Harvested a shriveled up Kanko today. Very sweet at over 20 brix.
But they are regularly at this level whether shriveled or not.— sometimes even higher upto 23 brix.
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I’m very happy that you are getting fruit from all of these. Congratulations. Looks great.
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Loquats starting to make buds now! One is an unknown from Adam/Viking guy. It came as one of Sunset, Sugarcane, or Viking but I lost the tag so I dont know which it is.
The other is an old variety called Fletcher White. These have not flowered before so hopefully they will make fruit next year.
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I would recommend Argelino or Kanko as very good and reliable varieties for the PNW.
Also talk to Sam at one green world. He has been doing a lot of experimenting and collecting local varieties. He may have good specific advice for the Portland area.
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thanks, looks like OGW has just one variety. I will talk to them and see if they have others which they haven’t posted on the website.
I remember in the 70’s in New Orleans there was a loquat tree a few doors down from me.
I absolutely loved the taste of a ripe one and as a young boy enjoyed playing with the incredibly slippery seeds.
No room at my place though…
I always wondered what kind of liquor it would make…
Yes, best to talk to Sam. He may have very good local advice.
I know there is a large tree on Clinton st in a Buddhist temple that produces every year. You could get scionwood and graft.
I’ve personally found the named varieties like Argelino and Kanko produce here and are extremely good tasting. They are easy to get at mail order nurseries.
The next generation of International District seedlings have perked up noticably since the recent clouds and drizzle. They thought it was too hot and dry before, even in the shade.
Will probably split these up into 1 gal pots soon if anyone local wants a wee baby or two or three
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I’m also growing my 2nd generation loquat seedling. Yeah, 4 of them sprouted and about the same size as your seedling. They are underneath the papaya seedlings. Of the 3 loquat trees I have, I picked one to plant the next generation loquat seedlings because I’m impress by the size, juiciness, and that fact that it only has 1 seed from the fruit.
The International District seedlings will be too big of a tree for me. Look like you have a good project on your hand. Loquat trees will reward you, better than some other fruit trees.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Chinatown tree is over 80 years old.
My trees are getting around 7 years old and are still under 7 feet tall — it’s easy to keep them small with light pruning.
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I probably won’t keep any of these new seedlings, I mostly collect the seeds and germinate them just to give away. So far I’ve had no trouble finding people who want them locally the last couple years.
I have three seedlings in the ground that are a few years old. They don’t seem any more vigorous than other loquats, so I think @ramv is correct that the tree in Chinatown is only huge because it’s very old and no one ever tried to keep it smaller by pruning, not because of any genetic predisposition for growing huge.
Here are my three seedlings of that tree, starting with the one that has shown the least frost damage (those oldest leaves went through two winters already), and ending with the one I grafted with scions from their mother earlier this summer:
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From my experience, if you top your loquat trees (central leader branch) when the tree is young (5-7 yrs old), it will not get that tall or large. I have 18 in ground loquat trees in my small yard and the only trees that are large and tall (also with big trunk) are the ones that I haven’t topped the central leader at an early age. My older trees are over 30 yrs old, and the ones I topped early and maintained the height are still not larger than 10-15 ft tall.
I deliberately leave some trees alone (don’t cut central leader) when I grow them from seed because I want to get first time fruits to determine if the new variety is much better than the average named varieties.
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As far as size, genetic will play a role and how you grow them. Yeah, I toppled 2 of my Loquats due to fire blight and insect borer. They are only a foot shorter than the one not toppled. In addition, I grow them like a bush instead of a tree. The energy are distributed to more branches, therefore reduce the height of the tree. Sometime I don’t mind multi trunk or stem because it makes the tree grow less tall. I grow them tight, so a ladder is something I rather do without. You must love loquats since you have 18 of them or have a family to share them with.
Loquats are quickly becoming one of my favorite fruit to grow — high brix — often over 20, excellent flavor, and of great landscape value as they are evergreen and have beautiful leaves.
They really must be grown more in the PNW.
They do great in pots too!
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Yes, my Favorite fruits to grow and collect are the citrus and loquats. I have pretty much every variety that interests me.
@ramv @swincher
The loquat scions you shared with me earlier this summer are all growing well now. Thank you again!
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My questions were just about propagating the cutting I have of a yehuda. What do you think about grafting this time of year?
What are the odds of rooting it in water or soil?
I haven’t been able to get loquat cuttings to root in a few attempts, but Fruitwood does it pretty successfully, and they told me their method of you wanted to try it:
I don’t know about grafting at this time, it seems pretty late, but I’ve also never tried.