I picked up a young Hass tree back in July. It grew a foot or so (making it 3 feet tall) then I topped it, putting out 3 or 4 new branches. Since Oct it has not grown and some leaves have dropped. Do these grow like citrus putting only 2-3 sets of leaves out a year? is this dormancy?
The growth habit of Avocado and other trees from its native environment is unusual in comparison to northern fruits and nuts. The saplings (grafted or otherwise) will send out side branches that droop towards the ground. From these, uprights will sprout 4" to 10" inches from the trunk. In time these will become the canopy forming branches. The drooping branches they form on should be headed back at 2.5’ - 3’ to encourage this growth.
In their native environment (latitudes 0-10) Avocados sprout leaves year-round, flower in the “spring” with fruits ripening 4-6 months later. The situation is different here in southern CA where fruits take 14-18 months to ripen and growth pretty much halts during the winter.
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Thanks for that Richard. Would you say keep it on the dry side over the next 3 months?
I assume you are growing this in your greenhouse. This is an evergreen plant whose native rainfall is measured in meters (not cm) during the winter. It (and its rootstocks) are surface feeders, rambling below the mulch level in forests with Casimora, Puteria, etc. You also need drainage – do not suffocate the roots in water but keep it flowing past the roots 2-3 times per week. The temperature of the water needs to be above 60F. And as I’ve mentioned before, it would be very helpful to have additional lighting in the 6500 Kelvin spectrum at gross 600W per square meter for the winter and double that in the summer. At present, you can only get this accurately from fluorescents.
BTW … just in case you missed my rants (!) elsewhere about Hass Avocado … the cultivar you bought is probably not the “Hass” anyone buys in a grocery store. For several decades, “Hass” is a USA grade of Avocado sold in stores. There are now at least a dozen cultivars that meet this grade. This is due in part to wanting a consumer recognizable name available year round. But it is also due to improvements, re-breedings, and chance seedlings producing a better fruit; for example: Maluma fruit is now sold in the U.S. as “Hass” fruit.
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The pot was so dry the leaves fell off.
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today
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