The popularity of avocados has gone through the roof in Australia in recent years. Tasmanian home gardeners are now buying young avocado trees, but there is not a lot of local knowledge that tells us how to grow them in often-cool Tasmanian conditions. I tried to find someone who grows avocados successfully locally, in the hope to learn a trick or two.
How it started
The Bidwell family were Western Australian avocado growers, and liked what they saw when they visited Dick's farm. In 2010 they planted 1260 avocado trees and started 'Avoland' near Ulverstone.
Avoland (see photo above) can now not cope with the demand for its excellent produce (for more info click here: Avoland).
These pioneers proved that not only do avocados grow in tropical and sub-tropical climates, but they can, with some fine-tuning, be grown in Tasmania, and their quality can be as good as or better than the mainland product.
I knew from a visit of our group to Wendy's food garden at Sandy Bay in 2014 that she had a tall avocado tree, but was this an exception due to very sheltered conditions? I wanted to find out whether Tasmanian food gardeners can grow avocados in average Tasmanian conditions. I thought, let's put a post on the Food Garden Group's Facebook page, and ask members with an avocado tree to contact me.
I knew from a visit of our group to Wendy's food garden at Sandy Bay in 2014 that she had a tall avocado tree, but was this an exception due to very sheltered conditions? I wanted to find out whether Tasmanian food gardeners can grow avocados in average Tasmanian conditions. I thought, let's put a post on the Food Garden Group's Facebook page, and ask members with an avocado tree to contact me.
Food Garden Group members told me ....
Avocado trees are fast-growing trees. The Complete Book of Fruit Growing in Australia (an excellent book by Louis Glowinski) provides really good info on avocado trees, but it says one thing I don't agree with. It says Don't prune your avocado tree at all, unless your tree is becoming too tall, or too spreading, in which case pinch back a few terminal buds.
Later in this blog post we meet Ennio, who prunes his avocado trees twice a year to keep them open and manageable. No, you don't have to end up with a huge tree!
By the way, an avocado tree like the one above is not beyond repair. Once established, one can prune avocado trees right back to a manageable scale, if needed. The tree will take a few years to recover, but then it will begin to produce fruit again.
Later in this blog post we meet Ennio, who prunes his avocado trees twice a year to keep them open and manageable. No, you don't have to end up with a huge tree!
By the way, an avocado tree like the one above is not beyond repair. Once established, one can prune avocado trees right back to a manageable scale, if needed. The tree will take a few years to recover, but then it will begin to produce fruit again.
The post on our Facebook page brought me in contact with five members with avocado trees. Some I visited to have a look at their tree(s). Some provided info about their tree(s) via email.
Food Garden Group member Scott has three young avocado trees in large pots. The photo above shows flowers on one of Scott's avocado trees about to come out. This was at the end of October.
What everyone had in common was that their trees were all quite young, and had not yet produced any fruit. Nothing wrong there, because avocado trees take 5 or 6 years to reach sexual maturity (says Paul Bidwell of Avoland) and produce any fruit. Leah in New Town had one of the more mature trees:
What everyone had in common was that their trees were all quite young, and had not yet produced any fruit. Nothing wrong there, because avocado trees take 5 or 6 years to reach sexual maturity (says Paul Bidwell of Avoland) and produce any fruit. Leah in New Town had one of the more mature trees:
Leah told me that there was a man behind her on the hill who had avocado trees. Thank you, Leah, that brought me into contact with someone locally with mature avocado trees that are productive.
Ennio's avocado trees
The garden is also on a fairly steep slope, and Ennio used this to his advantage when he planted two avocado trees nine years ago. He gave both trees a trench filled with rocks and pebbles just a fraction down-hill from the hole that had been dug to plant them in. Without the trenches water would have accumulated in the holes that had been dug to plant the trees. The roots would have rotted and the trees would have died. With the trenches, surplus water is collected and led away.
Ennio now has two very healthy mature avocado trees plus two younger ones. All trees have trenches. When I visited Ennio's garden in New Town, Tasmania (January 2019) I saw this:
This avocado variety is called 'Reed'. Ennio bought it as a young tree nine years ago and has never been able to get another avocado of the same variety again.
The photo above shows the Reed avocado: low because pruning has kept it low.
Next to the Reed, some six metres away from it, is a second avocado tree, a Hass:
The photo below was taken within the canopy of the Reed: a bowl-shaped structure with branches going wide, not high. An example of good pruning!
Like many fruit trees, avocado trees have a bi-annual cycle. One year they produce a small amount of fruit, the next year they produce a lot. Last year the Reed produced 150 avocados. Every second year mature avocado trees produce a large crop.
What does Ennio do with all this fruit? The family uses a lot of avocados. The rest is given away to friends! Lucky friends!
What avocado trees need
Based on what Ennio told me and the Complete Book of Fruit Growing in Australia and other sources, such as the excellent series of articles put out by the WA Department of Primary Industries (see here) Avocado trees will thrive if you provide ...
Good drainage
Provide good drainage first and foremost, not just by preparing the hole you plant the tree in, but by making sure that surplus water does not accumulate in the hole, but can get away. Two extra avocado trees Ennio planted later died because he had forgotten to give them a trench like the ones discussed above. If your soil doesn't drain well, consider planting your young avocado tree in a raised bed of well-draining soil. Avocado trees are expensive to buy, so, if your soil does not drain well, you might decide that your garden is just not right for growing avocados.
A location sheltered from strong winds
Regular strong winds will damage branches. They will dry out soils and contribute to water stress, so choose the location for your avocado tree carefully, or once again decide that your garden is not a good spot for one.
Regular irrigation
Avocado trees need a ready supply of water, either through rain, or irrigation. Regular watering is especially important while fruits are beginning to form on trees. Any water stress at that time will result in fruitlets dropping. The need for regular irrigation adds to the the need for good drainage.
Regular pruning
A regular pruning programme will ensure adequate light into the canopy which in turn results in flowers and fruit throughout the canopy and a more even crop load on the entire tree and not just the top or the periphery. It also results in better bud quality, as by pruning you reduce the crop, because you remove limbs that would flower and fruit.
Good mulching
Avocado trees root shallowly, and do not like the competition provided by weeds under the canopy. Remove all weeds within the root zone and mulch generously. Mulching keeps soils moist and will therefore result in less water being needed for irrigation.
Fertiliser
A generous application of Complete Organic Fertiliser (see here) or similar will contribute majorly to a healthy avocado tree and good crop. Ennio feeds his trees with ‘Rustica Plus' (see here ; available via Hollander Imports) in the middle of winter.
Look once more at the photos of Ennio's avocado trees. If you choose to prune your avocado tree so it retains a manageable height, then inevitably this fast-growing tree will go wide. Five or six metres between trees is no luxury, so consider your options if your garden is small. That space between trees helps in terms of ventilation. You could perhaps try to espalier your avocado. Not sure anyone has tried this yet.
The amazing avocado flowering process
Avocado flowers are what experts call 'perfect', because one flower will have both a male phase and a female phase. In more detail:
Type A avocados, on the day when they are ready to flower:
Flowers open as 'functionally female' in the morning, then close in the afternoon, then open in the afternoon of the next day as 'functionally male'.
Most common Type A avocado varieties: Hass, Lamb Hass, Pinkerton, Reed, WurtzType B avocados, on the day when they are ready to flower:
Flowers open as 'functionally female' in the afternoon, then close in evening, then open the next morning as 'functionally male'.
Most common Type B avocado varieties: Bacon, Fuerte, Sharwil, ZutanoFlowering is also 'synchronised': all flowers on all trees of the same type in the same area open 'with the same gender' at the same time.
This scenario plays out exactly as described where temperatures are between (minimum) 20 degrees and (maximum) 25 degrees at flowering time. In those circumstances, food gardeners need to buy two avocado trees to have good fruit setting, a Type A avocado and a Type B avocado.
Now to Tasmanian conditions: we are lucky. Because our temperatures are lower, the above described scenario is not playing out as intended. Opening as male and female and synchronisation are 'somewhat messed up'. This means that Tasmanians can have good fruit development with just one avocado tree because there will be male and female flowers on one tree at the same time!
