Author Topic: Avocado Problems -Sharwil, Plus Ota and Lamb Hass are added  (Read 644 times)

voyager

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Avocado Problems -Sharwil, Plus Ota and Lamb Hass are added
« on: September 13, 2020, 06:38:27 PM »
I have 3 types of avocados in our back yard, Sharwil, Lamb Hass, and Ota.
They are young and have been bearing for 3 to 4 years now.
We had a volcanic eruption  that lasted about 3 months in 2018.
It was about a mile away.
we had volcanic gasses throughout that period with occasional very heavy concentrations.

All 3 are having similar but different problems right now.
I am only addressing the Sharwil right now.

In their first 2 years, they ripened in the winter, as they should have.
They were large and very tasty, but not many being young.

Last year the Sharwil's did very poorly, very few fruit and small in size.
They dropped early and rats got to them before I could.
Didn't get too taste them.
This year they look to be recovering, ... many more, and much larger fruit.
But, they are still ripening early, summer/fall opposed to expected winter.
Have been gathering newly fallen and cutting ready fruit from the tree.

They are watery.
Never has this problem with them before.
The only reason I can think of is the early ripening.

Other possibilities or experiences?
« Last Edit: September 14, 2020, 04:34:12 PM by voyager »

johnb51

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Re: Avocado Problems -Sharwil
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2020, 10:59:41 PM »
Doesn't proper ripening of an avocado mean developing optimal oil content and flavor?  So if your avocados are falling off the tree but are watery and flavorless, then they're not ripening properly.  Hopefully your trees will return to normal in time.
John

spaugh

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Re: Avocado Problems -Sharwil
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2020, 11:05:32 PM »
The tree probably needs a year with no fruit to recover from the stress and rebuild its foliage.  Id probably strip it next spring or at least thin it down if it sets a lot of fruit.
Brad Spaugh

johnb51

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Re: Avocado Problems -Sharwil
« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2020, 09:36:40 AM »
Our fruit trees in Florida usually need a year or two to recover from a hurricane.  Of course, that's because branches are destroyed or damaged requiring removal.  Your volcanic eruptions are a different phenomenon, but it looks like the trees still need time to recover.
John

voyager

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Re: Avocado Problems -Sharwil, Plus Ota and Lamb Hass are added
« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2020, 06:37:49 PM »
Thanks, Your responses have firmed up my thinking about the trees.

I have begun cutting all fruit from the trees.
They have been getting too tall to pick the higher fruit.
So, I will begin pruning to shorten the trees as soon as I've removed all the fruit.

To me, ripening is the fruit softening enough to be edible.
The Sharwil and the Ota are winter ripening.

The Lamb is a summer ripener.
It ripens in its second season.
The first season is too soon after blooming for normal size and ripening.
The tree normally will carry 2 generations of fruit.

The Sharwil had done nicely, delicious fruit up to 1-1/2# in size.
The Lamb's 1st fruit ripened in the second summer and was quite good.
The Ota while not prodigious, still had very good fruit.

All seemed to do well last season, the first after the eruption.
They all ripened early, though.
The Sharwil and Ota ripened in the summer, not waiting until winter with very few fruit.
Was caught by surprise, didn't get to try any of it.

The Lamb Hass ripened late in it's first summer with more fruit than the others.
They were small, but still tasted OK.

A few weeks ago, the Sharwil and Lamb began loosing a lot of leaves.
There was talk about a Lace Bug invasion on the island.
I found signs of sucking damage on the leaves.
So, I drenched the ground under the trees out past the dripline with a Neem Oil solution.
The Sharwill responded nicely and seemed to recover.
The Lamb has continued to decline.
The Ota still looked pretty good.

The Sharwil began dropping almost ripe fruit 2-3 weeks ago.
Fruit on the tree began to be ready to pick.
The young fruit have a shiny skin surface.
As they near ripening, the skin turns to more of a matt finish.

The Ota dropped its first fruit last night.
It was not watery, but fairly dry and somewhat tasteless, no oil either.
The Ota fruit begins to take on a yellowish color when it starts to ripen.
Some on the tree are showing signs of yellow areas developing.
It has begun to loose more leaves.
I'll try drenching its roots again soon.

I'm not waiting for the Lamb's fruit to begin turning purple/black.
I've begun to remove all the fruit.
It has lost almost all it's leaves, nothing left to grow fruit with, only a few growing ends left.
it will be severely pruned back soon.

EDIT:
The eruption evolved sulphur gasses, mostly sulpher dioxide.
This seems to have acidified our soil.
We have a hibiscus that was here when we bought.
It was doing very poorly.
After the eruption was over it came to life and began growing and blooming.
Apparently, it likes the acidic soil made by the gasses.
I've been adding dolomite to the ground under the avos recently to counteract this.
 

« Last Edit: September 14, 2020, 07:15:18 PM by voyager »