Southern Spirit Hunters
Gardening => Vegetables and Fruit => Topic started by: duh on Oct 19, 2010, 09:28:10 AM
-
Well my oldest now has two branches on it and a second one has finally produced a trunk from the seed. I'm very excited as I'm sure you know. Even though I probably won't survive until these fruit I love growing them. Crazy right?
-
They are fun to grow from seeds. And if they can survive your climate they make lovely trees even if they don't ever fruit. I used to give Jonni the seeds and send her out with a trowel at a very early age. She would plant them any where she wanted so I had them growing in paths and things. I transplanted them to more happy areas and we have a few of them around to add to our shade canopy. Some we have cut down when they obstruct traffic. So ours are over 15 years old now and have never fruited. I truly don't care.
-
How long is it supposed to take before they fruit?
-
I think 10 years, but most of our commercial avo trees are grafted varieties with strong fruiting varieties on top grafted onto good disease resistant rootstock. My seed trees are not grafted and may never fruit. And if they do they may just have wimpy little fruits barely edible. But they are pretty evergreen trees. They have large leaves that are very easy to clean up when they do drop. They are easy to trim trees to conform to the areas you want them in.
Conversely they can be kept in containers for many years for indoor/outdoor growing as a largish houseplant.
-
I have to google them. I am pretty sure I have never seen an avocado tree.
-
They are a nice looking tree.
-
And super easy to propagate the seeds. And those large seeds are fun for kids.
-
Any special tips or tricks? Maybe I will have Tristen plant one in a pot.
-
The original avocado tree took 50 years to fruit although the hybrids do much better now. I like the originals flavor more than the hybrids so that's what I have.
As far as tips let them dry out before planting. Plant with the top third showing above the soil. Keep the soil moist but not wet.
When you transplant please remember that the trees are heavy feeders and want 30 feet of space. The best way to plant them for polination is to plant 3 trees in one hole. The reason is that there are both male and female trees and this is the best way to get one of each.
-
Or just do what I did. Give Tristen the next seed that comes out of your salad and a pot and some soil and let him go for it while it is fresh. It won't even matter which direction he puts it or the season if you are doing it indoors. Keep moist.
When I was a kid we stuck 3 toothpicks into the seed, equidistant around the middle, and 'planted' it on the top of a glass of water. I cannot remember if it is supposed to be point up or point down. But even the ones that were wrong sprouted if the water was kept touching them. We did this on windowsills all over.
I was never looking to grow fruit. Even though I live in a zone where they could be grown. And the trees will not survive to fruiting size and age up in your neck of the woods, Jessica. But it makes for a fun project for the kids. And easy. My mother even enjoyed growing them and you never met a bigger brown thumb.
-
Pointy side up. And you need to keep the water fresh.
-
Yes, I knew it wouldn't work outside here but thought it would be fun for him to grow in a pot. Thanks for the info. I have an avocado at home waiting to be eaten. I will give him the seed.
-
For me the seeds take a long time to germinate. Is he good at keeping to a long term project?
-
I have one i did from a seed :D
-
Aren't they great? I'll tell you the newest one that I planted has really taken off. I'm thinking the other one that took so long to germinate may need new potting soil. I'm dreading that because I have so little left.
-
Well the second one has finally started to catch up. I pinched it back the other day and I'm looking forward to it growing well.
-
Well they are both growing well which is very nice. I'm hoping I have a male and female tree.
-
i hope you do tammy. that would be awesome!
-
once they reach 8 feet I may be bringing them down to you. They won't survive our winters up here.
-
:giggle: i have plenty of room for them!
-
Cool, i hope they do well.
-
Yeah we just have to figure out how to get them in my compact lol. But the time will tell.
-
:giggle: maybe i'll snag them on my way home from one of my trips up.
-
That sounds like a deal. I'd like to think of them growing in your garden.
-
How are your trees doing? Any updates?
-
one died, the other one has branched out and it doing great. I need to repot it but I haven't gotten around to it yet.
-
I potted mine that I started from seed in June and it's already about 3 1/2 ft tall. I don't know what to do with it.
-
Whether they ever fruit or not, they make a great smallish evergreen tree outdoors.
-
have you topped it so it will branch?
-
No I haven't topped it. I probably need too huh? I don't know if it will grow outside here.
-
I believe they are zone 9 and 10. Southern California style but I haven't looked it up. I just plan to keep mine in the house and keep it bonzia-ed more or less. Since the tallest point in my house is only about 10 feet.
It seems they don't like to branch unless they are topped sometimes more than once. I guess it depends on how you want it to look.
-
They will grow in zone 8, too. They do need excellent drainage. Most of the time they are grown on hillside groves here.
-
I solved my problem. I gave both of them away, but I have three more just about ready to pot. I thought it might be easier to keep a baby one inside and maybe plant one next sping.
-
Yes, they make good temporary house plants too.
-
My avocado tree just got transplanted into a real flower pot that is 4 times the size of the ice cream container it was in. Hopefully now it won't need watering everyday. Anyway I think it is going to be way happier. I also used up most of the soil from the wintersow that didn't work out last year.
-
Boy, they sure do like a lot of water.
-
They do it's amazing how much it will absorb. when I transplanted it, it was dry all the way through.
-
I topped the tree I gave my son a while back and stuck the top in water. It has leafs sprouting all out of it but no roots. Do you think it will root this way? It's been in the water a couple of weeks now.
-
I honestly do not know, Bonnie. I am horrid at sprouting in water.
-
Don't they normally take a long time to root? :ScratchHead:
-
did you put some root stimulator in the water? Or failing that a little honey in the water? I've heard either will work for helping roots to grow.
-
i've heard you can also put a willow twig in and that will make them sprout.
-
I didn't put anything in the water, Duh, but I will give it a little something.
-
My tree isn't in the greatest shape. I recently topped it again. When I put it outside it got a bad case of sunburn.
(https://www.southernspirithunters.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi48.tinypic.com%2F2iawrax.jpg&hash=b6a14aced256475eca2784784070ce55c91125fe)
-
It will recover with water and neglect, Tammy.