Tastes of very cold hardy california avocado varieties?

[Lyn38]

I'd love to walk into a bodega and try the different varieties before investing time and money into a few trees, but it's impossible..

It's also almost impossible to describe a taste and everyone's taste is different.. The first avocados I tasted in California in 1984 were small bumpy black and green fruits about 4 inches long from a Mexican fruit stand, shaped like a hass but a slightly longer neck. 25 cents a piece.. They were delicious. I've had others that looked like that but they pretty much stopped tasting anywhere near as good maybe 15 years ago. The best avocado I tasted was probably a Reese. I don't like florida avocados at all or the bacons I've had or fuertes. I don't like watery or over ripe avos. I like buttery and nutty and also that aftertaste when I occasionally get a good hass- almost like the chemical in truffle salt.

Do any of the very cold hardy avos like Joey, Lila, Wilma, Mexicola etc taste anything like that? Or are they bland? Are they at least as good as an OK picked-too-soon hass one might get in the store?

[CenCalArt]

Mexicola is a super cold hardy. The fruit taste like you described buttery nutty oily really good.

[Lyn38]

Thank you CenCalArt! Is that the same as Mexicola Grande or is Mexicola a different variety than Mexicola Grande? Hope so, I'd like to try to dwarf an avo in a 25 - 30 gal pot, at least for quite a while. The Grandes look huge and out of control.

Have you tasted any of the others?

[Oolie]

The mexicolas are very vigorous trees. Really only a few varieties are suitable to grow in pots. I think Wurtz gets the nod, but really avos like being in the ground.

Fuerte and Bacon can be great if picked ripe, and their seasons do complement Hass well, but for cold hardiness, you should consider mostly Mexican types with seasons Dec-February, ones like Fuerte and Mexicola would be prime contenders.

[drymifolia]

Thank you CenCalArt! Is that the same as Mexicola Grande or is Mexicola a different variety than Mexicola Grande? Hope so, I'd like to try to dwarf an avo in a 25 - 30 gal pot, at least for quite a while. The Grandes look huge and out of control.

Have you tasted any of the others?

Mexicola and Mexicola Grande are definitely different, but both taste very good. They want to be in the ground, though, and both become large trees if not aggressively pruned. You will not likely find any avocado (even Wurtz) that really will be happy in a container. Avocado trees have both deep taproots and wide/shallow feeder roots, and do not take kindly to being contained in even a large pot for very long.

In terms of fruit quality of cold-hardy cultivars, I can eliminate Aravaipa for you, which is somewhat bland (not terrible, just boring). I might finally get to taste Duke and Joey this year (both are about to start flowering in my greenhouse), but they will be a better size to hold fruit next year, so I'm not holding my breath. I've heard Duke is good eating quality, but some people complain about "off" tastes for Joey. Most of my other trees flowering this spring will be too small to hold any fruit.

The mexicolas are very vigorous trees. Really only a few varieties are suitable to grow in pots. I think Wurtz gets the nod, but really avos like being in the ground.

Fuerte and Bacon can be great if picked ripe, and their seasons do complement Hass well, but for cold hardiness, you should consider mostly Mexican types with seasons Dec-February, ones like Fuerte and Mexicola would be prime contenders.

Mexicola ripens Sept-Nov, not Dec-Feb, at least in northern CA. Most of the purely Mexican types are short-season (fall-ripening), whereas the winter-ripening types (Fuerte, Bacon) are generally Guatemalan/Mexican hybrids.

[Lyn38]

Thanks Drymifolia and Oolie! So, with containers, are you saying the tree is unhappy in a container or unhealthy? I have a navel orange tree that is over 25 years old in a 25 gal container. It should be 25 to 30 ft but it stays maybe 6 ft high and wide. It's not happy about that, it's sort of bonsai, it would much rather be in the ground, and instead of tons of oranges it only gives me around 20 oranges a year. But, it's healthy and good looking. I have the same thing going on with 35 ft bamboo and a lemon tree. I don't feed them as much as I would if they were in the ground.

So do you think an avocado that only grows to 25-30 ft would be unhealthy in a 30 gal? If so, I'm wondering how many years would it take to grow too big for that from a 2 ft tree? I would like to move within a few years but at the same time would rather not wait for trees to get to size after a move.

[Lyn38]

Drymifolia, I'd love to hear what you think about Joey when you taste it. Supposedly the tree only grows to around 20 ft. Where ever I move to will probably not fit a full sized Avo or 2.

[carolstropicals]

NO to Joey avocado.  Have one

[Bush2Beach]

Bodega bay is the only bodega i ever seen in CA.
The cold hardy one’s often are not rich and buttery and nutty.
Plant a grafted Reed, your right , it’s one of the best you can try to grow.