Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Greg A

Pages: [1] 2 3 4
1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / How Brad grew his avocado grove
« on: January 20, 2024, 12:32:35 AM »
Many of us on the forum know Brad (Spaugh) and have seen and participated in some of his fruit growing projects so I thought I'd share a short video I made about how he has been developing a new section of avocado trees on his property in San Diego County. I also wrote up some details on his methods so I linked that below too.

Here is the short video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Yi2v_DEA-aw?feature=shared
Here it is on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@GregAlder:6/how-brad-grew-his-avocado-grove:5?r=HJYybPpruRgdFoPoTwFLhZmq3E9orRRP

And here is my post with some details: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/how-brad-grew-his-avocado-grove/

I'm sure if you have any questions or comments, Brad will see them here and be able to answer.

2
Hi Alastair,
I think you are doing things right. I've seen many yards and farms with mounds and berms built in different ways for avocados. There are many effective methods.

If you want the mounds to maintain height, you'll want to either use mostly dirt (and little to no organic materials) or use any combination of dirt and organic materials but just plan to replenish them as they break down and settle around the crown of the tree.

I build mounds for most of my avocados and I use only compost for the mounds, and then I add compost or wood chips to the mounds as the years go by in order to maintain them. This has worked fine.

But I've also seen farms that use pure dirt for their berms (usually clay loam), and their trees grow great too.

3
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Anyone Have Ripe Avocados in December?
« on: December 29, 2023, 12:09:08 AM »
The flower petals attached to the stem is not a unique characteristic of Bacon, but not all varieties have it.

4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Anyone Have Ripe Avocados in December?
« on: December 28, 2023, 11:27:38 AM »
Flower petals attached to stem button on Bacon:



I'll be in Orange County a couple times in January if you'd like me to have a look at one of the trees or a piece of fruit. I could even bring a few Bacon avocados or branches to compare. It's tough to be really sure from photos and descriptions, but pretty easy to identify in person.

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Anyone Have Ripe Avocados in December?
« on: December 28, 2023, 01:00:17 AM »
That fruit could be Bacon, and Bacon can get very big.

Just a couple more notes to ID Bacon: The stem often still has petals attached. Later in the season, the skin on the bottom will crack even while still on the tree. There is usually a shiny green round spot on bottom with no/very few lenticel spots.

I crushed some Bacon leaves on my tree today and smelled anise. It's not as strong as some varieties but I could easily detect it -- and my nose is terrible!

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Gottfried avocado in Florida?
« on: December 24, 2023, 01:03:33 AM »
Thanks, Winn. These are helpful tips.

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Anyone Have Ripe Avocados in December?
« on: December 19, 2023, 10:24:58 PM »
Another helpful way to spot a Bacon tree is the color of mature leaves, which are deeper green than any variety I know. This can be influenced by tree health and rootstock, but usually you can spot a Bacon tree in a collection because it's the deepest green.

8
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Gottfried avocado in Florida?
« on: December 19, 2023, 10:03:15 PM »
Hi Florida avocado growers,
There's an old variety called Gottfried that was first grown in Key Largo about 1914. Anyone heard of it or know of a tree?

An avocado grower friend in South Africa has an old Gottfried tree that is very productive. I'm in California and can't find anyone here who has even heard of it.

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Anyone Have Ripe Avocados in December?
« on: December 19, 2023, 10:21:25 AM »
Great topic. Early avocados are a challenge for me.

It's harder for us down south and inland to get varieties like Hellen to hang with quality this late like Jack, but I'm realizing more and more that a key to filling the late fall gap in avocados is having some to try this with. Of the varieties that I grow, so far I've seen that Lamb hangs the latest without getting a cheesy texture or off flavors. Reed and Gwen also hang late very well. But I'm sure there are better candidates out there that I haven't discovered yet.

At The Huntington, there are old trees in or near the parking area. Some of these get removed every year; there aren't many left. Some are grafted varieties like Fuerte and Puebla, and many are seedlings.

Then there's a new avocado orchard called the Shepherd-Brokaw Orchard that you can't access without special permission or on special days. But it's also by the parking area and you can see it as you drive in. It's near a bunch of citrus. It contains about 30 varieties that were historically important for the California industry in the 20th century.

That HB Lib (Nancy) fruit looks like Bacon to me. Maybe it is or maybe it's a Bacon seedling.

Anyway, Bacon tastes pretty good here in late December. Some others I've been trying lately: Ettinger is okay now. Nowels is okay now. I've eaten a couple of Days and they are low on flavor but already have surprisingly high oil. My Pinkerton avocados are maturing earlier than usual this year since my tree is having a big early bloom and right now the flavor is good but the flesh remains a bit watery. I haven't eaten any Fuertes yet, but a friend told me his in Fallbrook are already good. Fuerte remains the best early variety that I know.

I hope that someday someone finds an early variety that tastes as good as Fuerte but produces better.

10
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Starting a farm in Southern California
« on: November 19, 2023, 12:25:24 AM »
Janet, Thanks for sharing about the process and for taking the time to go through all the photos. I'm curious if you have any interest in dumping wood chips between the rows of trees, or do you plan to plant there?

11
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Wanted: Gottfried avocado scion
« on: November 05, 2023, 10:21:15 PM »
Looking for Gottfried avocado scions to buy. I also have various avocado scions to offer if you'd like to trade.

12
Nitrogen at 2.59% is plenty high, some would say too high. Your fruit can have post-harvest problems at that level. I wouldn't add N if I were you.

You might like to listen to a discussion among avocado giants about nitrogen levels at 36 minutes into this video from Avocado Cafe: https://youtu.be/mKtYXBQGosY?feature=shared

But you should ask Jose Avina for advice. Jose knows everything about avocados.

