Is Sir Prize avocado a good pollinator for Haas Avocado?

[Cookie0208]

Hello, any expert here can help me choose which B type avocado a good pollinator for my Haas avocado tree? Sir Prize or Fuerte Avocado?

1. How far do type A & type B need to be close?
2. What's the season for Sir Prize?

I read online that for type A & type B to pollinate, they need to bloom the same time, right?

Sorry for the newbie questions.. thanks!!

[spaugh]

Sir Prize and Fuerte are both good trees that will flower the same time of year as hass.  And they both ripen before hass.  Probably late winter or spring in northern CA.  Either one will work.  The Sir Prize is a heavier fruit setter than fuerte and a more upright tree.  Fuerte trees grow tall and wide like a hass.  The Sir Prize may need to be staked up, at least when young, where fuerte and hass will not. 

As long as you have ample bees around, if the trees are within 100ft or so of one another you should get cross pollination.

If I could only choose one of those 2 I would go for the Sir Prize for the heavier fruit set.  I think they don't oxidize as well.

[Cookie0208]

Thanks Spaugh!! But is  Sir Prize fruiting season longer or shorter than Fuerte?

[spaugh]

I guess (have read) avocados will hold onto the tree longer in a cooler climate.  By cooler I mean less accumulated sun hours.  I think the cultivator/nursery there in Santa Cruz has a blurp about that on their website. 

I don't know which type hangs the longest.  Sir Prize Hass I suppose since its a hass type tree.  But both are listed as fall to spring for so cal.  So they probably both hang for 6 months+ up there. 

Is your location you want to plant in getting full sun?  I highly recommend getting 5 gal trees whatever you decide if your spot gets full sun.  The smaller trees seem to be much happier than the 15gal trees.  The bigger trees are staked up and weak from the nursery.  The 15gal trees go limp when you remove the nursery stakes.  Better to start with a younger tree that has less of a crutch on it to begin with.

[Mark in Texas]

Even though I have quite a few varieties and a constant supply of male/female flowers all the time during the spring, here in Texas we will have the same tree crossing over, having both types, for hours out of the day.  I'm sure you folks in Cali and Fl. have the same thing?

Here's 4 males getting it on with 1 female.

[bsbullie]

You dont need an A and B for production.  For backyard/home trees, I would not be concerned and make it your focus.  Plant what you like and you will have fruit.

If you are growing for true commercial production, possibly different story.

[raiders36]

Hello CoookieMonster,

I'm from San Jose too and have all the varieties that you have mentioned. I agreed with bsbullie- grow whatever you like, whether fuerte or sir prize. Both are good. I have 3 "sir prize" avocado tree. They grow upright (fast too) but the flowering is minimal comparing to others at least for now. I have 1 fuerte and the tree looks extremely nice. The foliage looks fantastic. Fuerte branchec out in all different direction like a spider (if you have kids who like to climb tree, this is the avocado for you).

Like Spaugh said, get the 5 gal instead of the 15 and he said why too. First of all, it will also save you ton of money, and for us in Northern California. The money that you save can be use to provide some good fertilizer and medium for the tree. The tree grow really fast when she is happy. Play sand, quality compost, 1 whole bag of worm casting, Neptune's liquid fertilizer,  natural wood chips, etc.

If you don't want to worry about pollination, get the reed or lamb hass. Both set fruits like crazy meaning you have to thin a few out if not done naturally. Lamb hass can be found anywhere. The reed is harder to locate but you can have Dale Ace Hardware in Fremont to order for you. I bought 3 reed tree from this store and is very happy with all of them.

[bsbullie]

While Sir Prize is an excellent fruit, I would vote for Reed.

[Mark in Texas]

While Sir Prize is an excellent fruit, I would vote for Reed.

INCREDIBLE fruit, almost too rich.  Really needs nothing on it, so good by itself.  Reed is also self fruitful.  Used to be a commercial Florida variety.  Years ago I asked Dr. Balerdi why it fell out of favor.  Said it was too small.

Have a Sir Prize graft on my Frankencado tree (Waldin rootstock) and indeed it is a branch breaker.  Was thinking about putting a Pinkerton stick on a fine Oro Negro seedling but will probably put Sir Prize on it.  Even though quite young it seems to be a special tree.

These fruit has since doubled in size from a month or so ago.

[spaugh]

I went to look at my trees today and because of the droopy shape of the sir prize hadn't realized until now how heavy the fruit set was.  These patented trees are like mutants.  Both the sir prize and lamb hass are so loaded they are falling over.  I have 3 stakes around each one.  There are about 50 of these feuits on a 7ft tall tree.  Last year they were ready on Halloween.

[Mark in Texas]

My Sir Prize are that big.  Do they turn black when ready?  I left 4 on the one SP graft which is multi branched now.  That is probably 3 too many as like you they are heavy and bending the branch over.

You're gonna have a nice harvest!

[Greg A]

Cookie-

Thought you might like to see a study done in Southern California that showed both Fuerte and Sirprize doing a very good job of providing pollen for Hass. Here's the link: http://ucanr.edu/datastoreFiles/234-2475.pdf

In terms of tree proximity, the closer the A and B trees the better. The above study concluded that. Also, a study done in 1958 in Southern California focused on the Fuerte variety concluded the same. Here's the link to the Fuerte study: http://www.avocadosource.com/cas_yearbooks/cas_42_1958/cas_1958_pg_064-066.pdf

In general, from all the studies I've seen, a pollenizer tree more than about 50 feet away seems to have a very minor influence on yield. Conversely, two trees that are so close that branches touch or nearly touch make for a great increase in fruit set. If possible, commercial growers try to have every Hass "facing" a pollenizer tree for this reason.

