VARIETY SELECTION IN RELATION TO CLIMATE ADAPTABILITY

 

ALWAYS PROTECT YOUNG TREES FROM FROST UNTIL ESTABLISHED, Although trees will gain hardiness with age and size, it is important to select a variety that will be hardy to your climatic zone and your particular micro climate whithin this zone, and for that matter, the microclimate within the microclimate (I.E. The south side of a 2 story stucco walled house that lies on a south facing warm ridge high above the valley floor, within fairly mild zone 15- you could probably successfully grow a tropical Mango in this spot whereas the north side of your buddy's house just at the bottom of the hill, lying at the base of a north face hillside, but fully within the same macro climate zone 15 would have a tough time growing a common orange.)  Thus the complexities of micro climates within macro climate zones. But, here are some general rules about the Bay Area climate zones:

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However, all of that being said, many people grow more tender varieties outside their recommended zones by protecting the trees when they are young and utilizing favorable micro-climates on their particular site. Trees will gain hardiness with age and size.

 

To find out what zone you are in go to Sunset's zone finder and click "find my sunset climate zone" and then click on your location to see where you lie within the zones.

 

When selecting a variety, to increase fruit production it is recommended to have both an A type and B Type flower cultivar, even if you have to plant them in the same hole because of lack of space.

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How much to irrigate depends on many factors - soil, weather, the age of the plant, etc. - but generally speaking, the goal is to maintain a moist, but not overly saturated, soil. Avocado trees can occasionally dry out a little bit and be okay, but they will not tolerate prolonged dryness nor saturated conditions. Ideally, water needs to be evenly distributed throughout the entire root zone and also outside the root zone to encourage new roots. Commercial avocado orchards typically use microspray emitters for an even distribution of water over the root zone, versus a bubbler that would flood the immediate area, providing uneven coverage and perhaps a lot of runoff before soaking into the ground.  

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We recommend the following application rates. You'll need to check to see if you're getting the desired result (which would be the evenly moist sponge-like effect) and like the the three bears, adjust as needed until you have it just right. 

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• 5 gallon plant - about 2 gallons per application

• 15 gallon plant - 3 gallons per application 

• 24" box - 4 to 5 gallons per application

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And as Avocado Trees are sun emergent forest dwellers, they are basically evolutionarily designed to germinate in the shade of larger trees, and shoot up through the layers of forest around them in the competition for light and to find a hole up in the canopy and reach for it and then and only then push its head out into the bright sunlight it so craves.  By the time it reaches this level, it has a bounty of leaf material that shades its under structure form the sun directly overhead.  Seldom does an avocado branching structure in habitat see the sun because of this phenomena and most always it is from directly overhead and filtered by its leafy canopy.  HOWEVER, we gardener guacamole junkies dictate that our new friend get planted in full baking sun, often with no shade relief the entire day. 

 

In the typical garden setting, low angle sun, that would normally be filtered by the neighboring trees of the forest in habitat, sneaks into the tree and can cause the tender green skin of stems and trunk to sunburn to a sad black color.  This will stunt the tree's growth and can even kill it in extreme cases.  What to do?????  Go find some white or near white latex paint, mix it 50/50 with water and paint every green stem and branch that has sunlight beaming onto it.  The more goofy your tree looks, the better job you did- like that funny looking guy on the beach with all the zinc oxide coated all over his nose.  No sunburn for him!

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See Gary's True Plant Stories Article that seemed to unleash Northern California's avocado planting craze.

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And before emailing us or calling with questions regarding avocado culture, variety selection etc., please read on below and also see the FORM LETTER we send to all of those who inquire about our avocados via email (Thanks for understanding):

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Gary's Treasured Nabal Avocado from his Lafayette Orchard                                               A freshly planted tree painted white to prevent sunburn

 

CULTURAL INFORMATION

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Avocados are native to the cooler, subtropical mountainsides of Mexico, particularly sites of decomposing volcanos in highland locales. They are used to a temperate climate with little or no frost in their habitat. It also never gets too hot because of the higher elevation. Rather, they live in forest conditions of decomposing volcanic soil mixed with decomposing forest leaf litter. They like even moisture to a depth of about 2'. The ground is not unlike a sponge, and the plant prefers soil that isn't too wet or too dry, but is evenly moist. The way to create this in a garden setting is to have a spongy, organic growing medium with lots of mulch on top. You'll need to distribute water evenly around the entire root zone, encouraging the growth of small, white, hair-like roots if you do your job right.  Thumb through the mulch and see if you see them.  If you have been a good and responsible parent and conditions are good, they will ride right up to the surface happilly living just beneath the mulch layer eating it up like like a dog does cat food.

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GERMINATION AND PRODUCTION

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Every avocado we sell is a grafted cultivar. When avocados first germinate, they take up to ten years to become sexually active, flower, and thereby fruit. Our avocados, however, are all super horny right out of the gate, created from grafted clones from sexually mature trees, thereby allowing the plant to be able to flower and fruit immediately.  We recommend though to pick off all flowers and fruit from the tree until it has at least an inch of caliper to prevent the plant from expending too much of its energies in early fruit production and not growth which inevitably stunts growth thereby reducing future yield exponentially. Avocados can be sporadic in their fruiting. Some years they may have none, other years they may have hundreds of fruit on a big tree. The same sporadic fruiting pattern should be expected on younger plants as well. 

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OH NO! MY LEAVES ARE TURNING BROWN

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If your leaves turn brown or you are upset your tree has not fruited yet, before calling Gary and asking him the same questions that he has been asked a thousand times before, read this first or better yet, watch the video below: 

 

Patience is a virtue for the Bay Area and Northern California Avocado Grower as avocados can be finicky fruiters. My Fuerte tree (loaded with fruit and pictured below) frustrated me for 5-6 years after planting the 5 gallon plant out with not a single fruit, then it set 2, then it set none, then it dominated the grove with the heaviest fruit set of all trees. The next year it set NONE. And this year it is loaded heavier than any tree I have ever seen in Northern California.  Go figure.  If you want fruit every year for sure, then plant as many different varieties as you have space for (or encourage your neighbors to do so).  This is the strategy I employed in my grove.  The idea is if any one tree is having an off year, I have others that will have a heavy set thus reliably having fruit all the time.  I figure there is no such thing as having too many avocados.  Other distress calls we get are in Spring and have to do with leaf browing.  The leaves on your tree will likely brown out either partially or completely starting about in February just before the plant sets its new crop of buds, followed by flowers and then new leaves.  Avocados are generally termed evergreen but I believe this is a bit of a misnomer. I would rather classify them as semi-deciduous because they often drop many, and sometimes most of their previous year's foliage just prior to this bud set thus freaking out the novice grower thereby spawning a barrage of SOS distress phone calls and emails to me.  So when you see this, sit back, take a deep breath, and relax as it is as normal as gravity making an apple fall, or having lime with your shot of Tequila.  And did I mention we sell lime trees as well?

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