Hi Fruitfreak,
I see this is an older post and you are in Naples now. What did you eventually settle on and what luck did you have with Orlando avocados?
Also, in case anyone knows, what is meant by "texas avocados"?
Much appreciated
I’m always interested in what avocados people are growing in and north of Orlando. Looking for input too. Cold hardiness is an important defining factor as in this area of 9b we can have a string of warm winters that are conductive towards many tropicals (even mangos if you get lucky) but all it takes is one moderate freeze to set you back years. By the time that happens a lot of plants are too big to effectively protect. I had a 13 year old seedling avocado from the Philippines that had delicious fruit, but it died in the hard winter of 2010/2011 when it hit a low of 25. I’m 12 miles north of the city center and currently have Lila, Winter Mexican, and just planted Wurtz. The former two are still less than a year in ground but are doing well.
There are several Avocados scattered in and around peoples yards near me, though I don’t know the specific varieties. Most look of Mexican descent along with some that look more Guatemalan. Probably a lot of hybrids between the two. No doubt some are brogden as thats one of the few well known cultivars for here. There was a moderate freeze last winter (coldest night hit 28 in my yard) that damaged several of the larger trees that looked more Guatemalan, but they have recovered well. A lot of trees were also unaffected. Beyond brogden, there’s not a lot of information on what varieties can fruit well (and taste good) on our often deep infertile sands while surviving the occasional hard freeze.
The commonly circulated “Texas avocados” (varieties originating from Texas and distributed by their nurseries that are of mostly Mexican descent) go by different names here and while their supposed cold hardiness (down to 16 for some) would make them seem like no brainers there are a lot of worrying reviews based on taste (in Texas) and uneven ripening/taste (in South Florida). Central Florida might be a bit less wet for them to allow for proper ripening, and perhaps some would taste better on our sand. I chose Lila (a Texas nursery variety, a genetic clone of Opal) as I did read one good review of someone north of me and the tree is a dwarf. Wurtz is also a dwarf and while it has reviews of tasting rather fair in California/Hawaii/Australia, the fruit of trees grown in Florida are apparently high quality. Winter Mexican has rather consistent reviews of being a good tasting avocado, though information on them in this area is still lacking.
There is also a report of a Florida Hass fruiting well and tasting excellent in 9b, while the same variety failed testing miserably in South Florida. Whatever the case people growing and fruiting their own trees are definitely your best resource in choosing cultivars...when I got back into the hobby earlier this year I quickly realized that nurseries will sell you plants based on whatever the often glorifying reviews on the tag says (I’m looking at you, Texas avocados) without having ever having seen a mature tree or fruit of said variety.
