Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

🍴 Loquat salsa: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

• 
  🔴Dice Loquat fruit with tomato, onion, and jalapeno.
• 🔴Great spooned over grilled fish or eaten with chips.

Loquat Salsa Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh loquats, peeled, pitted, and diced
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeno, finely diced
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• Juice of 1 lime
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Peel and pit the loquats, then dice them into small cubes.
2. Dice tomatoes and onion, finely chop the jalapeno.
3. In a bowl, combine loquats, tomato, onion, jalapeno, and cilantro.
4. Add lime juice and salt to taste, stir gently to mix.
5. Chill for 15 minutes before serving.

Serving Suggestions

• Serve with tortilla chips.
• Spoon over grilled fish, chicken, or shrimp.
• Use as a topping for tacos or salads.

🛒Plant your Loquat tree

#Food_Forest #Recipes #Loquat

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🍑 How to grow Loquat from seeds

📱

🛒 Shop Loquat Trees

#Food_Forest #Loquat

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✍️ From seed to fruit. How to grow Loquat from seeds, step-by-step guide. Part 2: after germination

Continued from previous posts⤴️

• 🍑 4. Transplanting Seedlings

• ▫️When to Transplant: Once seedlings reach about 2-4” (5-10 cm) in height.
• ▫️Transplanting and fertilizing: Move each seedling to its own pot and add controlled release fertilizer (Green Magic is the best), or use liquid balanced fertilizer Sunshine Boosters after 1-2 weeks once the seedlings establish.
• ▫️Watering. Keep soil in a pot slightly moist but not soggy
• ▫️Temperature. Keep seedling warm - above 70F (21C), and protect from extreme heat over 90F (35C) . For small plants, avoid freezing temperatures during winter. As the seedlings get bigger, they get higher drought-, heat- and cold tolerance. Established Loquat trees (2-3 years and older) may take light freezing temperatures.
• ▫️Planting in the ground. You can plant the seedling in the ground when it reaches 2-3 ft tall (50-100 cm) in frost-free areas. During chill winter nights, young seedlings can be cold protected until established.

• 🍑 5. Sunlight Requirements

• ▫️Light Exposure: Loquat established seedlings thrive in full sun but can tolerate partial shade. Start seedlings in bright shade and protect from afternoon hot sun to avoid leaf burn. Once seedlings are established and new growth appears (2-4 weeks), gradually move them to full sun.
• ▫️Why adequate sunlight (full sun) is important:

- promotes healthy growth
- helps to avoid fungus and insect problems
- is critical for future flowering and fruit production

🍑 6. Fruit production

• ▫️Loquat seedlings start producing seed within 3-4 years from seed, providing adequate sunlight, warm temperatures and regular irrigation.
• ▫️Grafted Loquats start producing right away or the next year
• ▫️Fruit will develop over the winter and ripen from March through May depending on location

🛒 Shop Loquat Trees and enjoy fresh fruit benefits

📚 Learn more:

• 🟡about #Loquat
• 🟡A young Loquat tree is fruiting
• 🟡Ten best fruit trees to grow in Florida and Southern landscapes. # 10: Loquat Tree
• 🟡Loquat – the Symbol of Prosperity
• 🟡Learn more about Loquats
• 🟡10 best fruit trees to grow in Florida and Southern landscapes

🎥 YouTube video about Loquat
📁 Overlooked fruit: tasty Loquat recipes (PDF)

#Food_Forest #Loquat

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

✍️ From seed to fruit. How to grow Loquat from seeds, step-by-step guide. Part 1: planting seeds

• 🍑 1. Harvesting and Preparing Seeds

• ▫️Harvest: Select ripe Loquat fruits (when they are bright yellow color) and remove 1-3 seeds from each.
• ▫️Clean: Rinse seeds thoroughly in cool water to remove all fruit residue. Like with every fruit seeds, any pulp leftover may prevent germination and/or cause rot of the seeds.
• ▫️Storage: If not planting immediately, wrap seeds in a damp paper towel and store in a vented container with moist sawdust or moss (to avoid drying out) at room temperature (if stored a few days) or at 40F if stored for over a week. Seeds can remain viable for up to 3-6 months. Refrigerating the fruit doesn't harm the seeds, although may take seeds longer to germinate. If the seeds are slightly dry, soak them in water overnight.

• 🍑 2. Planting Seeds

▫️Container: Use a pot with a good drainage.

• ▫️Soil: Fill with well-draining, soilless potting mix (no compost or top soil). Perfect seed germination mix is Abundance Mix: peat moss (or coconut fiber) - 80%, perlite - 10%, small pieces of pine bark - 10%.
• ▫️Depth: Plant seeds 1" deep. Place them horizontally.
• ▫️Spacing: Multiple seeds can be planted in one pot or tray (with drainage holes); space them adequately. You can use so called “community pots”, then separate the seedlings once they reach 2-4" in height.

