medlar
Many lovers of gardening and floriculture know such an ornamental plant as homemade medlar. This is a tropical culture, the climate of mid-latitudes is not suitable for it, but it is quite possible to grow exotic from a stone in a pot on a balcony or loggia. What species exist, how to breed and properly care for a seedling, what properties the fruits have - all information about the plant is collected in the material.
Content:
- What is medlar
- What does the plant and its fruits look like?
- Types of garden medlar
- Growing a seedling in open ground
- Plant propagation
- How to grow exotic from seed
- Plant care indoors
- Diseases and pests
- Popular varieties
- The chemical composition of ezgil fruits
- The benefits and harms of eating a strange fruit
- Uses of cup tree fruits
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What is medlar
An evergreen plant in the form of a tree or shrub from the Rosaceae family, a fairly close relative of the apple tree (Apple subfamily). The birthplace of the medlar is Southeast Asia - India, China, Japan. In these countries, it grows on the mountain slopes in the form of dense thickets.
Cup tree - a tree typical of tropical latitudes
It also grows well on the Black Sea coast - in the subtropical regions of the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, in the Crimea, as well as in the USA, Italy, Australia, Israel. In each locality and culture, the plant acquired its own name. So, medlar is also called ezgil, a cup or tea tree, shesek, eriobothria or Japanese winter flower in a different way.
Interesting. In China, the plant was called "pipa" because of its similarity with the 4-stringed lute-like musical instrument of the same name, and in the Caucasus and Crimea it is called a cone.
As a house plant, Japanese medlar or loquat is usually bred, which is an ornamental low fruit-bearing tree. This unpretentious house plant is often found in offices, schools, social facilities.
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Under natural conditions, a tea tree can reach 8 meters, but when breeding, it is rarely possible to grow a specimen above 150–200 cm. Crown rounded, becoming tent-shaped with age. The twisted trunk is covered with brown rough bark, in the natural environment there are thorns, ornamental plants are deprived of this rudiment.
Leaves oval or oblong, large (20 cm long and 7–8 cm wide), leathery, rich green in color. They have a short stalk or sessile. The foliage is glossy on top and velvety on the back. Shoots are fluffy.
flowers both sexes can be white or creamy yellow in color, have a pronounced aroma, vaguely reminiscent of the smell of almonds. The size of the flower is small - up to 2 cm in diameter. In one panicle-shaped inflorescence, similar to bird cherry, there are up to 80 flowers. Eriobothria blooms from November to December, and the fruiting period falls on May-June.
Interesting. Cup tree flowers are used in perfumery to create citrus scents.Among the most popular perfumes with notes of medlar are Missoni Colori Arancio, Lili Bermuda Calypso and Elizabeth Arden Sunflowers Sunlight Kiss.
Ovary formed by self-pollination and cross-pollination. The tree gives the main harvest at the age of 6–7 to 40 years.
Fruit round or pear-shaped, the size of a five-kopeck coin, bright orange, depending on the variety, they look like apples or apricot, with several (most often three) large seeds inside. The pulp looks like an apricot, slightly sour, with a taste pears and cherries. Inside the fruit from 1 to 8 large brownish bones.
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Types of garden medlar
Not all types of eriobotria are popular with breeders
There are about 30 types of Eriobothria in the world, but there are three most popular among houseplant breeders:
- Japanese
- Germanic
- grayish (Stern)
Japanese loquat
Japanese medlar or loquat (Chinese, Maltese plum) - grows naturally in China and Japan. It is rather problematic to grow in open ground conditions due to the high demands of the plant on the temperature regime and the frequency of watering. Withstands temperatures down to -20 degrees, then the aerial part dies.
Japanese loquat in the open field does not take root well, but grows well and bears fruit in a temperate hot climate.
Japanese loquat in the open field does not take root well, but grows well and bears fruit in a temperate hot climate.
A characteristic feature of the species is larger, wrinkled leaves. The main flowering period is from September to March. Fruiting takes place in June and, as a rule, has a plentiful character - up to 8 orange large fruits in a bunch. The taste of loquat fruits resembles a mixture of pears, cherries and strawberries with a noticeable sourness.
