Author Topic: Oro Negro Avocado: Purchased and planted 1 year ago Flowering already?  (Read 2596 times)

GangstaRIB

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I was looking at Carlos's (CTMIAMI) website and I believe these are budding, flowers. Can anyone here confirm?



I just purchased the tree a year ago late Jan 2018 which was in a 3 gallon pot. It is an oro negro grafted to lula seedling per the nursery (toptropicals.com). She is about 4 ft tall but I believe the nursery topped it for shipping so she has 3 main upright shoots. I can't believe after 1 year in the ground it would flower so are these in fact buds? It doesn't look like the flush it got last year which didn't start until March/Apr and flush was red. How tall do cados needs to be to bear their first fruit?

I'm in North Orlando, FL usda zone 9b

spaugh

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Re: Oro Negro Avocado: Purchased and planted 1 year ago Flowering already?
« Reply #1 on: February 19, 2019, 02:57:07 PM »
Yeah its flowering.  Normal, the mature scion grafted on the tree will flower first winter/spring.

Just let it do its thing then remove the fruit in a few moths and lwt the tree grow for a year.
Brad Spaugh

GangstaRIB

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Re: Oro Negro Avocado: Purchased and planted 1 year ago Flowering already?
« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2019, 05:04:51 PM »
O man that's gonna be tough. Is it possible to keep 1 or 2 or just not worth taking the energy away from the plant (or will fruit taste bad not ripen)

GangstaRIB

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It did end up flowering and setting quite a few small fruit. All of the fruit dropped so it looks like nature made the right decision for me. One thing I noticed is the local bees seemed to really love the ON flowers. This alone made me quite happy as I know I have local pollinators other than the wind to help me get the job done.

I can't believe how much these things bolt during and after flowering. She put on almost 2 feet since bud break. This was even with 3 main shoots. We still have another 3-4 months in the growing season here in zone 9b. I'm hoping next flowering season leaves me with a couple of fruits. It would be right there on the edge next year being a 6 ft tree with a 1.5" trunk.

GangstaRIB

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Re: Oro Negro Avocado: Purchased and planted 1 year ago Flowering already?
« Reply #4 on: October 27, 2020, 06:35:02 PM »


Next season 2020. Just one fruit hung on. Haven’t eaten it yet it’s gonna be at least a week before it ripens on the counter. I think I picked it a little early but it looked like it was starting to get scab so I figured better early than not at all with just the one fruit in my 3 yrs of having it in the ground. Probably could have stayed on another month from what I read they should be mostly black before picking but it’s starting to change.

I guess next year I should have some pretty good luck. She’s put on some size so I think she’ll hold more than one fruit next year.

CTMIAMI

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Re: Oro Negro Avocado: Purchased and planted 1 year ago Flowering already?
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2020, 09:45:52 AM »
That is very early flowering specially from the Orlando Area
Carlos
 Tweeter: @carlosdlt280
www.myavocadotrees.com
zone 10a Miami-Dade County

GangstaRIB

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That is very early flowering specially from the Orlando Area

She looks good this year. Set a good amount of fruit and I’m hoping to get a few decent fruit this year. The one fruit I got tasted amazing. Seemed as oily as hass or closed to it but not mushy at all as hass get. Haha I don’t recommend eating one fruit by yourself in one sitting.

Thanks again for your site Carlos. I picked this one because I went through your reviews (probably all of them)

Also have a mexicola that set some fruit. Hope to eat those in a month or so.

kinghappy

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I have had my ON for 5 years never, able to get it to hold fruit. Cleared a near by tree to give it more sun, mulched all around it. It responded well and produced much more fruit. But it has dropped most again. Tree looks happy tons of new growth, but won't hold fruit. Hope yours does better, keep us posted on your progress.

roblack

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Similar experience here. Considerable flowering and fruit set, but crazy drops. And then the critters.

Have yet to try one.

Tree is doing better though, with a few fruit holding. Going to give ours another year or 2.

GangstaRIB

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Re: Oro Negro Avocado: Purchased and planted 1 year ago Flowering already?
« Reply #9 on: September 25, 2021, 09:19:59 PM »
I have had my ON for 5 years never, able to get it to hold fruit. Cleared a near by tree to give it more sun, mulched all around it. It responded well and produced much more fruit. But it has dropped most again. Tree looks happy tons of new growth, but won't hold fruit. Hope yours does better, keep us posted on your progress.

I think I should get a good 10-20 this year. I came back to find the thread because I was trying to figure out when they were going to ripen. I guess I have another month and change to wait.

Also had a good few handfuls of mexicolas this year. They were very good but many went to waste. I can see why you don't see mexicolas in the store they seem to have a very narrow range of ripeness. I did not like them at first but they were not ripe. Mexicolas need to look almost overripe with crinkled skin but then once they get to there you have a day or 2 to eat them before they go overripe.

