growing this variety?
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It is not Mizuho, maybe a seedling, but the guy said it came from Brazil. I have contacted him before about this tree and seeds from the fruits. He was supposed to send me some seeds but never did.
I grow Mizuho and it is not the same as his fruit in the photo. His fruit is very round, Mizuho is not. Also his fruit looks larger than my Mizuho. I do like the taste of Mizuho, it is sweet and does not have the sour/acid taste he mentions so I prefer the Mizuho. I only wanted to add his seedling tree variety since he claims it is very cold hardy.
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I contacted him also several years ago but he never sent seeds and was unwilling to send scionwood.
Cold tolerant loquats are uncommon. I feel loquats grown from seed in cold locations have genetic advantages. Preferably if they are grown over multiple generations.
So far the Chinatown tree and the Bullock trees have shown good reliability.
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Doe this mean seedlings from a locally sewn seedling as parent?
Yes.
Two phenomena at work.
Acclimatization (Phenotypic Plasticity) :
- Seedlings exposed to cold during their early growth stages can develop cold-hardening traits, such as thicker cell walls or increased production of cryoprotective compounds (e.g., sugars, proteins).
Epigenetics
- Environmental conditions experienced by the parent tree can influence gene expression in its offspring via epigenetic changes. If the parent tree grew in a cold climate, its seedlings might inherit a predisposition for better cold tolerance, even if initially grown in a warm environment.
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