There are LOTS of them in the Orlando area. In my neighborhood they are practically weeds. We have frosts just about every year. There were lots of loquat fruits last year after three frosts.

Hello from Florida. Loquats are very common around the Tampa area. No danger of them freezing here either. They normally flower around late Fall thru Winter and fruit is ripe Feb thru April. I did notice one flowering in July. I'll have to follow up to see if it actually fruits early also. Paul.

I saw them growing and fruiting vigorously along the streets in Austin Texas which I'm pretty sure is zone 8.

I too enjoyed these trees and the fruit in Sarasota, the leaves remind me somewhat of a magnolia. If you can get them to grow in Georgia let me know - I'll give them a try in ALabama.

They grow great here in So. Cal.

But they don't fruit in the winter- they fruit in March-May depending on the type. Some times here the fruit gets sun-scaled if the fruit is sticking out far from the shade of the tree.

This is another one of those that is best eaten right off the tree. I have never seen them for sale. They wouldn't keep or ship well, kind of like figs. Some things just are regional despite all efforts to ship them nationally or globally.

I would not describe the taste of the fruit as like a apricot, maybe more like a pineapple, juicy with a bit of acid flavor to it.

Here is a link below to a quirky but great nursery in my area. You might should try local sources first because they can give you the best advice about how things will do in your area.

Jill

Here is a link that might be useful: Exotica Rare Fruit Nursery, Vista Calif

Thanx for the link!

I have been trying to find the variety "Tanaka".
They seem to have it! I need to give them a call.

I am in zone 8b and grow loquats. I have Advance and Big Jim and there are lots of seedlins growing in the area. Unprotected fruit is damaged by temps below 26 or 27 seven degrees and even a little higher if the temperture stays down for any length of time. Trees in protected areas or that are growing under the limbs of large trees fair better. The fruit is delicious with a taste all it's own. I would guess that they would do fine in a large container.

Ned

My neighbor has a loquat tree, which other neighbors say is 30 yrs. old. It stands 18' high, and it furits in spring. This is Wilmington, NC (z8a, very near 7b). The flowers smell pretty good, though not as sweet as in Melbourne, FL, where I used to live, and the fruit is less sweet, too. The only problem with the tree is that I can't tell the sweet fruit from the more numerous, insipid ones.

Sad day yesterday. I went home to see the damage of the winds, in the sotrm we have been having....and I found that the three major limbs I had on my Golden Nugget Lloquat had all snapped off at the junction point on the trunk. It's a 2-3 year old tree, was forming fruit nicely, and I had to cut all the broken wood at the top of the trunk. So now I have a plant that is 2 1/2 ft trunk, no branches, doesn't look attractive at all. BUT, I'm hoping you all will tell me that new branches will form, and to keep the faith. Am I right ?

We inherited a humongous Loquat tree which we brutally pruned last year and suspected we had "done her in". NOT. New growth coming all over the place AND the few branches we left (we must have pruned 70%) bloomed and fruited this Christmas season.

This is one sturdy determined fruit tree. Fret not...tho' you may have an R2D2 looking tree for a while.

I have a loquat that I planted in the ground about 3-4 months ago. It was doing fine up until I had landscapers put sod into my backyard. Unfortunately they put the grass all the way up to the base of my little tree. It's been that way up until about a week and a half ago. I'm worried because I'm not sure if the tree is under or overwatered. It started out w/ a few leaves yellowing then a few more. I still have a few solid green leaves on the tree, but not many considering it's so small right now (~3-4 ft high), but now it looks kind of droopy. Anyone have any ideas? Would much appreciate it.

We've got a good-sized one here in the corner of the backyard - in Melbourne, Florida. The flowers are very beautiful....and grow in 2 or 3 clustered rows on the end of the branches. The fruit is only now beginning to set - in Mid-February. I would imagine that most of the fruit will ripen closer to the beginning of March.

The flesh is sweet, but also a bit tart....sort of like pineapple (as described above). More info when more of them ripen! (It's my first time eating this fruit).