Germanic Eriobothria
Germanic or ordinary ezgil is considered an ornamental plant, it grows no higher than 3 meters. The name of the variety was due to the fact that the Greeks from Asia brought the medlar to the German lands. It is an unpretentious and frost-resistant tree.
The fruits of Germanic eriobothria are hard, tough and look like quince or paradise apples.
In May, white single flowers appear, then turn pink and begin to exude a persistent aroma that attracts pollinating insects. The leaves are bright green, changing color to burgundy in autumn. The fruiting of the species occurs in November. For comfortable growth of Germanic Eriobothria, warm winters and cool summers are needed.
The fruits are hard, brownish, unlike other varieties in appearance and taste, they are more reminiscent of a combination of apple and quince. The taste of ripe fruits is not very pleasant, but after storage in the freezer or refrigerator for 3-4 months, the taste improves markedly.
Grayish variety of cup tree
Eriobothria Stern flowers
Medlar Stern or grayish (the species was discovered in 1990) is a large deciduous shrub, but may also look like a small tree.
The flowers are white and appear in late spring. The fruits resemble leathery reddish apples 3 cm in size.
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German Eriobothria is suitable for planting in open ground, as it is more frost-resistant, tenacious and unpretentious. A plant should be planted already significantly grown up with a height of 30 cm or more.The place on the site must be chosen carefully - the survival rate of Eriobothria depends on this.
The right choice of a place for planting a tree is the key to a bountiful harvest of Eriobothria
The soil is better to choose slightly acidic or alkaline, where groundwater does not come closer to the surface than 1.5 meters. A shrub in a lighted corner will be well received. When planting, you should take into account the comfort zone of 1.5 by 1.5 meters and do not plant other ornamental and fruit-bearing plants nearby.
The right choice of a place for planting a tree is the key to a bountiful harvest of Eriobothria
To properly plant a winter flower, you need to follow simple rules:
- Dig a hole 1/3 larger than the volume of the seedling's earthen coma.
- Pour sand drainage at the bottom, then add complex fertilizers and a handful of bone meal.
- Place the seedling in the hole.
- Cover with a mixture of ordinary soil, peat, humus and sand, pour abundantly.
- Dig a support for a tree nearby.
- Press down the soil under the trunk and mulch with compost or humus.
Seeds that have undergone a stratification process can also be planted in open ground, but the first shoots in this case will appear no earlier than in a few years.
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Plant propagation
Cuttings are a good way to preserve the varietal properties of a plant.
There are several main ways to reproduce Eriobothria:
It will be possible to preserve the properties of a certain variety of a cup tree only in the case of cuttings and the formation of layering. In the case of seed propagation, there is no such guarantee. If you need to get cuttings for budding, then you can grow a tea tree on the rootstock of common quince, pear, hawthorn or mountain ash.
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For breeding medlars (it is better to take the Japanese variety) in an apartment, they use bones extracted from ripe fruits. You need to plant them in the ground right away, because over time they lose half their ability to germinate. If it is not possible to place the grain in the ground, then it is allowed to store it in a wet rag for 2–3 months before planting at a temperature of 4–5 degrees.
The first shoots of Eriobothria appear within 30 days after planting the scarified seed.
To increase the chances of seed germination, it is recommended to break the integrity of its shell by rubbing it with sandpaper or a file from different sides. Then the nucleolus is poured with clean water at a temperature of 20-25 degrees exactly for a day. If the stone has surfaced, it is thrown away - it is hollow inside and will not give life to a new plant. The seed can also be pickled in a solution of potassium permanganate.
Each core must be planted in a separate pot with a diameter of the upper part of 8 cm - ezgil does not like transplants. For planting, a mixture of high-moor peat with mineral additives and trace elements, common for seedlings, is used. It is very important that drainage is provided in the pot to drain excess moisture.
The depth of immersion of the stone in the pre-moistened soil is small - only 2 cm. Then the container is covered with plastic wrap or glass to create a greenhouse effect. When condensation appears, the homemade dome is removed and the soil is ventilated to avoid moldiness.
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Despite the fact that the plant is considered exotic, caring for it cannot be called very difficult, and the medlar itself is too capricious. It is important to follow the basic rules of agricultural technology, and the plant will delight the owner with a beautiful exterior and eventually a good harvest.
Priming
Zimnetsvet is unpretentious about the quality of the soil, but it will be better to grow in a neutral environment.
The cup tree is unpretentious in choosing the soil for growth; both loamy and sandy loamy soil is suitable for it. But Eriobothria feels best in neutral soil, which you can prepare yourself using the available components:
- vegetable humus mixed with soil
- sand
- leaf soil (compost from fallen leaves)
- sod land
The basis of such soil is soddy and leafy soil (the first one needs to be taken twice as much as the second one), sand gives a drainage effect, and compost serves as a natural fertilizer.
Lighting
The southeast window sill is ideal for placing a pot of eriobotria
The plant is photophilous, so it is better to choose a southern or southeastern window sill for growing it at home. Under the direct rays of the sun, the laying of flower buds of the tea tree is better.
Before the flowering period and throughout it, flower growers recommend increasing the daylight hours for medlar up to 12 hours, highlighting it with a fluorescent lamp. One adult will need two additional light sources. Illumination can be stopped at the end of January.
Temperature regime
Indoor winterflower responds well to air baths; in summer it can be taken out to the balcony
A tropical ornamental tree loves a moderately warm climate and therefore its optimal content is at a temperature of 18–20 degrees. In the hot summer period, decorative medlar should be taken out to the balcony or garden. Air baths promote the growth of the seedling, so you can also ventilate the room more often.
As soon as the night cooling reaches 7-8 degrees, the pot must be brought back into the house. Although an adult plant is able to withstand sub-zero temperatures, sudden temperature changes should not be allowed, the tree may die.
Watering
In winter, it is not necessary to water the tea tree, but the soil should not be allowed to completely dry out.
The mode of watering an adult plant depends on the season: in winter - twice a week, in summer - more often, depending on the rate of moisture evaporation. It is recommended to cover the soil surface with a layer of moss to prevent rapid drying.
It is best to water with settled clean water a little warmer than the air temperature in the room. Spraying the plant is not recommended due to the pubescence of the crown.To remove dust from the foliage, you can wash the tree in the shower once a month.
If ezgil overwinters on the balcony, then watering should be stopped altogether until the ambient temperature rises. Periodically, a pot with a Japanese winter flower should be placed on a rug with moss, expanded clay or small pebbles.
top dressing
Ordinary fertilizers for ornamental plants are suitable as top dressing for cones.
The cup tree responds well to top dressing, which is best done in the off-season: in spring or autumn, with an infusion of organic fertilizers. One of the acceptable feeding options is an infusion of cow dung in a ratio of 1 to 10 with water. The decorative properties of eriobotria can be improved by adding a little crushed dried plaster to the soil.
During the flowering period, phosphorus fertilizers should be used, and potassium top dressing should be postponed for the period of active growth.
Young plants are fertilized once a month, adults - three times during one season. In winter and at rest, Eriobothria is not fed. Once a week, the top layer of soil is loosened, providing access to oxygen to the roots.
Flowering and dormancy
The flowering of the cup tree occurs in late autumn and winter, hence the name - winterflower.
Medlar usually blooms at 3-4 years of age in late autumn or winterwhen other ornamental and fruit plants have already faded and bore fruit. In the cold season, the plant does not need to be watered and fertilized; peace for the winter bloom during this period is the basis for future abundant flowering and harvest.
Fruiting
Loquat fruits usually contain 2-3 seeds
The tea tree gives its first fruits already at 4–5 years of age, the peak occurs at 10–15 years. If the first fruiting is too abundant, it is better to remove some of the fruits, then the fruits will turn out to be larger, and the load on the tree will decrease.
