Loquat 'Advance' available again? soonish?

Loquat ‘Advance’ cultivar is a natural dwarf growing to 5ft vs the natural 20-30ft. Its been out of production for a while and the California grower we last thought had it went belly up. But no one claiming to grow it shipped anyway.

It looks now like Onegreenworld is going to stock it in the fall. Advance Loquat Tree - One Green World I joined the wait list.

@alanmercieca

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Would it be suitable for containers? Or are loquats outside of SoCal an uphill battle? I do see it would need a pollinator. I suppose a second variety grafted would also be dwarf?

My plan is to graft varieties to it and starts some seeds in the woods out back. As for container culture Advance would likely be the best candidate for it.

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Thank you, i also added my name to the waitlist, should give me time to find a spot. One green world also had sweet crisp which we grow and is delicious!

Loquats can technically survive colder than zone 7a, yet because of the timing of flowering and fruiting that most of them have, zone 9a and warmer is needed for a crop every year, for most varieties to truly be worth growing in the ground. Yet some varieties crop/flower twice in a year, and some varieties only flower in the spring, those should crop most if not all years here, which ranges from Zone 7a to zone to 8b from year to year, I will be experimenting with such varieties.

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Thank you for the notification, one day I will try the variety I am sure, I have decided to just try the varieties that flower in the spring for right now, choosing varieties that can be planted in the ground here and still fruit is my first priority.

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Which cultivars are those that flower in spring?

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Both ‘Shambala’ and ‘Novak’ flower repeatably, people wonder if both these unknown varieties are the same exact thing.

Supposedly ‘Tanaka’ starts flowering in spring, yet it’s very hard to find info on it, to find people growing it even.

‘Rose Anne’ flowers once a year in the spring, there is an 'unknown variety that’s growing in Virginia, that I am getting, that only flowers in the spring as well. It’s most likely not ‘Rose Anne’.

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We have several large trees in the Seattle area that bloom in Spring after the frosts.
The Bullocks brothers north of Seattle have a lot of loquats growing on their farm. Two of them have started fruiting consistently despite heavy winter frosts.

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Y’all don’t get my hopes up. I’ve avoided loquats due solely to them blooming/fruiting at the wrong time. Is there a variety out there that would reliably fruit in zone 8a that is available for purchasing online? Local nurseries sell the trees, but it’s never named varieties.

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Alan, The only type I know of that blooms in the Spring is Elliptica, which is a Himilayan type that seems to be unavailable in the Western hemisphere. If you can point me to a Spring blooming variety I would be in your debt! D

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I will be getting cuttings of them, most of them are only available as cuttings right now, and they take over a year rooting time so most cuttings fail to root. Air layerings don’t root any faster. So grafting on to root stock is the fastest way to go. That is why I will not get any cuttings until at least next winter or late fall. If the seedlings I have grow fast enough.

I have seen “Shambala” trees for sale in the past, yet nothing now. If you are willing to be patient enough then I could graft some trees of the varieties that I’d get for you two , yet you’d have to be very patient.

@chadspur @Pokeweed

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Have you tried any fruit from any of these Washington based trees that you speak of?

I’ve tried fruit from 4 trees in Seattle but not the Bullocks trees.

3 of them have good fruit. One is very good and quite large.

Regarding the OP, loquat trees can be kept very small by grafting on quince. BA29c will dwarf to about 50% and quince A to 25%. Loquats also are easy to keep small by pruning

Advance loquat is an older average variety. Many other grafted varieties are better.

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Are these trees on private property?

That would be awesome! When the time comes I can trade, buy or both. Thanks much! D

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You are welcome.

I have Tanaka for 3 years now and no flowers yet. It is a slow grower but I moved it once so that hampered it’s growth. I have also unknown variety (maybe Argelino?) next to it that is a year younger and that one grows like a beast, already surpassed Tanaka and is flowering but it started in the autumn so probably not good variety for my 7A/B zone. The winter is exceptionally warm here, minimum temp only 19F so far so it’s very well possible the closed flowers survived.
Rose Ann blooms in the spring for sure, I got a plant from a good friend of mine.
So far loquats showed to be hardy enough in my locale, will provide reports in the future.

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‘Rose Anne’ has fruited in Germany during a winter that went down to 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Yet the buds did not form until early spring that year, when it was noticeably warmer. That year the fruit of that variety started ripening in June. I am looking very forward to growing that variety, to Growing ‘Tanaka’, and to growing other varieties.

As far as I know Loquat trees that are not seedlings, usally fruit in 2 to 3 years time. So even if it flowered in the 4th year for the first time, that would not be that much later.

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