Looking for Avocado seedling

[Alicehunter2000]

Does anyone know who sales this particular variety of avocado? Can't seem to find it on the web. It is reported to take into the upper teens.

[tank]

I only know of the big one they have planted on the uf campus.  Its about 2 or 3 stories tall.

[bubba]

Tank, Where on the campus? Does it bear fruit?

[tank]

In the McCarty Courtyard, in the Northeast corner.  Does bare fruit, but it gets snatched up fairly quickly.  I'm not sure if this is the "Gainesville" variety or one of the few other hardy avacodos developed at the university.  Its been there for quite awhile.

[Dave-Vero]

The McCarty avocado was a large tree thirty years ago.  It survived the great 1989 freeze.  It's been explained to me that it was planted by an air vent from the building that apparently contributes significantly to keeping it warm.  Not to mention that the tree's protected in a courtyard setting.  

Apparently Gainesville has trees that make even "Brogdon"

hardy avocados-Gainesville

[Alicehunter2000]

Wow Dave, the article mentions being able to start avocado from cuttings. How bout it Jason............could start a small business selling cold hardy avocados. I will buy one from the Gainesville tree from you now (if you had it). Anyone else know where to buy seeds or small seedlings from the Gainesville tree?

[Dave-Vero]

PC seems to be stretching it because of the occasional cold snaps, but I'm starting to wonder about avocados for Cornwall.  

Regrettably, I don't know who to talk to in Gainesville.  I don't think I've seen anything from IFAS on varieties hardier than "Brogdon", but this old pdf from avocadosource indicates that the town has long had some very cold-resistant trees.  My Webpagehttp://www.avocadosource.com/Journal....964.pdf

[tank]

I'll look into trying to get some of the "hardy" avocados.

Like Dave said, it is in a very protected location, although it has to be relatively hardy, as gainesville saw ~15F and lower during its lifespan.  Even in the courtyard, it must have seen low 20s/upper teens.  

Unfortunately, I don't get on Campus very often, and the avocados are usually gone.  Like I said, they are a hot commodity and don't last long.

[steve 9atx]

David

Try the Fanicks Nursery website.  They're in San Antonio.  I'm sure they'd ship.

Steve

[Dave-Vero]

Here's Fanick's avocados.  Bear in mind that Uvalde is distinctly drier than Florida, so plants there may not like Florida conditions.

MAY - black oval fruit; medium size; heavy producer; rich herbal flavor; fast grower; leaves have

licorice odor; original tree in Uvalde is at least 15 years old. Ripens Aug. - Sept.

OPAL - green pear shaped fruit; medium size; heavy producer; rich flavor, subtle aftertones; very strong

grower; leaves have licorice odor; original tree in Uvalde is over 40 years old. Ripens Sept. - Oct.

PRYOR - green oval to pear shaped fruit; small to medium size; good producer; rich flavor with citrus-like

aftertones; original tree in Uvalde is over 50 yrs. old; leaves have a citrus odor. Ripens Oct. - Nov.

WILMA - black elongated pear shaped fruit; medium to large size; good producer; rich flavor; very fast

grower; leaves have anise odor; original tree in Pearsall is over 20 yrs. old. Ripens Sept. - Oct.

[Alicehunter2000]

Thanks everybody, I'm going to look at these web sites.

Panama City rarely see's temps in the upper teens and then it is very brief overnite lows. Most years we only get into the upper or mid twenties. Gainesville may be colder on average due to it being inland. It would be interesting to see the climate data comparisons for the two cities.

[steve 9atx]

Dave

My understanding is that the "licorice" or anise-smelling leaves are indiciative of the Mexican variety of avocado.  Their leaves are desireable in some types of Mexican cookery.

I am fortunate enough to have an almost 40-year-old avocado on the side of my house which has in the recent past produced profuse amounts of fruit.  I believe it is a Haas variety as the large, black fruit resembles Haas, and the fact that it was planted from a supermarket variety pit in the late 60's.

Steve

[steve 9atx]

Here's a pic of my avocado.  I bought my house from the fellow (his grandmother raised him in the house) who planted the seed in the late 60's; I'm sure it was a comercially-available Haas seed.  The tree didn't produce a single fruit while she was alive.  The year she died and he inherited the house, it produced it's first fruit.  I think they told me they got four avocados that year.  After I bought the house, I pruned and fertilized the tree.  The next year, we got 270! fruit, all supermarket-size and quality fruit; although we harvested probably a month too early in November - it took the fruit several weeks in paper bags to ripen (now we know better and cut them down in December or after).