13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: What is the best tasting avocado variety?
« on: October 09, 2023, 11:27:03 PM »
Yeah, a good Fuerte is hard to beat. Every January or so, when the Fuertes start tasting good, I eat one and say to myself: "How could it taste better than this?"

But here in October, I'm a long way from having tasted a Fuerte and lately I've been eating Gwens and saying to myself: "How could it taste better than this?"

It's really hard to judge the taste of one avocado variety against another because of their different seasons. A few years ago at Brad's place a large group tasted a dozen or more varieties side by side in May. Nobody liked Reed much; some people liked Bacon the most. That's because the tasting was done in May, of course, and Reed was immature while Bacon was as good as it ever gets.

I think it's not too hard to settle on a group of favorites though. That said, when I think of my favorites I don't think of taste alone but also the other characteristics that go into enjoying the whole eating experience.

Is it easy to tell when it's ripe? (Fuerte yes; Lamb not as easy)
Does the peel leave grit in the flesh when you cut it open? (Hass no; GEM yes)
How's the size? (Gwen perfect; Nabal too big; Mexicola too small)
Is the seed good? (Don GIllogly has an annoying pointy tip; Edranol seed often holds onto chunks of flesh)
Is there fiber? (Zutano sometimes; Reed never)
Does it peel? (Jan Boyce rarely; Sharwil nicely)
Does my spoon go through the skin because the skin is too thin and weak? (Bacon yes; GEM no)
How fast does it brown once cut open? (Sir-Prize slowly; Nimlioh slowly; Hass faster)

What other eating qualities do you guys appreciate in an avocado? Or which qualities annoy you?

14
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Avocado growth
« on: June 12, 2023, 12:42:22 AM »
Looks like Zutano

15
Hi John,
There are many ways you could keep the seeds viable until mid-June. Mason's is a good one.

You can also keep them dry and leave them in a cool, shady place for quite some time. Brokaw Nursery in California just keeps their seeds outdoors in big sacks in the shade. I'm not sure exactly how long you can leave them this way, but certainly a few weeks is not too long.

You can refrigerate them too. Back in the 70's some California researchers cleaned and dried seeds and then put them in plastic bags in the fridge for a full year and still got satisfactory germination. See: https://www.avocadosource.com/CAS_Yearbooks/CAS_59_1975/CAS_1975-76_PG_070-071.pdf

16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Avocado seedling damage
« on: November 28, 2022, 11:55:11 PM »
I agree: doesn't look like cold damage.

Looks like a watering issue. Could be that the pot dried out too much one time. Or could be that the pot hasn't been watered thoroughly on a consistent basis. Or could be that the water used is high in sodium or chloride. Or it's a combination.

Either way, these watering issues accumulate invisibly for a while (weeks or even months) until they show as leaf burn.

17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Restoring a 30+ year old avocado orchard
« on: October 15, 2022, 07:40:46 PM »
Hi Janet,
Yes, that's me. Thank you. It's great to hear that you plan to keep and propagate those trees that are showing themselves to be tougher than others. Maybe we will all benefit from what you find someday.

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Restoring a 30+ year old avocado orchard
« on: October 11, 2022, 12:06:48 AM »
Very cool, Janet. It would be fun to try to get an idea of why certain trees look better than others: deeper soil, lower on slope, in drainages, north aspect, rootstock?

Will you be replanting some new avocados or just reviving some of the existing?

19
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Avocado tasting
« on: May 02, 2021, 03:48:57 PM »
Thanks Brad and Brianna. Great to meet everyone. That was way more fun than tasting avocados alone. I loved hearing everyone's impressions, and like Brad said, the impressions varied a lot.

Some of the few consistencies I heard were many people's surprise at how delicious the Bacon was, as well as how bland the Reed was. But it's all about harvest seasons, as Brad said. Those Bacons were as rich and flavorful as Bacons can possibly get before dropping off the tree whereas the Reeds weren't even ready to be harvested yet.

At the same time, I heard lots of people say there were surprised at how good the Nabal was there on May 1. I too couldn't believe how tasty it was so early in the year, before its usual harvest season.

Simon, I have to repeat what everyone else has said: the avocado smoothie and sugarcane juice were amazing!

I was sick of eating avocados at the end of the day yesterday, but then to my surprise I still cut one open for breakfast this morning and enjoyed it.

What a great hangout. Great idea and great generosity, especially Brad. I hope we can do something like that again.

20
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Comparison of 3 top Pomegranate varieties
« on: November 28, 2020, 11:09:06 PM »
I hear you guys about appreciating pomegranates more and more. I used to take them for granted because they are so easy to grow. But this time of year when they're starting to split open on the tree and so full-flavored I actually crave them.

Here's a bad (but very short!) video of how I like to open pomegranates: https://youtu.be/38UpTltg2Co

I always just eat them out in the yard though. So I don't mind it being a bit messy.

21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Avocado thread
« on: November 10, 2020, 11:58:51 PM »
Looks immature to me. I would wait to pick one for testing around May of 2021.

22
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: So. Cal avocados varaiety
« on: June 16, 2020, 09:37:08 PM »
Thanks for the heads up.

23
Can anyone identify the mango in the photo below? It is from a grafted tree growing in San Diego, but the owner doesn't recall which variety he planted. The photo was taken yesterday, December 3.



24
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Avocado thread
« on: November 30, 2019, 09:02:48 PM »
Definitely second the idea of using a Bacon tree to graft other varieties onto. That's a great way to use the nice Bacon tree structure.

25
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: John Herd avocado
« on: September 15, 2019, 11:45:49 PM »
Thanks for this, Jack. Is this about the middle of your Hass season in Nipomo?

On a side note: Anything distinctive about Leaven's Hass that you've noticed (compared to Hass)?

Pages: [1] 2 3 4