Author Topic: Australian Avocados  (Read 1923 times)

jcaldeira

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Australian Avocados
« on: August 04, 2014, 07:25:19 PM »
This morning I grafted 15 avocado seedlings with an unknown variety.  I have not seen the fruit because it's not in season now, but I was told it has a purple skin, unlike the green-skinned West Indian variety that is most typical here in Fiji.  Can anyone guess the type of avocado this might be?

It's unlikely to be a Mexican type, as it is very humid here.  I'm hoping someone of the forum might have a clue, especially our Australian friends since most foreign fruit stock here was brought here by Australian agricultural aid.
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starling1

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Re: Australian Avocados
« Reply #1 on: August 04, 2014, 08:33:50 PM »
Pretty hard to ID without pics John. Sounds like lambhass--do you know the shape? Is it egg shaped or more elongated, the way some pears are? Is it smooth or bumpy? The good news is it isn't wurtz, which is a commonly grown green skinned variety here, which is low quality. However this possibly also rules out fuerte and pinkerton. It could be anything, really--proserpine purple, even.

My understanding is that the Mexican types tend to be purple skinned, not the other way around.

A friend in Melbourne collects them, I'll send him a message.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2014, 08:56:50 PM by starling1 »

Finca La Isla

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Re: Australian Avocados
« Reply #2 on: August 04, 2014, 10:06:15 PM »
We get un-named varieties of West Indian avocados that are very dark skinned.  The skin tends to be thick which is good as it resists some borers that we can get.  they can be round to almost bottle shaped or crook necked avos.  there's lots of them here.
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ricshaw

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Re: Australian Avocados
« Reply #3 on: August 04, 2014, 10:12:25 PM »
Pine Island Nursery shows an 'Oro Negro' avocado.

http://www.tropicalfruitnursery.com/avocado-viewer/


BMc

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Re: Australian Avocados
« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2014, 10:24:25 PM »
'Purples' with names are pretty hard to pin down here. You see them in markets quite often, but they are mostly seedlings or regional varieties and not widely distributed. Of course, lots were brought in to ag stations, but never really released to the public here, so its possible Fiji got a good purple that never really managed to escapte the ag station here.

I had some really nice ones the last few days that I brought back from Cairns. More red/green with purple where the colours clash. looked like a hybrid of the races and was big, pear shaped, buttery and delicious. They are making the Reeds seem ordinary.