The Abkhazian writer and poet Fazil Iskander in the story "The House in the Lane" described the fruiting period of the cup tree as follows: “The lanterns of the medlar at the beginning of summer began to light up with yellow lights, then they turned orange and did not change for a long time after that ...”
pruning
Cup tree needs only sanitary pruning
A cup tree does not require mandatory pruning, but if such a procedure is carried out, then the exotic yield will increase. Cut branches are used for cuttings.
The plant perceives all manipulations with the crown painlessly, which is successfully used in landscape design. At home, the traditional spherical shape of the leafy part looks best.
Branches are pruned immediately after the end of fruiting, so that the plant has time to lay buds for a new crop. Sanitary removal of dry and damaged sprouts occurs regardless of the season and period of medlar development.
Transfer
Young plants need to be repotted once a year
Ezgil is quite difficult to transplant and stops bearing fruit for this period, however, for young plants, this procedure must be carried out annually. For adult plants, the nutrient medium and the pot should be changed less frequently - once every 3 years, but the topsoil should be updated regularly.
Transplantation is carried out by transshipment, so as not to damage the delicate roots in a container slightly larger than the previous one. Best of all, the Japanese winterflower will endure the "move" after the end of the fruiting period.
crown formation
To form a shrub from a plant, you need to pinch off the shoot after the third bud
The owner of the ezgil needs to decide on the shape of the crown at the stage of formation of the 3rd leaf. If the preferred option is a shrub, then the sprout needs to be pinched. When choosing the shape of a tree at the age of 7 months, lateral shoots begin to be removed.
At home, plants rarely grow above 1.5-2 m, so in any case, there should be no problems with care and harvesting.
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Leaf drying is one of the common problems when growing winterflowers.
Under natural conditions, medlar can only be affected by plant diseases such as rhizoctoniosis and dieback. A cultivated cup tree is resistant to various diseases and pests, but for prevention, a plant in the open field can be treated twice a year with broad-spectrum preparations.
The most effective insecticides: Fitoverm (20 ml per 10 l of water), Insegar (5 g per 10 l of water) and Lepidocid (30 g per 10 l of water). From natural remedies, it is possible to carry out the treatment with infusions of tansy, wormwood and nettle.
The most common problems that flower growers face when breeding Eriobothria, and methods for their elimination are presented in the table.
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Drying of leaves in the lower part of the crown | Daily spraying, fertilizing with complex fertilizer, covering the trunk and the upper part of the soil with polyethylene |
| root rot | Reducing the intensity or stopping heavy watering, treatment with a fungicidal preparation |
| Spots on the leaves | Reduced watering, spraying with fungicides containing copper |
| The plant does not flower or bear fruit. | The period of winter dormancy is broken - you need to stop watering and top dressing |
| Flowering is very weak | Increase the illumination of the plant, timely pruning |
At home, the main pest for the plant is earthworms, which make passages in the ground and form voids. To get rid of them, you need to place a container with eriobotria in water for a few minutes.
The insect scale insect, which appears with poor care of the plant, can provoke the spread of a fungal infection. You need to fight it by rubbing the leaves of the bush with tobacco infusion and treating it with insecticides.
If eriobotria was attacked by an aphid or a spider mite, then the leaves and stems should be wiped every 2-3 days until the symptoms disappear with special solutions:
- 30 g of crushed laundry soap is dissolved in 1 liter of water, insisted and filtered.
- 5 drops of essential rosemary oil are added to 1 liter of clean, settled water.
- In the water for rubbing the foliage, a pharmacy alcohol tincture of calendula is added.
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Different varieties of tea tree have different organoleptic properties.
The varietal variety of medlar is very rich. Depending on the variety, Japanese or German, the fruits can be divided into two types: large pear-shaped fruits with soft juicy pulp and small hard apple-like fruits with a noticeable sourness.
