The Tropical Fruit Forum
Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: kc_moses on February 25, 2018, 09:28:37 AM
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Hi,
I have a 1.5 year old Wurtz Avocado that I bought from Excalibur and planted in ground since late 2016. I'm surprise it start to flower right now, and it's about 4-5 ft tall, I'm in Lake Worth area:
(http://www.mosesong.com/house/Wurtz_Avocado01.jpg)
(http://www.mosesong.com/house/Wurtz_Avocado02.jpg)
I wanted to ensure good pollination, so I look into and learn the Avocado flowers. I stopped by Excalibur last weekend, spoke with Richard and Mike, I was told their Wurtz is Type AB. They just tell me it's sell pollination and couldn't say much. I have been google and can't find any type AB Avocado reference.
Anyone know what to expect with this information? Like there will be male and female flower open at the same time in the morning or afternoon for pollination? This is the standard chart for Avacado:
(http://ucavo.ucr.edu/Images/Flowering/Image04.jpg)
Also, to increase pollination, I saw in youtube that people spray honey water on avocado flowers to attract bees/ant, one guy even put rosemary sprigs around the tree to attract bee. Can anyone confirm if any of these will work? I tried to use brush to hand pollinate but it's impossible as the flowers are so tiny, I knock a few flowers off the stem while brushing.
Thanks!
Moses
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I would cut the grass around that young tree..
Good Luck Ed
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I already mowed the lawn and clear the base of the avocado tree. Added more compost as well.
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Some more info...looks like it's an "A":
(Guat.) Regist.1940 Orig.1935 at place of Roy E. Wurtz, Encinitas, CA. Fruit; season, May-Sept.;color, green;weight, 8-10 oz.; shape, pyriform. (CAS Yearbook 1950) Orig. Encinitas, CA, by Roy Wurtz. Introd.1948. Chance seedling planted about 1935;selected about 1940. Fruit: Mex.-Guat. hybrid type; quality good; skin green, med.thick;long oval; size 7-10 oz.Tree:production fair to good; distinctive weeping growth habit, with dense cover of leaves & sm. limbs. (B&O Register) Easily available for the home garden through nurseries. Also called Littlecado or Minicado or Dwarf Hybrid depending on propagating nursery.(J.R. Frink 2000) Origin, CA; Race GxM; Flower group, A (Lahav & Gazit) (originated in 1935 at Encinitas, CA; cultivated in Queensland for only the past12 or13 yrs.);pear shaped,sm.-med.;8-12oz(226-240g); seed lg. Season:May-Sept. in CA;late in Queensland. Tree is small&slow-growing, bears moderately but regularly. More than 100 trees may be planted per acre (240 per ha). (J.Morton 1987)
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Always ‘known’ Wurtz as an A. At least that’s what it is sold as here.
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From what I'm reading through out the forum, the "Wurtz" we have in Florida is different than everywhere else. For example, "Wurtz" is sold as "Little Cado" in California, but what we have is not "Little Cado". The Wurtz in Florida should taste similar to "Fuerte Avocado". Again, I'm not sure if Excalibur Frankenstein this avocado and label it as Wurtz because it's primarily Wurtz yet some how make it Type AB..... whatever that mean.
I have searched the forum and so far I haven't seen any result of Wurtz growing in FL, only see a bunch of recommendation to grow this variety.
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If you’ve got funky weather, some varieties are known for having mixed flowers, especially when it’s really or unseasonably warm. Can’t remember off the top of my head but happens a decent amount in California, and may be a contributing factor for why some solitary trees have a good fruit set despite not having another tree or easy pollinating partner in the vicinity.
K
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Wurtz Avocardo is type A....... Mike
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Looks like a hematologist at some point plied his trade at avocado raising
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Seems like the weather factor make sense. We do have "in between" weather here. Like the day time high is around 80F, then night time low could be the 60sF. Although, this weekend we will be in the 50F for night time low, I expect a lot of flower will die. Hopefully they will recover in March.
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KC you live in Lake Worth there are avocados everywhere. The bees will pollinate your tree. If you want another tree just get one that like. Dont worry about A or B
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Thank you all, I will report back on the progress late Spring and see how well is the Wurtz doing in our area.
