Samu,
Thanks for the tip and links to the tube trap.  I just ordered one through Amazon.

This morning I wasn't up early enough to move the Victor rat trap in my Papaya plant and a Mockingbird got snapped in the trap.  I thought he was a goner, but I went out and opened the trap, dumped him in the corner of the yard and he must have only been stunned because the next time I looked, he was gone.  That's the trouble with using those traps - they're just too dangerous and whack any critter that trips them.

Wow, I'm in awe of your bounty, but also realize that it's the result of a lot of hard work.

It's still very dry here in San Diego, but the winds have died down considerably and my location saw no fires and no problems with smoke.  I strongly suspect arson as the cause of many of the fires.

I thought some of my plants were unusually tall, but I guess not.

Rat #2 got zapped in the Rat Zapper next to one of my papaya plants last night.  Looks like I'll need to buy more batteries and deploy another Rat Zapper by the orange tree that is loaded with ripening fruit along with the papaya plants that are also loaded with fruit.

This is the second papaya I've found with a round hole in it just after it had started to ripen on the plant.  Suspects include the pesky squirrel, rats or the ever-present mockingbird.

Have you considered a Reed? It has buttery rich flesh that oxidizes very slowly. You can leave cut fruit in the fridge for a day without it turning brown. It's also a columnar, relatively smaller tree. There's lots of other rare varieties as well.
Check out this website
http://www.epicenteravocados.com

Simon

I've been planting, torturing and killing avocado trees in my back yard for over 15 years.  I'm sure I already had a Reed that died a miserable over watered death in one of my half whiskey barrel patio pots.
For some unknown reason, my luck has changed and I've managed to find places in the yard that have good drainage and counteract my tendency to drown the trees.

I looked back at an older thread and friend harvested some of his Hass around October November. I've seen Hass holding fruit for many months of the year and younger trees can have very early or late blooms. Please keep us updated, I've got a great recipe for Avocado smoothie if you find yourself overwhelmed with fruit.

Simon

Sorry, but no matter how much fruit we have you'd never make it past my wife.   
Thanks for the info.

Looks good.  I'm still waiting for last year's full sized fruit to ripen.

Very cool!  My bees seem to ignore the avocado blooms and go for the citrus.  Saw someone spray and mild honey/h2o solution on their avocado blooms to attract bees.  May have to try it on a few trees.  Blooms arent in full bloom yet here.  Im surprised TX is ahead of us?

Every time I check I've got a combination of flies and bees working the flowers on my avocado trees here in the Rancho Penasquitos area of San Diego.  This might be the year I finally get some fruit.

I've had good success starting my papaya seedlings in 1 gal. nursery pots using potting soil amended with perlite and/or cactus mix.  I put 5 seeds per pot and set them out on my shaded patio after the temps reach 70°F during the day.  They do take a long time to sprout and some die off (over watering maybe), but most do OK.
When they are a little over 1' tall I carefully plant the entire pot full in ground amended with cactus mix.
Things were going great in my new papaya grove until the gopher showed up.