The most popular varieties of cup tree are presented in the table.
| Variety name | Properties |
|---|---|
| Champagne | The fruits are fluffy, yellow with creamy pulp with a slight sour taste. |
| Tanaka | Fruits are orange, pear-shaped, weighing up to 70 g, with a delicate taste and fragrant pulp. |
| Premier | Yellowish-orange cream-colored fruits with slightly sour pulp |
| Comune | Small round fruits weighing up to 30 g, slightly flattened, bright yellow |
| Sales | Intense orange fruits, large, similar to apricots both in appearance and in taste |
| Morozko | Frost-resistant plant with a low level of brittleness of the trunk, fruits are large, fragrant, bright brown with a high content of nutrients |
Among the varieties beloved by gardeners, there are also: Monreale (Italy), Thales, Tams Pride (Australia), Advance, Uze-fangzhong (China), Early Red (USA).
Fruits of any variety tolerate transportation well and are stored for a long time, and the fruits of Germanic eriobothria even need to be frozen to improve their taste.
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Winterflower fruits are a storehouse of nutrients
Loquat fruits are consumed both raw and processed. 100 g of medlar fruits contain 47 kcal. They are low in protein (0.43 g) and fat (0.2 g), but high in carbohydrates (10 g).
These fragrant fruits contain 10% sugars and 7% malic acid, citric acid, vitamins A, C, almost all B vitamins, folic acid, iron, manganese, potassium, sodium, selenium, zinc, calcium, aromatic and tannins, phytoncides.
The benefits and harms of eating a strange fruit
Raw tea tree seeds contain toxic substances
In addition to a pleasant taste, winterflower fruits have healing properties. In folk medicine, fruits are used to treat:
- diseases of the gastrointestinal tract
- dysfunctions in the endocrine system
- urolithiasis
- asthma
- bronchitis
- renal colic and kidney disease
- diabetes
A decoction of the fruit has an antitumor, antioxidant, hemostatic and anti-cold effect on the human body, removes mucus from internal organs and cavities. Medlar is also used as a fixing agent for indigestion, to strengthen the heart muscle and blood vessels.
The use of medlar is contraindicated for people with a diagnosis of:
- pancreatitis
- gastritis
- stomach ulcer
- duodenal ulcer
- individual intolerance to the product
Caution should be given to young children, as well as to be eaten by pregnant and lactating women. The bones of loquat and its leaves contain small amounts of cyanide glycosides, during the decomposition of which the poison cyanide is synthesized. This gives the seeds of Eriobothria a bitter taste. Symptoms of poisoning with alkaloids from loquat seeds: shortness of breath, vomiting, dizziness.
The strong aroma of the flowers of the Japanese winterflower can provoke headaches, so people prone to migraines should better stop breeding the evergreen shrub.
Uses of cup tree fruits
Medlar is widely used in cooking of many peoples of the world.
In cosmetology, medlar is often used as a component of anti-aging masks, as well as tonics and serums. Minerals and trace elements that are part of eriobothria promote the synthesis of natural collagen and elastin in skin cells to increase elasticity and turgor.
In nutrition, the fruits of Eriobothria are used as a low-calorie product for weight loss. Their use reduces appetite and reduces cravings for high-calorie and sweet foods. Loquat pulp contains fiber, which can prolong the feeling of satiety.
The bark, leaves and unripe fruits of Eriobothria contain a lot of tannins, which is used in tanning for tanning, wood is often used for arts and crafts. Cup tree flowers are a good honey plant.
From the fruits of the Japanese medlar variety, as well as from other tropical fruits, jams, jams, compotes, desserts, and candy fillings are prepared. Winterflower seeds are used in many countries as a coffee substitute due to the similarity in taste.
Eriobothria is an ornamental evergreen plant with a pleasant aroma and tasty fruits - an excellent choice for breeding at home.The favorable exterior, as well as the agrotechnical characteristics of the shrub, make it one of the coveted specimens in the collections of amateur flower growers. Moreover, with moderate diligence and observing simple conditions, it is easy for anyone to grow a beautiful exotic in their apartment from a bone.
what is MUSHMULA? how to grow from a bone. My bush at home =)
Medlar homemade: how to grow a favorite fruit of the Japanese from a stone on a windowsill (45 Photos & Videos) + Reviews
Thank you for the detailed description of an interesting plant.! I accidentally bought a German medlar instead of a Caucasian one. I will try to grow indoors.