The Tropical Fruit Forum

Temperate Fruit & Orchards => Temperate Fruit Buy, Sell, & Trade => Topic started by: guillem on February 26, 2021, 02:42:07 PM

Title: Looking for cold hardy avocado scions: Duke, Mexicola, Fantastic, Joey…
Post by: guillem on February 26, 2021, 02:42:07 PM
Hello there

I am looking for some scions of cold hardy avocado cultivars to graft some Mexicola rootstock grown from seed. I live in 8b and I would be very grateful if someone could send be some branches of these cultivars:
I live in Europe (Spain) but I would pay the shipping cost in advance (PayPal or bank transfer…).

Thank you very much!!
Title: Re: Looking for cold hardy avocado scions: Duke, Mexicola, Fantastic, Joey…
Post by: swincher on February 27, 2021, 10:51:36 AM
I have had good luck with getting cold-hardy avocado scions from Really Good Plants (https://reallygoodplants.com/#please-read). It says under shipping info that you can't check out on their website for international orders, but to email them about it and they might be able to accommodate it.

I'd recommend their Royal-Wright variety along with Duke, maybe Aravaipa (vigorous tree, mediocre fruit quality). So far Royal-Wright is the one that has had almost 100% of grafts take, Aravaipa a close second. None of my Second Red grafts took, but it looks like that's not in stock anyhow. I just got my Duke scions this week so can't give success rates. Here's the blog post where they give descriptions and photos (http://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2020/03/cold-hardy-avocados-for-sacramento.html) of the varieties they offer.
Title: Re: Looking for cold hardy avocado scions: Duke, Mexicola, Fantastic, Joey…
Post by: guillem on February 28, 2021, 03:26:34 AM
I have had good luck with getting cold-hardy avocado scions from Really Good Plants (https://reallygoodplants.com/#please-read). It says under shipping info that you can't check out on their website for international orders, but to email them about it and they might be able to accommodate it.

I'd recommend their Royal-Wright variety along with Duke, maybe Aravaipa (vigorous tree, mediocre fruit quality). So far Royal-Wright is the one that has had almost 100% of grafts take, Aravaipa a close second. None of my Second Red grafts took, but it looks like that's not in stock anyhow. I just got my Duke scions this week so can't give success rates. Here's the blog post where they give descriptions and photos (http://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2020/03/cold-hardy-avocados-for-sacramento.html) of the varieties they offer.

Thank you very much for this complete information swincher!! I will defintely contact them for these three varieties. I have you informed.
Title: Re: Looking for cold hardy avocado scions: Duke, Mexicola, Fantastic, Joey…
Post by: Flgarden on March 01, 2021, 10:32:33 AM
Don't get Joey. I just killed it after wasting 8 years on it.
It was giving egg size avocados with large seeds. Impossible to peel purple thin skin that leaves purple marks on everything it touches. Taste wise I never got a good tasting one. My tree was grafted and from a reputable nursery
Title: Re: Looking for cold hardy avocado scions: Duke, Mexicola, Fantastic, Joey…
Post by: swincher on March 01, 2021, 02:49:58 PM
Don't get Joey. I just killed it after wasting 8 years on it.
It was giving egg size avocados with large seeds. Impossible to peel purple thin skin that leaves purple marks on everything it touches. Taste wise I never got a good tasting one. My tree was grafted and from a reputable nursery

All the cold-hardy varieties will have similarly thin skin that cracks/bruises easily, that's the main reason they aren't considered commercially viable, along with small size (other than a few like Duke and Mexicola Grande). Too bad about the flavor, I've heard others say it has one of the richest, creamiest tastes of any avocado. Wonder if maybe it varies a lot depending on soil conditions/rootstock?
Title: Re: Looking for cold hardy avocado scions: Duke, Mexicola, Fantastic, Joey…
Post by: Flgarden on March 01, 2021, 04:34:47 PM
Many factors could play...
Bruising of the skin was not the issue. It was impossible to remove it without a purple mess and there was not much to eat...

(https://i.postimg.cc/cK9S8R6F/IMG-20200727-101941849.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/cK9S8R6F)
Title: Re: Looking for cold hardy avocado scions: Duke, Mexicola, Fantastic, Joey…
Post by: Flgarden on March 01, 2021, 04:41:58 PM
https://www.myavocadotrees.com/joey-avocado.html (https://www.myavocadotrees.com/joey-avocado.html)

This guy had the same issues with  Joey and his pics are matching what i had. 
Title: Re: Looking for cold hardy avocado scions: Duke, Mexicola, Fantastic, Joey…
Post by: swincher on March 01, 2021, 06:36:27 PM
Many factors could play...
Bruising of the skin was not the issue. It was impossible to remove it without a purple mess and there was not much to eat...

(https://i.postimg.cc/cK9S8R6F/IMG-20200727-101941849.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/cK9S8R6F)

Usually it's recommended to eat the skin for most drymifolia avocado cultivars because of the peeling issue. 

I had heard from a few sources that Joey and May are the same cultivar, but I wonder if that's not true. Craig Hepworth in Citra (https://floridafruitgeek.com/cold-hardy-avocados/) was one of my main sources of direct info about what I assumed to be Joey/May, now I'm thinking maybe May is a different cultivar completely:

(https://floridafruitgeek.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/13686960_167810193649651_1464846992_n.jpg?w=1000&h=1000&crop=1)
Title: Re: Looking for cold hardy avocado scions: Duke, Mexicola, Fantastic, Joey…
Post by: Flgarden on March 01, 2021, 07:10:58 PM
Color of the skin of your May looks like Joey i had. But shape is different and seed proportionally looks smaller. Joey had a thin layer  around the seed. And seeds was not easy to remove. I gave it years thinking maybe the tree is still young and fertilizer and something else...
Title: Re: Looking for cold hardy avocado scions: Duke, Mexicola, Fantastic, Joey…
Post by: swincher on March 01, 2021, 09:28:23 PM
Definitely doesn't sound great! I have a single small grafted Joey tree myself, still a few years from producing, now you have me second-guessing that decision!

P.S. sorry for the threadjacking
Title: Re: Looking for cold hardy avocado scions: Duke, Mexicola, Fantastic, Joey…
Post by: guillem on March 03, 2021, 01:53:33 AM
Thanks for your posts!
I'll keep Joey in mind. Therefore, I see that Duke and Mexicola Grande would be the best varieties within the drymifolia.
I contacted reallygoodplants but they have some issues with the priority mail service.
So I'll keep looking for scions.
Title: Re: Looking for cold hardy avocado scions: Duke, Mexicola, Fantastic, Joey…
Post by: tiendadefruta on August 20, 2021, 04:32:40 AM
Hi Guillem,

Did you manage to find those branches? I grow avocados in Spain, Almuñecar (Granada) I have several mexicola trees in my farm, if you're still interested maybe I could help you. I thought it was a bit too cold up in Catalonia to grow avocados due to minus temperatures
Title: Re: Looking for cold hardy avocado scions: Duke, Mexicola, Fantastic, Joey…
Post by: drdoctor on September 02, 2023, 12:10:20 PM
Hello,
I'd be interested, I sent a PM for you!
Best,
DrDoctor
Did you manage to find those branches? I grow avocados in Spain, Almuñecar (Granada) I have several mexicola trees in my farm, if you're still interested maybe I could help you. I thought it was a bit too cold up in Catalonia to grow avocados due to minus temperatures