On a personal note, I happen to have a Hass planted beside a Sirprize, and I also have another Hass planted beside a Fuerte. But, like others have said, you don't need a pollenizer tree to get plenty of fruit set on a Hass. My Sirprize barely flowered this spring but still my Hass set plenty of fruit.

I'd also go with everybody else recommending Reed. My Reed produces well, and I've never seen or heard of anyone with a Reed that doesn't get tons of fruit. Plus, Reeds taste awesome and complement the season of Hass. (Reeds are starting to taste really good about now in my yard in Southern California, late July.) If I could only have two avocados, I'd have a Hass and a Reed. You could cover the whole year with just those two trees.

Wow, too much writing. Sorry guys.

[spaugh]

My Sir Prize are that big.  Do they turn black when ready?  I left 4 on the one SP graft which is multi branched now.  That is probably 3 too many as like you they are heavy and bending the branch over.

You're gonna have a nice harvest!

They don't turn black on the tree but the skin may start to dull a little.  I don't really remember for sure.  I just remember having the first one on Halloween last year and it being mild but good.  The rest got eaten by new year.  Probably best to keep them on until November at least.  February would probably be about peak. 

[spaugh]

Cookie-

Thought you might like to see a study done in Southern California that showed both Fuerte and Sirprize doing a very good job of providing pollen for Hass. Here's the link: http://ucanr.edu/datastoreFiles/234-2475.pdf

In terms of tree proximity, the closer the A and B trees the better. The above study concluded that. Also, a study done in 1958 in Southern California focused on the Fuerte variety concluded the same. Here's the link to the Fuerte study: http://www.avocadosource.com/cas_yearbooks/cas_42_1958/cas_1958_pg_064-066.pdf

In general, from all the studies I've seen, a pollenizer tree more than about 50 feet away seems to have a very minor influence on yield. Conversely, two trees that are so close that branches touch or nearly touch make for a great increase in fruit set. If possible, commercial growers try to have every Hass "facing" a pollenizer tree for this reason.

On a personal note, I happen to have a Hass planted beside a Sirprize, and I also have another Hass planted beside a Fuerte. But, like others have said, you don't need a pollenizer tree to get plenty of fruit set on a Hass. My Sirprize barely flowered this spring but still my Hass set plenty of fruit.

I'd also go with everybody else recommending Reed. My Reed produces well, and I've never seen or heard of anyone with a Reed that doesn't get tons of fruit. Plus, Reeds taste awesome and complement the season of Hass. (Reeds are starting to taste really good about now in my yard in Southern California, late July.) If I could only have two avocados, I'd have a Hass and a Reed. You could cover the whole year with just those two trees.

Wow, too much writing. Sorry guys.

Someone should start an avocado thread like the dragon fruit thread so the avocado heads have somewhere to hang out.

[Greg A]

Great idea, Brad. I'd love to hang out in an Avocado thread. I'm going to start it

[Cookie0208]

Wow thanks all for the great infos!! I was thinking of buying the Sir Prize on sale for $750, I'm changing my mind to a small Reed at my locale for $70!!

[spaugh]

Thats sounds really spendy.  Is that the place in Santa Cruz? 

http://www.epicenteravocados.com

[Bush2Beach]

Yeah, 5 gallon avocado trees are $40 tops everywhere.
When I bought tree's from Epicenter they were $35 or $40 depending on duke or bacon rootstock. Duke they had to order a bunch , Bacon they just started from seed.

[JF]

Super productive but every other year I have about 200-300 this yearbook

[JF]

Here is another alternate bearer Holiday and very reliable & consistent Pinkerton.  These are the trees ar growing in homestead

[Mark in Texas]

Hi Frank, amazing fruit!  Is it normal for Sir Prize to be bumpy like this?  Mine doesn't look like Spaugh's.  BTW, you're right SP is a branch breaker.

[raiders36]

CookiesMonster,

Call Dale Ace Hardware Fremont, CA to order you a Reed tree. The tree are superb in terms of health. For $70 you can purchase two tree. It takes about 2-3 weeks to get in but you won't be disappointed. I got 3 Reed tree from them and they are flushing now. Sometime in September, they all will be a 7 gal size tree. I will take a few photo later and post them to my facebook. You can check it out. Pat Luong (thumbnail: shizu dog).

[Samu]

Hi Frank, amazing fruit!  Is it normal for Sir Prize to be bumpy like this?  Mine doesn't look like Spaugh's.  BTW, you're right SP is a branch breaker.

Hi Mark,
I just took  a photo of my SP fruit today for your comparison:


Looks like the fruit is more like Spaugh's, my tree had Durling Nursery's tag from
Fallbrook, CA; wonder if his was also from this same nursery...

[spaugh]

Hi Frank, amazing fruit!  Is it normal for Sir Prize to be bumpy like this?  Mine doesn't look like Spaugh's.  BTW, you're right SP is a branch breaker.

Hi Mark,
I just took  a photo of my SP fruit today for your comparison:


Looks like the fruit is more like Spaugh's, my tree had Durling Nursery's tag from
Fallbrook, CA; wonder if his was also from this same nursery...

My Sir Prize was from Clausons.  Not sure where they got it from.

[Cookie0208]

So Reed don't need pollinator? Do I need to cover it in my zone 9B if I planted into the ground? Will Reed be a very huge tree? Thanks