i went by my friend john's place and picked up three more avocado trees. first, a "poncho" as a housewarming present for a lady friend of mine. i'm going to keep it in its pot in my greenhouse until mid april and then go plant it at her house. poncho is pretty frost - hardy after the first couple years. we have a spot picked out in a sheltered location on the south side of her new house. a couple or three years of babying (cover with sheets, with a light bulb underneath on cold nights) and maybe she'll have an avo tree.
also picked up a "gainesville" which i understand is similar to "mexicola." this one is tiny, about fifteen inches tall in a 4" "tree pot." this also will be nurtured inside the greenhouse, until it's a lot bigger. then, it goes outside.
third, i got a "fantastic" which is the same as a "pryor" except for the copyrighted name and possibly the rootstock. this is also going to be grown on for another year or two in a larger pot in the greenhouse, then planted out when it has a trunk maybe the size of a baseball bat. this is one of the "fantastics" that are produced by hopkins in immokalee.
pryor and fantastic have a reputation of good cold-hardiness. i already have a "cairo" growing outside the greenhouse in a sheltered location. it came through the winter with very little damage. the terminal bud got zapped, but i was going to prune that to encourage branching anyway. my mexicola made it through two winters before i built the greenhouse around it, and there are a few mature avos in the neighborhood.
i'm not sure where all this is leading, but the basic idea is to push the envelope for tropical fruit here in north florida. if all goes well, i hope to have hardy avos growing in the yard, and more tender ones in the greenhouse with the mangos. i have pryor/fantastic, mexicola, gainesville, and cairo, i hope to have a supply of seeds for cold-hardy rootstock. i may be able to get something going.
i know most of these cold-hardy varieties have only mediocre quality fruit. if i have enough seed stock, i will be able to throw a lot of seeds in the ground, i have four acres to play with. who knows, if i throw the genetic dice often enough, i may get lucky. an avocado cold hardy enough to stand north florida/south georgia winters that produces good fruit? who knows?
many failures can be traced to a lack of making the attempt.
meanwhile, i'll get to eat a lot of avocados to get the seeds. what's not to like?
