Anyone Have Ripe Avocados in December?

[sc4001992]

Greg, hee's the photos showing the Derek avocado tree I took a few weeks ago.,

[spaugh]

Thats a bacon tree.

[drymifolia]

Greg,

That's interesting. I see many avocado trees with very green leaves.

I just cut some branches from the Nancy (HB_Lib) tree today. If I take some photos of the leaves from the branches, do you think you can see the difference? I checked the tree for new leaves (flush), and they do not show any reddish color.

Does it have any anise scent? That's another potential way to distinguish it from Bacon.

[spaugh]

It does have a faint scent.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, its a duck.

[sc4001992]

This one, Derek, does have some pointy seeds which I have seen in description of Bacon avocado. This tree was just old in the same property and probably could have been purchased from a nursery.

I know the other two, Hamada and Nancy are not purchased avocado trees. They have more history than the Derek. The fruits of Derek tree is consistently larger than the Hamada fruits..

Brad, you may be right on this guy..

[drymifolia]

It does have a faint scent.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, its a duck.

We're talking about two different trees, "Nancy" and "Derek" which are clearly not identical to each other, so they can't both be Bacon. They could both be Bacon seedlings, though, or one could be.

Actually scratch that, assuming the back story of Nancy is correct, the ortet (in the old Huntington grove) would've been older than the original Bacon tree, so it could be a cousin of Bacon but can't be Bacon or its seedling.

[sc4001992]

Correct, I agree. Derek could be a Bacon.

[spaugh]

The Derek tree looks like bacon almost certainly.  The nancy fruit look like bacon.  We need pics of the nancy tree. 

It sure looks like bacon too. 

[sc4001992]

Derek could be a Bacon, it was grafted back in the 70's (I think).

I just took more recent photos of the tree so I will post later tonight for everyone to review. I ask Julie also to review these photos of the tree, leaves and fruits.

Next week I will be going back to see the Hamada tree and will take more recent photos.

[fruit4me]

Have an unknown variety from friend's place. Thin skin, creamy,  slightly bitter aftertaste.

[sc4001992]

.

[spaugh]

Have an unknown variety from friend's place. Thin skin, creamy,  slightly bitter aftertaste.

Also bacon...

[fruit4me]

Good to know,  thanks Brad.

[FV Fruit Freak]

I just grafted some “Derek” scions yesterday and was immediately hit with a minty/anise type smell as soon as I cut the scions like drymifolia mentioned, never smelled this before with any other varieties I’ve grafted.

Does anyone have a mature Hass tree that holds fruit into the fall/early winter. My neighbor has a 35+ year old tree that has year round fruit on it, however, the fruit isn’t great. I wonder if it’s due to the age of the tree or because the fruit stays on the tree for so long. I should ask him to try one that’s been hanging on the tree for awhile and one that set the previous summer.

Great thread Kaz

[sc4001992]

Thanks Nate.

Yes, I also have a neighbor nearby that has an avocado tree that is very old and large, but the fruits are much more watery, has no taste and size is similar to Derek, but I did not want to add that one to my collection or share any cuttings. That tree is about the same size as the Derek but no comparison on the fruit taste. Let me go over there and take some cuttings of the branch so I can smell for the anise mentioned. I never knew that would be a good way to tell if it is a Bacon. I will ask Julie if she uses this smell method as one of the criteria when identifying the avocados. She didn't think she could tell just from tasting the fruits so she will review all the photos instead. In hindsight, I should have taken some photos of the fruits to compare it but it didn't seem impressive to me.

None of these three fruits tastes as good a Reed or Sharwil to me, but I love the nutty taste.

[sc4001992]

ok. no leaf smell test.

[drymifolia]

What I had meant about the scent is that Bacon (being a hybrid type) has only a faint scent, while many less hybridized Mexican-race avocados that may have similar looking fruit (i.e., thin smooth skin) will likely have a stronger scent.

I've grafted about 35 Mexican-race avocado varieties and they almost all hit you immediately with a strong scent when you cut the budwood. When I grafted Bacon last year, I could hardly smell it without almost sticking the cutting up my nose.

Aravaipa has a very noticable scent, but not as strong as some others I'm growing. None of the other ones on that list that I recognize that have the scent.

[MasOlas]

My wife sprouted a seed from a Haas? from the local supermarket over a decade ago. For the past handful of years it's been giving us large, round, creamy and literally better tasting than any store bought avocado we've ever had. We usually pick them all by end of Nov, but last week i was adjusting the drip sprayers laying underneath the tree and noticed four more just hanging there. Picked two and they might be ripe this weekend. I'll try to remember to post up a foto.

[sc4001992]

.

[sc4001992]

Ok, drymifolia, then lets forget about the smell test, I couldn't really detect the smell when I checked on the Derek and Nancy yesterday.

So, no leave smell test will be performed. But, I will send you some of the leaves mentioned above.

[FV Fruit Freak]

Ok, drymifolia, then lets forget about the smell test, I couldn't really detect the smell when I checked on the Derek and Nancy yesterday.

So, no leave smell test will be performed. But, I will send you some of the leaves mentioned above.

I never smelled the leaves because I only had scions, so can’t speak on the smell of the leaves vs the smell of a scion. Maybe the smell is only detectable, or more noticeable in the branches rather than the leaves.

[sc4001992]

.

[sc4001992]

I'm also contacting Marta to see if you can do a free DNA test on these trees for me.

-> Found out she is not doing DNA testing now.

[sc4001992]

While I wait to hear back from the experts, I will take more photos of the Derek and Nancy leaves and fruits I took today.

Next week, I will go pick more of the Hamada fruits so I will cut some branches with leaves for that photo shoot.

Here's a preview of the big Hamada tree if you have not seen it..

[MasOlas]

Just sampled one of our unknowns on a nice salad.