-David Mason

In central Mexico they fruit in September, here in Southern Australia they fruit in about November or to make that easier, just a few weeks before Cherries

Loquats grow like weeds in Tallahassee, FL and we are zone 8b. The local trees bear fruit mid-April until now. We can have many freezes in a winter.

Believe it or not they grow fine in Southern England but don't fruit reliably.

Oh: here are some pictures of the garden...and a few of the Loquat trees in the backyard.

-David Mason

I tasted loquats when we lived in southern California, and wish we could grow them here. Anyhow, I thought they tasted a lot like cherries, halfway between pie cherries and sweet cherries -- the sort of thing I could sit and eat by the quart.

Hi everyone,

i am eating some from cherimoya.com and they are good. they taste like apricots crossed with starfruit.

according to david francko, they are hardy to zero degrees, but not the fruit or flowers of course.

Scott in PA

The loquat fruit will abort if the seeds reach a temperature of 25F or lower, or so I hear.

I eat them about every year at the boundary of 7 and 8. These are mostly trees in a city and grown as ornamentals, thus protected near buildings, mainly on the south or east sides. A real cold winter will harm the crop even then, but that is when the weather station at the airport is reporting 7 or 10 degrees or so.

Some posts have said that they don't fruit in zones 7 to 8, but others claimed they do.....could it be that only female trees fruit, like persimmon?

I just planted some loquat seeds today! Wish me luck!

They grow like crazy in Houston, zone 9. Mine is in a fairly shaded area under some big oaks, so it doesn't fruit as prolifically as those in full sun. I still get plenty. My fruit is very tart. I like it and the squirrels just love it! It looks like a squirrel amusement park when the fruit is ripening. The food section of the Houston Chronicle actually had an article on what to make with them. I've saved it for next year!

Okay, I found some plants growing in the woods, they're fairly small...I'm not sure if they're loquats or brugs!! I dug 2 up, stuck them in sand last spring (that's where they were growing) and thought they died...last week, I realized that not only are they very much alive, they're branching! Can brugs be moved so violently? Or are they loquats. (leaves point to either, after searching through a jillion pics) OH, and now, Brugs are Brussel's Griffon/Pug mixes (ugh...just what a groomer needs..ANOTHER mixed breed with NO grooming standard...)

I'll post pics in a bit...going BACK into the woods to pull up a couple more and pot them. No matter what they are, they GROW!

Quick question... I am trying to get my loquat tree to flower but I think it is a self-fertile cultivar. I was wondering if there was a way to buy the pollen somewhere or if I had to buy another tree. Any information on this would be greatly appreciated.

I have overwintered it for three winters and it is thriving, I'm eager to see it flower and produce fruit.

I live in South Carolina, the new paper said that the tree will not bare fruit outside.
But I eat fruit off the tree last Spring.
I will be planting a few this coming Fall, with a Northern wall & a little shelter so the fruit will have a better change against the cold.
The fruit taste good.
I have a lemon tree too.

I live in evansville indiana and I have two loquats growing unprotected around the yard. One is 6 years old and has flowered the last two years, however, the cold killed off the buds...did get to enjoy the citrusy fragrance for a few weeks. Never had leaf burn back, and it's gotten into single digits occasionally in the winter. Also have kiwis and a pomegranate growing outside, along with a number of palms. All unprotected.

I grew up in greece (zone 9) and loquats were a favorite fruit in the whole country. My favorite! I lived in northern KY until recently and grew a cultivar known as Christmas in a pot for over 10 years. Pot was 3" across. I took the tree outside in early may and brought it back inside to my sunroom in mid November. Of course it never bore fruit but that was ok. I just loved having the tree. The leaves are so large and so fuzzy! It was beautiful. Now i look forward to getting another one. I think i'll plant it in the same pot so in case there is a freeze i can take it inside. Hope this helps someone.

It's July 2014 and my huge loquat tree hasn't born fruit.
It was giving off fruit gangbusters for years.
Anyone else in Austin having issues with their Loquat tree not bearing fruit this year?