🍑 3. Germination Conditions

• ▫️Light: Place the pot in a bright, warm area with temperatures at least (and above) 70F . The warmer, the faster the germination. We germinate seeds in a "hot house" where temperatures can reach 100F.
• ▫️Moisture: Keep the soil consistently moist but not wet.
• ▫️Germination Time: Loquat seeds germinate within 2-4 weeks.

Continued in next post ⤵️

🛒 Shop Loquat Trees and enjoy fresh fruit benefits

#Food_Forest #Loquat

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🙂 This is how a young Loquat tree is fruiting

For the previous posts⤴️

📚 Loquat in previous posts:

• 🟡about #Loquat
• 🟡Ten best fruit trees to grow in Florida and Southern landscapes. # 10: Loquat Tree
• 🟡Loquat – the Symbol of Prosperity
• 🟡Learn more about Loquats
• 🟡10 best fruit trees to grow in Florida and Southern landscapes

🎥 YouTube video about Loquat
📁 Overlooked fruit: tasty Loquat recipes (PDF)

🛍 Shop Loquat Trees and enjoy fresh fruit benefits

#Food_Forest #Loquat

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

❤️ What is fruiting in March?

🍊Loquat trees (Eriobotrya japonica) are loaded with fruit right now at Top Tropicals Garden! We've started picking them and have already made some delicious preserves - you can only eat so much fresh. Loquats continue fruiting through April and May, making them one of the most rewarding, easy-to-grow, and productive fruit trees of the Early-Spring season when other fruit are not ready yet.

See fresh fruit in previous post⤴️

🛍 Shop Loquat Trees for your garden

#Food_Forest #Loquat

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🙂 Enjoy Loquat fruit fresh out of hand in early season

For next post ⤵️

🛍 Shop Loquat Trees and enjoy early fruit

#Food_Forest #Loquat

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

🏆 Ten best fruit trees to grow in Florida and Southern landscapes.
# 10: Loquat Tree.

• 🍑 Loquat tree (Eriobotrya japonica) is a fast-growing, drought-tolerant, and highly cold-hardy tropical fruit tree.
• 🍑 Heavy Producer: Loquats are juicy, aromatic, and apricot-like in flavor, ripening from early Spring to early Summer.
• 🍑 Compact and Ideal for Small Gardens: Perfect for beginners and those with limited space.
• 🍑 Undemanding: Loquat trees thrive in any soil, tolerate summer heat, winter cold, heavy rains, and occasional flooding.
• 🍑 Nutrient-Rich: High in sugar, acids, vitamins B and C, minerals, and pectin. Eaten fresh or used in fruit salads, jams, jellies, chutneys, sauces, pies, and wine-making. It's also popular as a natural sweetener.

📚 Learn more from previous posts:

• 🟡about #Loquat
• 🟡Loquat – the Symbol of Prosperity
• 🟡Learn more about Loquats
• 🟡10 best fruit trees to grow in Florida and Southern landscapes

🎥 YouTube video about Loquat
📁 Overlooked fruit: tasty Loquat recipes (PDF)

🛒 Start your fruit garden with Loquats

#Food_Forest #Loquat

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

😇 What is the best fruit tree producing in winter

• 🍑 If you answered the quiz What makes loquats different from other fruits - then you know that Loquat trees flower and produce fruit during the winter months, making them a rare source of fresh fruit when most other trees are dormant.
• 🍑 Loquat flowers are very pretty! Loquats are relatives of Apples, Peaches, Plums and Pears - they belong to Rosaceae family.

🎥 Loquats are in full bloom in our garden now. The fruit will ripen by April

📚 More about Loquat from previous posts:

• 💋Top 10 fruit you'll ever need for your health benefits: #10 Loquat
• 💋Loquat Liquor recipe
• 💋Top 10 fast-fruiting trees:#5. Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica)
• 💋Golden Loquat – the Symbol of Prosperity, and it tastes like apricots

🛒 Plant a Loquat Tree

#Food_Forest #Fun_Facts #Loquat

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

😼 Top 10 fruit you'll ever need for your health benefits:
#10 Loquat 🍑

• 
  🟡Loquat are very popular and are eaten fresh or used in making jams, jellies, pies, and fruit salads.
• 🟡Loquat is rich in vitamin A, supporting eye health. It contains antioxidants that help fight inflammation and reduce the risk of chronic diseases.
• 🟡The fiber in loquats aids digestion and helps maintain healthy blood sugar levels.

📚 More about Loquats from previous posts:

• 💋Loquat Liquor recipe
• 💋Top 10 fast-fruiting trees:#5. Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica)
• 💋Golden Loquat – the Symbol of Prosperity, and it tastes like apricots

🛒 Plant a Loquat Tree

#Food_Forest #Remedies #Loquat

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals