Why do you need so many Avocados? Commercial grower? I gave up on growing Avocados as a rancher because of the water needs they have. I happily pay at the grocery, but I do have a couple zutanos. Those are ok with a little chill. And we don't need 20 gazillion trees.

We have 30 year old pines north of our pool, here in Riverside County, a deck west, flanked by citrus, and Sago palms east. There is one fig east.

Suzi

My goal with 5 different kinds of Avocados was to have some available at all times. 2-3 were supposed to go to friends houses but they ware unrealistic in where they intended to plant them. I find it amazing that almost everyone thinks that they can dig a 2' diameter hole in their grass, plant an Avocado or Citrus, let the lawn sprinklers water them daily, and they will do fine.

I'm being really efficient with water use and am using 1/3 the average of my neighbors even with a 40k gallon pool and 45 fruit trees. Most people on my street have 1/3 acre of grass. I have a partial grey water recovery system and am adding more. The kitchen remodel will have a separate sink for waste water that is suitable to be used for irrigation. The bathroom for the pool has a separate urinal that is used along with water from the shower for irrigation. I'm recovering water that flows off the 1 acre manicured yard above me and is stored in 3 335 gallon tanks for irrigation. I'm currently recovering enough that a 35' tall fuerte and 3 20' diameter citrus only have to have additional water about 6 weeks per year.

I'm a little confused, but I think you need 3 really good fig trees! I suggest one Verte, one Violette de Bordeaux, and one Panache.

When you live in a zone that will grow Avocados, Figs, Wine Grapes, Citrus, Olives, Guavas, Mangos, why limit your land to Avocados?

Suzi

I have 2 Washington Navels and 2 Valencias from around 1950. I have a Pink Marsh Grapefruit, Minneola Tangelo, 2 different Lemons, Fig, Peach, Apple, and a Fuerte Avocado from the 1970s.

All of the above were choked in ivy when we bought the house 16 years ago. I've gradually worked on them but the fig, peach, and apple are not going to make it. I will probably add a few small figs in a different place at some point. The current fig is trying to damage a retaining wall and is lifting the pool decking on the other side of the retaining wall. 3" Fig roots are competing with the Valencia 25 feet away the other direction.

I'll probably end up with about 10 full size citrus, about 10 small citrus in the old grove area, about 15 more in pots or espaliered against walls. I expected to have 3 full size Avos but looks like I might end up with 4-5. I have one Pomegranate and was planning on a guava and persimmon but think I will run out of room.

In order to put the small Avocado upwind from the pool, I would need to be sure it wasn't blowing pollen into the pool during the swimming season. I see my Fuerte and my friend's commercial Haas orchard both getting ready to flower now even though the fruit will be ripe at very different times. I just don't know if this is normal since the weather this year is so bizarre.

This post was edited by GregBradley on Fri, Feb 21, 14 at 11:46

Well, if it's upwind from the pool, it shouldn't blow pollen into the pool. We have a waterfall that we use only when company comes, and the rocks seem to collect a lot of crud which follows the stream into the pool.

I'm glad to know you have so many amazing fruit trees! If your fig is good, take some cuttings. They are easy to root. Sad to see an old fig tree go, but those roots can be killer planted close to structures or walls. They grow well in pots too.

This weird weather is causing everything to grow and bloom early, so I'm sure your Avocado is confused like the rest.

We inherited a lot of trees when we purchased this home built in 87. We have no clue what kind of lemons we have, and we have 2 unknown citrus that were being strangled by vines and never even had fruit last year. This year they are in full bloom, so it's all good! We'll get to discover the mystery fruit.

Good luck with all your trees!

Can you put up something temporary until your current trees grow tall enough to screen out the light pollution? Shade cloth on temporary chain link fence makes a good screen.

You can whack a fruit tree to any size you want, and that includes Avocados. Commercial trees are cut with a big helicopter-like machine that takes them down to a uniform size that is easy for harvesting. Having said that, it is work that needs to be done regularly, so think about if you are willing to do that.

Just generally on 24" or 36" or 48" boxed trees, my experience is that they don't turn out to be the healthiest trees if they have been sitting in the box a long time making their roots get all tangled and circled. All the 36" boxed trees in my garden were poor performers and are gone. I planted super fresh stock from 15 gallon containers--roots had formed a solid mass but not reached the limits of the container--and they grew much faster and are healthier than the 36" ers ever were. Just saying, if you get a boxed tree look at the root system before you plant it. Olives would be an exception of course, they can live for 1,000 years in ridiculous locations like rock fissures.