Its great we have a thread now to discuss the planting of other green things.

I've been pondering the idea of an avocado tree in my yard, does anyone have any experience with avocado trees? They grow well in southern california just not sure what they require or when the ideal time to plant may be.

[MrFista]

Apparently the trees from seed may not produce fruit and are prone to rot so you need to get a good grafted stock to begin with. They grow huge and are not self fertile, so you'll need at least two huge trees. They prefer a slope, which also assists in the drainage they require.

[Babbabud]

Well the fertile part could be taken care of. Im not sure what part of So Cal you are in but there are avocado trees galore in So Cal. Part of So Cal I grew up in had an avo tree in about every fourth house in some parts of town. Shouldnt be hard to find a great "Has' Avocado" Tree down that way.

[Mrs.Greengenes]

I grew up with a HUGE avacado tree in my backyard in Southern Ca. My chore as a kid was to clean up all the leaves and rotten avacados on the ground under it. Unfortunately back then at 6-7yrs old I hated avacados and despised the tree. Now I absolutely love them and wish I had that very tree in my yard. Sorry I do not have any advise on growing them as I do not live in Ca anymore but I couldn't resist the opportunity to remember the old days.

[8bitNES]

My advice would be to not let them get very large at all. They'll grow very fast if you let them. Prune multiple times a year, heavy pruning in spring and/or late fall/winter, light jobs throughout. Open up the canopy so sun can penetrate through but not so much that it'll get sunburned. Eliminate cross-branching. Don't prune all the small twigs since the flowers/fruit will only form on new growth (1-2yr old growth).

There's no use in having a 50' tree if you're only going to pick fruit only up to about 7', so keep it to around that height. Having the trees that short will also help keep the roots from overspreading and breaking up your concrete and foundation. It will also help keep your water bill down since its a lot easier to guess where the feeder roots are.

Keep bee friendly plants around your yard. Avocados will produce up to 80% more yield when bee pollinated.

Find a tree that has low branches. If your tree will only get to about 8', picking a tree that has been de-branched up to 4' will hinder your yield. Try to bush it out, in a sense. This goes for all fruiting trees.

Plant the tree anytime since you're in SoCal. You're in the sunbelt so most of the year is ideal unless you're in a frost prone area. If that's the case then I would suggest anytime during the warm months. Get some compost and amend the soil where the tree will be since you'll probably have that great SoCal clay. Water daily for at least a month, or until established.

Since we're on this site I probably won't have to suggest to fertilize.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persea_americana has a lot of info. Check under Breeding. Maybe it would be best to get both A and B varieties?

8bit

[Styles P]

my friend has family in St. Lucia and at there house they had a avocado tree that was at least 50 foot tall. the avocados were huge and had a nutty taste to them.

[facelift]

I would be interested in one of these as well as a a couple pistachio. 1 male of each and a few females.

[cloneX]

Can't grow these here too cold