Lila Avocado Tree Pollenizing

Winter is ebbing, and my Lila Avocado has begun blossoming individual flowers within the clusters. I carry out some hand-pollenizing to improve the chances of starting avocado fruit this spring. Zone 8A, Gaston County N.C.

[@johnnysworld-backyardorchard]

Great video, I admire your determination in growing avocado trees in your area, thanks for sharing!

[@ivanguajardo7111]

I definitely admire the dedication people have for growing avocados outside of easier growing climates. Good job and keep it up! I encourage locals to plant seedlings so you can hopefully someday have a variety that can handle your winters with less human intervention. Cheering you on from San Diego!

[@Sanchez96d]

Looks great! I planted a Lila avocado here in nc towards the coast, this year on January 18. After the hard freeze of the year, I planted immediately, without hesitation, for expirement purposes. Plus I chose a good location, good soil, with drainage. I’ve been told that avocados don’t like wet feet, or strong winds and can be sun scorched in the summer. Anyway, we’re close to the middle of February. And nearing its first month in the ground. And I will say, no leaf damage, and since I got a mature tree about 4 feet in height, it wants to flower, and no damage. In the area planted beside a pine. Also, I’ve had a good experience with the Joey avocado. Now trying the pancho. And of course I got a mature fantastic avocado in the ground. And well according to the severity of the next years coming. Hope to God they withstand the test of time’s and encourage other’s to grow towards the coastal region. I know citruses have been almost full proof with the exception of some. But I’ve seen first hand how tough citrus are. And I believe a lot of citrus can handle our climate. I really like the Hamlin orange and hope people plant that as well in their garden here

[@Avo7bProject]

Sounds like you have your own experiment going with a posse of trees. Perhaps in a few years, more and more people will gamble with cold-hardy varieties in N.C. and find success. Lila is such an early-flowering variety, that I am tempted to think one of the other Texas varieties might be a bitter fit for the piedmont region where I live. Spring comes a week or so earlier on the coast, and may fit better with Lila's flowering cycle.

[@Sanchez96d]

@@Avo7bProject yeah, I have my experiment. What worry’s me is that all avocados from here have to be grafted as they’re duplicates of a certain parentage. And I don’t know if the rootstock can withstand the cold. It’ll be something to see the top alive and the bottom dead. I contemplated on burying the rootstock, and then I wanted to take cutting’s but cutting probabilities are low, and burying the rootstock would kill the tree in my knowledge. So I’m hoping the rootstock is a seedling of these Mexican varieties

[@Sanchez96d]

@@Avo7bProject also, during the summer, I’m going to try to do the impossible and get cutting from my tree and attempt to root. My mom was good at root cutting and have a general idea, shade to partial sun and loads of humidity, plus mist or drops of water here and there = rooting. Many people don’t know but the roots of a grafted tree can die, and the scion live but run out of energy. Cutting’s are harder to do for avocados that’s why they’re all grafting. I wonder if airlayering works

[@Avo7bProject]

@@Sanchez96dAir layering is possible, but it takes practice to do it reliably. It's how clonal rootstock is grown. (1) Grow a seedling from a pit (2) Graft a branch of clonal rootstock onto the seedling (3) Air layer around the stem of the rootstock above the graft (4) When roots appear within the air layer, cut away the bottom starter seedling, and plant the rootstock.

[@benheaver4332]

I’m in Atlanta , the struggle is real , mine stay in big pots so I can put them on the garage every winter for a week or so :)

[@NomadJoe]

Great info. Thanks

[@Moochy999]

You need a Carmen-Hass. You need a Carmen-Hass, probably as hardy as your Lila but, it flower in spring and if that crop gets zapped by weather, it will flower again summer or fall.

[@edibletropicaltrees]

If you get a spray bottle, fill with water and add a tablespoon of honey, mix well and spray on trees. The bees smell the honey and will then help pollinate your avocado trees. I have all different kinds of trees and the bees like the citrus better than avocado, but by spraying with honey water the bees will go to the avocado trees.

[@vegardno]

Do you have frost and cover it only during the night? I was thinking that if you have to keep it covered during the day it would be useful to have a transparent cover to let the light in.

[@Avo7bProject]

I covered it with an opaque tarp at night. And used electric lighting if the temperature was going to be in the teens-to-mid-20s Fahrenheit. A few times I was too busy to remove the tarp during daytime. The tree could handle a single day of total shade OK.

[@user-yq5ec4tj3x]

What’s the coldest it got in your area?

[@Avo7bProject]

Local private weather stations were recording 10 degree (F) lows near me, during mid-January.

[@Sanchez96d]

What type of seedling?

[@Avo7bProject]

The seedlings are my "survivors" out of about 30 grocery store fruits. Honestly, I'd say they are about the same as Fuerte in terms of cold-hardiness. You get better durability from other grafted trees. But I'm gambling that if I keep the best seedlings long enough to grow bark, that they might fruit and be an interesting part of my collection.

[@Sanchez96d]

@@Avo7bProject I would like to try a Joey, or fantastic avocado seedling. I believe a seedling would be much stronger than a graft at that point. It would be on its own rootstock, but the fruit if it fruits would be random. Which I’m fine with, I just like the way the trees look big

[@xrsjohnm]

A seedling of joey could be hardy or not hardy its a gamble