The amazing Duke Avocado

Duke Avocados. Very creamy, clean, no strings, ultra thin skin that you can bite into and eat. No need to peel off. And unlike most avocados when opened, the Duke Avocados don’t brown easily! Very good and tasty especially for avocado toast. Avocado Flavor is milder but creamier than Hass and I like it.


The Duke Avocados are really big this year. Normally they’re only half this size! I posted the wonderful story about this very cold hardy avocado in my earlier posting.

I will be using the seeds as rootstocks for my cold hardy, boron and salt tolerant, and root rot resistant avocados.

For me, I think that the best way to induce their cold hardiness is to plant them outside in October. They won’t sprout until early spring. And only those induced to be cold hardy would sprout, and might be due to epigenetics. The ones that I germinate inside the house, they really don’t seem to be as cold hardy. So I now plant the seeds outside.

I really wanted their seeds to be used as rootstocks so I mark my calendar and go great distances to get them. I have proven that from a few years of my experimentations, they’re really among the best rootstocks to use, especially for our area where we have salt problems, freezing temperatures and root rot. If you want very good and very cold hardy avocados, these are the best to use, better than all of the big box stores avocados. Of course, I now have seeds of Aravaipa and Brazos Belle and would test them side by side too!

Brazos Belle and Duke. Although they’re ready a couple of weeks ago, I left them on the tree until the winds shook them off.

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Those beautiful pictures take me back. Living in S. CA as a boy, I really grew to love avocados. What I miss most is all the other varieties besides Hass that used to be available- especially at hippy frequented health food stores- we hippies just loved cods. The only names I remember now are Bacon and Fuerte. I know Bacon was a summer avocado.

In NY the only commercially available cods are Hass and big watery things from Florida, which I don’t understand, because my brother grows several varieties in Hawaii rich with oil. He has one or another variety all year long and they are the staple crop coming out of his orchard. (I have 3 brothers and one sister and all have an orchard besides one brother.)

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Joe, what else do you grow, just amazing!! I have lived in the tropics and every times i see pictures like that it makes me…want to go back.

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are these those that are able to grow in the Santa Cruz area?

I agree with the big watery things from Florida, but not all Florida avocados are watery. I have a tree with big buttery avocados that can compete with any California avocado. It came with my house that I bought in 1986. It was a mature tree at the time. I don’t even know if it’s a named variety. There are many named Florida varieties that are buttery: Brogdon, Oro negro, choquette, lula, simmonds, etc. The list goes on.

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Just another case of the fruit industry appealing to the eyes instead of the palate. However, in this case, it seems the palate is winning and has made Hass from Mex. and S. America much more popular than anything from Florida.

In NY I don’t even see CA avocados any more.

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They shouldn’t be a problem! It loves mild temperatures better than our hot inland.

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That’s because the local demand in California has been strong and the growers find it more profitable to sell locally grown avocados first, so it seldom is exported outside the state, and if they do, there is a huge premium price difference compared to avocados imported from outside the country.

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Wonder how these would do well inland, like here in Livermore. Very long hot summers, but also chillier in the winter?

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You should try the Aravaipa. It is the only one that loves the summer heat and would still show some growth during the winter. It is both heat and cold hardy! Our area is similar to yours.

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I don’t believe I’ve encountered them at my local nursery (Alden Lane). Duke, yes, Keit, Hass, Little Cado etc. Maybe I’ll see if they can bring in one come spring.

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Or learn how to graft them. The best time to graft them is after the last frost of late winter.

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We have the same climate and soil conditions here in Tracy. Avocado trees from big box stores don’t survive here. I would love to buy a couple of these rootstocks that you grow from seeds, or Duke and Aravaipa grafted on these rootstocks, in a year or two. Or we can trade, I have a lot of home-made trees available for trade: figs, pomegranates, apricots, apples, pears.

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WOW! JoeReal you are a winner! Your work is just amazing! How can i contact you?

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Ohh my. I thought we were doomed up here. Avocados is something I’ve been wanting to grow for years and now you give me hope.
How would one go about at acquire Duke?

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My hope is to get some cold hardy scions from friendly people here and graft them this spring…

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BUt it sounds like you not only want Duke on top, but as the rootstock as well. Ohh man, what I would do to get my hand on this. I guess I need to locate a tree in Oroville area along with a rootstock… :slight_smile:

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I want on top… I only have some stewart seeds sprouting and one promissed mexicola plant… :grin:

I can send you seeds Stan, and later scionwood!

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You can PM me and I can send you some stratified Duke Seeds ready for planting immediately!

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