08/04/2023 Thank you, mossinajar, for posting your photograph, nine years ago, on your Mutant Avocado seedling. The image provided a link to this webpage when I did a Google search this morning. And thank you very much, gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9), for your very interesting article into the research into this mutation, particularly that which showed that seeds from immaturely harvested fruit would produce this unusual growth at a much higher rate than those harvested later. Thank you also, to all of the other folk that have sent pictures and comments over the years to this page. From time to time, over many years, I have planted avocado stones, indoors, here in London in the UK, but this is the first time, a few days ago, that I had ever seen such a strange growth coming out of an avocado stone. I wondered at first if it was a parasitic growth, maybe some kind of orchid, as the creamy-white growths, to me, did not seem like leaves, but reminded me of a leafless purple orchid that I found, many, many years ago, growing out of the rockery at our family home in Scotland. Our avocado stone had been bought from a local supermarket, and had come from a perfectly normal looking, delicious avocado. Recently their avocados have been coming from Columbia, but I couldn’t swear that this one did, as it was a few weeks ago that I planted the stone, but it would have been from a Central or South American country. Here are three photos that I have taken today, of our little avocado anomaly, alongside ‘cousins’ who have developed conventional growth.

Most edible allims will cross breed and insects will move pollen around. Humans have been growing onions for a long time. Most contries import tons of onions and export tons of onions. It is only recent that breeding programs have actually kept onion varieties reasonably pure. Anyone who has bought sets of onions has seen the not so rare variation in the set. So the truth is that we rarely have pure onions. It is possible to keep vegetatively reproducing onions pure, however mutation and adaption still occour, and at a faster rate than most people have been led to expect. The vegatatively reproducing onions have been classically grouped as A. cepa var. viviparum (topsetting) and A. cepa var. proliferum (root propagation.) Prokhanov and Helm concluded that all prolierous forms should belong to A. fistulosum. Originally the different species were defined by flower shapes and the forms of the leaf and scape cross section were used as supporting data. It has been observed that agricultural cepa's have been bred to each other and produced offspring with vegetative reproduction. Because topset onions are considered 'homegarden' much less research has been done on these varieties. Catawissa Onions are a strain of Egyptian Onion that appeared in Catawissa PA. In 1885, Vilmorin-Andrieux described it as 2.5 feet tall, large leafed, with reddish brown sets and the unique habit of producing topsets out of topsets. Since we have had years for mutation, crossbreeding, and new varieties to sprout, I suspect that the best way to identify a 'Catawissa' is to look for Multilayer topsets. As far as a 'True Catawissa' my experience has led me to instead look for a lovely, tasty and healthy Catawissa. Richlyn71 definitly has the qualities that have been classically described as a Egyptian Tree Onion, ie. it makes topsets. It looks simular to many of the pictures of Catawissa onions that are sold on the web, although the oldest definitions mention a large leaf. In any case Richlyn has a very nice onion, and I would love to obtain some topsets if Richlyn is amiable to some sort of exchange. Bob

Avocados are not "same hole" trees like stone fruits. Think of them as the "SUV's of the garden", lol! Even more "compact" avocados are only relatively compact (as opposed to ginormous non-compact avocado varieties). They need their own space. A slope is ideal, as they don't like to sit in standing water, but DO need lots of water, even more than citrus. Backfilling a hole just creates a "bathtub" effect in clay soil. The current line of thinking with trees is NOT to amend the hole, but to top dress with compost and other soil amendments. With clay you would want to plant on a mound to help facilitate drainage. You're going to want to monitor your soil moisture about 18" down to make sure you're not creating a water logged environment. I would try to move the the Reed, but warning - avocados do not at all like their roots disturbed, so this very well may spell the demise of the Reed, as may also upset the Gem. Always leave their fallen leaves underneath as this is something the feeder roots like and actually require. Drip emitters are fine, just make sure they do give a good soaking, and the well should be dug out to at least the drip line (edge of the canopy) where the feeder roots reside, just make sure that you're not creating too wet an environment for them. Drip emitters come in varying gph outputs, so you can get a very large volume of water to a tree with drip emitters. I have two per avocado, and have actually had to dial them down a bit. And your trees are still pretty young to bear fruit, not to worry. It can take up to 5 years for an avocado to become established enough to bear fruit. I have a Lamb Haas that is full of fruit in it's second year with me, which was shocking. All my other avos are still barren. Who suggested to you to plant these two trees in the same hole, anyway? Patty S.

Sure hope so, Wildcat, I just love to share, so grittymits will also be rich! You might also try Pom Juice, along side of your Red Wine, can almost tell you how it helped my husband get so ..so very much better, with his heart problem..Spike loves to delete my advice so will not expand on that..but try it.. My brugs started out with a real splash this year..they have had any and every thing you can name. Still thinking they will greet me at the "Pearly Gates"!! Stay well and drink that red wine, Pom juice, blueberry, and all those wonderful things that will keep us..keeping on!! Keep those Brugs growing, that is also very important.