I am from Savannah and my dad's loquat fruited well enough until a couple big tree shaded it too much. It was planted next to a brick wall, which may've offered some winter protection.

The cutting I got from him is about 15 feet tall and against my house. It blooms, but the few fruit generally freeze off (z8). A woman I worked with swore that a loquat at a local bank had set fruit. When I grilled her about the micro-climate, she says it was against a brick building wall in a protected area - a corner maybe.

I have to prune of an enormous amount of water sprouts each year. If anyone wants some cuttings for a trade, even seeds, let me know in late spring...or, just let me know.

I am on the 8a/8b line in sw Ga and have 2 generic loquats. These can stand short mild freeze periods and still fruit heavily but after a winter with deep prolonged freezes (6 hours or more, low 20's) they do not fruit. Mine are in an area that's only moderately protected.

IMO, they are worth having for their tropical look and they attract Cedar Waxwings. The downside is that they reseed freely when they fruit.

This year we've had deep freezes but not prolonged. I have no idea what they will do. They were covered with blooms before Christmas.

I don't think they need the presence of pollen to flower. I think it's a climate thing. I've seen many many trees in gardens in London where you can get quite prolonged frosts, so the frost doesn't kill them. But I've never seen any of these bear blossoms or fruit. I had one in a container for many years. I grew it from seed. I had it outdoors first but later when I moved to a different house there wasn't the space so it had to stay indoors. It grew very vigorously but never flowered in all of 20 years. Then I moved it to Spain where I now have a plot of land and it flowered about a month after planting it in the soil. The first set of flowers were out of season so didn't get pollinated but the year after it flowered even more heavily and I harvested several baskets of the things. Its amazing how easily this beautiful tree adapts to different conditions.

The problem is that it flowers during winter and in USDA 7 or lower the production is often compromised...

Here in North Italy they bear fruits depending on the years....I mean it's not all black or white, in USDA 8 they can bear less fruits than in USDA 10....but some winter can give fruits even in zone 7...few fruits, but better than nothing.

P.s.

Christmas cultivars doesn't ripe during chrismas in North hemisphere, that date is refered to New Zeland from where it comes (i guess)

40 year old tree fruits no problem in zone 8 (slowly moving to 9) Florida. Huge weather swings is what screws up fruiting either in fall/winter or early spring i.e. 80F humidity -> 32F dry.

Fruit tastes very great when you let it get an orange tint. Some varieties get very very orange. Storage sucks and you can only eat so many fresh (laxative effect). Wine or liqueur is the only way to really use it. One day I'm going to attempt that.

my understanding is that in the Northern Hemisphere blossoms form around now (late October to mid November) with blossoming continuing into December. The fruits are then ripe in April or May. One of Europe's prime producing areas is Callosa d'en Sarria which is just inland of Benidorm in Spain. The extensive loquat orchards on the gentle hillsides are true candy for the eye and if you come during harvest season countless roadside stalls sell the produce directly. They also make delicious loquat jams, preserves and several different liquors there and if you ever come to that area it's well worth making a detour. I am told that in the past the pips were also roast and used as poor man's almonds (the taste, apparently, is similar) but that is no longer done today, and not too advisable either as they contain certain toxins.

In August, andy_m_ch said ''I've seen many many trees in gardens in London where you can get quite
prolonged frosts, so the frost doesn't kill them. But I've never seen
any of these bear blossoms or fruit," and back in '04, flora_uk said "Believe it or not they grow fine in Southern England but don't fruit reliably."

There are some micro-climates in coastal southwestern England where loquats should feel especially at home, but I can assure Andy that loquats can and do also bear fruit in London (even though, as Flora says, they may not do so every year).

One July, my husband and I were staying in a hotel on the South Bank, near Waterloo Station. I looked out the window of our room and couldn't believe my eyes -- in a neighboring back yard, there was what looked like a loquat tree full of fruit! I went down to verify my identification, and sure enough. Hadn't seen one of those since we lived in California.