Avocado thread

[CenCalArt]

Drymifolia
ScottR
This is my second year with the lamb hass, Bonnie doon, d’Artiro and I think I have a Carmen.
Now my patience is the thing I gotta grow. Lol. Any one have the Aravaipa cuttings?

[drymifolia]

Drymifolia
ScottR
This is my second year with the lamb hass, Bonnie doon, d’Artiro and I think I have a Carmen.
Now my patience is the thing I gotta grow. Lol. Any one have the Aravaipa cuttings?

PM me in summer, I might be able to spare some Aravaipa then, once another flush grows and hardens, but that's depending on spring growth and fruit set. If not then, I can definitely send some next winter, but you'll have to remind me. I'd gladly trade for Bonnie Doon.

[CenCalArt]

Let’s do it. And I definitely will contact you. What else do you have in your cold hardy avocado collection if you don’t mind me asking?

[drymifolia]

Let’s do it. And I definitely will contact you. What else do you have in your cold hardy avocado collection if you don’t mind me asking?

Many of them are recent grafts too small to share (and the first one is just a framework for a greenhouse tree, not hardy), but here's the list of grafted varieties:

https://www.drymifolia.org/trees.php?subset=grafts

[CenCalArt]

Cool I remember when I wanted the duke avocado. have you tried the fruit?
I was wondering if you can help me out with one of my plants? It’s not doing so good and nothing I am doing is helping.

[drymifolia]

Cool I remember when I wanted the duke avocado. have you tried the fruit?
I was wondering if you can help me out with one of my plants? It’s not doing so good and nothing I am doing is helping.

Haven't had Duke fruit yet, but it's possible it could hold one or two this year between the two grafts. Next year seems more likely. I have tasted Aravaipa, Mexicola, Royal-Wright, and a couple different unnamed seed-grown Mexican types. Mexicola was the best of those, even though smallest. Aravaipa was my least favorite, but it may still have hardiness genes worth keeping in our breeding effort.

I can't really tell what's going on with your tree, I'm sorry. I'd guess root health, that's my usual first guess. Looks maybe fungal?

[spaugh]

I found a bunch of dropped fruit on my malama tree.  This is a hawaiian one and I have never tried the fruit but will be in a few days.  The fruit get really big and turn black on the tree then fall off.



Theres a hass, sharwil, pinkerton, fuerte seedling, and 2 malamas for size comparison.

[drymifolia]

Does anyone have thoughts about what might cause this? I'm only seeing it on one of the three in-ground avocado trees in my greenhouse:


The two main factors to consider are:

• that it's planted next to the outside wall, and the ground there might be a little saturated because the rain barrel overflow is just outside the greenhouse on that side
• that corner of the greenhouse was where the previous owner of our house stored fertilizer and lawn care chemicals, when this was a dirt-floor garage

Soil moisture readings have not shown excessive sogginess, but I'm not sure if the tree sent roots out under the foundation wall, where the ground is definitely more soggy. I'm a little worried this looks like Phytophthora, especially since right outside this greenhouse I've got a large California bay laurel (Umbellularia californica), which is a species that is often an asymptomatic host of P. cinnamoni.

I did not see any signs of leaked fertilizer or herbicide before we converted the garage to a greenhouse, but it had been a garage for 70 years, so who knows what might be lurking in the soil.

Here's the full tree, which is showing mild versions of the same symptoms on the rootstock branches (left side), Jade branches (top-right), and on the smaller "Walter Hole" graft (bottom-right):

[Fygee]

Looks like salt burn to me. If there was a garage there for 70 years, who knows what crud could have been dumped next to it that seeped into the dirt over the years.

If your drainage is good where it's planted, I'd give it a good flush. You can also use FoxFarm's Sledgehammer which is a great soil wash to get salts and other funk out.

[drymifolia]

Looks like salt burn to me. If there was a garage there for 70 years, who knows what crud could have been dumped next to it that seeped into the dirt over the years.

If your drainage is good where it's planted, I'd give it a good flush. You can also use FoxFarm's Sledgehammer which is a great soil wash to get salts and other funk out.

Thanks! The drainage is pretty good, but much better in the dry season when the outside soil is less saturated. I'll wait until early summer and give it a thorough flush when the outside ground has dried enough to wick it out better.

[spaugh]

Its normal, avocado leaves dont last forever.  Thry get beat up then fall off every year and re flush.

[drymifolia]

Its normal, avocado leaves dont last forever.  Thry get beat up then fall off every year and re flush.

Yeah, I've seen that on old leaves, but on this tree even the leaves from the most recent flush (late fall) are showing the brown tips and splotches, so it seems to be more than just the old leaves ready to drop.

[spaugh]

Its salt damage from the water you use I would assume.  Still not anything to worry about. 

[drymifolia]

Its salt damage from the water you use I would assume.  Still not anything to worry about.