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We bought a Wurtz in 2016 and another 2017 and both are flowering. One is knee high and blooming like a big boy. The lula bought at same time as last Wurtz is much bigger and leafing out.
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Just some update, Wurtz Avocado grow very very fast!!!!!! It's taller than my fence now. I went from 4-5 feet this Feb to 10-11 feet in one season!
(http://www.mosesong.com/house/Avocado_01.jpg)
It spread very wide too. I already prune the right where it will hit the fence as it's too low hanging.
(http://www.mosesong.com/house/Avocado_02.jpg)
As soon as I harvest the avocado, I will have to prune the low hanging branch as well.
(http://www.mosesong.com/house/Avocado_03.jpg)
The tree is only about 2 years old and manage to have 11 fruits handing since May.
(http://www.mosesong.com/house/Avocado_04.jpg)
Size of fruit is good too, more than 7oz easily.
(http://www.mosesong.com/house/Avocado_05.jpg)
Got my mesh bag for protection since the avocado will be ready in a couple weeks. Hopefully the squirrel will leave it alone, so is any other bugs that may try to eat through the avocado skin.
(http://www.mosesong.com/house/Avocado_06.jpg)
After putting on the mesh bag, it's easier to spot where the fruits are.
(http://www.mosesong.com/house/Avocado_07.jpg)
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Following with interest. :)
I wonder if mine will be as vigorous 100+ miles north...or if it will stay more dwarf.
What’s the lowest temperature the tree had taken?
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The lowest my tree has taken was 43F and that was last Dec, it didn't show any sign of stress. I never really have to baby this tree and it just take off like crazy.
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Home Depot in Vegas just started selling Wurtz (aka Little Cado). Never seen them for sale here before. First time I've seen Home Depot sell any avocados here actually.
Bought a couple to go with my 1+ year old Fuerte, Mexicola, and Aravaipa. I'll be very cautiously optimistic.
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Home Depot in Vegas just started selling Wurtz (aka Little Cado). Never seen them for sale here before. First time I've seen Home Depot sell any avocados here actually.
Bought a couple to go with my 1+ year old Fuerte, Mexicola, and Aravaipa. I'll be very cautiously optimistic.
From everything I’ve read it’s a very mediocre tasting avocado if grown outside of Florida. What are the average lows in your area? Been thinking about adding a mexicola to my collection as well.
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Typically lows are in the mid 30s with some occasional days in the low 30s/high 20s. Very, very rarely gets any lower than that and if it gets in the 20s, it's only for a few hours.
We had an unusually warm winter last year where we barely had any frost days and lows were often in the high 30s/low 40s.
As for it having mediocre fruit outside of Florida, it's no biggie. Right now the challenge for myself and others is just to get any avocados to thrive and fruit here. Since fruiting avocados now exist in Arizona with specialty growers, we're looking to accomplish the same thing here. Wurtz should have a higher chance since they're better suited to pots than most other varieties (which means we won't have to worry about them coming into contact with our crappy, high pH soil) and are more cold tolerant.
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Home Depot in Vegas just started selling Wurtz (aka Little Cado). Never seen them for sale here before. First time I've seen Home Depot sell any avocados here actually.
Bought a couple to go with my 1+ year old Fuerte, Mexicola, and Aravaipa. I'll be very cautiously optimistic.
From everything I’ve read it’s a very mediocre tasting avocado if grown outside of Florida. What are the average lows in your area? Been thinking about adding a mexicola to my collection as well.
Mexicola is maybe worse than mediocre. Small fruit big seed, low oil. Birds peck through them and zero in on the black fruit. Waste of space IMO. About to yank mine and put in something better. Also the mexican avos dont seem to like a lot of heat. They need cooler weather to be happy. Thry come from high elevation in mex.
Stewart is much better, larger fruit smaller seed better flavor higher oil. Still grows like crap in the heat. Not salt tolerant either. My mexican trees look the worse of all my avocado trees.
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Just picked my last Wurtz avocado today. It's quite big.
(http://www.mosesong.com/house/WurtzAvocado_01.jpg)
I was told peak time to pick Wurtz is mid November. The one on the right was picked the day after Thanksgiving, it took about a week to ripe as I did left it on the counter instead of in a brown bag.
