* Often available in local nurseries and Home Depot. Most of the other avocado trees may be special ordered at reputable nurseries. 

**  Is a B type tree that in known to produces well coastally, within 3 miles of the ocean. 

***  Takes approximately 12 - 18 months to ripen so there will be two crops on the tree during Summer months.

 

 

Maximum Hold Time of Ready to Pick Avocados on Trees, Based on UC Irvine Location

TYPE           Jan        Feb      Mar     Apr     May    Jun      Jul       Aug     Sep      Oct      Nov     Dec 

 

Ardith (Excel)                                                _____________________________A

Fuerte         ________________________________________B

Gwen                         _______________________________________A

Hass                        _________________________________________A

Hellen                                                                         _____________________B

Holiday (XX3)                                                                       _____________________________A

JanBoyce                                ____________________________A

Kona Sharwil           ______________________________________________________B

Lamb/Hass                                                                 _________________________________________A

McArther                                                                                                        _______________________

Nabal                                                                          ___________________________________B

Nimlioh                                                                                              _____________________________B

Nowels                       _____________________________B

Pinkerton         ___________________________________A

Queen                                                                         ____________B

Reed                                                                                                               _______________________A

Sir Prize                                  _____________________________B

Stewart                                                                                                                       _________________ B

Sterns  <__________A   Hold time may go past February?                            _________________>

 

NOTES: 

1.  A and B are types of flowers that determine when in the day the flower is male or female – Mix types for best pollination results = highest yield. 

2.  Many B flowering trees do not produce well along the coastal areas but they do in warmer, inland climates.  In the greater LA area, they need to be more than 3 miles in from the ocean to do best.

3.  The Fuerte, a large spreading tree, is generally the best pollinator of A type avocado trees and the Fuerte is considered to be in the top 5 best tasting of all avocados. This tree can produce well coastally.

4.  The five best tasting avocados are:  Jan Boyce (JB, considered best), Hass, Fuerte, Kona Sharwil, & Reed.

 

Avocado Advice

 

IF I HAD A SMALL PLACE IN MY YARD FOR AN AVOCADO TREE:

If I was in a yard and could only have one avocado tree and wanted it to be a small tree, then I would buy a Holliday avocado.  It has a large fruit, ripens off season when quality avocados are very hard to find, it has a good hang time on the tree so you have avocados for about 4 months (July - Nov) of the year and most important the fruit taste great!  There are three places selling it; Lowell's Hardware, Armstrong Nursery, and Home Depot.  If they aren't in stock then go to the manager and ask for help.  I bought one at Lowell's for just $20 but it was probably only 2 years old.  Larger older trees are available and worth the price.  It takes about 17 months from flower to ready to pick (mature) so you end up with two generations of fruit on the tree at one time.  It is easy to tell the difference based on size and shine of fruit.  Most people want to pick the fruit early and it will not be good if you do.  Other great small avocado trees to consider are Gwen, Kona Sharwil and Pinkerton.  A manager of a good nursery should be able to find theses trees for you.  One last thing, don't buy the dwarf from Roger's Garden (nursery in Laguna area) - the fruit is not good tasting and they shouldn’t push selling this tree.  Buyers beware.

 

THINGS THAT USUALLY KILL AVOCADO TREES ARE:

- Not enough drainage.  These trees need lots of water and lots of drainage.

- Too much water for the drainage situation especially in clay type soil.  If you dig a hole in clay the hole may act like a bowl and allow standing water. Standing water will kill an avocado tree.

- Too much or too strong a fertilizer - give them very little, MUCH less than suggested but apply more frequently.  Do not fertilize when transplanting.

- Sun burn - Avocado wood burns easily.  You fixed this by painting the exposed bark with a white water based paint, mixed with 50% water. 

-  Don’t prune in the heat of the Summer since that will expose the wood to direct sunshine - unless you paint the bark.  Prune in November - February is best but pruning any time of the year is OK.

- Transplant shock, root vitamins may help here.

-  Planting with fresh “hot” mulch.  The trees do need a lot of aged mulch but too much fresh green mulch will heat up and burn the top feeding roots, which means they feed on decaying mulch just under the surface.  These sensitive roots do burn easily in hot mulch.

-  Not leaving mulch beneath the tree. Do not scrape the area around the tree clean. Avocados need to keep their fallen leaves and branches as mulch.

-  Digging under the tree will kill these feeder roots too.  Keep the digging to a minimum.

-  A few years in a pot.  Because these trees have top feeding roots they need a large area to grow properly and they cannot be grown in pots for long.

-  Planting in a climate that gets too cold at times.  See varieties chart for trees that do well in colder climates - about 28 degrees.  Most need above 32 degrees at all times.  Remember, avocados come from the warm jungles of Mexico, Guatamala and the West Indies.

-  Try not to plant the tree in the hottest time of the year.  Transplanting disturbs the roots ability to take in water so planting the tree in a heat wave may cause it to dry out and die.

 

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS: (What an avocado needs): 

 

-  Select the right location for the tree.  Don’t buy an avocado tree if you don’t have the right spot for it to grow in. 

            -- Direct sun a minimum of half the day.

            -- Non freezing location all the year.

            -- Soil with good drainage or plant on top of the ground in a raised garden.

            -- Don’t dig a hole in clay based soil since this will make a bowl of standing water to drown the roots in.

            -- An area where plenty of mulch (2” - 4” thick) can be put down once a year and the leaves from the tree can be left for mulch.

            -- An area with little foot traffic.

-  Select the right size and type of tree for the location you have.

-  Don’t sink the tree in a hole.  Plant it at or above the soil line.  It is best to plant the trees in an elevated garden or on a hill slop.

-  Make the hole at least twice the size of the pot and plant the tree with plenty of good top soil mixed with a little mulch - save most of the mulch for top dressing around the tree.

-  If the tree has a lot of exposed bark then paint the bark with a white water based paint mixed with 50% water.  This will prevent sunburn.

-  Water young trees 2-3 times a week and older trees 1 - 2 times a week.

 

14 Essential mineral elements for plants
Primary	Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium,
Secondary	Calcium, Magnesium, Sulfur,
Micro	Molybdenum, Nickel, Copper, Zinc, Manganese, Iron, Boron, Chlorine.
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS
LEAVES	INDICATE
Small terminal or tip growth ceases	Zinc deficiency
Thin and brittle	Magnesium deficiency
Mottled, blotches or necrotic areas	Zinc deficiency
Curl upward, elongation practically ceases	Iron or magnesium deficiency; insects
Curl downward	Boron deficiency; insects
Collapsed spots on young leaves	Zinc or manganese deficiency
Tips dead	Phosphorous deficiency; excess chlorine
Tips firing	Nitrogen deficiency
Color loss at tips, striping between veins	Magnesium deficiency
Tips and margins dead	Leaf burn, caused by wind, frost, excess salts or lack of water
Margin, scorched effect	Potassium deficiency
Margin, yellowing, streaks or striping	Phosphorous deficiency; excess boron
Margins, turn to brown (lower leaves first affected)	Potassium deficiency
Scalloped appearance	Calcium deficiency
Veins, yellow with pale green between veins	Nitrogen deficiency
Veins, green with yellow between (young leaves first)	Iron deficiency
Veins, green with color loss between veins	Iron, manganese, magnesium, molybdenum deficiencies or fungus, virus, insects, mites, low temperatures, toxic materials in air or soil, excessive water, copper, manganese or zinc