In praise of Loquat...again.

[Stan]

Church friends gave the wife a bag of Loquat fruit.  Good!..sweet mostly.  What a waste to see so many around town loaded. I would doubt half or more of the owners don't know they are edible..ie,"It came with the home" or "I thought only birds could eat them".

[DeeMango]

I've seen them on trees around my neighborhood. What to they taste like?

[funlul]

Not all loquats are created equal!

[gnappi]

Yeah, unfortunately owners often  let the fruit go to waste. On the positive side the homelless in the area generally find them.

Taste is hard to describe. I LOVE the sweet ones they  are as good as any fruit IMO. The tart ones are less than exciting. Some say they are like a pear, I do not think so.

[nullzero]

I love loquats, the best variety of Loquat I have tasted is 'Vista White'. Vista White is like a super sweet asian pear without the smooth flesh of a loquat.

[Stan]

Gnappi hit on them.Non cultivar tree's.. wide range from mild to sweet watermelon flavor.  Its the fact that the plain yard tree can give such good fruit that makes me re think passing on a HD plant I saw a few years ago. I'm not sure, but in googling "Big Jim" sounds familiar.
Shoot,I would have been better off then the crap Mexicola Avocado I planted. Burned on a bland one. Its now gone.

[simon_grow]

Loquats are great fruit and there is such a big difference in quality and taste between the many different cultivars and between the white and orange fleshed selections. I also noticed that many people don't harvest the fruit but the same can be said for many different varieties of fruit out there. Big Jim is a great variety.

Simon

[gnappi]

Don't forget that the leaves can be used for a healthy tea!

[greenman62]

its the same thing here in New Orleans
i see lots of trees, almost no one ever eats them
i used to eat them as a kid, i loved them.
There are some very old loquat trees nearby.

ive never had a white one
and the ones ive eaten i am guessing must be a cross between sweet and tart
they all seem to have a bit of both. maybe most of them are wild here
and they crossed years ago ?
i had fruit from 4 trees this year, and most the same
sweet and tart,  1 tree i had wasnt much of either, pretty bland and small

i have 2 trees from seed i got from California, and one seedling from  a tree in  a very affluent area
i am hoping that these will be improved fruit over the "wild" ones i see around here.
the largest one is about 10ft, i am hoping for fruit next year.

[funlul]

Loquats are not readily available in (farmers) markets. Having a good tasting loquat tree makes you everyone's friend during the harvest season

By far, the allegedly tough loquat trees are the most susceptible to diseases in my yard. After losing two beautiful nursery loquat trees, I am not buying another loquat tree. Currently growing three seedlings (1.5-2.5 ft tall) in ground and hoping to graft them next year. My only loquat grafting successes were with (late) larger in-ground tree. Grafting to smaller seedlings in pot inevitably kills them all, sigh.

[funlul]

Loquats are not readily available in (farmers) markets. Having a good tasting loquat tree makes you everyone's friend during the harvest season

By far, the allegedly tough loquat trees are the most susceptible to diseases in my yard. After losing two beautiful nursery loquat trees, I am not buying another loquat tree. Currently growing three seedlings (1.5-2.5 ft tall) in ground and hoping to graft them next year. My only loquat grafting successes were with (late) larger in-ground tree. Grafting to smaller seedlings in pot inevitably kills them all, sigh.

Well, time to search for loquat scionwoods! Knock on wood.

[fyliu]

I have to see what I have available. The fruits are still on the tree. Maybe they'll be ready in another month.

[FrankDrebinOfFruits]

I had the first handful of loquats this week from a self grafted variety of Golden Glow. The taste was like apricots and a slight orange flavor. For some reason eating them reminded me of breakfast... maybe it was the orange tang of sunny D.

[BajaJohn]

I have a loquat tree with delicious fruit in Santa Monica. Another tree inherited with the house. A friend in Culver City has a similar one that is a magnet for the local parakeet flock. They have a good orange taste with just the right amount of tart for me.
It seems strange that this "food" plant seems to survive in gardens because people don't recognize loquats as food. I've always wondered why food plants aren't given more attention for landscaping. Maybe in cities like Los Angeles they take up too many poisons/pollutants to be healthy.

[funlul]

I have to see what I have available. The fruits are still on the tree. Maybe they'll be ready in another month.

Thank you so much!!!! 

[greenman62]

i am looking for scions of larger sized fruit
preferably sweet with a bit of acid.

[JonathonForester]

I have a loquat tree with delicious fruit in Santa Monica. Another tree inherited with the house. A friend in Culver City has a similar one that is a magnet for the local parakeet flock. They have a good orange taste with just the right amount of tart for me.
It seems strange that this "food" plant seems to survive in gardens because people don't recognize loquats as food. I've always wondered why food plants aren't given more attention for landscaping. Maybe in cities like Los Angeles they take up too many poisons/pollutants to be healthy.

The argument I see cities making regularly is that they draw in fruit rats. Seems like cities could control that well enough but that's the world we live in.

[Mark in Texas]

Very popular landscape fruit tree in Texas.  Avri is gets great kudos.

[Tropheus76]

Loquat season is done here. I only got to have a few relatively sweet ones off my original on the property tree due to birds and pests but the tree is very healthy. My other one, a 'Christmas' variety loquat, got assaulted by a deer earlier in the year and completely girdled about a foot off the ground. Now I am looking to replace it but obviously too late for fruit this year. They are great trees, I am thinking of snagging a seedling from a property up in Savannah GA from a tree three stories tall on the waterfront, there are loads on the island my parents live on and no one eats them. That said I grew up there and was surrounded by them and never knew they were edible until I moved to FL.

[zands]

Very popular landscape fruit tree in Texas.  Avri is gets great kudos.

Same here in South Florida  as a landscaping tree. There are are four loquat  landscaping trees near me I will look at today.
For these  landscaping trees look for most dark yellow fruits and even semi-fermented

[funlul]

Just curious, when using fruit trees for landscaping, what do they do with dropped fruits and the resulting pests?

[fyliu]

Does Avri taste like a loquat or does it taste like other fruits like pear?

I've had ones that tasted like pear and saw others compared to orange. I kind of want to have a good tasting loquat that tastes like loquat, if you know what I mean.

[boxturtle]

Don't forget that the leaves can be used for a healthy tea!

My son has mild case of eczema and we use the leaves as a tea bath.  Every time we see it flare up we would soak him in it.  Dry,use sponge to get rid of the hair, and soaked in hot water.  I would guess a 2gallon pot.  I then fill up those xmas storage totes with 1 tea to warm bath  water.  I just let him bath in it.  It works every single time.  All the redness would go away and most importantly no progression. 

[gnappi]

Just curious, when using fruit trees for landscaping, what do they do with dropped fruits and the resulting pests?

I could be wrong but I believe "most " fruit trees are purposefully / primarily planted as fruit bearers and secondary as an ornamental.

Folks like me police the area under trees daily and the only pests I get are in the trees like squirrels and birds.

OTOH, people who move into a home and have no idea what a fruit (like loquat) is may not be as diligent removing fallen fruit as a fruit eater will and may have to deal with pests.

 

[zands]

Just curious, when using fruit trees for landscaping, what do they do with dropped fruits and the resulting pests?

 The four trees near me just drop fruit.....  the fruits rot in place seems to me