North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Devin Smith <dvidedevo@yahoo.com>]

I'm excited to see that loads of blossoms on my 2 container loquats are 
unfurling. I've kept these here in southern VT for the past 4 years or so, 
and they have always flowered around the "normal" time, which is early 
winter. While I've gotten a fair number of fruit the last couple of years, 
they've always been really puny because of the short overcast days during 
ripening. This year, they seem to have "adapted" to the climate by flowering 
a second time in late spring. Do any of you keep container loquats, and if 
so, have you gotten a "breba" crop too? I assume flowering is related to 
photoperiodism. Maybe the aberrant sunshine of late winter fooled the tree in 
to thinking it was winter again? They did flush with growth after the first 
crop, maybe around late february, and those leaves seem to be mostly 
dropping. I kept them in the master bedroom of my passive 
solar/superinsulated house, so they never saw temperatures much below 68, and 
got lots of sun
 intermittently on the days it was available. If nothing else, I'd like to 
figure out what kind of trick I pulled so I can pull it again. I'm hoping 
finally for some good sized fruit from these babies. 

-Devin Smith
Witness Oak Polycultures
Rockingham, VT