January 4, 2003
Question: My mother is buying me an avocado tree and we could use some advice. I live in Golden Gate Estates, and want to get a tree that will bear fruit fairly quickly, and I want the avocados to be the big ones, not the little ones. What kind of tree would you recommend?
- Susan, Golden Gate Estate
Answer: The time from planting to fruit production and the size of avocado fruits are determined by two different factors. For fruit trees, the time from planting to significant harvest is primarily determined by original propagation method. Fruit trees are usually the results of being grafted or are grown directly from seeds. Grafted avocado trees will begin to produce sufficient quantity of fruits in three to five years. Trees allowed to mature from seeds could take a considerable longer time to produce fruits and quantity of yield is not guaranteed. All store bought trees are grafted trees ensuring fairly quick fruit production.
Secondly, the size of fruit is determined primarily by the race of the avocado. Avocados are divided into three ecological races, Mexican, Guatemalan, and West Indian. Different races grow best in different climatic regions. The Mexican is adapted to California’s hot and dry climate while the West Indian does best in the hot and humid tropics including subtropical Florida. By nature, the Mexicans are small fruiting and the West Indians are large fruited. Trees sold at local nurseries will be of the West Indian race or hybridized with Guatemalan. Consequently, locally grown fruits are large unlike their smaller Californian counterpart. Beside time to maturity and fruit size, there are other things to consider when selecting a tree for your location. These include disease resistance, cold tolerance and self-pollination. Generally speaking, Reed, Choquette, Brogdon and Taylor are recommended varieties for our area.
Stephen Brown is a horticulture agent with the Lee County Extension.
To submit questions call the horticulture desk at 461-7504 between 9 a.m. and 4
p.m. or via e-mail at
shb@mail.ifas.ufl.edu. Listen to the ‘Garden Show’ at 8 a.m. on
1200-AM WINK/WNOG.