Since then the tree has shown some stress due to the lack of root area where it is planted.  But, I've learned how to baby it and it's flushed a good bunch of new leaves and blooms this year.

In the years since our bumper crop, we still get upwards of 20+ avocados a year.

Steve

[steve 9atx]

Here's my fruit.  They're typically thick-skinned soft, fatty, and flavorful just like I like 'em (as opposed to the hard green South African "avocado pear"-type).  BTW, this tree survived our 500-year freeze event in 1989: thirty-six hours below freezing with a lows in the low teens.

Steve

[Alicehunter2000]

Wow Steve, that's great! sounds cold hardy enough for me!

Do you think you could post all of your location information on your signature?

[BS Man about Palms]

Fuerte type is my fave!  YUM!   Thanks Steve in So. Cal!!!  

[steve 9atx]

David

Just for you: here's a test of my new personal info.......

Steve

[steve 9atx]

Sorry, it didn't work.  It remembers my info on "my profile but doesn't show it.  Any ideas?

Steve

[Alicehunter2000]

scroll down to your signature and then "amend profile"

[tank]

Steve,

Any chance you have any pits still in the garbage?

[steve 9atx]

How's this?

Steve

[steve 9atx]

Sorry,

Think I got it now.  Tank and Dave, If you will PM me in December when we cut 'em down, I'll be glad to mail you a pit or two.  

Steve

p.s. The year I got 270, I had to borrow a client of mine's cherry picker truck to harvest all the fruit and it still took me two hours!

[Alicehunter2000]

Ok---your a Gulf Coast brethren--------in my same zone----Close to Galveston Bay---I can see it all now...... Your credit card number is............well maybe I can't see that much

I would love to get some seeds from you. I will mark it on my calender. Maybe I can offer some type of seed for you in return. I just got some  Eartree, or Enterolobium cyclocarpum from someone visiting South Florida. I could send you an "ear" pod if you would like.

[kylecawazafla]

I work right across from McCarty Hall at Dickinson Hall. When do they bare fruit? I may be able to collect some or maybe even ask permission to take a cutting. I'd need to be informed how to take a cutting (Do you just cut off a branch?) since I am evidently clueless.

[steve 9atx]

Dave

We'll talk in December.

Kyle

Take a handfull of sphagnum moss and wrap it around the base of a small twig with two or three leaves on it.  Cover the whole gob with plastic and use twist-ties to tie it to the twig and the host branch.  Check under the plastic periodically.  Eventually, the twig should start sending roots into the moss.  When you get several roots going, you can cut the twig off and plant it.  If you do it just right, you should get the cutting to start a new tree for you.

Steve

[tank]

Steve,

Thanks for the offer.

I hope I can remember come December.

The picture of your tree is impressive.

Houston is quite comparable, at least as low temperatures go, to North Florida.

Jason

[richtrav]

Steve

Did the tree die to the ground in '89? There were a few around Uvalde that only froze back to the main trunks but were much reduced in size after the two so-called 500 year freeze events (which unfortunately seem to occur here every other decade here in Texas). A REAL 500 year freeze would have been more like 1899, hopefully it'll be another 400 years before something like it returns

[Bilbo]

40 years ago I remember one in South Kensington, London.

It was growing out of a basement and well sheltered.Seemed quite happy.

They certainly are attractive jungly trees and the topic has got me thimking . . .

They are a possibility here on the South Coast.

Regardez

Juan

[Dave-Vero]

Bilbo, BBC recently ran a story on a fruiting avocado somewhere in London.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england...don/5008818.stm

Not to mention this radio tidbit about an avocado near Chelsea Hospital:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/gqt/fsheets/19...fsheetsq5.shtml

[ruskinPalms]

