Author Topic: Girdling seedling avocados?  (Read 2141 times)

starch

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Girdling seedling avocados?
« on: March 07, 2015, 11:32:02 AM »
Here is an idea that I had which is inspired by recent post by crazyforcherimoya regarding girdling a Lychee: http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=14685

The question I pose is: Since it takes so long to see the quality of fruit is by a seedling avocado (7+ years), can we speed up that discovery process by girdling?

I did a quick search on this forum and didn't find anything. But girdling in the avocado industry looks like it is common to induce fruiting, especially on the Fuerte which is a heavy alternate bearer:

http://www.avocadosource.com/cas_yearbooks/cas_06_1920/cas_1920-21_pg_69-70.pdf
(I have read a paper once similar to this, even though this is just an abstract): http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/27/6/639.4

In seedling mango, girdling has some positive results (and sometimes no results): http://fshs.org/proceedings-o/1963-vol-76/360-363%20%28GASKINS%29.pdf

In seedling avocados, there is a similar story, some positive, some no results: http://www.avocadosource.com/journals/hortscience/hortsci_1986_21_pg_1038-1039.pdf

So what does the community think? Has there been any experimentation with this? Any positive results, any non-results? Does it seem like a task worth undertaking?
- Mark

fruitlovers

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Re: Girdling seedling avocados?
« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2015, 01:15:23 AM »
I've never tried it but seem to recall reading that girdling does initiate fruiting in avocadoes. Another possible approach is to graft on some mature wood onto the seedling to hormonally initiate the seedling to fruit. That might be easier than girdling, and only needs to be done once. I think both are worth experimenting with. Are you trying to come up with new cultivars? Or why the interest in seedlings?
Oscar

starch

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Re: Girdling seedling avocados?
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2015, 09:13:43 AM »
Hi fruitlovers, that is a really good suggestion. Maybe make a high graft on the stem of a seedling and the branches that come out low on the seedling (below the graft) might be 'triggered' to flower earlier than it otherwise wood because of the mature flowering wood above the graft.  I might try that approach.

The reason I am interested is that I have a bunch of seedling avocados on a mound in my yard http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=12844.msg185979#msg185979 . I have tried planting grafted avocados from a nursery and they have all burned to a crisp in the summer. And as Simon pointed out in the original post (a buddy of his has the same problem) the seedling directly planted in the final environment will have a much stronger root system. Back to this post: So I have more seedlings than I need, I will pick the strongest few for grafting (I ultimately want a Reed tree) but I would be interested if I left one of the other seedlings to grow up what the fruit might be like. However I am not willing to wait more than 3 years to find out (otherwise I would just graft a known desired cultivar to begin with).

So I like your idea because it gives me the potential for the best of both worlds. I will definitely ponder that one. Thanks for the feedback!
- Mark

Jack, Nipomo

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Re: Girdling seedling avocados?
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2015, 10:59:47 AM »
Just to add some additional info to this:  in rural Mexico where the use of grafted trees is unknown, a procedure called "marrying" a seedling tree to induce early fruiting is common.  A large hole is drilled in the lower part of the tree and packed with mud.  Certainly that would stress the tree similarly to girdling.  With little investment in seedlings, why not see the effects of girdling?  Report back.

starch

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Re: Girdling seedling avocados?
« Reply #4 on: March 08, 2015, 11:38:43 AM »
Jack, Thanks for this information, I agree that should stress the tree similarly to girdling and the fact that it is used to induced early fruiting in seedlings is very encouraging.
- Mark