Fruiting season is July through October around here in North Florida. choquette is preferred by commercial growers for its production, but homeowners still appreciate the fruit where the choquette can not be grown. However, this type does not like the cold.  So if you’re looking at an avocado tree in the landscape or for sale in a nursery, trying to figure if it’s really one of the cold-hardy Mexican types, just crush a piece of leaf and sniff. Varieties (listed roughly in order of how promising they seem. Both Type A & B . B Hellen summer B Nimlioh fall B (coastal influence) Stewart fall Planting. Water the tree thoroughly and cover it with a blanket or quilt. hall avocado 'hall' is a tasty pear shaped fruit, and the tree exhibits excellent tolerance to the cold. They prefer a semi-humid climate with warm weather. Fruits are smallish, 3 ounces (84 grams), completely oval, and have good flavor.  ‘Gloria’ is distinctive in being the earliest variety we know of here in North Florida, with fruits starting to ripen in mid-June. Fuerte. However, I have no idea what type my avocado tree is. If your summers are drier or cooler than ours, some of these varieties may perform better for you than they have for us. ‘Gloria’ is a new avocado variety my friend Oliver grew from a seedling of a ‘Gainesville’ tree growing in the vicinity of a ‘May’ tree. We do get some fruits of this type to ripen here, and they are rich and tasty. Since ‘Gainesville’ has green fruits, while ‘May’ has black-skinned fruits, and the seedling variety ‘Gloria’ has black-skinned fruits, this is apparently a cross between ‘Gainesville’ and ‘May’. Some people consider Type B avocados inferior to Type A because … Both of these methods are slow, taking many months to produce roots. Type A or Type B Avocados. The fruit ripens from September to October. “A” types are female in the morning, and male in the afternoon. While the other avo varieties I’ve been profiling here are pure Mexican subspecies, ‘Brogden’ is a cross between Mexican and West Indies types. Edranol is B-type flowering variety which is used as a polliniser in New Zealand. And  a couple of as-yet-unnamed seedling varieties with black skins have that same creaminess to their flesh. Guatemalan avocado … They’re not ready for that. Some Mexican avocado varieties stay green-skinned as the fruit ripens; in other types the skin turns a rich black color at maturity (the flesh is still avocado-green even in the black-skinned types).  This characteristic is handy because it lets you know when the fruits are mature enough to be able to ripen well off the tree – once a fruit has turned black, it’s ready to be picked. I am not recommending any of these Mexican varieties for large-scale commercial planting in the Southeastern US at this time. Home-Grown Avocados, No Matter Where You Live Our Cold Hardy Avocado Tree is known for its ability to provide exotic, delectable avocados anywhere in the country, from chilly areas in upstate New York to the sunniest spots in Miami. Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk about planting an avocado tree.After a bit of researching, I think I can address your questions. My friend Oliver Moore and I may have been the first to grow this variety in Florida. There are two flowering types, referred to as “A” and “B… But Brogden fruits get larger than the pure Mexican types, up to at least 10 ounces (280g). Because of their susceptibility to cold, plant avocados in the warmest location in the residential landscape, usually the south or southeast side of the house. Show Details. Sometimes immediate heavy pruning to reduce the foliage can save the tree. Like other Mexican types, the tree’s leaves smell like licorice. Anacardiaceae (Cashew Family):  Mangoes, cashew, mombins, jun plum, jocote, wani, etc, Annonaceae (Custard-Apple Family):  Cherimoya, guanabana, custard-apple, sweetsop, sugar-apple, Rollinia, biriba, pawpaw, etc, Apocynaceae – (Milkweed Family):  Carissa, Natal plum, mangaba, pitabu, sorva, Arecaceae – (Palm Family):   Coconut, pejibaye, African oil palm, American oil palm, Butia palm, maraja palm, etc, Burseraceae (Gumbo-Limbo Family):  Dabai, safou/butterfruit, pili nut, Cactaceae (Cactus Family):  Prickly-pear, dragon fruit, pitaya, Peruvian apple-cactus, Caricaceae (Papaya Family):  Papaya, babaco, Chrysobalanaceae (Coco Plum family):  Coco Plum, sunsapote, egg nut, Clusiaceae/Guttiferae (Mangosteen Family):  Mangosteen, mammee-apple, charichuela, imbe, bacuri, madrono, cherapu, etc, Ebenaceae  (Ebony Family):  Asian persimmon, American persimmon, chocolate pudding fruit, etc, Ericaceae (Heath family):  Blueberry, cranberry, sparkleberry, Moraceae (Mulberry Family):  Mulberries, jackfruit, fig, breadfruit, marang, tarap, chempedak, African breadnut, Maya nut, che, etc, Myrtaceae (Myrtle Family):  Guava, Surinam cherry, pitomba, grumichama, jaboticaba, wax-apple, etc, Oxalidaceae (Oxalis Family):  Carambola/starfruit, bilimbi. These typically have somewhat less cold-hardiness than pure Mexican types, but more than the commercial varieties.). The trees (type A and B) Regular pruning to maintain height can keep the fruits within easy reach for harvesting. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Compared to a Hass avocado (6 ounces) that’s pretty huge. ‘Del Rio’ has smaller, rounded to pear-shaped fruits that stay green at maturity. In 1998, we got scion wood of this one from nurseryman Bill Schneider in Texas, who has a nursery, Devine Avocados, specializing in cold-hardy avocado varieties. Shipping is challenging, with the thin skin and brief window of time after picking before they start to soften. Occasionally, ‘May’ fruits develop cracking at the base of the fruit, which can cause uneven ripening – the bottom of the fruit gets ripe and soft while the top is still firm. ), –Fanick Garden Center and Nursery, San Antonio, Texas, –A Natural Farm, Howie-in-the-Hills, Florida. The variety originated from California and trees produce dark green leaves and green-skinned fruit. Wms. Cold hardy avocado varieties we suggest include: LILA. Once the avocado tree reaches this size, it can handle full, all-day sunlight. They will drop their flowers, and more dramatically, their leaves. Home-Grown Avocados, No Matter Where You Live Our Cold Hardy Avocado Tree is known for its ability to provide exotic, delectable avocados anywhere in the country, from chilly areas in upstate New York … Fruits are somewhat susceptible to anthracnose in this area, which causes sunken black spots on the fruits that need to be cut out before serving. Fantastic is Treesearch Farm's trade name for Pryor. With the avocado varieties that stay green-skinned even at maturity, it can sometimes be a bit of a guessing game as to which fruits are at the peak of maturity. Type A and Type B actually refers to the life cycle of avocado flowers. A characteristic that makes it easy to identify Mexican-subspecies avocado trees even when they don’t have fruit is that the leaves smell like anise or licorice when broken open. The northern Texas climate is too cold for outdoor growing of avocado trees. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension also recommends Opal, Wilma and Pryor. Optionally, if you feel like letting me know that you’ve shared something from this site, I get a kick out of that.Â, Celebrating the abundance, diversity, and health benefits of food that grows on trees, Small-scale agroforestry in constant evolution, Discovering Your Ancestors - One Gene at a Time, Divulgando la investigación sobre evolución humana | Outreaching the human evolution research, Ruminations of a paleontology-inclined nerd, Exploring nuts, tree fruits, and uncommon fruits in Michigan, An Online Reader for the Permaculture Community, Food Plants | Ecological Gardening | Recipes | Nutrition. This variety is considered to be the most cold hardy of all the Mexican avocados. All Rights Reserved. ), (Note: as I write this, all three of the nurseries listed in this section illustrate some or all of the cold-hardy avocado varieties on their website with fruit photos which are of other avocado cultivars than the varieties they are supposed to be illustrating. Avocado trees will grow in most soils found in southern Texas. The type of flowers on a tree is determined by the variety of avocado you are growing. Has the highest oil content of these 5 cold hardy avocados. Think your area is too cold for avocados? Bill had collected this variety from the original tree in the town of Del Rio, Texas. ), Devine Avocados, Devine, Texas (This is the nursery run by Bill Schneider, who collected, propagated, and distributed many of these varieties in Texas. As with any purchase, buyer beware. Joey and Poncho avocados produce medium-sized fruit with good flavor. However, different avocado varieties are classified as A- or B- flower types. Pryor avocados are small but are reputed to have the highest oil content and the richest flavor of all Mexican avocados. Avocado varieties fall into one of two pollina-tion types, A and B. Fruiting season for ‘Wilma’ is September. The second purpose of the site is to try to build community on the open web, by experimenting with how independent websites can interact with each other in a 'social media' sort of way. “B” types are male in the morning, and female in the afternoon. Avocados have an unusual flowering behaviour that is affected by temperature, particularly cold conditions which can impact on the level of fruit set. Fuerte means “strong” in Spanish. A group of little-known varieties of avocado can withstand freezing temperatures that would kill trees of the commercially grown types. ‘Mexicola Grande’ produces a black skinned avocado that ripens When a freeze is expected, mound garden soil around the trunk for additional protection. March 28. Lila Avocado Medium sized pear shaped fruit. The difference lies in the opening times and pollination behaviors of the avocado tree flowers. The skin of Mexican variety avocados is thin like an apple skin, so you can eat these types skin and all, or make guacamole by mashing up flesh and skin together, without needing to peel them. Mexicola Grande Avocado This high quality fruit is indeed a true avocado variety. ‘Wilma’ has long, skinny fruits that turn black at maturity. Like all avocados, the Mexican types are intolerant of flooding. I sometimes have ‘Del Rio’ avocado plants available, 3 gal size, for $65, own-root plants (cutting-grown, not grafted). ‘Del Rio’ trees have a particularly upright growth habit, and can grow into very tall trees, which can make fruit harvesting a challenge. Here’s why you need to get a Fantastic Avocado: Beautiful, Stately indoor plant that will produce fresh fruits, lush green foliage ; Thin skin, more fruit! This variety was selected in Texas, where it has long been named either ‘Opal’ or ‘Opal Holland’. During severe freezes, add a string of lights or a small heater under the covers. So a few open today. Allow plenty of clearance, at least 8 to 10 feet away from the house. Contact me to set a time to visit the nursery. The avocado … The trees are slightly more cold-tolerant than West Indies varieties of avocados, handling frost to about 25F (-4C). Choose planting locations that are not prone to flooding, or plant on mounds. Bacon avocado varieties produce well even without a partner pollinator. Another cold, hardy tree is the Joey avocado. Like Fuerte avocado … I will continue to expand and update this article as I gain information and experience with these varieties. ), Mexican (P. americana var. Fuerte is a hybrid of the Mexican and Guatemalan races, are large trees with a spreading habit which exhibit B-type flowering. Great source of Vitamins C,E,K & B-6 ; Very Cold Hardy ; Creamy smooth butter texture, melts in your mouth. Avocadoes have two flowering types: A and B. Lila is very cold hardy down to 14 F. This tree ranges from 10’-15’ in height. If anyone can recognise its type, please help. This requires a bit of judgement when picking, complicating growing these commercially. Avocado trees bear flowers from January to March. Simply plant your Avocado Tree in a container and bring it inside during the winter months - it will continue to grow. This avocado originated in Texas under the name ‘Pryor’, (with ‘Fantastic’ being a name added by a nursery later on) and is reputed to be extremely cold hardy (down to 15 degrees F as a mature tree). “B” types are … The avocados with flowers receiving pollen in the afternoon as females but shedding it in the morning as males are categorized as B-type cultivars. The quickest way to spot a Choquette avocado is to look at its size. For the most part, avocado cultivars have only A flowers or only B flowers. Avocado trees that are Type A produce flowers... Guatemalan. Instead of a pear or oval shape, the Pinkerton avocado is actually quite long, … That includes nurseries outside the US. Botanists have classified the avocado into three groups or races. Mature trees are more cold resistant and do not need this extra protection. Production is best with cross-pollination between two cultivars, one with A flowers and one with B flowers. Recently I heard that Bill subsequently decided to distribute this variety under the trademarked name, ‘Pryor’.  If you’re looking for a nursery selling ‘Del Rio’, getting ‘Pryor’ from Bill’s nursery Devine Avocados should be the same variety. The first commercially-grown subspecies is called the West Indies race: these are the large, green to red colored, smooth-skinned avocadoes that are grown in lowland tropical and near-tropical climates worldwide, including South Florida. But we now have lots of avocado varieties that can make fruit in the Gainesville area, and most of the ones on this page make larger, better fruit than ‘Gainesville’. Cleopatra. Type-B avocado trees, on the other hand, produce flowers that open in the afternoon or evening as females to receive pollen – the exact opposite to Type-A trees –, close back up, and then reopen in the morning, now as male flowers, to shed the pollen. There is a big avocado tree but it bears only a couple of fruits every year. ‘Mexicola Grande’ produces a black skinned avocado … (I am not implying any kind of endorsement of these nurseries – this is simply a list of places which I have seen advertising these plants for sale. At that time, Bill labelled the variety ‘Del Rio Big’ – in which the word ‘Big’ refers to the size of the original tree (which apparently was huge), not the size of the fruits. Because of the possibility of confusion – people could think “Big” refers to the fruit size, when this is actually a smaller-fruited type, Oliver and I decided to drop that word and just refer to this variety as ‘Del Rio’, and for many years that’s what we’ve called it. Is My Avocado Tree a Type A or Type B? From what I have read, type B trees actually set a better crop on there own then type A's. The fruit ripens from September to October. Avocados are generally categorized as A-type or B-type cultivars, based on their pollination and flowering behaviors. Opal, Wilma and Fantastic avocado are large, cold-hardy Mexican varieties with good flavor and color. Type A. JOEY. Based on this, many avocado orchards have been planted with Hass only. The enterolobium grows rapidly providing just the kind of light shade to the avocado tree the avo needs to make rapid growth (and also the guanacaste fixes nitrogen, helping to fertilize the young fruit tree). In the Rio Grande Valley, Lulu is grown commercially. The campus tree person later apologized for the removal of this famous tree. Plant Type: Perennial Pollinator: Self & cross-pollinated in Florida conditions. No shipping, local sales only by appointment at my nursery in Citra (between Gainesville & Ocala). Lila has a rich Mexican Avocado flavor. Each type has flowers that open twice over a two-day period - the first day as a female and the second day as a male. These trees MUST have good drainage, frequent feeding and be planted in full sun in order to thrive.Protection from extreme cold and winds is also vital. ‘Winter Mexican’ has gotten distributed in the nursery trade and sold in the Gainesville (North Florida) area. Recently I got some grafted plants labelled as variety ‘Fantastic’ from a reputable wholesale nursery here in Florida. March 31, 2014: Updated pictures of this variety. Find the type of avocado tree you are looking for. People have grown this variety locally in Texas for many years under the name ‘Wilma’, but in the last decade a big nursery started propagating this type and selling the trees to big-box stores under their own trademarked name, ‘Brazos Belle,’ so you can sometimes find it under that name – but it is ‘Wilma’. The most cold-tolerant can handle freezes of about 15F (-9C) with little damage, and still produce a crop of fruit the next year. Guatemalan avocados have rough dark green skin. Lila has a rich Mexican Avocado flavor. Fruiting season for ‘Opal’ in North Florida is July to September. I’ve spoken to more than one person around here who said, “I planted one of those supposedly cold-hardy Mexican avocado trees, and it froze!” In each case, it turned out that what they had planted was ‘Winter Mexican’. Much of avocado’s goodness comes from oleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid, which not only helps reduce blood pressure and burn fat but is also beneficial for your skin and hair. Another clear indicator of a Choquette is its skin. Grafting onto Mexican seedlings has the advantage that the root stock is probably of similar frost-tolerance to the scion, reducing the chances of a cold winter freezing out the root stock. They differ in the time of day (morning or afternoon) when the male and female flowers can reproduce: • Type A flowers open in the morning as receptive females and close in the afternoon. Most Mexican variety avocados can handle winter cold snaps down to around 18F (-8C). Opal, Wilma and Fantastic avocado are large, cold-hardy Mexican varieties with good flavor and color. They can tolerate temperatures down to about 25°F, but they won’t be happy. Lila is a genetic clone of Opal (aka Holland, or Opal Holland). This strong tree withstands frigid temperatures as low as 20 degrees, living up to its name. It has fruits larger than Pryor … However, recent research into increasing avocado production per hectare has been highlighting the benefits of increasing the period of potential pollination by inter-planting with complementary varieties, for example, a type B flowering variety in your Hass orchard. Lila is very cold hardy down to 14 F. This tree ranges from 10’-15’ in height. Joey. Production is too low in California. Unlike most other Mexican varieties, in ‘Wilma’ fruits the seed tends to be loose inside the fruit, so if you shake the fruits you can hear the seed rattling inside. Enterolobium trees can grow to a huge size very quickly in Florida, overpowering the avocado tree. Avocado varieties fall into one of two pollina-tion types, A and B. Other avocado tree varieties, such as "Hardee" and "Brogdon," open their flowers in the exact opposite configuration as the type A avocados; they are referred to as type B avocados. Shepard is one of favourites and I have had one mature tree that was as big a mature Moreton Bay Fig (ie. With the Cold Hardy Avocado Tree, it's possible. In North Florida and similar climate zones, nurseries should be selling avocado varieties that have pure Mexican parentage – a glance at this page will show there’s lots to choose from. –My own nursery. Bacon Avocado. Bill Schneider in Texas has found that West Indies types are more tolerant of the saline soils in his area, so he grafts Mexican varieties onto this rootstock. The plants have not come into fruit yet, so I can’t comment on fruit characteristics, but I can say that these plants are definitely not the same as ‘Del Rio’. Once Oliver and I got plants of this one to ripen fruit, we realized this is actually one of the smaller-fruited varieties (though well worth growing because of its cold-hardiness and outstanding flavor). $44 Reed Avocado … Avocado Trees With Type B Flowers Avocado Pollination. Like other types of avocados, varieties of the Mexican subspecies are either “A” or “B” types for pollination. I’m going to look into this. Since 'Fuerte' and 'Hass,' an A-type, … Trees of this variety grow well here in North Florida and sets lots of fruit, but the fruits seem particularly susceptible to anthracnose, which makes most of the fruits drop off prior to maturity. But they could be sold for a premium price based on their special qualities: extremely rich flavor, unique flavor and texture, and the fact that you can eat them skin and all. The avocado tree can survive over 400 years and is native to South Central Mexico. Once the avocado tree reaches fruiting size, it’s important to either remove the guanacaste tree altogether, or start regularly cutting it back. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension also recommends Opal, Wilma and Pryor… Fantastic is Treesearch Farm's trade name for Pryor. Mexicola Grande Avocado This high quality fruit is indeed a true avocado … She writes two electronic newsletters and has a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Clemson University. Joey and Poncho avocados produce medium-sized fruit with good flavor.

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