Oro Negro though, I only had the one last year I am pretty excited this year to hopefully be able to get a few. Oro Negro to me is the best avocado I ever had.

ON does seem to drop a lot of fruits and even quite a bit later. I havent seen any dropped fruits in a few months now so it seems once they get closer to full size they hang on. I will have to prune off some branches after harvest. It's wierd I have one branch with maybe 20 lbs of fruit on it and then in other places they are more spread out.

It is a very vigorous tree for me here in central Florida i am actually getting worried about how big it might get, I want to say it's close to 15 ft tall at the main shoot.

I think maybe check your fertility if you have full sun. I top dressed with an entire bag of black cow when I planted and mulch. I keep the mulch topped off every year adding about 2 inches. I periodically add various organic types of fertilizer but I would recommend an organic citrus fertilizer with zinc and use some organic liquids from time to time like fish fertilizer, but I really only feed 3 times a year or so with solid fertilizer a few cups and organic liquids maybe once a month or 2 months at a few ozs to a gallon of water. I also use a few handfuls of sulfate of potash a few times of year potassium is very important and low in FL soils. I think the biggest thing fertility wise in FL is to make sure the micronutrients are there especially Manganese, Iron, magnesium and zinc. I sometimes will hit with a citrus mineral spray and sea weed as well but she's a very healthy looking tree.

Best of luck I think you will really enjoy the fruit when it comes.

CTMIAMI

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Re: Oro Negro Avocado: Purchased and planted 1 year ago Flowering already?
« Reply #10 on: September 26, 2021, 04:41:41 PM »
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.
Carlos
 Tweeter: @carlosdlt280
www.myavocadotrees.com
zone 10a Miami-Dade County

GangstaRIB

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Re: Oro Negro Avocado: Purchased and planted 1 year ago Flowering already?
« Reply #11 on: November 02, 2021, 12:03:19 PM »
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  ;D

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.
« Last Edit: November 02, 2021, 12:07:04 PM by GangstaRIB »

GangstaRIB

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Re: Oro Negro Avocado: Purchased and planted 1 year ago Flowering already?
« Reply #12 on: November 02, 2021, 03:47:43 PM »
I have had my ON for 5 years never, able to get it to hold fruit. Cleared a near by tree to give it more sun, mulched all around it. It responded well and produced much more fruit. But it has dropped most again. Tree looks happy tons of new growth, but won't hold fruit. Hope yours does better, keep us posted on your progress.

Do you have squirrels? I am in a 'young' neighborhood so not many large trees for them to hang out in yet but I'm sure they will at some point. I did see one squirrel try to make a home in my tree and I chased it away with a garden hose and haven't seen it since.

This is the 3rd full season in the ground maybe 20 fruits? Last season only one hung on. I am not sure if pollination with other trees matter when setting fruit. I have a mexicola behind it so maybe this helps? The bees absolutely love the flowers on both so i think I get a lot of help there.

Maybe a fertility issue? My area has some clay mixed in but most of FL is a sandbox. Soil tests can be done online and mailed in for 30 bucks or so, maybe worth checking this. I don't really have a rigid fertility schedule but throw down some balanced organic ferts a few times per year and do liquids here and there, but I think the feeder roots have probably found their way into my lawn which does get fertilized regularly but not excessively.


skhan

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Re: Oro Negro Avocado: Purchased and planted 1 year ago Flowering already?
« Reply #13 on: November 03, 2021, 02:44:23 PM »
Just wanted to add my exp with ON to the conversation.

I planted mine from a tiny 3 gallon in 2014.
This year was the first year I got a decent crop for the tree size. (Maybe around 75 fruits for a (15-202ft tree).

A lot of fruit set and plenty of drops.
It seems like regular irrigation in early summer really helps hold fruit to maturity.

I also have layers of mulch and trimming under the tree.
So possibly soil improvement is helping.

If i had to start over i think I'd go Lula for the flavor and extended season (I can't eat 75 over a month)
Or Super Hass for the tree size.

GangstaRIB

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Re: Oro Negro Avocado: Purchased and planted 1 year ago Flowering already?
« Reply #14 on: November 03, 2021, 03:32:43 PM »
Just wanted to add my exp with ON to the conversation.

I planted mine from a tiny 3 gallon in 2014.
This year was the first year I got a decent crop for the tree size. (Maybe around 75 fruits for a (15-202ft tree).

A lot of fruit set and plenty of drops.
It seems like regular irrigation in early summer really helps hold fruit to maturity.

I also have layers of mulch and trimming under the tree.
So possibly soil improvement is helping.

If i had to start over i think I'd go Lula for the flavor and extended season (I can't eat 75 over a month)
Or Super Hass for the tree size.

I will give some away but I could probably eat what's on my tree now. 70 though i dont think i could make it through that many. You could pick them a bit early just as they start to turn black, but i think even with that the ON season is 2 months at best. As far as advice it seems like you are fruiting well now. Mulch, and organic matter just keep adding every year.