There's no such thing as a male loquat. What is happening is that your Gold Nugget is simply very happy while your neighbor's tree is stressed, and therefore it's half the size and it's fruiting whereas yours isn't. Loquats are notorious for not fruiting for the first few years. My Gold Nugget took 5 years in the ground to begin fruiting, even though it was fruiting in the pot before I planted it. If you can't wait, then you might try girdling the tree. But it will eventually fruit, and when it does, you won't know what to do with all the fruit.

Has anyone come up with an answer to this bark problem? I'm quite sure that it is neither squirrels, birds or large insects. I use D.E. to keep ants off. This has been gradually worsening over the last 4 years and, even though the tree produced some fruit this Spring, it is in obvious decline. Would tree paint help at all (unlikely), but perhaps some sort of trunk wrap? Once the bark separates, it is difficult to imagine the tree repairing itself, so maybe it's time to bite-the-bullet.

I'm glad yours bloomed! I am growing a volunteer from my mom's loquat -- and I don't care if it fruits. I've had it nearly 8 years, but my oldest son (now 9yo) would always whack at it so it never exceeded 3-4 feet tall. Poor tree! But finally that has ceased, he has better self-control, and the tree is about 5 1/2 feet tall. It BLOOMED like crazy this past few weekd. Oh my heaven, I love the scent of the flowers. Even if it doesn't fruit, the leaves are so gorgeous and the flowers wonderful. I could go either way on the fruit, but my do the flowers smell nice. Brought back forgotten memories from my childhood of climbing the loquat tree!

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!