The loquat is a very forgiving plant for the Austin area. It’s not uncommon to find it growing along creeks, shorelines, parks, roadsides, and green spaces, unattended and feral. You have wide latitude when caring for your loquat, but a few guidelines will improve your results.
Your loquat will survive in the shade or in the understory, but it will grow faster in full sun.
Your loquat will survive in poor soil of all types, but it will grow faster in richly amended and fertile earth.
Your loquat will survive without fertilizer, but it will grow faster if you feed it twice a year with fruit tree spikes, compost, or the like.
Your loquat will survive the heat and the drought of Texas summer, but it will grow faster with a deep watering once or twice a week during the worst of hot season.
If you put your loquat in full sun, with its roots against hard Texas clay, and never water it throughout July, or as it’s establishing itself, it probably won’t make it. But if you make reasonable efforts to fill the loquat’s needs, you can expect a two-meter tall tree and copious fruiting in about three years.
TLDR; In the best case scenario, dig out a couple of feet around and below the root ball and heavily amend it with Dillo Dirt or composted manure. We like to have the root ball slightly below the surrounding ground level to facilitate collection of rain water, but with the root crown exposed of course (or all the neighborhood busybodies will complain to you). Then if it’s not on an irrigation system, a deep water once a week during the heat of summer will do it wonders.
Let us know in the comments how your trees turn out!