Avocado thread

[FV Fruit Freak]

What causes avocados to be “watery”? I have a 5 or 6 year old Haas and last season half the avocados were delicious and the other half were watery.

Now that's interesting.  I thought only Florida avocados were watery, or immature avocados.

We got good ones and watery ones all through summer, even the ones we didn’t pick off the tree till Aug/Sep so I don’t think immaturity was the problem.

[containerman]

Hello, I am new to the forum.  I planted a Holiday avocado four years ago and I noticed fruit on the tree for the first time two months ago.  The tree was pretty much left alone with drip irrigation and ignored for the last few years.  I don’t know when the first fruit set on the tree.  I have about 5 avocados total on the tree and I would hate to pick any if it’s not ready.  Based on what I read, if it’s this year’s fruit then it’s not ready and I should wait but I truly do not know if these are from last year.  Can you look at the pictures and tell me if it’s ready to harvest?  Thanks!

those will be ready to pick Sept-Dec of 2021 hence the name Holiday- (Labor Day through Xmas). Do  not pick them in the summer wait until Thanksgiving and try one first then if its good enjoy the rest of them. They are one of if not the longest avocado varieties for its fruit to develop and ripen.

https://www.fourwindsgrowers.com/products/holiday-avocado?variant=12282042712168

[Capt Ram]

I have a Mexico that last year produced at least a hundred avocados All small probably around 6 oz
And every single one of them did not ripen correctly and were very unevenly ripened
out of those hundred avocados I only had a couple of spoonfuls to taste them

I'm in South Florida
And I'm wondering if it's some kind of nutritional deficiency...
I was considering top working it to another variety but maybe I can supplement it with something that will make a difference???

[spaugh]

I dont know about in FL, but here in southern CA, mexicola is probably at the bottom of the list for me personally.  Ive seen people here saying they taste great but have not had the same result.  They have bad mexican avocado aftertaste, they only hang on the tree for a week then drop on the ground, the fruit are tiny with a big seed.  Im not even sure why people would grow it here with so many better choices.  I would say top work it, thats what I did.

[blackmountain]

Any guess as to why some leaves on one of my avocado trees looks so odd? The one on the left.

[blackmountain]

What’s your specific process for growing from seed? (To graft onto later)

I’ve been using toothpicks and a cup of water and then planting in pots once they grow 8” tall or so.

Would it help to add a very diluted fertilizer to the water? Do you snip them the tops? What kind of soil mix are you using to plant with initially?

[850FL]

Put each seed in 10 gallons of good loam and water in with some diluted nutrients

[blackmountain]

Any guess as to why some leaves on one of my avocado trees looks so odd? The one on the left.

10 days and no ideas??

[johnb51]

Any guess as to why some leaves on one of my avocado trees looks so odd? The one on the left.

10 days and no ideas??

Here in Florida the leaves on our avocado trees get yellow and ugly in the winter before the trees shed all the old leaves.

[blackmountain]

Looks like my Zutano is starting to get flower buds here in Northern California. Given I's only 4' tall and doesn't need to pollinate anything, should I break the flowers off and (supposedly) let the energy go toward growth instead of fruit production?

Thanks!

[containerman]

Is there anyone who is practicing the Dave Wilson Nursery method of growing avocados trees called Backyard Orchard Culture and high density planting ?

https://www.davewilson.com/home-gardens/backyard-orchard-culture

[spaugh]

Looks like my Zutano is starting to get flower buds here in Northern California. Given I's only 4' tall and doesn't need to pollinate anything, should I break the flowers off and (supposedly) let the energy go toward growth instead of fruit production?

Thanks!

Dont pinch the flower just leave it alone and if it sets fruit and you dont want it to hold them, pinch the fruits off in June or July.  Its a smart move to let the tree size up some before allowing to hold fruit.  It will grow much faster if it isnt putting energy into fruit.

[Epicatt2]

My 'Mexicola Grande' (grafted) started initiating its buds last week.  Hope that it will finally give me some fruit this season.

It has been in the ground since March '17 and flowered in '18 but gave me no fruit.  In '19 it bloomed profusely but set only one fruit which fell off and spoiled  on the ground before we had noticed it.  Then it skipped flowering in '20 completely!

So I'm hoping this year it will have enough strength to set & hold some fruit.  It should be strong enough because it quickly shot up to about 16 to17 feet tall in just three years after starting out at three feet tall in March 2017 when it got planted out. 

It needs to be topped at the end of this season to make it easier to harvest in future.  (I'm guessing that it won't mind being pugged now that it has been in the ground for going on four years.)

Fingers X-ed!

Paul M.
==

[swincher]

My 'Mexicola Grande' (grafted) started initiating its buds last week.  Hope that it will finally give me some fruit this season.

It has been in the ground since March '17 and flowered in '18 but gave me no fruit.  In '19 it bloomed profusely but set only one fruit which fell off and spoiled  on the ground before we had noticed it.  Then it skipped flowering in '20 completely!

