Author Topic: Avocado thread  (Read 183276 times)

spaugh

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #300 on: June 05, 2018, 09:09:43 PM »
Kris, that's too bad about the Holiday.  Sounds like yours is shriveling back like my own two from Green Acres.  You know something is wrong when you are getting 90-110F degree days and still you haven't been able to water your Avocado plant for 2-3 weeks because its soil is still "wet."

Brad, your pics above are lovely.  I can't help bus feel envious as too how unmolested that foliage looks.  I'd say 4 out of 5 of the new flush from my avocado trees are riddled with holes from some leaf eating critters.  1 in 5 is eaten to total evanescence - just a frame of a leaf left.  I'm organic mostly, so the sprays I'm using must not matter to these leaf hoppers. (I presume that's what's munching down on them.)  Sorry to hear about the overload of fruit leading to premature drop, though you have to admit that has got to be a "1st world problem."

Keep the pics flowing - they're encouraging through the eyes.

According to this website neem oil will work for leafhoppers if you do soil drenches. I use neem spray on my small trees for aphids.  If I had your problem I would try neem soil drench.

https://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html
Brad Spaugh

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #301 on: June 05, 2018, 11:02:13 PM »
Kris, that's too bad about the Holiday.  Sounds like yours is shriveling back like my own two from Green Acres.  You know something is wrong when you are getting 90-110F degree days and still you haven't been able to water your Avocado plant for 2-3 weeks because its soil is still "wet."

Brad, your pics above are lovely.  I can't help bus feel envious as too how unmolested that foliage looks.  I'd say 4 out of 5 of the new flush from my avocado trees are riddled with holes from some leaf eating critters.  1 in 5 is eaten to total evanescence - just a frame of a leaf left.  I'm organic mostly, so the sprays I'm using must not matter to these leaf hoppers. (I presume that's what's munching down on them.)  Sorry to hear about the overload of fruit leading to premature drop, though you have to admit that has got to be a "1st world problem."

Keep the pics flowing - they're encouraging through the eyes.

According to this website neem oil will work for leafhoppers if you do soil drenches. I use neem spray on my small trees for aphids.  If I had your problem I would try neem soil drench.

https://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html
Neem as a foliar spray regular organic regiment, but I haven't tried soil drenching much with it.  I have tried neem cake/meal, which seemed to work well on the garden in the past, but it's costly and tedious to keep up as a kind of mulch.  If one treated all the tree pots with a neem drench, I'd think it might work for the plants there, but those hopping/flying leaf-hoppers would just come from the field a few feet down.  As I walk through grass or just in the surroundings, I see 100's of these things scatter in my wake.  I think I might just have to learn to live with them.  I do enjoy turning the porch light on in the early night and zapping them with my handheld bug zapper from Walmart.

z_willus_d

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #302 on: June 05, 2018, 11:12:37 PM »
Of the three older containerized trees I mentioned earlier in the thread, the Fuerte and I believe Mexicola have set and held (to date) two each about thumbnail-sized fruit.  The Fuerte had probably 100 fruit earlier in the year, but they all dropped, as they did last year.  Besides the two larger sized fruit on the Fuerte, it has about five much smaller fruit hanging on, but I suspect they're just late to drop.  The Bacon didn't set any fruit sadly.  Here are some pics.

Fuerte:






Mexicola (or perhaps I have it mixed up with Bacon):





spaugh

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #303 on: June 05, 2018, 11:34:10 PM »
You can get 5000 ladybugs for 10$ at a decent nursery.  They would probably put a huge dent in the leaf hopper population in no time.
Brad Spaugh

zephian

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #304 on: June 06, 2018, 01:04:40 AM »
My gardens getting chewed up too. Birds, bugs, some thing eating my pepper plant tops. The whole shebang. Neem and peppermint oil aren't cutting it. :(
« Last Edit: June 06, 2018, 02:10:15 PM by zephian »
-Kris

