Avocado varieties in the cold: observations 2024

[@TropicalGardenGuy]

Excellent update Greg ! … 🌴😎🌴

[@tblues]

Thank you so very much for sharing your extensive knowledge on avocados. I have learned so much from your videos! 😊

[@laurathayer559]

Thanks for your updates! What do you do about the branches and/or leaves on the trees that showed frost damage?

[@libertyontheland]

These are the best kind of videos! Thank you Greg

[@CraftEccentricity]

I'm so grateful for your channel. I run around like a headless chicken thinking my trees are dying!🤣

[@gregalderdotcom]

Ha! I can relate. Every winter I'm biting my nails while reading the forecasted temperatures, wondering which little trees are going to get killed this season. None died this winter!

[@growyourownavocados]

Thanks for sharing and especially discussing the Nowels. That one is said to do well in NorCal but there is little to no information on it. Much appreciated!

[@831AVO]

Valuable insight for us in the 831 zone 9B northern central coast California thanks for sharing.✌️🌿🥑

[@gregalderdotcom]

Cool area you live in, literally! I've visited some great avocado trees around there.

[@sandartun1925]

Thank you for sharing.

[@growyourownavocados]

My Pinkerton seemed to have a lot of off years and the production seemed to dropped so I ended up replacing mine with a Palo D'Oro which is unfortunate because the fruit was excellent in June for me but lately our springs have been cold too.

[@frankyancy1347]

What a difference a few miles, and elevation make,, here in Lakeside, our Pinkreton has been blooming for over 3 months and has some fruitlets the size of quail eggs. No frost damage on any of our trees, even baby Anaheim and Esther. But it didn't get below 31 or so here. So I didn't have to cover any. Thx for another good video.

[@gregalderdotcom]

Amazing, Frank. What a difference a few degrees makes. Great to hear your trees are doing so well.

[@MakePeace123]

Frost blanket plus christmas lights or microsprinklers help in colder areas

[@sheri023]

I have a Mexicola (small) for twenty years. I learned I needed to spray honey water on the flowers to attract the bees for pollination. I finally got a couple of good crops, but they just don't ripen. They can even fall off the tree and not be ripe. Maybe one out of ten will ripen on the bottom half, otherwise the top half is like rubber and most, 90% of the avocadoes are totally rubber. I was wanting to get a Stewart since it is an early variety like the Mexicola, but I fear it will have a ripening problem too here in zone 9B. Have you had any problems with Stewart ripening?

[@scottbrandos]

How did your holiday do with the cold. I am in lake forest and it did not get as cold up here but mine seemed to do okay. Have you had any luck setting fruit on yours yet? Im on year 3 in the ground from a 15 gal pot and hoping to set a few this year. I have a 3 foot sharwil nearby and both are pushing out flowers right now. Thanks for your videos, always such great information.

[@gregalderdotcom]

I no longer have a Holiday. I cut mine down. Hope you get fruitset this year!

[@frankyancy1347]

My 15 gallon holiday is in the ground 5 years, fruits each year but not very prolific. But like the fruit and have the room. It certainly wouldn't be a first choice.

[@Sam-mc2dk]

Good info Greg. I was wondering how you like Green Gold. I have been wanting to graft Green Gold onto one of my trees but I wondered what you thought of the variety? Is it precocious? How does the fruit taste? Is it a good producer? Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@gregalderdotcom]

Hi Sam, I don't have a ton of experience with Green Gold, but I've eaten some and seen some trees and have grown my own for a few years. The fruit is good and attains a very high oil content such that the consistency gets like peanut butter. Is that good? Depends on your preferences. It is not precocious in my experience, but it does produce okay. The tree's branches are weepy/floppy, which is not good in a hot climate like mine because it's vulnerable to sunburn. I frankly don't like the way the tree grows. I like the variety enough to keep it around, but I think that its mother Sharwil is similar and superior.

[@mikestil1]

I live in Poway, my coldest was 33, where is your farm located?