More fruit will develop if you have both a Type A and a Type B avocado tree, but, as Ennio proved with his trees (his two mature trees are both Type A), in Tasmania you don't need both.
Most avocado growers have trees of one type, mixed with the occasional tree of the other type. For more info about avocado flowering and its consequences for avocado growers click here .
Nowhere have I seen any avocado tree with two top-stock varieties, a Type A and a Type B, grafted unto one root-stock. Would that not make the ideal avocado tree for home gardeners? Someone could make a killing producing these trees!
Grafted and un-grafted avocado trees
Nursery-bought avocado trees are always grafted. Good grafting combines the qualities of 'root-stock' (vigorous root system, disease resistance) with the qualities of 'top-stock' (vigorous growth, good quality fruit). The mix enhances the best qualities of both plants.
Growing an avocado tree out of a shop-bought pip of unknown variety will in most cases be a waste of time. The avocado variety may a tropical one, and it may never produce fruit in Tasmania. An un-grafted avocado will not have the same great combination of qualities of top stock and root stock combined. Good top-stock does not often make good root-stock!
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| Food Garden Group member Michael sent me this photo of a sprouting avocado pip in a pot |
Growing an avocado seedling out of a pip of a good top-stock variety, and then grafting it onto a good root-stock variety, is not a waste of time, but, unless you can graft (grafting an avocado scion is not hard), and have access to both varieties of avocado (that may not be so easy), it is best to spend the money and buy a grafted avocado tree.
Avocado varieties particularly suitable for Tasmania
The best varieties for locations with occasional minor frosts (above -3 degrees) are in order of tolerance: Bacon, Zutano, Fuerte, Reed and Hass.
A few more observations
Pests - Few insect pests attack the avocado. Possums may ring-bark branches, but won't eat the fruit. Root rot kill by the Phytophtora virus will be a problem if drainage is inadequate. Ennio's two mature avocado trees have not been affected by any pests. His trees have never been affected by sun-burn.
Pollination - in nature avocado flowers are pollinated by all sorts of flying insects. Most commercial growers use the European Honey Bee. They put bee hives in areas netted with nets with openings too small for the bees to escape. This forces the bees to focus on avocado flowers and massively improves pollination.
Netting - Ennio does not net his avocado trees. His local wildlife is not interested.
Ripening - It takes 14 months to grow an avocado to full maturity. Avocados do not ripen on the tree. Once a fruit is mature it signals to the tree to stop sending nutrients and it can then can stay on the tree until it is picked. Once an avocado is picked it starts to ripen. Ripening an avocado can be accelerated by putting it in a closed paper bag with banana skins in a dark spot. I found that it can take a fortnight for a freshly picked avocado in a paper bag with a banana skin to become completely ripe.
Great info, thanks for putting in the effort to ferret this out for all of us, Max. I'll add a couple comments based on my experience in Sydney. The conditions there are very different but our possums definitely ate our avocados. In fact, I tried covering each fruit in a cloth bag and the determined possums ripped open each bag and ate the fruit. Perhaps Tassie possums have more food options? Also, our bees went to our avocado flowers without netting. No doubt it's all about options - bees are clever little things and go where the best nectar is which, on a bad day, just might be an avocado tree.
ReplyDeleteWe need to think about water and drainage but you've given me hope. We may just get a couple avocado trees for our paddock.
I've got a Bacon and two Haas trees. The Bacon has produced two full sized fruit (one a year for the last two years) with at least four on the tree for later this year. Killed a tree a few years back due to poor drainage but now seem to have the hang of it. On a sloping site in Lutana with raised garden beds. Working on growing a mango from seed as my next challenge (R2E2 variety)!
ReplyDeleteHello keen mango grower. I have grown a few mango seedlings. Started indoors. North facing full sun. Mango seeds from store bought fruit. Tried five varieties. Some take months to sprout. I believe the Kensington Pride and Keitt are more successful, but that has only been my experience. Mango seeds will sprout outside in summer. However, I feel it Is best to get them started indoors, And raise them under cover, or indoors, at least for the first 3 years. Have lychee’s and pineapple plants in a greenhouse and indoors. My banana plants red dacca and dwarf cavendish perished outside, but I managed to keep a Pisang Ceylan banana variety Alive and growing in a sheltered north facing area. I have also grown a 3 year old date palm from seed, which is okay outside, but I put it in my greenhouse, and i have medjool dates, a few months old, in a heated hothouse. I believe we can also grow coconut trees here. There is a much larger variety of sub-tropical fruit that can be grown in Tasmania than people realise. If we built glasshouses there would be an even bigger variety of fruit which could be grown. I hope this helps. If everyone has a go at growing just one fruit plant, knowing that you can dwarf it to any size you want, then we will all become self-sustainable in no time. Good luck and blessings. 🥭
DeleteHello keen mango grower. I have grown a few mango seedlings. Started indoors. North facing full sun. Mango seeds from store bought fruit. Tried five varieties. Some take months to sprout. I believe the Kensington Pride and Keitt are more successful, but that has only been my experience. Mango seeds will sprout outside in summer. However, I feel it Is best to get them started indoors, And raise them under cover, or indoors, at least for the first 3 years. Have lychee’s and pineapple plants in a greenhouse and indoors. My banana plants red dacca and dwarf cavendish perished outside, but I managed to keep a Pisang Ceylan banana variety Alive and growing in a sheltered north facing area. I have also grown a 3 year old date palm from seed, which is okay outside, but I put it in my greenhouse, and i have medjool dates, a few months old, in a heated hothouse. I believe we can also grow coconut trees here. There is a much larger variety of sub-tropical fruit that can be grown in Tasmania than people realise. If we built glasshouses there would be an even bigger variety of fruit which could be grown. I hope this helps. If everyone has a go at growing just one fruit plant, knowing that you can dwarf it to any size you want, then we will all become self-sustainable in no time. Good luck and blessings. 🥭
DeleteThank you Max. This is the best avocado information - for Hobart - that I have come across. Also, it's wonderful to see photos of Ennio's trees, that have been pruned, growing successfully. I lost one tree due to lack of drainage. Going to plant on raised area this time. Also, will try to find a protected spot; we aqre in Old Beach where it is fairly windy.
ReplyDeleteThank you Max - so much I didn’t know and very interesting. We have Bacon variety 11 years old and madly fruiting for the last 3 years. It’s a creamy and tasty variety. We were told it would take 8 years before we’d see an avocado and he was right. We have severe frosts in our area but the tree is reasonably protected.
ReplyDeleteGot nine avocado trees two fruiting one in flower larst year
ReplyDeleteGrowing in the chook pen
Do you know any farm or anyone that can make avocado oil from second grade avocados in Tasmania for soap production - small batches ok - my email is jenleeedis@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteI have a self sown Hass tree which flowered the last couple of years but didn't set fruit. Recently I got some information from a grower who said the bees are not fond of avocado blossoms and if there are sweeter blossoms nearby, particularly lemon tree flowers etc. they will ignore the avocado. He recommends making a 25% honey/water solution to spray on the flowers and that draws the bees to the avocado tree. I will be trying that as soon as my flowers start opening and I'm hoping for my first fruit set.
ReplyDeleteHi Max, I bought a Reed Avocado from Howrah Nursery about a week ago, pretty sad looking tree, but will use scions from it for grafting onto some seedlings I’ve grown and with a bit of TLC it might make a comeback. Really happy to see that Ennio’s Reed is fruiting so well. Cleft grafting pencil thick seedlings is relatively easy - apparently! I grafted a few seedlings to Fuerte and Bacon a couple of weeks ago, hopefully one or two might take. A comment on palms - dates will take frost with ease, but need very hot summers, ie inland mainland Australia to fruit. I’ve got one that gets at least 20 good frosts per year and is fine, though slow growing, although that’s due to a lack of water mostly I suspect. Think it was grown from a medjool seed from memory. The southern limit for coconuts in eastern Australia is around the mid north coast of NSW, or roughly where winter daytime temps are above 20C or thereabouts , so no chance outdoors anywhere in Tasmania unfortunately. Cheers.
ReplyDelete