Loquat recommendation

[AndrewAZ]

I have one loquat in ground, variety juicy Jim.  I  am looking to plant one more and looking for tasting variety.  I had heard champagne was very good, but then I heard it tastes like a pear.  I like pears, but, I have 2 trees already.

[Johnny Redland]

Gold Nugget is Excellent

[Tropheus76]

I picked up a Champaign yesterday with fruit on it. I really liked it, very sweet. I also picked up a Sherry and the fruit was tart but good. My GN and Big Al haven't fruited yet and the big tree in my yard is so so tasting. I say go for it.

[palmcity]

Topic::: Loquat recommendation

For those considering nice looking shrubs/trees close to the house:::

I was just thinking about some of my loquat seedlings that have grown very fast compared to my other trees/shrubs. The seedlings taste good when eaten not light yellow (tart) but slightly orange. I do not water mine except when watering jaboticaba near a few of them and they survive in S. Florida climate through the dry periods. With frequent weekly watering/rain they grow fast with the addition of light fertilizer. The jaboticaba and other cherry varieties have dropped from my favored list due to the high amount of water required to get them to fruit and keep them green.

My recommendation (other than mango trees) is to consider loquat seedlings vs. other small plantings around the house if you want a tropical green look that is also a hardy fast sunblock for morning/evening sunlight on an area around the house. These trees have nice green leaves and fragrant blossoms. They are also considered a hard wood and used in Central America for posts and wood per Wiki. 

[sidney]

I have a seedling tree guven to me by a neighbor. It has been 4years in ground and still no fruit. Thinking of digging it up. Pretty 8 foot tree but unproductive. It gets regular water, is mulched and fertilized. Now sprouting new leaves.

[palmcity]

I have a seedling tree guven to me by a neighbor. It has been 4years in ground and still no fruit. Thinking of digging it up. Pretty 8 foot tree but unproductive. It gets regular water, is mulched and fertilized. Now sprouting new leaves.

My seedlings have all bloomed eventually and most by the time they were that tall. I would except it to bloom next year. I'm not sure what would be the best stimulus to initiate bloom for them. I usually water the smaller jaboticaba etc. near some of them in my yard and do little to the loquats; but I'm sure they get some sharing of the nutrients. One loquat is away from any shrubs and gets no watering after reaching 8 foot as I was considering a mango tree in it's spot. It blooms fine so maybe less fertilizer if you have been fertilizing yours a lot and getting too much vegatative growth.

Maybe someone else could chime in on getting loquats esp. seedlings to fruit.

[KarenRei]

Loquats are famous for not coming true from seed.  Some people luck into great seedling cultivars, others get trees that produce poor quality fruit or none at all.  It's the luck of the draw.

You could always top graft.

[palmcity]

I have a seedling tree guven to me by a neighbor. It has been 4years in ground and still no fruit. Thinking of digging it up. Pretty 8 foot tree but unproductive. It gets regular water, is mulched and fertilized. Now sprouting new leaves.

https://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/loquat.html
Again, my guess as to why yours has not flowered = too much fertilizer (loving it) & vegatative growth.
"Fertilizing: Loquats benefit from regular, light applications of nitrogen fertilizers, but too much nitrogen will reduce flowering."

Sidney, your close to me & climate is about the same as mine so low odds of this, but will include it::: "Where the climate is too cool or excessively warm and moist, the tree is grown as an ornamental but will not bear fruit."

[SoCalDan]

Bradenton has worked out well for us. 

[sidney]

Yep, probably not cold enough, in New Orleans where winters are much colder the loquats bloom and fruit readily, we called them japanese plums.

[FRUITBOXHERO]

Sidney, I'm in Broward County and loquats fruit here with no problem. so i do not think it's due to a lack of cold weather... just my 2 cents

[OCchris1]

We have "street" loquats in my neighborhood and they are full of fruits and we have had a minimal amount of "chill hours". Chris

[ScottR]

I have a seedling tree guven to me by a neighbor. It has been 4years in ground and still no fruit. Thinking of digging it up. Pretty 8 foot tree but unproductive. It gets regular water, is mulched and fertilized. Now sprouting new leaves.

I had a grafted Big Jim loquat that I bought many years ago and it would not bloom so I girdled it after about three years in ground, nothing happened. So the next year I girdled it again and the next year it put on a few fruit clusters. Now it fruits every year. I girdled in Autumn. Good luck. Oh, I did about 1/4" wide girdle.