Loquat

Eriobotrya japonica

Family Rosaceae

TreeZones 8-10

Botanical illustration of Loquat

Loquat runs its calendar backwards — fragrant bloom in November, fruit by March — so in the right winters you're picking apricot-honey clusters while the rest of the orchard is bare sticks. The fruit bruises too easily to ship well, which keeps it a grower's privilege.

Even fruitless in a cold year it earns its spot: bold evergreen leaves with real landscape presence, winter flowers for the bees and hummingbirds, one self-fertile tree at 15-25 feet. Just teach the kids to skip the seeds. Zones 8-10, plant it where you'll smell the bloom.

Where to buy loquat — 5 nurseries compared

  • Full Sun
  • Moderate water
  • Moderate growth
  • Excellent edible
  • Salt-tolerant
  • Attracts bees
  • Attracts hummingbirds
  • None winter chill
Loquat — a print from the Plant Library collection

From the print shop

Growing loquat? Hang it.

Our Plant Library collection carries loquat — Eriobotrya japonica, print Nº 282, “Loquat.”

526 designsfrom $12.99white or black backgroundmatte poster, unframed

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Will it fruit where you are?

Enter your ZIP — we look up your USDA hardiness zone (2023 map) and check it against what loquat actually needs.

Hardy inZones 8-10
Winter chillNone
PollinationSelf-fertile

Loquat · Common problems

Common loquat problems

Pests, diseases and weather to keep an eye on.

Pests

2 problems on file

Diseases

3 problems on file

Loquat · Growing & propagation

Growing loquat

Light, water, soil, propagation and the season’s jobs.
What it needsThe details
Light
Full Sun
Water
Moderate
Soil
Well-drained loam · pH 6.0 - 7.0
Fertilizer
Light citrus-style feeding 3x/year in fruiting climates
Pruning
After harvest

Open center; thin fruit clusters to 4-5 for size.

Spacing
15 ft

How to plant & propagate loquat

Propagate
Grafted, or from cuttings/layering

Seed won't come true

Loquat · Harvest & keeping

What you get from loquat

How long before it bears, how much it gives, how you know it is ready, and how long it keeps once picked.
Botanical illustration of Loquat
Years to first harvest
3 to 5 years
Typical yield
35–100 lbs
What you eat
Fruit
How to tell it is ready
Full orange-yellow with slight give

Clip whole clusters to avoid tearing the skin

How long it keeps
1-2 weeks refrigerated

Loquat · Seasonal care & spray guidance

The loquat growing playbook

Field-tested instructions for every job loquat asks of you, compiled from university extension guidance — in the order the season brings them.

When to spray loquat

Growing season. Watch fireblight in bloom-time warmth.

While it is dormant

winter, before growth starts

1 job
ProtectionIn winter

Protect the crop through winter freezes

Loquat carries its flowers and swelling fruit straight through the cold months, so track the forecast and cover a small tree, or run a heat source under it, whenever a night below 27 F is coming. Siting matters more than any blanket: a tree in a courtyard or against a south-facing wall rides out the same freeze that strips one standing in the open. The wood itself is hardy down to roughly 8 to 12 F, but flowers and developing fruit are killed at 27 F - so a freeze can take the entire crop and leave you looking at a tree that appears perfectly healthy.

As growth begins

early spring

1 job
MulchingIn spring

Keep a mulch ring, held back off the trunk

Maintain a 2 to 6 inch layer of bark, wood chips or similar mulch out under the canopy, and keep it pulled back 8 to 12 inches from the trunk. Top it up as it breaks down. Mulch holds soil moisture through the dry stretches while the tree is filling fruit, and it keeps turf and the mowers and trimmers that follow turf away from the trunk. Piled against the bark instead, it holds the trunk wet and invites rot.

While it flowers

at bloom

1 job
What to watch forAt bloom

Fire blight: watch the blossoms while they are open

While the tree is flowering, check the clusters after every warm rain for blossoms that wilt, blacken and then hang on the shoot instead of dropping. Mark every strike you find so you can cut it out after harvest. Do not reach for an insecticide here - the bees working those flowers are not a problem you can spray away. Fire blight bacteria move in rain and on insect visitors including bees, ants and flies, and the open flower is the doorway. From there the infection runs downward into the shoot and on into larger wood, which is why blighted growth blackens from the top down.

Just after bloom

as the fruit sets

2 jobs
ThinningAfter fruit set

Thin each panicle to 4 to 10 fruits

Once fruit have set and are still small, hand-thin each fruiting panicle down to four to ten fruits, pulling the smallest, the misshapen and the ones wedged tight against a neighbor. An obviously overloaded cluster can be thinned back at the flower stage instead. A loquat panicle sets far more fruit than it can ever fill, and the fruit compete for the same sugar. Thinning to four to ten increases the size of what remains by 25 to 100 percent.

ProtectionAfter fruit set

Bag the fruit panicles where fruit flies are established

Right after thinning, slip a paper bag over each entire fruiting panicle and close it around the stem, then leave the bags on until you pick. This is worth the work mainly in areas where the Caribbean fruit fly is present, such as peninsular Florida. Paper bagging the whole panicle is the recommended defense against the Caribbean fruit fly, which stings developing fruit and ruins it from inside; the bag also shelters the fruit and brings the panicle along somewhat faster.

