loquat planting

Mon Feb 25, 2013 4:04 am

Hey all. Exciting news! I am planting 12 loquat seeds. Got them under the light last night and going to pot the 6 best when they start growing. I am going to plant the 2 best next year and graft 1 of each of the 2 varieties next yr. It will be a nice Hammock tree and the fruit is so tasty. The alternative since they are "Japanese plums" is to graft them onto the already established plum rootstock we have growing wild but i don't know if this can be done

Mon Feb 25, 2013 4:27 am

I had a very nice "Japanese Plum" tree in my back yard until Katrina's flood waters killed it. They are fast growing and produce a ton of fruit that the local birds just love. Here in N.O. there are flocks of parrots and other exotic birds that have gotten loose over the years and have established a pretty huge population.

A neighbor had a JP tree in their yard that they never picked the fruit from. It was at least 4 time the size of mine and every evening that tree would draw the birds for an evening feeding. The noise those parrots made was incredible and visitors to my house would just sit in awe of the amount of them that flew in when that tree was in bloom.

I don't know if it will graft to the existing plum with success since I'm not at all versed in grafting, but it is worth a try to see what happens.