.....Mark in Texas, thank you for the kind words, sounds like a great idea for some kind of Glasshouse Avocado 24/7 Thread or something. I have to admit that I've always been very impressed and I've admired you guys up north with fruit trees in 'glasshouses.' During the years that I lived in Louisiana, it never crossed my mind that such a thing was possible. But, after seeing what you guys are able to grow in them, I'm now totally of the belief, that if you and others set your mind to it, that you also could have 'glasshouse' avocado 24/7. If I were in your place, I would concentrate on productive, dwarf avocado varieties, since I don't like to be bothered too much with the trimming/maintenance.
Yep, where your heart is so go your passions, and efforts. You guys are gonna revolutionize the Florida avocado industry. Looks like Carlos is the Julie Frink of Florida. The guy is amazing.
Zone 8a - I like to think we have it all thanks to plenty of chill hours and this year we must be up there around 900+, the usual being 700-800. That means we can grow the pome fruits, vinifera grapes, etc. fruits that need cold to set fruit well. Our fruits especially our commercial peaches are some of the sweetest, juiciest and richest in the nation.
Greenhouses - where most have a disadvantage here is the required money and time. (Properly designed) greenhouses aren't cheap and after paying labor to have mine erected it came out to about $27./s.f. turnkey. My
dwarfs consist of citrus on Flying Dragon, Gwen, Rincon, and Hazzard avocado and Pickering and Mallika mango. It will be a challenge to keep Reed, Sharwil, and Oro Negro in line but with 10' columns and an 18' ridge it should be manageable.
Time - greenhouses require maintenance, TLC, and the 8-5 guy with 3 kids and a wife is better off with a tropical climate and a few yard trees. You'll have disease and insect pressure growing in a greenhouse than outdoors. You also must provide for ingress and egress of pollinators. In spite of the very cold, extended freezing temps "my" wild honey bees are going nuts.
One botanical 'given' is plants require a good day to night differential to do well. I used to live in Corpus Christi, 27* latitude, and growing tomatoes and other stuff was a battle. It was not unusual for the night time lows on an August sunrise to be 82F! Bam, there go your blossoms. Hard on man, beast and plants! I retired and was working with TX A&M to put in an avocado research field study, sell backyard plants and commercial fruit until I decided to move out of that oven north. Now the trend has caught on in the coastal and warmer areas of Texas where avocado trees and other tropicals such as mangos, papayas and bananas can be found for sale in every nursery from San Antonio down south.
Good luck!
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