How cold did it get in your area last winter ? The reason I asked because I'm always ask about avocados that can handle Central Florida. About 3 winters or more ago temps got below 31 for a few hours in the low part of my grove. That is where my original ON is. Surrounding trees, got some burn, the ON nothing, flushed new leaves and got really nice over the next few days. I communicated with a friend in California who said ON took 19 degrees F for a short while. I have not confirmed this.
My ON ripens around Thanks Giving, is a big grower, cut the nitrogen and fruit will keep longer.
Sorry for the delay Carlos I am not on the forum very often, so I missed your question. I'm not sure how well ON is going to weather a cold snap. It got pretty cold winter 2017 but it was early and about a month before I put the tree in the ground. It has not been freezing here very often, I do not think I have seen a freeze since I put the tree in, although it has gotten close. I'm not sure what is going on when I first moved to the general area I remember getting at least one freeze per year if not a hard freeze. I remember getting atleast a few weeks worth of frosts as well but I have only seen a handful of frosts over the past 3-4 years. Maybe because I live in a slightly different microclimate then I did 10 years ago? I am not sure. I don't think my ON has seen a freeze yet much less upper 20s. I guess in a way that's good I would consider it a nice hardy baby tree now with a nice busy stance and a height of maybe 15-20 feet. I will need to prune it I guess once a start pulling fruit because it's going to get away from me I dont want to be climbing ladders to get fruit.
Just had my 2nd Oro negro this week. My first was from last year. It didn't seem to have as much fat content as I remember but I think I pulled it early. I just pulled another that was about 50% black and it was getting soft before it was 100% black. I will probably take another or 2 in a week, but I think as you have said before this is a thanksgiving avocado.
Again thanks for your website and your information. I feel like this is the perfect avocado for me. Hass is good but I have not had great luck with store bought ones seems like they do not have a ripening window that is very long and then they get mushy and not a good texture but just fine for guacamole. I never liked store bought "Florida" avocados they always seem watery. I did find a lula one time which had good texture and fat content but just tasted 'off' to me and had kind of a weird flavor and I don't think I finished it. ON is a very good 'eating' avocado. it cubes up nicely without turning really mushy, great texture and also not watery. Seems to have a good creaminess and fat content. This first one I don't think tasted quite as good, but again I think this is my fault I wanted to try one
Mexicola is supposed to be super hardy. I have one of those and it makes very small little fruits. It gives me fruit in late summer, but other than that if you could only pick one tree it would not be mexicola. The fruit at perfect ripeness is very good, very high fat content, skin takes some getting used to, but it seems to have a very very narrow window of ripeness. You have to wait until it starts looking like a raisin for it to be ripe and then it seems like you have 2 days to eat it before it rots. I guess that's my main complaint really is shelf life, but I was glad to have some fruit I could eat even if only for 2-3 weeks.
I guess we will see what this winter brings. My ON is too big to cover now so if it does get cold we will get a test. Sure does seem like global warming has really ramped up in the past decade or so it just does not get as cold here as I remember and sure feels like we are over due for a good hard freeze.
Sorry, I got long winded here. Out of all the fruits and plants I've grown there is just something about avocado trees that gets me going. Such a beautiful tree on its own and then it gives us this gift of fruit that is just amazing. I think Oro Negro is a great pick for central florida, but I guess the jury is still out on weather or not an extreme cold blast is going to take it out. I still feel like it is just a hardy tree that worst case it would die back to the trunk and come back. I was told its grafted to a lula seed so it should be able to survive a short blast of mid 20s. I don't think I have ever seen such a vigorous tree before and that includes any kind of tree not just avocados. I have definitely over pruned it a few times and it just comes roaring back during spring flush. I can't even imagine how big it would be now if i never trimmed it. She has only been in the ground for just shy of 4 years and was in a 3 gallon pot.
Also, thanks for your advice on nitrogen. I have seen you say this before so I did not add any fertilizer last month in hopes of maybe keeping a few on the tree as long as possible.