[@Betty599]

Greg, I do not know which Zone you are in? I am in Zone 8b. West Paso Robles Ca. elevation 2000. Your trees have more frost burn than my trees. We have lots of frost every winter. The coldest is 22 degree and the hottest is 113. We been here 10+ years. I rarely have frost burn on my avocados trees with no protection. The only tree that get burn is Mexicola avocado . That tree is plant in the worst part of the hill that get the most wind. Other than that hardly any of my avocado trees get burn.

[@kylediffusion9879]

Thoughts on a fuerte? I just got one and its not doing to good. Wrapped it up for the winter in a trunk blanket I got from Amazon but it looks anemic, foliage wise. It was in a 5gallon when I bought it.

[@thaddeusrex1]

Where are your trees located?

[@jorgeespinoza3150]

Thanks for the update. Would you say your location is rather humid throughout the year? I'm about to raise an 18" bed of decomposed granite, coarse sand and ground biochar for a 3-in-1planting of Reed, Pinkerton and Holiday inside a greenhouse here in muggy Houston.

[@gregalderdotcom]

My location is very dry in the summer. Relative humidity then often drops to twenties or teens every afternoon.

[@elvegas8752]

Hey greg. Are carmen and mendez the same?

[@frankyancy1347]

They are.

[@onortosu]

Do you have the old variety Duke? It was supposed to be one of cold hardiest varieties, popular in Northern California.

[@gregalderdotcom]

No, I don't have Duke.

[@ivanguajardo7111]

Do you think rain has a negative effect on blooming flowers? My Mexicola is in full bloom and has had like three storms rain down on it. I'm near the ocean in San Diego so not very cold, and I've seen some bees on the flowers.

[@gregalderdotcom]

Reminds me of last year. Lots of rain and marine layer all the way through June. We'll see how long it lasts this year, but yes, it does subdue the flights of bees and flies (to a lesser extent). But it also slows down the opening and closing of avocado flowers, so the hope is that there are still enough flowers left once it dries and warms, or when there are dry and warm periods between storms later in spring. Like your Mexicola, I've got a Pinkerton in full bloom since early winter and it has zero fruitset still. Do you have another variety nearby? Once my other varieties nearby start blooming, I bet I'll start seeing fruitset on my Pinkerton even if it remains rainy -- that's what I saw last year.

[@noobcollector1320]

What other avocado tree would go well with Fuerte to help with pollination? Inland Empire area.

[@gregalderdotcom]

You want to help pollenize your Fuerte? I've seen some Fuerte/Hass combinations in Inland Empire doing very well. Pinkerton too, as it can have a very long flowering period like Fuerte, and Pinkerton holds its fruit well in heat although its branches can get sunburned. Really, any other A type that you like to eat will do a decent job of providing pollen for Fuerte too.

[@MakePeace123]

Greg where can I find Nowels avocado variety in S California

[@gregalderdotcom]

I don't know of a source in S. California, but I got mine from Epicenter: www.epicenteravocados.com/

[@RareAvoTrees]

Excellent on cold, if your in fresno county come see my avo orchard.

[@gregalderdotcom]

Thanks. Sorry, I'm in foothills in San Diego County. But would love to see video of your trees!

[@ricardomercado308]

Hello Greg are you familiar with oro negro have you ever had it do you know anywhere I can find it in San Diego county or riverside county

[@gregalderdotcom]

I have no firsthand experience with Oro Negro. I only know what I've heard people say about it in Florida, and I don't know anyone who has a mature tree in California or a nursery that sells it here. Sorry.

[@ricardomercado308]

👍

[@everydayanimalswithrainfor1315]

Hi Greg, someone told me you might know the flower type of lamorinda.

[@gregalderdotcom]

I should know in a month, but flower buds are only swelling now on mine: none are open yet.

[@everydayanimalswithrainfor1315]

Most likely not, but would be pretty cool if it's a B type. 😁

[@irakli7827]

🤟thanks you r cool, keep doing please