The Tropical Fruit Forum

Thanks for posting this, Brad.

My experience is the same as Oolie's, in terms of taste and color in summer passionfruit compared to other seasons.

You might be interested in some of the observations of Bob Bergh, who ran the avocado breeding program of the University of California for decades. (The first paragraph deals with speeding up the fruit production of seedlings, and the second paragraph is about how many years it usually takes for seedlings to produce.)

"Perhaps the greatest problem of the avocado breeder is the length of time required, in conjunction with the large amount of space required. There are 2 ways that we are going at this problem of shortening the juvenility stage. One is to graft the seedlings onto large plants. This is an idea that we thought about vaguely and I finally was stimulated to try in a visit to Israel 2 years ago when I saw it in operation there. Often you can get fruiting the year after you graft or at least 2 years afterwards.

"The other way is to breed for more precocious seedlings. The new 'Pinkerton' variety is astonishingly precocious for us and it will be the basis of this precocity breeding. In California we say that the earliest cultivars will come into production in maybe 3 years with a few fruits and more in the fourth and fifth years. Seedlings come in maybe the fifth or sixth year and more in the eighth and ninth year. After 10 years we drop it. Seedlings of 'Pinkerton' have the remarkable ability to start bearing the second year from planting as seedlings. The little seedling is seemingly barely up, as we don't get as much growth in 2 years in California as in Florida or the more tropical areas, and can have maybe 20 or 30 fruits on it. This is just turning up now. The first fruiting is this year because we didn't know about the 'Pinkerton' until 2 years ago."

This is taken from: http://www.avocadosource.com/Journals/ITFSC/PROC_1976_PG_36-42.pdf

Which tests are those? Maybe they're more recent than what I've seen.

I looked into the leafminer and imidacloprid issue some years ago because I was sick of one of my citrus trees getting attacked so badly. I wrote about it here: http://gregalder.com/yardposts/dont-spray-for-citrus-leafminers/

But the essence is that I read that soil drenches are said to translocate into flowers and harm bees. The University of California's webpage for imidacloprid says this: "Imidacloprid applied as a soil treatment can move up into flowers to injure or kill bees, other pollinators and beneficial insects." (The page: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/TOOLS/PNAI/pnaishow.php?id=42)

But maybe I'm not understanding it correctly, or maybe it's wrong or outdated?

Low of 28 for me too. Plenty of frost. Some leaf damage on bananas and new flush of avocados.

I don't have an answer, but as commiseration: Many of my citrus trees look most yellow this time of year, every year. I'm in SD County and I also mulch most of my trees heavily with wood chips. I no longer worry about it because they always green up well in spring and produce fine. Maybe your Page will too, on its own.

Absolutely. That's not what I meant to imply. Only that this isn't the first time that antibiotics are being approved for use on tree crops. Previous administrations/EPAs approved the use on apples and pears long ago (I don't recall which or exactly when).

Matt,
If your goal is a Hass-like avocado and you want to keep the tree to 15 feet, maybe you should just plant a Hass. I have a Hass that I keep to 15 feet, and it's easily done. I'm certain you can manage it.

I pay $6.71 per hundred cubic feet (748 gallons), and I put almost 3,000 gallons on a 14-foot Hass last year (not including rain) that gave me 156 avocados. The tree's average production is a little lower overall, but if it's 100 per year then that would be around $0.27 per avocado in water cost. And water is pretty much the only cost.

I made up a table to help us water avocado trees efficiently and effectively in California. I put a lot of thought into it. So I thought I should share it here. I'd also love to hear feedback if you think I missed anything important or if you find that your gallons and frequencies are far different. Remember though, that I'm not saying this is a table everyone should follow; it's just for reference to get started homing in on the gallons and frequencies that are ideal for your situation.

I remember wishing something like this existed when I first started growing avocados, but finding that the tables made by farm advisors weren't very accurate or easy to apply for backyard growers like us.

Anyway, here's some explanation about the table: http://gregalder.com/yardposts/how-much-and-how-often-to-water-avocado-trees-in-california/

And here's the table:

I see what you mean now. Yeah, that's irritating. My Reed actually stood up on its own before some of my other avocado trees. It seems to depend more on the individual tree and its training in the nursery more than the variety, in my experience.

You can stake it, especially with two stakes on either side. I can attach some photos if you'd like. You can also do some pruning. I tend to do a combination of both if necessary because I get impatient. I hate trees that can't stand up on their own after no more than a year of staking, max.

About Holiday:
I'm not sure why Julie Frink mentions it as one to plant if you have a small space in your yard, except that the tree is very small. I've never known a Holiday tree that is very productive, especially compared to some other smallish avocado trees like Pinkerton or Gwen. My suggestion to someone with a small space would be to grow one of those or a Reed or Lamb, and use your pruning shears to keep it to size. You're guaranteed to get more fruit that way. And isn't the fruit the reason to grow an avocado tree?

Yes, the eating seasons are similar among the Reed, Holiday, and Nabal. But some other qualities are dissimilar.

Fruit of all three taste excellent to me. But a slight nod would have to go to the Reed and Nabal over the Holiday. That's just my taste though.

If I were choosing to grow a Nabal or a Holiday, I would grow a Nabal provided I had the space to let it get at least 12 feet. Nabal is more productive from the trees I have and the trees I've seen. The only downsides of Nabal I've noticed are that it gets thrips damage (which is only superficially ugly) and its skin is thick like a shell so you do have to learn to judge its ripeness by toothpicking into the stem or another technique.

Bush2beach,

I am in San Diego county and my experiences align with your perspective on mulching for the most part. I've never seen a citrus grove that adds much around here though. They don't remove leaves, but neither do they truck in wood chips, for example. When I've asked they say they know it's a good thing but it's too expensive.  I'm wondering if you can guide me to a commercial grove that mulches in our area. I'd like to check it out.