Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Growing Avocado in California

 
Avocado tree (Persea americana)

In the www.  In doing my research regarding the performance of avocados here in El Dorado County, I came across a more interesting piece of information about avocado growing in California.   It is very interesting to read about the works, struggle, and thoughts of the pioneer-advocates of avocado growing in this part of the country.  Now that we take avocados for granted the, it is hard to imagine the topics discussed by the California Avocado Society in the year 1928.  This horticultural account of the earlier attempts to raise avocado here make me appreciate my own avocado tree.  If you like to eating avocados you should read it also.  :)

In my garden.  The avocado tree which was planted by my children for fun is now about nine-feet tall.  It's been almost five years since it was a small seed but it seems as though it is not going to flower soon.  I remember my grandmother saying that it takes seven years for an avocado tree before it starts to bloom.  However, that might not be the case with this one.  It is could be that it is an earlier variety than what my grandmother used to grow in the Philippines.  The tree came from a seed that was extracted from a grocery-purchased fruit; it could have been 'Haas'.   We will wait patiently to see what happens.  My husband's grandmother who lives north of our place has an avocado tree growing against the back of her house but I can't remember seeing any fruit on it.   On the other hand, I know that further south from our place is where avocados are commercially grown.  So it looks like I have a fifty percent chance of actually seeing fruits from this tree.

Fruiting or not, the tree itself is very ornamental.  In the spring this evergreen tree starts to put on new broad leaves which are reddish brown in color with a sleek finish.  It looks like a specimen tree.  

"The beauty of the glossy, evergreen foliage, the elegance and lusciousness of its fruits entitle the tree to an exalted position in the horticultural royal family." ~ CAS 1928 Yearbook 12:47-51

2 comments:

Judith said...

I have grown an avocado tree out of a fruit purchased from the supermarket in a pot some years ago just for the novelty of it. During winters, I have placed the pot under a pine tree protected from the cold. It survived for maybe around five years, I kept its height at about 70cm. because I thought to let it grow only in a (big)pot. It died because I have ignored it one summer while it was under a peach tree. To let them grow I think it is possible(with somenone not irresponsible as me) even in our region but to let them flower and bear fruit should be another feat.I hope you'd be able to harvest some fruits from your tree in the near future. I wish you all the best.

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