any hints on growing avocados

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by dreuky, May 3, 2015.

  1. dreuky

    dreuky Junior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2014
    Messages:
    147
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    18
    I had assumed it would be too cold on my block to grow avocados but yesterday I discovered there is a huge commercial avocado orchard about 30 km from me so obviously they grow here. So has anyone grown them & got any good tips for me? I love the hass variety. Don't know what varieties the commercial place grows.
     
  2. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 19, 2010
    Messages:
    1,016
    Likes Received:
    9
    Trophy Points:
    38
    I keep killing my ones Around here its usually phytophera that kills the tree. Im doing real well with one in a pot grown from seed. They like good deep soil and lots of water but heaps of good drainage. All stuff I dont have.
     
  3. tinyallotment

    tinyallotment Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2015
    Messages:
    31
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Where are you?
    We have had success growing avocado here in Cornwall but they never produce fruit

    Paul
     
  4. dreuky

    dreuky Junior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2014
    Messages:
    147
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Milang South Australia sandy soil really good drainage but poor soil. Obviously the commercial orchard is getting fruit.
     
  5. tinyallotment

    tinyallotment Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2015
    Messages:
    31
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Thanks
    I would love to grow avocados as they are one of my favourite foods

    Paul
     
  6. dreuky

    dreuky Junior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2014
    Messages:
    147
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Avocados, mangoes and bananas Heaven on a tree! Know I haven't got a hope with the mangoes. I plan to give bananas a try but won't be surprised if that isn't a goer but now think the avocados are a definite possibility.
     
  7. tinyallotment

    tinyallotment Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2015
    Messages:
    31
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    I have had a quick read up on growing them in the UK but the general consensus is they can take up to 10 years to flower if they flower at all.

    It would be an interesting experiment

    paul
     
  8. dreuky

    dreuky Junior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2014
    Messages:
    147
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Done some reading about growing avocados in SA & apparently they grow & fruit quite well. From a grafted tree you can expect to get fruit in the second or third year but trees grown from seeds can take 10 years & then produce poor fruit anyway. So I think I will lash out & buy a grafted tree.
     
  9. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 8, 2014
    Messages:
    607
    Likes Received:
    83
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Arkansas Senior Appraiser
    Location:
    Vilonia, Arkansas, deep in the woods
    Climate:
    USDA zone 7b,8a.
    Get two, you will have better and more fruits if they can cross pollinate.

    The better the soil, the better the trees. In our zone 7b/8a locale I will have to put up temporary greenhouse around ours when I get them going for the coldest part of our winter season.

    I had a friend that owned an Avocado orchard when I lived in Los Angeles, and another that had an orchard in the grape growing (Napa) area of northern California, neither place saw temps even near 32 f.
    Their trees were about 60 years old and over 60 feet tall. I plan to keep mine around 30 feet maximum (may decide they should be even shorter for my ancient butt doing the harvesting) by pruning.

    The Hass is the easiest to grow (according to both my grower friends), can actually be started from seed and these will have good fruit but as you mentioned, it does take a decade.

    They are fairly heavy feeders so you need to be ready for amendments via mulches.

    Oh, the wood of a really old Avocado tree makes great guitar bodies with nice tones and it looks cool with semigloss finish on it.
    My friend in Napa had one die in a storm, I had it processed and then made him two guitars, the tone was as good as Brazilian Rose Wood but with really sweet, wavy grain. Wish I still had some of that wood left, but I only got ten sets out of the wood he gave me.

    Good luck, with growing them, and when they are huge and they fruit, watch your noggin.
     
  10. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2009
    Messages:
    1,665
    Likes Received:
    94
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Gender:
    Female
    Occupation:
    s/e
    Location:
    South Waikato New ZeLeand
    Climate:
    Cool mountain
    Hi dreuky,
    You need to have at least two trees. One has to be a type 'A' and the other a type 'B'.
    This is so they can pollinate each other.
    The types are to do with the differences in how they flower and when. The flowers of the 'A'type open first as female in the morning and male in the afternoon and the 'B's do the opposite.

    I have managed to get my mature tree to fruit and hold them til they are ripe, only when we dont have heavy frosts. They were lovely and I think a Haas seeing as they were ripe the same time as what appeared in the supermarkets and looked alittle like them but not completely.
    My grandmother grew it from a seed about 18 years ago. It took around 7 to start flowering and afew more for me to realise that it needed a close and personal friend!

    I was told to go with the Guatamalan type rather than the Mexican as they are supposed to be more cold tolerant, which may or may not be a problem for you.

    The only growing tip I was given was to make sure the roots have plenty of drainage to the point of planting them on a mound if drainage could be a problem and to remember that they are a forest tree and so like alot of leaf fall etc, oh and that they like water in summer so not to let them dry out which is supposed to help them hold their fruit.
     
  11. dreuky

    dreuky Junior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2014
    Messages:
    147
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Thanks for the thoughts. We don't get frosts here very often. I am told by long term residents we can go 2 or 3 winters before we will get a frost. The soil is sandy which is good from drainage but looks like I will need to add lots of my horse poo to it. I'm glad your avocado grower says Hass is easy to grow because I think Hass avocados are just the best.
     
