Bronze loquat

Eriobotrya deflexa

Description

Please note:

For most situations, we would not recommend installing this plant in new gardens, landscapes, or plantings in southern California.

This plant profile is included in this site as a reference for two primary reasons:

If you already have this plant in your landscape, this information can be used to know how to care for it.
If you already have this plant in your landscape, you can use this information to learn which of our recommended plants have the same recommended watering needs, making them potential choices for grouping together if you will be adding new plants to the existing area.

In general, instead of this plant, we recommend planting appropriate California native plants whenever possible. Our top California native recommendation to consider instead of bronze loquat is toyon.

In addition to their beauty, California native plants offer the most additional benefits beyond just low water use, including habitat for the birds, butterflies, and pollinators who evolved here with them. This adds value and beauty in your landscape beyond just a pretty plant, allowing the landscape to actively contribute to the environment instead of just using less water. You can find our top recommended native plant choices on our Plant Finder by selecting “California Native” and learn more about California native plants here.

To learn what exactly California native plants are and how they are different from other low water plants, visit this link.

For visual interest or other reasons, some people may also want to mix in other non-native low-water demanding plant choices even though they do not have the same ecological value as native plants. For that reason, we feature a number of non-native waterwise selections on this site as well. However, we see native plants as the best “go to” for most landscape or garden choices! We encourage people to consider planting at least 50% of their landscape to native plants. See our Garden Designs section or visit our Waterwise Demonstration Garden in Montclair for plenty of inspiration.

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The Bronze loquat can be grown as a large mounding shrub to medium size evergreen tree, 25-30 ft. tall and as wide. It has large leaves, 8-10 in. long by 2-3 in. wide with coarsely serrated margins. It’s most distinctive characteristic is the colorful red-bronze new growth that occurs at the ends of branches in the early to mid-spring; these leaves mature to dark green during summer. Large clusters of creamy-white flowers are followed by small inedible fruit.

Bronze loquat is native to warm climates of southeast Asia and is appreciated as a relatively clean and attractive foliage plant. It is sometimes grown as a large shrub and clipped as a formal hedge along walls and fences.

Plant Type: Tree
Foliage Character: Evergreen
Habit: Upright, Multi-trunk, Mounding, Low-branching, Dense
Growth Rate: Moderate
Foliage Color: Dark green, Bronze, Red
Flower Color: Insignificant, Cream
Flower Season: Winter
Soil Adaptations: Loam, Clay
Exposure Adaptations: Morning sun, Heat, Frost, All day sun
Function: Wildlife value, Specimen, Shade Tree, Screening, Residential spaces, Parks and open space, Grouped, Foundations, Foliage accent plant, Espalier, Commercial spaces, Civic spaces, Background plant
Height: 25 ft. – 30 ft.
Width: 25 ft. – 30 ft.

Watering Schedule: Medium

For most situations, we recommend watering once per week after establishment, watering very deeply in summer, less deeply in fall and spring, and even less in winter.

See our recommendations for how much water to apply each time you water, below. Note that these recommendations are intended for inland valley areas of Southern California including the Inland Empire, San Gabriel, and San Fernando Valleys. People in cooler or warmer areas may use this as a baseline but should adjust based on local needs.

Learn how to provide 1” of water to your landscape here, and adjust to provide more or less based on the recommendations above for each time of year.

Seasonal Watering Recommendations

June – August: once per week, water deeply, applying approximately 1.25” of irrigation.
September – October: once per week, water deeply, applying approximately 0.75” of irrigation.
November – February: once per week, water deeply, applying approximately 0.5” of irrigation.
March-May: once per week, water deeply, applying approximately 0.75” of irrigation.

Learn how to provide 1” of water to your landscape here, and adjust to provide more or less based on the recommendations above for each time of year.

Adjusting to your local needs

These recommendations for Medium / Moderate water demanding plants were created for Southern California inland valley areas. Southern California areas closer to the coast and along the coast will usually be able to water significantly less during the warm months of the year. For desert areas, check with local experts to be sure plants are appropriate for the area and anticipate needing to water more.

As a very general baseline, people in Los Angeles and similar areas can try setting a schedule of 80% of the in Spring, Summer, and Fall and adjust as necessary based on observation. The difference is less pronounced in the winter months, so we recommend starting with the same recommendations as above for winter. People in cooler coastal areas such as Santa Monica can try using this same approach but adjust to use 75% of the chart recommended minutes for the Spring, Summer, and Fall months.

Important Notes

These are general guidelines. Always observe and adjust as necessary for your landscape.
If it rains over 1” you will likely not need to water for at least another week, possibly longer. Before watering again, check the soil. It should be significantly dry at least 4” below the soil surface before watering again.
It is important to group plants with the same water needs together in the landscape to avoid needing to over or under water plants when running your irrigation system.
“Smart timers” or weather sensitive irrigation controllers such as Rachio and Hunter Hydrawise are ideal for watering plants in this category because they will automatically adjust how much they water based on the weather so you do not need to reprogram the timer seasonally. Rebates for these types of irrigation controllers are available through socalwatersmart.com.

Can be grown as a multi-trunked or single trunk tree, depending on pruning. Plant in fall, winter, or early spring. Prune in late winter to early spring, just before new growth. Stem die back is often an indicator of fire blight, a serious disease that Bronze Loquat is prone to. As soon as possible after noticing, cut affected branches back, at least one foot below visibly affected leaf and branch areas to be sure the cuts are made into healthy parts of branches. The disease could be spread by the pruners or loppers themselves, so it is critically important to sterilize pruners in between every single pruning cut and after pruning. While alcohol is often used to sterilize in many situations, it is not sufficient to kill fire blight organisms. For sanitizing, mix one part bleach to nine parts water in a chemically resistant spray bottle (available at most hardware stores). Thoroughly spray all working components of pruners in between each cut. Wear clothes that you don’t mind being bleached while working with bleach based sanitizer. After pruning it is critical to sanitize one last time, allow bleach to quickly dry, and then thoroughly oil pruners and any associated springs and mechanism parts with oil. I choose to use WD-40 because it is easy to apply to all necessary parts with the applicator straw. I then use a small wire brush to scrub oil into all metal parts of the tool (which gives it a good general cleaning as well). Then I spray with one more time and wipe oil evenly over metal parts and wipe off excess with a rag. That sounds like a lot of work because it is. In general, there are many other less disease prone trees to choose from. Only plant this one if you really want it and are willing to do the work (S). References

Bronze loquat

Description

Watering Schedule: Medium

Seasonal Watering Recommendations

Adjusting to your local needs

Important Notes

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Bronze loquat

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