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Dwarf Hybrid Avocado Tree ('Holiday')

fangzz
10 years ago

Please help.

Mail-ordered. Fruits in the fall/early winter (hence, 'Holiday'), according to the tag attached when received, lo these many years ago now!

This dwarf is now in the ground 4-5 years. Last two years, it has flowered like crazy in the Spring. Then the flowers all fall off. Very healthy, dark green glossy leaves. About 9-10 feet tall now. All of a sudden this summer, while we were away, what I will call a 'sucker' jumps out of the ground at the base, near the trunk, and has grown, in one season, mind you, 12-13 feet. Taller than anything else, and very straight. The rest of the tree is 'bushy' with limbs and leaves from ground level to the crown in a round sort of form.

Question: what is that thing? Could it be a 'revert' from the root stock? Bark is very light green and soft from ground to tip.

Please help. Gotta get some fruit offa this tree before I die!!! Drew

Comments (9)

  • taffy341
    10 years ago

    Hand pollunation has been suggested ... below is printed from another part of this forum concerning 'container tropical fruit trees'.
    (The referenced avocado flower is from a large Peru type avocado.)

    "....flowering takes place during this defoliated stage which adds even more to the peculiarity of the tree. The leaf drop is due to the formation of buds (flower and/or vegetative) beneath the petiole juncture. They first appear as small knobby protuberances encased in a fuzzy brown sheath. As they grow this sheath splits and the new growth presents itself along with the flowers. The flowers are fairly unattractive but produced in abundance. They are about l" long, greenish-yellow in color and very fleshy, exuding a wonderfully fruity fragrance. Once you detect this aroma the one major problem of this is at hand: hand-pollination.
    The flower is perfect, containing both stigmas and stamens (male and female reproductive organs) but herein lies the problem. The male is not ready when the female is - a botanical reversal of 'not to night, I have a headache' syndrome. She is usually ready the day before he is. That is, the pistils are receptive from 12 to 24 hours before the pollen is shed. There is a simple, though time consuming, remedy for this situation. Collect pollen from a male flower (the petals will be wide open) and place it in an empty 35mm film canister or a similar container. Next, find the receptive female. She'll be easy to spot because her petals will
    only be partially opened. Spread the three thick petals carefully with one hand and with a pollen laden paint brush (which has been dipped in the canister) gently stroke back and forth across the receptive pistils. Voila! a baby cherimoya will be born! There really can be no mistake in choosing the correct flower because they are either closed tightly, partially opened or completely spread apart.
    The success rate using this method is very high. Once fruit set is complete, maturation takes from five to ten months. During this time the tree will have adorned itself with new foliage and have become a very attractive member of the container orchard. The leaves are large, from 8" to 10" long, medium green on top with the brownish green underside exhibiting a velvety texture...."

  • fangzz
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The tree described in the long post above is very UNLIKE my 'Holiday.' Mine never defoliates. Always has rich, healthy green leaves (looks alot like a Southern Magnolia leaf). Flowers in Spring. Thousands. Bees love 'em. Then they all fall off and in fall there is no fruit.

  • Atmeyers7
    10 years ago

    I have a dwarf hybrid from Lowe's purchased 5-6 yrs ago and has never given fruit. Tag says self fertile. Full of flowers again this year and seeing a few bees. Any hope for my tree to produce? I see some flowers turning yellow and falling off already. I am so disappointed again!! Tree is healthy with nice green leaves. The hand pollinating seems like so much work and I would not want to do that year after year. Any help would be appreciated.

  • chanterelle
    9 years ago

    I share your frustration. But here's some hope: I planted my Holiday about 3-1/2 years ago as a 15 gal tree, 5 ft tall & 1 ft wide. It didn't fare too well the first year, with most of the leaves browning from the tip up & dropping off. I even thought of taking it out. But it recovered. The 2nd & 3rd years, it went on a growing spree and is now 10+ ft tall. Well, not really, because I removed the supporting poles when it topped 6 ft. And it proceeded to "weep" right over toward the ground for the next 4 ft of growth. It also sent out some really long (7 ft) horizontal branches that I started to prune - until I realized that it was trying to counterbalance itself.

    The last 2 years it flowered beautifully. But whereas last year the few small avocados that formed fell off when they were marble sized, this year I am seeing lots of fruit. It is really exciting to watch them grow bigger by the day - now the size of grapes. Of course, there is still 16 months to go, but I have high hopes!

    If even half the avocados mature to full 18 oz weight, I'll be needing to support the tree or it'll be scraping the ground! I'll try to post a picture.

    I've looked on lots of posts about Holiday's and people seem to get reliable fruit after 3-5 years. So don't give up!

  • veggie_girl
    9 years ago

    Nice! Can you show us a shot of the whole tree?

  • chanterelle
    9 years ago

    Here's the whole tree, or as much as I can get in a photo. It is leaning from right to left in a big arc. The largest avocado is now the size of a jumbo egg. I've had a few turn black and drop off, but most are thriving.

  • dretutz
    6 years ago

    My holiday avocado was planted June 16 and is now about four feet tall and wide. I just noticed four avocados about the size of softballs. Hope they get enough support to ripen by late fall. I'm in hills east of Los Angeles about one mile from "Avocado Heights."

  • Diyfreddy
    5 years ago

    I’m looking to possibly grow an avocado in a half barrel. Holiday and Wertz are top choices. How has holiday matured for you all?