It's a gamble. I took seedlings from two sister seedlings, both from the same mother tree. One sister seedling had large teardrop shaped fruit that was sweet and acidic before all the way ripe and very sweet, little to no acid when ripe. The other sister seedling was medium size and round, with high sugar and high acid, just like I like them. It also had an apricot flavor and fruited 30 days after the other seedling. I took 2 seedlings from the large fruited variety and 1 from the medium fruited variety due to only 2 being available, and the person who introduced me to the owner wanted one. The seedling from the large fruited variety is just like it's mother. My daughter talked me out of the medium variety and it was just like it's mother. Her tree died the year after bearing. Although my trees were almost copies of the mothers, the original seedling sister trees were very different. Seedlings should bear fruit from 3 to 5 years. My trees were @2 years old when I got them and they fruited the following year

I planted a seedling from my mom's tree (from So. Cali) in N.Tx, about 4 years ago. This year we actually got flowers and fruit! The fruit are smaller than the one's on my mom's tree, and a little more tart. I do have to mention that I rarely ever water this tree. It has been pretty much neglected it's whole life. I'm guessing that if I do spend some time watering and fertilizing, I'll have larger fruit. The tart flavor can also be attributed to me not waiting till the fruit is fully ripe, but then I do like the tartness of it. My neighbor accross the street got another of my mom's seedlings at the same time. They babied the tree with home made compost and it is beautiful and lush, but only had about 6 fruits on it. Mine is kinda scraggly but loaded with tasty goodness! "about the size of a small lemon or lime " I would consider those GIANT!! Lol!

I'm in zone 7/8 area. Planted a couple loquat plants from Home depot 7 or 8 years ago, and moved them once when we moved to our current house. We always had problem with deers eating most of the leaves in the winter and the next spring the poor guys had to start over again. After we had our dog things have improved. Over past 2 years they gain a lot in size (now they are 7 feet and 4 feet tall, respectively) and this year, eventually the bigger one just set buds. I also started feeding them last fall and spring, and that might made a difference too. So I think the plants should be fine in Zone 8. However it will take longer if you start from seeds.

Excuse my ignorance but my visit to Harry's Mecca was the first I had noted loquat cultivars. It is a plant that grows wild in Bermuda and as children we ate them from any and every tree we found. Here they sometimes fruit twice a year, in fact are setting fruit as I type. This year at our annual "Agricultural Exhibition" a entrant bought some jumbo fruit. They were sweet, juicy and larger than any I recall seeing. As she had more than was required to enter, us other entrants go to sample the rest. Thus I am growing some from her seed. I'll let you know in however many years it takes to bear as to if it came even remotely true or not. Has anyone seed these fruiting as a hedge? Apparently they are a common hedge in Japan. No one I've ever seen has it as a hedge here. Mine might be the first? I also wonder about cultivar identification...and wonder what cultivar got planted here that is doing so well on its own. They are so prolific in the wild that I admit I find it generally odd to see them cultivated here...