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #305 on: June 06, 2018, 11:17:18 AM »
Sorry to hear that Kris.  They have destroyed my small eggplant, damaged the peppers, but they leave the tomatoes alone.  I've not had this much of an issue on the eggplant in the past.  Here's a pic of about half of my tomato plants.  They were slow to start this year, but the cooler early Spring helped with fruit set and growth.  Thrips are usually the main pest for the tomatoes (they destroy flowers); and, of course, the various races of F and V in this area.  For aphids, I've had good results with sequential applications of a Neem-related(azadirachtin) product, AzaMax.  It's slow to work, but once it kicks in they don't recover for a couple months.  I find the soaps and oils tend to damage the leaf foliage of annuals.  I hope your garden pulls through.



zephian

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #306 on: June 06, 2018, 02:12:05 PM »
Have you had any success rejuvenating your avocados?
I'm contemplating removing my holiday from its pot and letting the root ball dry out a bit. I've read that this has had some success in the past for people.
-Kris

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #307 on: June 06, 2018, 03:04:04 PM »
Kris- the jury is still out on the the outcome of my rejuvenation efforts.  First (2 weeks or so back), I actually "re-potted" all seven of my RootBuilderII [expandable container] housed avocado trees.  I amended the peat/cocohull heavy soil/grow-medium with Decomposed Granite.  While doing this, I kind of ripped up the roots, which were showing a lot of rot.  I assume that process wasn't easy on the plants.  This past weekend, I tried the Hydrogen Peroxide "drench" that LaidBackDood suggested.  Next time I pull one of these plants, it's to toss it in the garbage.  I'd like to know if your exposing the roots to air helps.  Seems like it would cause the outer roots to die back, but maybe that's a salve for the impending rot.

spaugh

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #308 on: June 06, 2018, 04:45:23 PM »
These avocados that are struggling for you guys, are they getting 8+ hrs of sun?  Are they in full sun or shade cloth or?  Best way to get an avocado to grow is lots of sun.  A full days worth is important.  I wouldnt use any shading or shade cloth either unless its triple digit temps there.  Digging them up and messing with the rootball is not going to help.
Brad Spaugh

zephian

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #309 on: June 06, 2018, 06:07:55 PM »
I'm 100% sure My holiday was over watered. It was doing fantastic until my wife started watering in the mornings as we hit 100 degree temps.
Hass, and lamb-hass are still doing good and I will be keeping a closer eye on the watering they receive. I'm going to drill some more holes in to my pot for the Holiday when I'm off work tonight, I believe the holes may be a bit inadequate as I am growing some raspberries in an identical pot (Though smaller) that is retaining a lot of water too.
-Kris

Dylan SB

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #310 on: June 10, 2018, 12:11:09 AM »
Here are some Avocados that I harvested today.  From Left to right Hass, Reed Seedling, Wurtz aka Little Cado.  I have already picked a couple of 1+ pound Reed Seedling Avocados and they have a nice creamy flavor and are easy to peel.  The seed is rather large but there is a decent amount of flesh on a large fruit. Now I will need to do a taste test along with a Reed to see how they compare.  It has only taken about 10 years from planting to harvest but the tree has at least 150 fruit on it most in the 12-14 ounce size.





Mark in Texas

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #311 on: June 10, 2018, 08:36:40 AM »
Nice score Dylan.

How about 5 "rare" Reed avocados shipped to your door in a gift box?  Cost plus shipping ONLY $76.   ;D

http://www.californiaavocadosdirect.com/products/product.aspx?pid=1-48

Are people really that hard up?

spaugh

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #312 on: June 10, 2018, 10:27:17 AM »
I'm doing it wrong.  My wife has been selling them at work for 2$ a piece.
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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #313 on: June 10, 2018, 03:00:03 PM »
I just purchased two Reed from the local Whole Foods market - $3.50 each.  I've probably had Reed in the past, but I hadn't in recent years.  The avocados seemed hard, so I left them out for a day.  The first I tried had the consistency of warm margarine from the Diner plate (the one under a glass dome at room temp).  There were also small bits of something like course sand near the peel.  Overall, I really didn't enjoy the avocado, nor my wife.  I'll try the 2nd to see if it's the same.  The consistency of the avocado was very mushy and a bit too watery.  I hope these two examples are just a case of premature harvesting, since I hope to grow a Reed someday.  BTW, these were marked as Del Rey producer.

