I can't post daily, but I do when I think I learned something. 🤓

Yes, I made a couple of videos like that during a prior winter. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJjNpGlsmt9of7c kzbin.info/www/bejne/sJKchX9omsqHaMU

@Avo7bProject thank you!

You're probably in what is called "zone 8" in the USA. Here, "zone 7" could get as cold as 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-15C) every 3 years or so. Some Google searching of Australia indicates that temperatures below about -7C are very rare and are record-breaking events.

@@Avo7bProject No it's zone7! And I am in Austria not Australia!!!

@@Avo7bProject thanks tò climate changing we had the maximum of -10°C in the last years! And also only for 1 or 2 weeks! So I am in a good mood, that my avocadotree will survive. I have a good winter protaction-coat and some heating tò keep the temperature in range of 0-5°C.

It's often a question of how cold, for how long. I think even small avocado trees can take a few negative degrees Celcius for a few hours - but when leaves are cold enough for frost to penetrate through a leaf, it will burn. But it's also true that several nights close to freezing but above by a few degrees, will degrade a tree over time. The usual protection that I have done that is helpful is to keep large buckets of water near the tree to moderate temperature, and cover it at night to keep the frost off.

I don't know what you'll discover, but that sounds like a box of generous genetic variety. You'll probably get some widely different plants out of them.

Yes I've seen other comments that Bacon is a vigorous grower, and can be a fruiting tree in as little as 3 years.

I ate all mine. 😄If you buy a tree from a vendor, it only takes about 3 years to start getting bowls of them. I needed about 6 years growing from small seedlings.

I have not. I've got a good collection going already and the reviews of that variety are kind of middling.

Yes, small trees and new growth are sensitive. I have carefully watched what happens each winter, and it's generally the oldest, thickest leaves that stick the longest time. I also have some speculation that some trees can take a beating and lose a little at a time (Lila), while others go into decline and it becomes a race against time to make it to spring (Stewart). Millennial Gardener selected a Stewart for his second planting, and I'm skeptical of that - but it's his trial to conclude.

There were some hints that it was about time to begin picking. The avocados had not gained size for about a month. And I could sense the seed rattle inside this one when I shook it. Millennial Gardener had picked his about the third week of August last year, and I picked that one around the 4th week. To top off the explanation, the remaining 3 avocados fell off during the final days of August and the 1st of September. That week was unusually hot, high 90ish which doesn't normally happen here that late in the summer. But I get the impression Lila fruit ripens together and falls... it's not a variety like the Guatemalan types which could hang on the tree for months longer.

Did you find the last of your fruit had improved in taste? What’s your overall thoughts at this point on your decision to grow Lila? Mine should produce its fruit next year so I’m curious.

@johnsonrobbins The remaining fruit dropped 3 or 4 days later during an unusually hot week for that time of the year. They were the same. Good, just a little bruised from falling. All very similar in size to this one.

I wonder if a slightly more cold hardy variety would be able to produce avocados commercially.

Lila fruit won't work well commercially. The thin skin doesn't protect the interior if fruits were packed in boxes. I think they ripen faster off the tree than Hass style avocados too.

I liked the Martin avocados the most, but they were small. I kind of wish he'd scheduled the event a few weeks later when more of the varieties were truly ready. People who live in Gainesville can find him at the farmer's market though and sample more of them.

I had modest expectations when I opened that one - but there was a thin layer of deep green Hass-like butter near the skin. I think if I can grow some larger ones that can hang in the tree for a whole season, they would rival Hass. Let's face it, Hass is not easy to beat. Some avocado growers in warm regions say Reed or Sharwil is better, but I must face the limitations of my climate.

@@Avo7bProject are you going to keep the others on another month?

@@johnsonrobbins Yes, I'll stretch out when to harvest the remaining three fruits. Usually September and October are mild months. A little sunnier and drier than the others (unless there is a tropical system).

The Lila has been through one winter there. I cover it with a plastic tarp if nights drop to the mid 20s Fahrenheit. I also string old-fashioned C7 Christmas lights in it, from about late December to late February, to use in case of nights that get into the teens or below.

I have been able to germinate seeds by keeping them in a bowl with a shallow depth of water, and waiting until I see a root, then putting them in soil. I don't use a grow light but I will keep the bowl near a window in summer or near an electric heater in winter. I don't have any trees from seed that will form fruit yet. It can take several years for a seedling to mature. Grafted trees can form fruit much faster.

Most avocados can survive temperatures close to freezing, 1 or 2 Celsius. If you experience nights below 0 then you may need to consider cold-tolerant varieties. Rootstock matters most if you have salty soil, (in which case you may want a rootstock similar to what is used in Hawaii or Florida.) Common rootstocks used in California for cold-tolerance are Dusa and Duke7.

The Mexicola flowered like crazy this past spring in a container, but putting it in the ground could not save the pea-sized fruitlets. Next spring will be interesting - will the tree bloom again? Or did it exhaust itself in 2024 and go into an alternate bearing in 2026?

Thank you for the first comment on my first-ever "short". 😆I have not decided if these are really worth doing - they take more time to create than a long-format video. Maybe I'll make enough of them to fill up a row on my home page.

Which varieties?

I think I still have 3 of these as survivors. This winter I'm going to not stress them as much, less of an artifical selection process. I want to encourage them to develop woodier trunks.

Avocados generally can handle temperatures into the low 100's if watered frequently. There are some other channels in Arizona that talk about how to handle summer extremes. Where I live, I'd say summers over 100 are like winters under 10... It might happen, but only for a few days.

@@Avo7bProject I'm curious now if up in the Blue Ridge Mountains at say 2,000 feet we might be able to do the same with an avocado tree.

I'll be generous and claim my results are proportional to his. I got 5 fruits during the second year in-ground. My Lila is smaller than his tree, which I think is at 4th year in ground. I did mix some granular fruit tree fertilizer into the soil.

@@Avo7bProject have you tasted the fruit? What could you compare it to? I’m really hoping mine sees fruit next season. Also are you planning the same general pruning regiment as he does?

@johnsonrobbins Not quite yet... I'm leaning towards picking one every 2 weeks or so, to get an idea of the ripeness cycle here, beginning mid-August. I did taste some Poncho fruit recently which I presume is similar to Lila. (Texas variety with thin green skin.) Poncho is good, slightly sweeter than Hass. As for pruning, I will shape the tree to make it easier to cover but I'm going to leave as much on as seems practical. In my zone, I should expect some die-back so I will err a little bit towards keeping the tree dense.

I don’t know if you saw this clip. I was amazed at the size of his Lila avocados. Certainly that is what they could look like. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2eTdZ2jn7etkMksi=AnHogBk-FMnearyU

I had not considered that before. It does make sense as a way to capture more value from a crop. So many peaches go ripe at once and become food for the wasps.

In the wild, avocados live in a deep mulch of their own leaves. The tea grounds help resemble that transition of a deeper layer of broken-down mulch. Roots will grow up towards the surface to get at this nutrition.

Seedlings are a gamble - but sometimes a positive gamble. I have heard of people getting fruit from a seedling in just 5 years.

I did try a bite - it was a little too heavy and oily for me. I assume the density and oil is part of what makes it so cold-hardy.

Probably every variety there is good at peak ripeness. The last week of July could be rushing things a bit, even for north-central Florida. The smaller avocados generally were more ready. There were a few Poncho fruits that an attendee found on the ground, and that gave me a sense of what those can be like - slightly sweet, sort of like Bacon or "Florida style" avocados. Oliver didn't mention a favorite of his own, but he had a lot of Jade grafted for sale, so that's the one he's most known for. Jade struck me as OK, just a little thicker skin than others. It's not bad tasting, but a little more distracting to eat. Perhaps that's a positive for someone who wants to carry a fruit in a lunch bag or sell at a farmer's market.

None of mine are ripe in lake city either