Avocados years round, done it? don't want to?

I used to think I wanted Avocados year round and I had at one stage all the varieties I needed to do it. But due to a few hot dry summer I lost some of the weaker young trees and now I don't have the more rare Autumn filler varieties anymore.

Anyway I've decided that what I have now is perfect and that you really need a break from eating Avocados everyday. Now I have Fuerte as my most early Variety (starting to be ripe right now) and Bacon/Rincon and Zuntano all go from Late Spring into early Summer then there's a couple month gap untill Late Autumn when you can start picking hass but there's lots of other fruit around during that time so it's a good time to take a break from them. You can keep picking Hass untill (now) and it overlaps with Fuerte. I only have one good Hass tree and with the amount of fruit it gives at 10 foot tall x 12 feet wide (I must have had over 200 fruit this year) I can't see the point in more than one Hass tree because by the time it's 20 foot It will be pumping out 500+ fruit each year or at least on the second bumper crop years. I've also got a couple of Reed trees than I'm trying to get into good strong growing shape, don't really know why since it will fruit at the same time as Hass :p

That's my story about nothing for today :0

The following thread was started by Jason on October 29, 2009 at 12:56 am PST

Jason,
I feel your pain about having fruit that overlaps, and overwhelms the family appetite. I must say....I get a lot of joy giving my avos away to friends and family. NOBODY turns down a wonderful bag of avocados. Let's face it....they are not that cheap to buy. I was wondering about your variety timetables. Do your Fuertes really mature ahead of your Bacons? My Bacons are a Dec-Jan fruit here in Ventura County.

The above followup was added by Ed of Somis on October 29, 2009 at 5:11 pm PST.

Ed the Bacon aren't ready untill at least late November and till to say Febuary (about 14+ months from flowering). I have Fuertes big enough to pick now 12-13 months from flowering but will probably leave them another month to be sure. You Wouldn't pick a Hass untill at least April (18 months from flowering). But they will hang on the tree till 24-25 months. They all flower from mid September till late October with Hass being the latest to flower, Fuerte and Rincon flower earliest. We give some fruit away but really you can't often or you end up with people getting bad habbits and suddenly visiting for no apparent reason whenever their favorite fruit is ripe and taking more than you wanted to give away :)

The above followup was added by Jason on October 29, 2009 at 7:06 pm PST.

Jason, tell me a little about the Rincon avo. is it a mexican variety. Compared to Fuertes and Bacon or Mexicola. Thanks,also where are you at would like to get some scion wood next spring.

The above followup was added by Scotty in A.G. on October 29, 2009 at 7:20 pm PST.

Scotty I'm in Victoria (Australia), Rincon is a tiny little dwarf tree, almost a ground cover :). It's not anywhere near as high quality fruit as Fuerte or Bacon, can be a little bit stringy and resinous flavour but it's edible :). The main reason for having one is that it's a good pollinator being a early flowering type A

The above followup was added by Jason on October 29, 2009 at 8:22 pm PST.

Scotty...it was so funny to hear where your avos are being grown! I was thinking you were drinking too much Foster's when you explained your harvest dates....haha, Now I understand. My latest/best variety is the Lamb Hass. It is great! goodluck, Ed

The above followup was added by Ed of Somis on October 30, 2009 at 6:31 am PST.

Jason, thanks for follow up I had though you were downunder. I think Rincon variety came about in Ventura area in Calif. but your description of the fruit is not turning me on. Think I'll skip that one.
Ed,how cold has your Lamb Hass taken and when is it ripe?

The above followup was added by Scotty in A.G. on October 30, 2009 at 7:09 pm PST.

Lamb Hass, Hass and Reed are the only 3 really worth considering as your main type A cropper, if you want quality fruit and lots of it. But If you live somewhere that goes under -3c - 5c then you might have to skip all those tho and go for a Mexican one. Fuerte is the best cropping type B I've found, so long as you're prepared to wait for it to get going as it's much slower than the average to start fruiting well (5 years+)

The above followup was added by Jason on October 30, 2009 at 11:20 pm PST.

Scotty....my Lamb Hass fruits about 4-6 weeks later than the Hass. I am still picking the last ones now. They hang well....and are bigger than Hass. To me....the flesh is a bit better than Hass, and the skin does not get flaky/brittle when fully ripe (like Hass).The tree is narrow and upright. The cold-heartiness is typical of the Guatamala strains from what I read. The Mexican strains will always be a bit tougher.

The above followup was added by Ed of Somis on October 31, 2009 at 7:12 am PST.

Anyone here trying the carmen hass ? I have read that it is capable of producing multiple crops per year and wondered if anyone here had any experience with this. It is also reputed to be slightly hardier than regular hass too.

William Visalia Ca

The above followup was added by William on October 31, 2009 at 8:18 am PST.

Thanks Ed and Jason for your input, where I'am at on central coast we get down to 26f sometimes but not every year. Then every 10-15yrs. we get down to teens, so growing some things are on the edge. Thats cool though because its a challenge to grow on the edge. Might ask you for some scion wood someday Ed, thanks again!!

The above followup was added by Scotty in A.G. on October 31, 2009 at 7:26 pm PST.

I meant to type Brokaw Nursery.

The above followup was added by Scotty in A.G. on October 31, 2009 at 7:35 pm PST.

I work at a health food shop and we are constantly getting avocado every week, it took me until my one year anniversary to figure (two weeks ago) that I have eaten atleast 4 or 5 different cultivars of avos.

Seems to me that other than water content and how ripe they are when they arrive, they all have the same taste. Or am I just not getting it at the best time(ripe off the tree)?

The above followup was added by Lee on November 01, 2009 at 0:01 am PST.

I've you line up 5 slices of toast and eat all 5 different Avocados at once you will clearly be able to tell the difference between all 5. But eating them at different times of the year and with only one years practice, maybe not :)

I can pick all the varieties I grow by taste without seeing the fruit

The above followup was added by Jason on November 01, 2009 at 7:19 am PST.

Use them in more foods and in more ways. I eat guacamole a lot, then I make avocado quesadillas,then I put them in Chilaquiles, and my form of Tortilla soup and related things, not very often do I get around to eating them fresh, except for a few bits when I am cooking with them.

I remember some time ago I mentioned cooking with Avocados and most who responded said WHAT?, some said nearly how nasty. But I love the taste of slightly heated to cook avocados. It also helps to soften and bring the nutty egg flavor out in not really fully matured fruits too.

David

The above followup was added by David Johnson, Waterford CA, zone 14 on November 03, 2009 at 8:36 am PST.