I saved the seed.  Would it work well as a rootstock, or should I wait for a Bacon or Zutano?  Anyone else purchased store-bought Reed fruit that was substandard?

spaugh

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #314 on: June 10, 2018, 04:55:06 PM »
I got them at the local farmers market in the past and they  are excellent.  Havent seen them at the grocery.  The skin is thicker than most avocados so as soon as it gives its ready.  The grit is from the peel.  If you just dont scrape it it wont come off.  They are a bit early to be selling at the stores unless they want to put people off and not have them buy more.  If you want me to send you some good ones in a month I will.  Can probably fit half a dozen in a medium flat rate box.

They are without a doubt one of the best avocado there is.  Not watery, its super high oil content by end of summer.  You will not be disappointed to grow them.  Only caveat is they may take forever to get ripe on the tree in northern CA.  A smaller mexican avocado is probably a better place to start.

Reed seeds are good for rootstock.  They grow vigorous once thry get going.  Zutanon and bacon are in season 6 months ago, I wouldnt bother waiting for them, you can always start more later. 
« Last Edit: June 10, 2018, 05:00:21 PM by spaugh »
Brad Spaugh

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #315 on: June 10, 2018, 05:01:09 PM »
I got them at the local farmers market in the past and they  are excellent.  Havent seen them at the grocery.  The skin is thicker than most avocados so as soon as it gives its ready.  The grit is from the peel.  If you just dont scrape it it wont come off.  They are a bit early to be selling at the stores unless they want to put people off and not have them buy more.  They are without a doubt one of the best avocado there is.  Not watery, its super high oil content by end of summer.  You will not be disappointed to grow them.  Only caveat is they may take forever to get ripe on the tree in northern CA.  A smaller mexican avocado is probably a better place to start.

Reed seeds are good for rootstock.  They grow vigorous once thry get going.  Zutanon and bacon are in season 6 months ago, I wouldnt bother waiting for them, you can always start more later.
Thanks for the info.  I wasn't too put off by the grit, and I could see that it came from scraping the peel too enthusiastically.  I'm familiar with the stuff, but I'm not sure if its indicative of the fruit maturity or just something you'll find.  I've not given up on the Reed, but I do think they picked these fruit too soon.  I'll go ahead and try and root the seeds for use as RS, and maybe I can leave a branch of the original to see if it survives the 10+ years to maybe set fruit down the road.  On second thought, that's probably a bad idea.

spaugh

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #316 on: June 10, 2018, 05:04:55 PM »
Yeah the grit is normal.  You can just slice in pieces and peel it instead of spoon.

You were too fast and I edited my post.  I can send some proper reeds in July or if you really want to blown away try them late August.

Several people came back and told my wife that the reeds we sold them were the best avocados they have ever had.  And they are just now getting ripe.
« Last Edit: June 10, 2018, 05:07:13 PM by spaugh »
Brad Spaugh

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #317 on: June 10, 2018, 05:24:32 PM »
Thanks Brad.  I think I saw you sell scion wood, right.  I need to order some varieties for grafting once I have the Rootstock built up.  Or maybe you'll start an online nursery business that ships young Avocado trees, and I can just purchase the finished product.

spaugh

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #318 on: June 10, 2018, 05:33:33 PM »
Scions are not a problem.  I am going to grow a few small trees to ship to people.  It just takes forever to grow them.   Is that what kind you want reed?
Brad Spaugh

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #319 on: June 10, 2018, 06:52:42 PM »
If I remember correctly in past years I have seen Reeds at the 99 cent store.  Paying several dollars or more than $10 for an avocado seems excessive.

Would prime Reed season be in September or October or do the trees drop their fruit before then?

spaugh

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #320 on: June 10, 2018, 11:42:44 PM »
If I remember correctly in past years I have seen Reeds at the 99 cent store.  Paying several dollars or more than $10 for an avocado seems excessive.

Would prime Reed season be in September or October or do the trees drop their fruit before then?

Thats probably prime time for Santa Barbra grown reeds.
Brad Spaugh

Mark in Texas

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #321 on: June 11, 2018, 07:52:12 AM »
I just purchased two Reed from the local Whole Foods market - $3.50 each.  I've probably had Reed in the past, but I hadn't in recent years.  The avocados seemed hard, so I left them out for a day.  The first I tried had the consistency of warm margarine from the Diner plate (the one under a glass dome at room temp).  There were also small bits of something like course sand near the peel.  Overall, I really didn't enjoy the avocado, nor my wife.  I'll try the 2nd to see if it's the same.  The consistency of the avocado was very mushy and a bit too watery.  I hope these two examples are just a case of premature harvesting, since I hope to grow a Reed someday.  BTW, these were marked as Del Rey producer.

