Hello,
My husband started an avocado tree (which he calls a guacamole tree) from
the pit of an avocado. It's now sprouting in a clay pot.
This sound like a good battle plan? As the tree begins to grow transplant
as needed from one pot to a large pot until it's large enough to plant in
the ground.
Also, he understands that when you start from a pit you will not have
avocados for 12 years?
Chris in Suburban Houston Zone 8
In a message dated 6/17/01 9:48:37 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
cmarksberry@HICKHAM.COM writes:
Chris;
You may not have to wait that long. The ones I've started have
started to fruit after 6 years (earliest). The longest was 8 years. Avocados
have A and B flower types when they bloom, so it is helpful to have more than
one to insure cross pollination. As I remember 'A' types have the female
flowers opening in the morning & the male flowers in the afternoon, 'B' types
are opposite that arrangement. Temps can sometimes delay the opening of the
morning flowers or hasten the opening of the afternoon flowers, so there can
be some overlap on an individual plant.
Most of the time the avocados grown this way (from seed) will
produce a non-descript fruit, even tho my Dad had one that had better fruit
than the parent. Looked to be a cross between 'Hass' and 'Fuerte'.
I grew mine in one(1) gal size pots for one year & then moved up to
five(5) gal size for years 2-5, then to a seven(7) gal size after that. If
the fruit was half-way decent in size & flavor then I moved the tree to a 15
gal size (24" dia) pot. Gave it away a year later, as I had to move to an
apartment.
Glenn (wondering if it is still alive)
Where in suburban Houston are you, Chris? I'm just a little northwest
of Houston. I can tell you from experience that the avocado shouldn't
go into the ground or it'll freeze back. We don't have much of a
winter here, but even one night of freezing temperatures will kill it.
Condolences to your husband from a fellow guacamole lover. ;)
Therese
East Texas, zone 8b
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