Address of the original "Del Rio" Avocado tree?

General Fruit Growing
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“Del Rio” avacado seems to be the most cold hardy one. Originally from the town of Del Rio in TX.

Anyone knows the location/address of the original tree, which reportedly survived a freeze during the 1980s of 7F?

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I heard secondhand that Bill Schneider said the original tree was removed, it was on the side of the road and the tree crew cleared the right of way at some point. I tried to find it when I was driving through Del Rio a few years ago, and that’s when I tracked down some people who said Bill had told them that. I don’t know why it wouldn’t be true, so I assume the tree is gone.

I do have a graft of it from a tree that I got from Craig Hepworth, who might be the only person still selling trees grafted with that variety, now that Bill Schneider is no longer operating Devine Avocados.

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Thanks for the answer.
Thought about stopping at Del Rio for lunch and searching for the tree. Now may need to get it from Craig Hepworth.

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Does he have an online nursery or just sells some stuff occasionally? Or is this the guy you referred before about seeds, sorry.

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Looks like he has a business site.

$60 for the 3G tree Del Rio.

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6

He has a nursery (which @Nosehair links above), but only sells the trees in person, he doesn’t ship them.

I’m hoping I’ll have scionwood to share next summer, but it’ll depend on how much damage my tree has this winter.

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Here’s my Del Rio graft (graft union marked on the photo), which is on a multi-graft tree I planted out this spring after it sailed through last winter outdoors for all but one week in January:

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One other person in the avocado project has a tree grafted with Del Rio, but they also planted theirs out this spring, so there’s no longer any backup that can come indoors for a killing freeze. I’ll probably take scionwood if a severe freeze is in the forecast this winter, but otherwise I’ll wait until after the spring flush and fruit set (if any) before I cut anything.

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Great-looking tree! In addition to taking scion wood, you might want to protect it from freezing by covering. I learned this after losing several citrus trees to the cold. Here’s what I do for trees shorter than 10 feet:

  1. First, create a tripod using three T-posts or rebars. Insert them into the soil and tie them together at the top.
  2. Next, wrap the tripod with two layers of 6-mil plastic sheeting. Make sure to secure the bottom of the plastic with soil or a few bricks. If you have extra cardboard pieces, you can place them inside the plastic for added insulation. For taller trees, you can use longer rebars, but be cautious—using a ladder in winter can be hazardous.
  3. Finally, place one or two old lamps (at least 40W, not LED) inside to warm up the tent during a severe freeze. The lamps are essential in extreme cold. If there’s a power outage, add extra layers of tarp, blankets, or cardboard, and place a few gallons of hot water inside the tent.
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I’ve done some similar things with a few of my trees, but with around 40 avocado trees in the ground here, some of them will need to tough it out. Usually they suffer zero harm other than during a single bad freeze, so I’m mostly hoping for a couple winters without one of those freezes. You can see some of the examples of protection I used this January in this post: