Avocado plants 🥑 Mid-Winter update 🥶 December 17th 2023

[@louiscarberry3138]

It’s good to see another avo grafted from the London one! Looking forward to seeing how this progresses in spring!

[@MoebiusUK]

Thanks, Louis. I'm really hoping I see at least one of the grafts flush out in spring. 🤞

[@myexoticfoodplants6727]

Great stuff Dominic. Very interesting work regarding grating scions of the London Avocado tree.

[@MoebiusUK]

Thanks, Mike. I'll have to wait until spring before I get ultimate confirmation if the grafts have worked but looking good so far. 👍🏽

[@garycard1456]

Wow, your seedling avocado is doing incredibly well, Dom! And you've got plenty of successes with the grafts. When I try to grow avocados in fine organic and moisture-retentive substrates, they invariably end up getting root rot. So, I am surprised that yours are doing so well in the peat, considering the rainfall exposure, too. I have to get hold of a 'Wurtz' or a 'Day'.

[@MoebiusUK]

Thanks, Gary. I'm really happy with that seedling as It gives me something to graft other varieties onto ... plus it was free! I feel one of the important things to avoiding rootrot in container grown avo's in the UK is to step up pot sizes gradually. Only up-potting when the container is fully populated with healthy roots. I like peat for it's anti-fungal properties and I use a coarse grade but like all organic substrates, this will break down over time. I find rain isn't too much of a problem for a plant with good roots .... and tbh, although our country has a reputation of rain, it's really not that constant. We also have prolonged periods of no rain. At least in London anyway. I would love to get a Wurtz. I'm thinking of several ways how I get it one into the country. It won't be easy, but where theres a will ...... 😉

[@lyonheart84]

Your seedling avocado is an absolute monster Dom, clearly good genetics and you've found the right compost mix for it. Hopefully something will take out of the grafts you've tried 🤞

[@MoebiusUK]

Cheers, Brett. I think you're right about the genetics on the seedling. It's been covered in snow, survived the big freeze of December 22 and doesn't ever get phazed. Pretty sure it's still pushing out fresh growth even now, in December. I'll be super stoked if come spring I see some of these grafts push new growth. I would love to have the gentics from the London avocado.

[@PeterEntwistle]

The Mexicola Grande and Bacon trees are looking very good! Your seedling tree looks absolutely stunning! I think definitely a few of your grafts have taken! 4 out of 5 of my London avocado grafts did not make it. 1 of those 4 looked quite promising up until only a few weeks ago and when I inspected it it appeared to have partially fused, but it did pull out with a bit of force (the top had rotted, so it wasn't going to recover). I'm very impressed with how well avocados do for you. I have found my Bacon tree very difficult to keep happy and now I'm concerned it won't survive the winter indoors. It's a shame as these trees are impossible to source here. I am wondering if perhaps it would do better in the greenhouse with the citrus, as long as I keep it frost-free. My attempt at micro grafting a Bacon scion onto a seeding appears to have failed too 😞

[@MoebiusUK]

Thanks, Peter. I'm super excited at the possibility of adding the London Avocado to my little collection. If the grafts take I will be able to take scions from it eventually to produce more plants. The grafted plants I got from the French nursery this year have just been left outdoors. I've done nothing with them except leave in a corner. The one plant I did bare-root and repot and bring indoors didn't respond well and had total defoliation, so I won't repot the others until I'm sure they have a vigourous root system. Re your Bacon: I think both Brett and Joe have brought theirs inside ... personally I feel these plants actually enjoy the cooler temps at this time of year + I don't have the space to bring them in .... If you feel yours isn't benefitting from the indoors maybe the greenhouse would be a good idea, I really hope your grafted avo makes it. If not, I'll give you a heads up before my next trip to Europe to see if theres something you want me to pick up.

[@lyonheart84]

​@@MoebiusUK quite right I decided to bring both of my grafted ones into my kitchen, my garden is definitely colder than yours and I didn't want to take the risk, however they don't like being indoors either 😂. I would have happily risked them in my summerhouse but unfortunately there wasnt any space of course 😢

[@PeterEntwistle]

@@MoebiusUK Yeah, the London avocado is very exciting, such an incredible specimen. And from the tasting I saw that Joe did a while ago, it appears to produce excellent quality fruit too. Yeah I think I may have reacted too quickly when I brought it inside, it probably would have been fine left out on the patio or in the greenhouse. In fact, I had a Hass seedling that I left out on the patio, up until we had the -3°C nights when I then moved it into the greenhouse. I just checked on it now and to my surprise, it appears to be starting to bud out along the stem at each leaf node (it's only got one leaf left, but where it used to have leaves). The temperatures we have been having lately have been pretty reasonable especially for mid-December, apart from the winds of course. I think, at least where I am though, we probably get too much rain for them to be happy outside in a pot even at 6°C - 12°C outdoors, but I suppose in the greenhouse it would be perfect. I think I will move it in there and monitor it over the next week or 2 👍 Thanks, I'd definitely appreciate a heads-up. I hope I can save it, but it's good to know it might be possible to get another one if I mess this one up lol 😄. I probably should have experimented more with caring for seedling avocados before jumping into getting a grafted tree, but as it was right there in front of me I couldn't not get it haha 😂

[@myexoticfoodplants6727]

Now that I have one of your plant, I will be following your recipe for feeding it.

[@MoebiusUK]

Are we talking about the Miracle Berry, Mike? One thing I noticed d is they love love love to be sprayed with rain water. Also there is a wonderful blog from a guy in Canada who keeps these plants. Google the terms 'Here but not' + 'Miracle berry'.

[@myexoticfoodplants6727]

@@MoebiusUKYes Dominic the Miracle Berry, I have watched this video again and have noted the formulation for feeding. I have at hand all but the Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid powder) that I will soon be ordering. Please send me the link for the blog of the ouy in Canada and also please let me know how the plant is overwintered.

[@VirginiaFruitGrower]

Looks like you got at least 1 London avocado to take. Nice work for a late graft. I'm not as successful grafting avocados other than in the spring.

[@MoebiusUK]

Thanks, I'm hopeful, the avo tree in London is a rarity so I'd love to have the genetics. Getting an avocado to flower and fruit here would be awesome.

[@VickyPolon]

I pray that the avocado🥑 survives the winter successfully. My friend in Japan also grows tropical fruit trees such as avocado🥑 and mango🥭, but every year some trees fail to survive the winter.

[@MoebiusUK]

Thanks, Vicky .. Yes, there are some challenges growing tropicals / exotics in temperate climate zones ... but it's so much fun. 😊 I think my avocados will be fine, although it's an unusual plant to grow in London, they seem to tolerate out winters.

[@edark94]

Wow, your avocados looking stellar, which is impressive given low temps we had a couple weeks ago! Out of curiosity given your seedling avo looking yuuuge, which variety of seeds do you utilise for the root stock? Mexicola, or are there even cold hardier ones around? 🤔

[@MoebiusUK]

Thanks, Emil ... My seedling tree came from an unknown Tesco bought seed. more than likely a Hass because they were the ones I would buy at that time. At the moment , Tesco are selling 'GEM' avocado in their _'finest'_ range .. I have started buying these and have planted several as rootstock. GEM has good cold tolerance and is supposed to be a smaller tree.

[@edark94]

That's very interesting! If it's a mere super market variety it should definitely do worse than your mexicolas... yet it seems to do much better! Must be a combination of age & good genes I suppose. Cheers for the tip, guess I'll have to go to Tesco a bit more often 🤣@@MoebiusUK

[@MoebiusUK]

@@edark94 Yes, it was definetly a supermarket stone as I only buy avo from Tesco or sometimes Waitrose. The seedling survived serious snow fall at an early age, I remember it poking through the snow when it was very young. I think it has favourable genetics but tbh I find most avo seedling will survive London temps ... What is most important is good drainage / a friable, loose substrate. They don't like a constantly soggy substrate as they soon get starved of oxygen and this is when they develop rootrot.

[@bethanandmatt]

Hey, do you have a place you buy your mexicolas from? Can't find any trees anywhere in the UK. Do you know anyone who could facilitate a purchase from the continent? Like a group buy of people around the UK wanting to try them in their area? 🙂

[@MoebiusUK]

Hiya. Yes the grafted Mexicolas are difficult to come by here in UK. Avocado plants are on the 'restricted' list of plants for importation. I picked up my avocado plants in person from Brittany, France. The nursery I got them from is 'A l'ombre des figuiers' ... I have videos of my visits to this nursery on my channel (search 'French nursery'). They also have a great website. Unfortunately they don't deliver to UK since Brexit. My email address is in the 'About' section on my channel. If you drop me a quick email I may have some options for you re 'Grafted' Avocado varieties from the continent.

[@bethanandmatt]

@@MoebiusUK hey, that's amazing, let me get in touch soon. Great work you're doing to bring them here! 🙏🙂