Harvest time

as it ripens, and picking

1 job
HarvestingAt harvest

Pick at full color - loquat does not ripen off the tree

Wait until fruit reaches nearly full to full color, then taste one or two from the tree before you strip a cluster; the color your particular tree tastes right at is the color to pick at from then on. Ripe fruit refrigerated in a plastic bag holds for several weeks. No further ripening happens once a loquat is picked, so fruit taken early stays sour permanently - there is no windowsill fix. The wait is long: after bloom, fruit takes four to five months to ripen in the spring, so let it finish on the branch.

After harvest

autumn, and putting it to bed

2 jobs
FeedingAfter harvest

Feed once the crop is off, and keep the nitrogen modest

With the crop picked, give a bearing tree a complete fertilizer such as 6-6-6, 8-3-9 or similar material. This is the summer feeding in a bearing tree's schedule of two to three applications a year: one just before or at the fall bloom, one in March while the crop is still on, and this one after harvest. Let a soil test set the rate instead of guessing high. A bearing loquat is fed two to three times a year, and the post-harvest feeding rebuilds the tree after a crop it carried all winter. Keep the rate honest: excessive nitrogen pushes soft, succulent new growth, and succulent shoots are exactly what fire blight infects most readily.

PruningAfter harvest

Prune for height and cut out fire blight strikes after harvest

With the crop picked, bring the tree back to a working height of 6 to 12 ft and thin the canopy so air moves through it. Cut every blackened, blighted shoot 12 to 18 inches back into clean wood, and disinfect the shears between cuts. On trees in their first year or two, tip any shoot longer than 2 to 3 ft to force it to branch. Where winter cold damages loquats, hold off pruning until new shoots emerge so you can see what actually survived. This is the window between harvest and the fall bloom, so you are shaping the tree without cutting off the flower buds that carry next year's crop. Cutting blight well below the visible edge is the only way to get ahead of bacteria that have already travelled down the shoot past the blackening.

Loquat · Calculators & field guides

A little help in the garden.

Calculators for the figures. Field guides for the hands-on work.

Loquat · Yearly calendar

The loquat year, month by month

What loquat asks for, month by month.

Jan

BloomSeptember to February

MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Bloom
Prune
Harvest

BloomSeptember to February

PruneJuly to August

HarvestMarch to May

What each band means

  • Bloom — flowers open — pollinators working, frost on blossoms is the danger.
  • Prune — shape it now — cuts heal cleanly and structure is visible.
  • Harvest — picking time — check ripeness every few days.

These are the species' typical months — expect them a few weeks earlier in warm zones and later in cold ones. Watch the plant, not just the calendar.

Loquat · Ecology & uses

Ecology & uses

What it does for the garden, and what it is grown for.
Botanical illustration of Loquat

Eriobotrya japonica

Loquat in the garden system

  • Understory layer tree
Attracts
Bees, Hummingbirds
Habitat
Coastal
Moisture
Facultative / average
Salt
Salt-tolerant

Fine near roads and coasts

Deer
Browsed

Protect young plants

Origin
Introduced

What loquat is grown for

! Some parts toxic — see notesSeeds toxic — don't eat them

Use
Fresh
Use
Jam
Use
Evergreen landscaping
Edible value
4/5

Harvesting & storing loquat

March - May where winters allow.

Edibility, identification, and traditional-use notes here are general reference — not medical or veterinary advice, and not a claim that any plant treats or prevents anything. Medicinal ratings record how strongly a plant features in herbal tradition, nothing more. Never eat or dose a plant you have not positively identified. More on how to use this library.

Loquat · Varieties & cultivars

Best loquat varieties & cultivars

There are far more than these — the ones below are the named varieties of loquat people actually plant.

Named varieties of loquat differ in winter-chill needs, ripening time, hardiness, and whether they set fruit on their own — pick one that fits your climate.

13 varieties

Big Jim

Self-fertile

Ripens
March-April
Zones
8-11
Disease
moderate; watch for fire blight
Size
standard, upright 15-20 ft

large juicy fruit, sweet with mild acidity, excellent fresh — A California-bred loquat (not the nectarine of the same name) with some of the largest, best-flavored fruit; self-fertile, so a strong single-tree choice, though a second variety boosts crop size.

Where to buy ‘Big Jim’

Story Thyme Farms may earn a small commission from these links, at no cost to you — it never changes what we recommend.

EtsyBrowse growers↗

Sources & plant identity

Know what you’re growing.
See where the knowledge comes from.

Botanical illustration of Loquat

Loquat

Eriobotrya japonica

The plant, at a glance.

Botanical name
Eriobotrya japonica
Plant family
Rosaceae
Growth habit
Tree · Perennial
Origin
Introduced
USDA plant symbol
ERJA3
Invasive risk
Low
Every garden is different.

Hardiness, size and timing vary with your cultivar, soil and climate.

Rooted in research.

University extension research, brought together with hands-on growing experience at Story Thyme Farms.

Explore Loquat’s sources3 reference links
for Loquat

Research from these sources

Clemson UniversityUniversity of Florida

Publisher marks identify sources, not sponsorship or endorsement.

Questions

Loquat questions, answered straight.

Do I need two loquat plants to get fruit?

No — loquat is self-fertile, so a single plant will set a crop. A second one usually improves yields, but it isn't required.

Is loquat safe for kids and pets?

With care. Seeds toxic — don't eat them Site it accordingly if children or pets roam the garden. This is general reference, not medical or veterinary advice — call a vet or poison control if something has actually been eaten.

When do you harvest loquat?

March - May where winters allow.

How do you propagate loquat?

Grafted, or from cuttings/layering (seed won't come true).

Elsewhere

Where loquat sits in the library.

Where loquat sits in the library

Fruit trees31Self-fertile fruit trees20Fruit trees for zone 822Fruit trees for zone 921All collections

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