From Wilson Seedless to Kahaluu (Top Working)

[Patrick]

Due to the three avocadoes over three year production rate I decided to experiment with topworking.. The budwood was from a Kahaluu, the original variety was Wilson Seedless.




For bulk pickup..



The grafts..

[Ethan]

Yowza, you dont mess around!  Are the green spouts from the Wilson seedless or from the rootstock?

good luck,
-Ethan

[Patrick]

Yowza, you dont mess around!  Are the green spouts from the Wilson seedless or from the rootstock?

good luck,
-Ethan

The sprouts are from the Wilson Seedless.  If the scions look good in a few days I will knock them off!

[Berto]

PJ,
Nice work!
My kahaluu is growing like a weed!  I hope it will fruit well here in southwest Florida.  Kahaluu is supposed to be one of the best avocados there is, as far as oil content and taste.  I read that in Hawaii, kahaluu is used in a sandwich instead of butter.
Nishikawa has adapted very well to southwest Florida...let's see if kahaluu will adapt also.

[Cookie Monster]

Nice :-). Sometimes the bark grafts will fail because the tree will die back a couple of inches. But, judging by the vigor on that thing, you may get takes. If not, just side veneer the shoots and you'll get a near 100% rate of take.

[Patrick]

Thanks for the tip Murahilin!

[CTMIAMI]

Good luck. I tried that in the winder and did not work well. I think the summer will be good. Please keep us posted.  If it does not work try veneer grafting on the water shoots like in this video, is full proof in the winter.


Veneer Grafting - Top working - canopy change - Avocado trees - Injerto de Aguacate

[Patrick]

Awesome video! I was thinking that I was a little late to have watershoots by winter to graft on, looks like I may be okay after all!

[CTMIAMI]

PJ this is the right time of the year. I did 160 trees two weeks ago. If the bark grafts don't work you have plenty of water shoots in December. Hit it with a little fertilizer at the end of September.

By the way, I have never heard of a Wilson Seedless. Did it bear fruit for you?

[Patrick]

Its the one on the top, the one below it is a Day for comparison.  The "seedless" part of the name is because of the off shoots that occur from time to time that resemble cukes.  It wasnt too productive at my place, light set, a lot of drop, end up with one like the picture three years in a row.

[CTMIAMI]

PJ, just out of curiosity did your Wilson had small leaves and the three did not grow much? The reason I ask is because some places are selling a "Wilson" that is not the true Wilson Popenoe. It seem to be a seedling of the variety. It is a smaller fruit, totally different leaves and production is erratic.   I describe it better in this page: http://www.myavocadotrees.com/wilson-popenoe-avocado.html

 Also I notice the tree you decapitated was 3-4 inches wide. Most grafted trees have a juvenile stage they need to get past. All are different.

[Patrick]

In fairness the Wilson was a nice looking tree that was probably a little immature to make an accurate assumption.  I don't believe it was a Wilson Popenoe seedling, I think it was named by the Wilson's of Excalibur Nursery.  The one fruit I had this year was very watery and had heavy brown fiber, last year the one fruit wasnt too bad though!  I really wanted to put the Kahaluu on a mature stock that would accelerate growth.  Who knows, maybe the Kahaluu will be a step down in South Florida??

[CTMIAMI]

A few of us are experimenting with the Hawaiian varieties, keep up posted of how that Kahaluu does. I have a very small tree I grafted in June I may not have bud wood to top work a big tree. Good luck

[Patrick]

Well after eight weeks of checking the Kahaluu scions for new growth I decided to reward them for their failure!  I will grow out my Kahaluu avocados trees in pots..
Replacing with a 25 gallon Day!

[Tropicalgrower89]

Nice Day avocado^. 

[natsgarden123]

25 gallon? Looks enormous!

[CTMIAMI]

That is the biggest 25 gal avocado I have seen.