Not hardy in Michigan, will have to be grown as a house plant. Fruiting in such a situation probably not likely, unless you undertake hand pollination - and that works out. If a seed-raised plant it will be some years before it is old enough to bloom.

Exceptionally easy tree to grow in a container. They are cold hardy (in the ground to about Zone 7). They tend to grow in spurts in my experience. They do overwinter for me here outside, but this year the deer really did number on them! Some evergreens are deer resistent, this is more a deer magnet! (Should recoup from the trunks though.) In a pot, indoors, try to keep cool in the winter. Also, they are very, very easy from seed if you can find the fresh fruit--sometimes available at better, Asian markets in May to June.

you might be able to keep it outside if you A) place it against a south facing wall B) You provide protection of some kind...those cheap mini greenhouses work well. However, nothing is guarenteed so do so at your own risk.

Mine is about 10 feet tall outside. I grew it from seed years ago, and it still has not bloomed yet. Perhaps this fall. Very doubtful it would bloom in a pot, but who knows?

A south wall in Michigan isn't going to help unless it's the south wall of a nuclear reactor core.
The trees in NoVA & NJ are biding their time until another 1994, which will kill them to the ground.

i have tried pushing zone 5 adrian MI ..

and NEVER in my life.. got a z7 plant to survive ...

it can obviously go outside.. june thru sept ...

but sooner or later a TREE is just not going to work in the hauling in and out aspect ...

it may never bloom indoors... for lack of sufficient sunshine ... windows really dont count for fruit production ..

and double frankly [who is frank??] ... non tropical trees dont work well indoors ...

your ONLY option.. IMHO .. is to bonsai it ... and see what you can do with it ... and if it requires winter dormancy.. that will be the though one to figure out ..

enjoy it .. have fun with it.. just dont get too emotionally involved with it ...

ken

The 1990 winter (2F-12F, depending on the neighborhood) burned them in Seattle (USDA 8) - in some cases the trees looked like they had been set on fire. The flowers occur in winter, so even if the rest of the top holds up for some years you get no fruit if the winter weather has not been soft enough. I have only had occasion to see heavy fruiting of local plantings once. I would definitely say at least USDA 9 for results fulfilling normal expectations, as in regular annual crops being produced and significant cold damage being quite exceptional.

This post was edited by bboy on Fri, Mar 8, 13 at 23:45

Even if the tree grows (and they do around here in Southern England) it is unlikely to fruit. I have seen many healthy trees here but never fruit. As bboy points out and Wiki also says 'Loquats are unusual among fruit trees in that the flowers appear in the autumn or early winter, and the fruits are ripe in late winter or early spring.' Not too promising for places with chilly winters.

Even though he'll never see fruit, they do make an attractive foliage plant in a pot for a while. But, they are small trees and will eventually outgrow the container and house, unless one has them in a conservatory.

I collected fruit from them in Florida 2012 March. When ripe they are sweet and good. I wish I could grow them here. Many Chinese Buffets have them (canned version) with their fruit.