I saved the seed.  Would it work well as a rootstock, or should I wait for a Bacon or Zutano?  Anyone else purchased store-bought Reed fruit that was substandard?

Not typical of Reed at all.   It's still early for them for starts.

Regarding your repotting and messing with their roots - avocados hate to be repotted.  Many times I'll sacrifice a pot by slitting down each side and carefully lifting out the rootball placing into the hole.

I've got quite a few grafts on Reed seedlings now.  Most haven't pushed yet. 



Reed is considered by many the best in the states.

5 "rare" Reeds shipped for only $76!  Get 'em while you can.

http://www.californiaavocadosdirect.com/products/product.aspx?pid=1-48
« Last Edit: June 11, 2018, 07:56:11 AM by Mark in Texas »

z_willus_d

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #322 on: June 11, 2018, 11:53:06 AM »
Hi Mark, the roots in 7 out of 9 of those pots were bound and rotting when I got them from the nursery.  How bound up varied from plant to plant, but nearly all had a good amount of brown, dead root matter.  I actually did as you described with several of the plants and cut the pot down the sides, but honestly I found that it was hard not to slice through some of the roots in doing this with my box cutter,  and it was surprisingly difficult to actually extricate the plant in this manner, so I came to the conclusion that for these root bound plants it was just easier to pull them out cleanly from the pot as a unit.  I've gotten different opinions on whether it's best to shred and remove the dead root matter at planting or go to any length not to disturb the roots.  On my initial plant, I left the roots totally untouched, but then when I re-potted, I noticed there was a kind of boundary delimited by the original pot outline and the 2-3" of expansion "soil."  It seemed the good roots were mostly trapped inside the dead.  I only saw a few good roots growing out in a downward direction.  So I decided to rip-up and remove the dead roots there.  I'm sure some healthy roots suffered with that move.  I'm still hoping they can recover.  I'm looking for the day when these plants start to draw on the water held by the soil, and I can actually begin to water them again and add that so important mulch layer back.  I've planted avocados in the past and didn't have any of these types of issues, but I think the combo of less than healthy plants and perhaps too much peat and cocohull in my grow medium has led to my issues this time round.  I'll keep at it, and try to remember these setbacks for next time.

I can't imaging I'd ever spend $75 on five avocados here in California.  Better to take a SouthWest flight down south and gather 50 at $2 a piece.  It is worth noting that they have a deal now and have reduced the price by half.  I sliced open the second Reed from WF yesterday.  It was slightly better, but still not a great specimen.  It's like they picked it early but the fruit is actually starting to go bad from age.  I'll look forward to trying a better example in the future.  Where have you been posting (or have you) the progress on all your avocado grafting there in the greenhouse?

Fygee

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #323 on: June 11, 2018, 02:25:01 PM »
My Mexicola Grande, Fuerte, and Aravaipa are all doing well, especially considering that the temps have hit triple digits here in Vegas as of last week. Solid leaf growth with a decent amount of swelling buds on the nodes. They still look spindly from dropping a lot of foliage once winter ended, but I'm hoping they'll fill out nicely.

All are in large containers, and the Mexicola and Fuerte are under a shade tree with lots of wood mulch in the containers, and leaf mulch on the ground to help add some humidity to their little microclimate.

Keeping an eagle eye on their watering since they seem to be retaining water well, despite the high temps. All previous avos I had died from root rot due to overwatering during the hottest parts of the summer.

Also planted some beans in the containers to help put some more nitrogen in the soil and soak up some of the extra soil moisture.


« Last Edit: June 11, 2018, 02:29:41 PM by Fygee »
Continuing my journey to disprove those who say "You can't grow that in the desert" since 2013.

z_willus_d

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Re: Avocado thread
« Reply #324 on: June 11, 2018, 04:14:14 PM »
Fygee, how much light are all those potted plants you showed getting in a day.  They look like they're well shaded, which probably helps with the 100F+ temps, but may stunt growth for the Avocados in the long run.  Will you be planting them in ground soon?  Thanks for sharing.