Do you have the host fungus in your yard ? It could affect an avocado but if your yard isn't already affected by the fungus I wouldn't worry about it. Just make sure where you plant your avocado will not get wet feet. It must have good drainage and do not plant it too deep. Make sure you buy a grafted tree, do not waste your time with one grown from seed as you more than likely will wind up with a behemoth of a tree that has a high probability of producing little to no fruit.

Just like mangoes, there are early, middle and late season avocados. I would suggest making sure you know the type of avocado you like (the flash varies greatly in taste and texture: creamy, buttery, dry, watery, strong, mild, etc.) and choose the variety accordingly. Like any fruit tree, buying and planting an unknown to find out 3+ years later you don;t like it could get one very frustrated. As in mangoes, its all subjective. I could tell you ones I like but that wouldn't mean that you would like them, and vice versa. I would be glad to give my recommendations but they would be just that...

Rob

bsbullie,
What do you mean by having the host fungus in your yard? I think you may be confusing phytophthora with laurel wilt. Laurel wilt is a fungus but it is spread by the redbay ambrosia beetle.

Johnb51,
There has been instances of laurel wilt in South Florida but I would not worry about it. I am not sure if there is anything you can do to prevent it as yet but as of right now it is unlikely that your tree will get it. There may be a problem in the future but by then there may be a solution.

Sheehan - you are correct, my bad. Was thinking of the root disease.

Rob

When I first heard about it 3 or so years ago, I freaked. But it honestly hasn't seemed to have spread that quickly. I've yet to see an infected tree.

In general I think the best way to deal with these diseases is to steer clear of monoculture. Try to plant many different species so that when one develops a disease issue, your collection is not wiped out.

Years ago, I think a lot of FL residents had citrus monocolture and saw their entire urban orchard wiped out either by state workers with chainsaws or by infection with citrus greening. A couple of years back there was a scare when a giant harlequin beetle was captured on a ship in the port of Miami. A single beetle has the capability to kill a mango tree and had it become established, our urban fruitscape would have changed quite dramatically.

The truth is that you never know what will be the next disease threat. I mean - who would have predicted state workers with chainsaws doinking backyard citrus trees? And who would have predicted the devastation that the whitefly would have on the south florida hedge mainstay - the ficus?

So the best idea is to plant a varied fruitscape. Then, even if you lose an entire species of fruit tree, you still have trees to pick fruit from while you replant. That said, I think a lot of us are heavy on the mango end of things, so let's hope that we never see a mango threat in our lifetimes ;-).

Jeff