Ellie I had Avocado trees here for 30 years which were frosted enough every year to never bear any fruit. When the big freeze of December 1990 killed them to the ground, I decided to dig out the roots to prevent them from regrowing, and planted something more suitable in their place. Al

You should plant Mexicola. Hardiest of Avocado's.If they dont do well,then your are out of Avocado growing zones.

Anyone have any experience with Fuerte avocado trees?

I am thinking of putting the trees into larger pots, say 18" or so and taking them into the house for winter.

They are the Holiday Avocado and grow to 8' but with regular size avocados. Anyone with any experience in taking them in for winter?

I will look into the Mexicola.

Ellie

There is also a dwarf mexicola. Best of both worlds if space is an issue.
It tends to bare alternate years,heavy and light. Still worth it.

I pulled my Fuerte out.
The two Hass were producing like mad for three years and not one avocado on the Fuerte. I put in another Hass.

I grew up in Long Beach with a Fuerte tree in our backyard. My father planted and grafted it, but did not live to see it fruit. It took 6 years to fruit, but after that we had more than we could use most years. It has taken me years to force myself to buy avocados at the store, actually, because they are never as good as ours.

Long Beach is a very mild climate and we lived about 3 miles from the ocean. Frost was a rare event in my time there.

Bacon is supposed to be able to stand more cold than most other varieties. I have a Bacon and Holiday I planted last year and the Bacon seems much more vigorous. One is a type A and one is a type B, so they should help pollinate each other. BTW, both the original Bacon and original Hass trees were both planted within ten miles of my home. Every one of the tens of thousands of Hass trees are descended from the original tree that just died a few years ago.

Bacon is type b. Mexicola type a,both are hardy,Mexicola a slight edge. The only complaint is the seed is large in relation to size of the delicious fruit. Not much of a complaint.

I have a Holiday tree that I bought about a month ago. It is about 3' tall and all the leaves have steadily turned brown and have all fallen off. the tree does not have any leaves on it. to be honest I helped by gently touching all the leaves and the fell off very easily. It looks like there are blooms of flowers or new leaves on the tree, but they just turn brown. is this normal? Also, just below the graft, two new shoots are growing. I'm thinking to leave them alone. any thoughts?

George, it sounds like your tree is thirsty. Is it getting enough water? Leave the new shoots, and use LOTS of mulch. Never cultivate the soil under it. In the spring it should lose some leaves and get flowers, but it sounds like you have no growth.

When I first got my Hass trees, I almost killed them all by underwatering them. I eventually lost all of the leaves and had to paint the trunks white to prevent sunscald and death. I also put an umbrella over each, mulched heavily, and they branched out from below. The original trunk died off completely.
Renee

thanks hosenemesis. How much is enough?? I water it about once every 3 days or so.

WILL ANY ONE BE INTERESTED in interested in exchanging some avocado seeds? Fuerte ,Mexicloa,Holiday Dwarf mexicola,Bacon& BTW? Please e-mail me and let me know Thanks. Marcie

I guess it depends on how hot it is and how much you mulch. When I figured out what my problem was, I set up a drip system around each tree with about ten emitters each and soaked them for two to three hours twice a week. Now that they are huge and mulched with two feet of leaf litter I water them with above ground shrub sprinklers, three each, for half an hour twice a week in the summer, less during the rest of the year. I soak them a few times a year for two to three hours.

Their feeder roots are right at the surface of the soil, so it's important to keep it moist for the first foot down while they are young.