Glad to hear it's not something to worry about, but I doubt it's from the water (rain water mostly, occasionally tap water which here in Seattle is mostly snowmelt with very low dissolved solids). But it's very possible someone stored/spilled bags of ice melt on the dirt floor garage over the years, so I'll assume this is salt buildup from a soil source, and flush the soil in summer.

[spaugh]

Could be the fertilizer you use or could just be the tree getting ready to shed.  A lot of my trees look a lot worse than that right now but in a couple months they will shed and regrow new beautiful leaves.  They always do every spring.

[Lyn38]

I see people mention growing in pots. If you're good you can fruit 200 avocados from a 15gal pot.

http://htfg.org/conferences/2016/2016_JohnYoshimiYonemoto_GrowingandHarvestingtheBestAvocados.pdf

Wow is right! Thank you fyliu! I know this is an old post, but it's so valuable! The link requires a sign up, but I found it here without a sign up; https://docplayer.net/51648943-Growing-and-harvesting-the-best-avocados-john-yoshimi-yonemoto-japan-tropical-fruit-association.html

yup, you can grow them in containers.

[Lyn38]

Nice! Wow. Just spent a couple solid days reading through this thread and checking out some of the blogs, studies and videos. Took a lot of notes. I feel like I took a mini course in avocados. So much good stuff here. Thank you all so much!

Lots of questions;

has anyone had better luck with some mycorrhizals than others? If so, what climate/area are you in? and what varieties- Mexican or Guatemalan?

Mark in Texas, any clues why your Reed grew back after 18F? And what temp do you think it would have suffered enough to not fruit the next year? Guesses? Do you think there is more than one seedling original to what is sold as the Reed variety? Did it have any hot compost layered in very thick mulch under it? A stone wall of heat retention? A pack of dogs sleeping under it? Or was this just divine intervention?

Has anyone here tried John Yoshimi Yonemoto's method of container growing avocados? I'm hoping to move within a couple years and try a variation of it. From reading all this it looks like Holiday might be the ultimate avo for doing this in warmer climates than mine even though most people hate it's growing pattern.

Has anyone ever tasted "Fantastic" AKA "Del Rio"? What did it taste like? Specifically?

& What happens when an avo tap root has a mound of 3 feet of loose friable soil then suddenly hits a fairly dense wet clay bottom? What does it do then? Does it stop, turn sideways or grow through it?

& I agree, it would be nice to have a separate Avo forum.

[Lukester]

“Fantastic” is edible, but not good. I would rate the flavor somewhere between ok and horrific. That may seem like a wide range but taste is subjective. This variant is for rootstocks, much like Carrizo or Trifoliate with citrus. My experience with it shows that it is very cold hardy and root rot resistant.

[drymifolia]

“Fantastic” is edible, but not good. I would rate the flavor somewhere between ok and horrific. That may seem like a wide range but taste is subjective. This variant is for rootstocks, much like Carrizo or Trifoliate with citrus. My experience with it shows that it is very cold hardy and root rot resistant.

I'm curious about the claim that Del Rio and Fantastic are the same, so I grafted both this winter. I'm not sure they are the same, at least they seem slightly different in new bud/leaf color. Del Rio is further along (grafted in fall vs January), so it's hard to be sure at this point with Fantastic just starting to bud out.

Both show more pink than most of my grafted varieties, though, so I wonder if maybe Fantastic is a seedling of Del Rio? It'll be a few years before I can compare fruit, though.

[spaugh]

I tried a Malama today.  Not impressed.  Not bad but not good either.  Hass and sharwil crush this avocado.  Oh well...

[eez0]

this Fuerte pushed growth heavily on two limbs, but the other one was left behind (right side of the picture). Should I trim the new growth back to level out all limbs again?

[spaugh]

this Fuerte pushed growth heavily on two limbs, but the other one was left behind (right side of the picture). Should I trim the new growth back to level out all limbs again?

just leave it alone and let it grow.  That tree is going to be way to big for its area but you can let it go for now. 

[eez0]

just leave it alone and let it grow.  That tree is going to be way to big for its area but you can let it go for now.

the idea is to keep it within 8-9 ft, but my concern is that as these two limbs are noticeable bigger now, sap will flow mostly on their side, leaving the tree unbalanced forever.

[JCorte]

Brad, do you think this long cold, wet winter may have affected the fruit quality on the Malama? 

At this point, I think I'm finished collecting avocados.  Hopefully the scions I got from you in January take, this long winter has kept them dormant.

Looking forward to trying your varieties, but I've also come to the conclusion I need to streamline.  I'm tired and overwhelmed from too many projects and variety trials. 

Janet

[Lyn38]

“Fantastic” is edible, but not good. I would rate the flavor somewhere between ok and horrific. That may seem like a wide range but taste is subjective. This variant is for rootstocks, much like Carrizo or Trifoliate with citrus. My experience with it shows that it is very cold hardy and root rot resistant.

Oof... thanks.  Except maybe for M. Grande.. I'm seeing that feedback on every Mexican cultivator I'm looking at.  Right alongside "it tastes fantastic". I'm limited to Mexican varieties without a greenhouse..