David, you should buy a few Haas from the market in the meaintime and try to grow the seeds, after you have enjoyed the fruit of course. I had sprouted several seeds in the past from super market Haas fruits. Never planted them out though as my yard is irrigated and not quite as fast draining as most natural Florida soils. The stuff they filled the land with when they built my community seems to have maybe silt or clay with it. I am thinking about sprouting some now and trying to plant one in my parent's yard down in South Venice. They live in sugar sand and I doubt the get much more than 30 or 40 inches of rain a year there. They live very close to the gulf and the afternoon storms that form inland have a hard time making it to the coast due to the sea breeze. My point is, plan on needing very fast draining soil and preferably less rain. I think I have read that the Mexican avocados are more accostomed to a desert climate. Also, it is always a gamble when planting seeds that are naturally fertilized. They may or may not have the desired characteristics of the mother plant or may not produce for many, many years if at all. Or you could get incredibly lucky and grow a new variety that is a very heavy and early producer well suited to north Florida that produces Haas quality avocados! Try a few if you have the space.

[steve 9atx]

Rich

To my knowledge, the tree didn't freeze to the ground.  The '89 freeze was 12 years before we bought the house.  The only evidence that I have is that on one of the trunks, there was a piece of dead wood probably 3" in diameter and 12' off the ground.  The main trunk had grown off to the side at this point.  This made me think that this trunk was killed down to this point and the tree grew away from this dead wood.  At the ground, there's no evidence of trunks being cut off.

Steve

p.s. if '89 isn't a 500 year event, Lord help us if we ever get one.

[Alicehunter2000]

Kyle, to grow from a cutting refer to the same link Dave gave above, it has instructions. It would be great if you could get some going as I think this particular strain has real promise for zones 9a/possibly 8b. Steve, wouldn't a cutting be a clone of the parent?

http://www.avocadosource.com/Journal....964.pdf

Bill, I was hesitant to try and grow Hass variety because I didn't think they were hardy enough. We have extremely sandy soil up here and we have been in a drought for many years now. Humidity is high as everywhere in Florida, but too much rainfall hasn't been an issue for some time up here. Are Hass a Mexican variety?

[kylecawazafla]

Thanks for the link. I become a student at UF in fall, so once I'm a student I'll be able to take cuttings. McCarty hall is a very good microclimate though, and a bottle palm, red Latan, Foxtail, and Majesty all made it through this winter unharmed, while parts of Gainesville got down to 23 F. They also planted a languid trunking coconut palm there, but it is now dead. I'll try and plant another one though since I really want to live in a place where coconuts can grow!

[steve 9atx]

David

Yes, if you could get it to root, a cutting is identical to the mother plant.  A friend of mine tried it with my avocado a few years ago, but he left the cuttings on the tree too long.  Once the roots are anything older than brand new, they don't tend to work.

Bill

I don't think avocado's mind wet feet.  Mine is in gumbo soil, and we get probably 52" per year, plus I have it on a drip system at the advice of my arborist.  I picked fruit off of one in the edge of the chasm of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe in similar soil that was deluged constantly by rain from the falls.  Here's a pic, I wasn't shooting the "avocado pear" per se, but you can recognize the leaves:

Steve

[kylecawazafla]

Here is a picture I took last week or the week before at McCarty Hall. You can see the "Gainesville" Avacado in this pic. It's the tree that branches over the walkway. The palm in the foreground is a Wodyetia bifurcata that's probably suffering more from drought than it did cold this winter. You can also make out the Majesty palm and Bottle Palm in the background.

[bubba]

Kyle, I appreciate your pictures and although the McCarty avocado is amazing, growing Spindles,Majesty's and Traveler's in G-ville is incredible. Many years ago, I remember Braslian peppers, Maleleuca's and Austrlian pines grown in sheltered locations! I also remember a very large Monkey puzzle and a Queen that I recently saw that is now 30 feet tall.

[kylecawazafla]

There are still a few very tall Queen's in Gainesville. In my neighborhood, by Archer FL, there are some recently planted trunked ones that were all defoliated this winter. They are recovering now though. Generally the palms in the town were fine though. It's surprising how much urban heating comes from relatively small Gainesville. There are even some Adonidias that survived winter here outdoors.

[kylecawazafla]

Hey! I just got a seed from this avocado tree. Still interested?

[tank]

Kyle,

I'm interested in the seed.

[kylecawazafla]

Go get your own! You live right here. Yeah sure, I have two. I walk under the tree every day looking for newly fallen Avocados trying to get to the seeds before the squirrels do. I've managed to confiscate two seeds so far, and then two more that dont look viable. I can't grow any living in a dorm, so just PM me!