(http://www.mosesong.com/house/WurtzAvocado_02.jpg)
The one I picked today is about 15oz. So far all the avocado I have picked are around this weight.
(http://www.mosesong.com/house/WurtzAvocado_03.jpg)
Cut open the one I picked the day after Thanksgiving. The stone is easy to remove. So far all the Wurtz avocado I open has crack line, but I don't think I let it get over ripe, so this is common?
(http://www.mosesong.com/house/WurtzAvocado_04.jpg)
The "mash test", it's creamy enough to make guacamole compare to other Florida grown avocado (I never seen Nishikawa avocado or Super Hass)
(http://www.mosesong.com/house/WurtzAvocado_05.jpg)
The skin is pretty thin.
(http://www.mosesong.com/house/WurtzAvocado_06.jpg)
I think Wurtz is a good avocado to grow in Florida, it's very productive (compare to Nishikawa), do not need other tree to polinate (Florida Wurtz is not the same as Wurtz/Little Cado in California, which require other tree to pollinate). Wurtz is also semi dwarf that grow up to 18ft, so I'm very happy with this tree. Hopefully next year I will get more avocado now that the tree has grown twice in size after this season.
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My wurst is about 3 years in the ground and was bought as a larger tree I think 15 gallon sized. Have had horrible issue with small brown beetles eating holes in the leaves. It has flowered twice, this year and last and not a single fruit set. Have been at a loss with it. Hope next year something changes. Had no choice but to spray it to kill these beetles a few months ago, but I think they are back cuz new flushes have some leaves with holes.
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My wurst is about 3 years in the ground and was bought as a larger tree I think 15 gallon sized. Have had horrible issue with small brown beetles eating holes in the leaves. It has flowered twice, this year and last and not a single fruit set. Have been at a loss with it. Hope next year something changes. Had no choice but to spray it to kill these beetles a few months ago, but I think they are back cuz new flushes have some leaves with holes.
Did you get your Wurtz tree from Excalibur? The only pest I have is Sri Lanka Weevil, which is quite easy to take care of. I just go out once in a while during morning and evening, hand pinch any weevil I found. You might want to try Sevin Dust. I was told in the morning while the leaves still have dew, sprinkle some Sevin Dust on cardboard, and blow the dust toward the tree to create a dust cloud and the dust will stick to the leaves for better control.
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Not looking bad at all. How was the taste? Still anymore fruit on the tree?
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Not looking bad at all. How was the taste? Still anymore fruit on the tree?
It tasted pretty good, I can taste the nuttiness flavor, definitely more flavorful than store bought California Hass, which could be because they were picked way too early or have been refrigerated. The texture is slightly less creamy than California Hass, but it's good enough for me as seen in the "Mash test". I'm not sure if it's good enough for Avocado pie or smoothie, but I work with what I can get my hand on. I picked the last fruit off the tree a couple days ago, and that fruit is still sitting on my counter and should ripe some time next week.
What get me excited is the possibility of having more fruit next year. Wurtz is known to be high yield so hopefully I can get 30 or so fruit next year. I will report back and keep post alive when the tree start to bloom in April.
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I hear that any variety of avocado "gets mixed up" in cloudy weather--- "can't tell the time of day"--- and opens flowers of both sexes at the same time.
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My wurst is about 3 years in the ground and was bought as a larger tree I think 15 gallon sized. Have had horrible issue with small brown beetles eating holes in the leaves. It has flowered twice, this year and last and not a single fruit set. Have been at a loss with it. Hope next year something changes. Had no choice but to spray it to kill these beetles a few months ago, but I think they are back cuz new flushes have some leaves with holes.
Did you get your Wurtz tree from Excalibur? The only pest I have is Sri Lanka Weevil, which is quite easy to take care of. I just go out once in a while during morning and evening, hand pinch any weevil I found. You might want to try Sevin Dust. I was told in the morning while the leaves still have dew, sprinkle some Sevin Dust on cardboard, and blow the dust toward the tree to create a dust cloud and the dust will stick to the leaves for better control.
I have not seen any sri lanka weavles, instead they are brown but have similar shape to the white sri lanka. I sprayed with Sevin not long ago and it seemed to subside for a bit. Gonna have to start checking tree in the evenings to see if they are back.