  12. tinyallotment

    tinyallotment Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2015
    Messages:
    31
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Have you got enough left for a ukulele?;)
     
  13. chook4

    chook4 New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2015
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Gender:
    Male
    Climate:
    humid.Cairns. NQ. Australia
    I am new here.I live in Cairns NQ.Australia.My house yard has a clay base and to plant my citrus/fruit trees I have had to import premium sandy loam and create"mounding". Within the past year I have mounded for custard apples,lychees,lemon,red grapefriut,mango,pawpaw and the last effort are two heaped mounds of say 800mm height with large truck tires placed on top with the side walls cut out .Just planted a grafted dwarf Lamb Hass and a Sheppard.
    To protect the new avo trees I have used 60% sun shade to get them through the coming hot summer.
    I am getting mixed information on what strenght of nitrogen fertilizer needs to be applied for these young trees
     
  14. DC Brown

    DC Brown Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 29, 2015
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    8
    I observe single plantings of avocado fruiting well in Auckland, NZ. Perhaps in a rural setting it is necessary to have two trees, in the city you might rely on trees in relative proximity. As avocado gets so big - smallholders might want to talk neighbors into 'sharing the load'.

    I have a tree in constant battle with a large maple overshadowing it. The 'areas of conflict' result in damage to both trees as insect pests arrive to take advantage of wounds. But, the avocado grows back faster, takes the gap created, and then upwards to the next battle. Tremendous damage but not a sign of phytopthera yet. Also one of the healthiest Kauri I've ever seen is on my fenceline. I'm the only 'tree scientist' allowed on the property!
     
  15. chook4

    chook4 New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2015
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Gender:
    Male
    Climate:
    humid.Cairns. NQ. Australia

    Chook4 to DC Brown.I have a Sheppard avo and that variety takes well to pruning/shaping to controlling the size of the tree without interfering with the flowering/fruiting, if done at the right season. I will still be able after trimming to have my tree at least 4-5 metres wide and maybe 4 1/2 metres high.The grafted dwarf Lamb Hass will be fine.
    I bought my avos from Bunnings here in Cairns and the plant guy there insisted that the nitrogen factor in the NPK should not exceed 2%.On reading several government avo advisory sheets they suggest that young trees ( age?) should have N up to 15%. More research needed....I dont want to burn the young roots.My next planting will be Yellow Cherry Guava trees.Some guavas attract the dreaded fruit fly so will need to monitor closely coz I dont want the flies to give my other fruiting trees any problems.
    I tried two bud grafts on my mango tree trunk, failed, and which left 2 wounds gaping and as the tree progressed the wounds opened. I used Tree Wound Dressing which sealed the wounds and now the growth has completely closed the openings.The dressing stopped any fly contamination to the wood and bark.
    I did another graft, successful, to a young limb and now have two varieties on the same tree. Cheers
     
    Bryant RedHawk likes this.
  16. Flatland

    Flatland Member

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2015
    Messages:
    152
    Likes Received:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Gender:
    Female
    I was under the impression that both mango trees and avocado trees are fine to prune to size. that is what i have read on several websites
     
  17. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 8, 2014
    Messages:
    607
    Likes Received:
    83
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Arkansas Senior Appraiser
    Location:
    Vilonia, Arkansas, deep in the woods
    Climate:
    USDA zone 7b,8a.
    No, unfortunately. But I do keep in touch with him just incase he has another tree go down.
    He did tell me that once my avocado trees get to the rough bark stage I won't have to worry about keeping them in a green house.
    But, since that takes about 20 years, they will get a green house around them every winter I'm alive, which means I'll be pruning them to around 20 feet max. height.
     
  18. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 8, 2014
    Messages:
    607
    Likes Received:
    83
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Arkansas Senior Appraiser
    Location:
    Vilonia, Arkansas, deep in the woods
    Climate:
    USDA zone 7b,8a.
    hau, Flatland,

    I don't know of any fruit tree that can't be pruned both for shape and height.
    Many people don't want to go to the trouble and that is perfectly ok, but all fruit trees can be pruned should the owner want to keep a certain shape or height.
     
  19. chook4

    chook4 New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2015
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Gender:
    Male
    Climate:
    humid.Cairns. NQ. Australia

    Howdy
    I live in Cairns NQ Australia.My house block ,700m2 has a clay bed, only suitable to grow Australian natives. SOOO...to grow my fruit trees I have built mounds 1.6m2 x 1m high with premium sandy loam. I now have custard apples,mangoes lychees 2 avocados cherry guavas .Just Google about growing avocados and you will find all the answers you require. From fertilizers, pruning , varieties for different climates.My avos are, Dwarf grafted Lamb Hass, and Sheppard. The Dwarf has will not need pruning but the Sheppard will accept pruning ok. I just ordered a dwarf grafted King Thai mango, it too will be mounded. It surprises me that avos can like nitrogen in higher quantities.( from Dept of agriculture information sheets etc)
    There are varieties of avos which will do ok in cooler climates.

    Cheers
     
  20. chook4

    chook4 New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2015
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Gender:
    Male
    Climate:
    humid.Cairns. NQ. Australia
    Try the grafted Lamb Has variety. Google for data.If you have the space plant 2 varieties, tye A plus type B for cross polination.
     

Share This Page

-->