Do you do any kind of hand pollinating? Does it form fruitlets (like the one below) and then drop them, or did the flowers just drop without any pollination? It could be a pollination issue if you only have one tree. Often bees don't like avocados as much as other stuff and depending on climate there may not be a lot of male/female phase overlap.

[Epicatt2]

Do you do any kind of hand pollinating? Does it form fruitlets (like the one below) and then drop them, or did the flowers just drop without any pollination? It could be a pollination issue if you only have one tree. Often bees don't like avocados as much as other stuff and depending on climate there may not be a lot of male/female phase overlap.

Plenty of bees were working my avocado, so that prolly wasn't the reason for no fruit.  The flowerss just eventually dropped and no fruitlets ever formed.  "Mexicola Grande' is purported to be self fertile which is one of the reasons that I chose it, another being that it is very cold hardy.

This plant may just've been too young, immature or not yet fully-enough established to set and hold any fruit.

Paul M.
==

[FV Fruit Freak]

Has anyone tried the Mexican avocado, Delgado?

[swincher]

Plenty of bees were working my avocado, so that prolly wasn't the reason for no fruit.  The flowerss just eventually dropped and no fruitlets ever formed.  "Mexicola Grande' is purported to be self fertile which is one of the reasons that I chose it, another being that it is very cold hardy.

This plant may just've been too young, immature or not yet fully-enough established to set and hold any fruit.

Paul M.
==

Self-fertility of avocados is very temperature-dependent, as cooler temperatures at flowering time can increase the gap between when the flowers open at female and when they open as male, so even with pollinators visiting there's very little opportunity for pollination. The Western Australia ag dept has a good website summarizing that research:

Under cooler conditions, the flowering story becomes more complicated. Extensive investigations into the effect of temperature on flowering of avocados have been carried out (Ish-Am and Eisikowitch 1991, Sedgley and Annells 1981, Sedgley and Grant 1933, Sedgley and Alexander 1983). Cold temperatures alter the flowering cycle by delaying the normal opening and closing routine of the avocado flower, extending the overall period of flowering, delaying the release of pollen, slowing pollen tube growth and reducing the number of flowers open on a given day.

The delaying effect to type B varieties is so pronounced at low temperatures that the functionally female stage was often not recorded. This has a dual effect:

If there are few functionally female flowers then the cropping potential of the type B varieties will be severely affected.

Delaying of flower opening has been recorded to result in the peak pollen release period occurring during the night (Sedgley and Annells 1981).

Here's my solution to this problem:

[spaugh]

These are fujikawa avocados.  Seedling grafted in summer 2018 now holding fruit.  Of all the hawaiian avocados I'm growing this one is showing the most potential.  Sharwil also seems to do well here.

[spaugh]

Yesterday I made a copy of this tree.  Heres some pics of how I do grafts on undersized rootstock.  Some people here wanted to see pics of how I fraft seedlings.  Doing it on the side allows multiple attwmpts if the first fails.







I use presco texas brand flagging tape to pull my grafts very snug.

[containerman]

wow Brad those fujikawa looks great and they produced from a seedling 2 years ago ?

[spaugh]

I grafted a seedling rootstock like the one in the pic in summer of 2018 with fujikawa wood. Its now around 7ft tall and has around 10 avocados. 
.

[shaneatwell]

Nice brad! how's the persea mite resistance on that one? In my yard mexicola grande is the only one that appears to be resistant.

[spaugh]

I have no idea, pretty much everything here gets Persia mites but I'm able to nip it in the bud quickly by using the californicus predator mites.  I got it before it hit all the trees last year.  Maybe half the trees got hammered, reed and hass are for sure mite magnets. 

People asked for some fujikawa scions, I'll definitely have some available in 2022 spring.  I want to sample it before sending out a lot of wood.  If its not better than reed its not worth growing.  Every avocado tree has different attributes that make it worthwhile (or not).  Like the fruit quality, season and duration of fruit ripeness, tree growth habit, cold/heat tolerance, productivity etc...  Theres way too many avocado cultivars being passed around that aren't worth growing IMO.  The nurseries are propagating junk trees.  I don't want to pile onto that mess.  I'm hoping this fujikawa has equal fruit quality and season as reed with a stronger/larger growing tree.  Reed has issues with dropping fruit in cold and also premature drops.  It also isn't that great of a grower once it gets into production the tree stays smaller.  I want a reed killer. 

[swincher]

Does anyone know what might be causing this Mexicola seedling's leaves to curl like this? Definitely doesn't look healthy. The leaves emerge looking fine (as the new growth looks) but then curl as they grow.



None of my other avocado seedlings (this is my 8th of ~20) have shown this issue, and all are potted in similar sized pots, with the same soil mixture, but also this is the only Mexicola this far along. Previously seedlings were from Hass, Mexicola Grande, and Sharwil, and produced large and healthy looking leaves by this point. The smaller Mexicolas are still just little sprouts but look fine.

[Avoman]

How does Fujilawa handle cold and heat is it about like a reed ? Does Fujikawa have a good reputation for excellent taste ?