Have they ripened for you yet?
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Unfortunately I must report that they all started to fall off the tree, one by one. They continued to grow larger but for some reason just dropped off seemingly at random. The last one hung on for quite some time, but fell off by the time it was around the size of a small fist. Hoping this is was just a natural trail run for the tree and it just gets more abundant and fruitful in subsequent years.
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I don’t have personal experience with fruiting avocados, but have read fruit drop is common for young trees. Your tree looks very healthy and seems to be on a fast track for production.
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Strange, I hope this improves with age. The old Oroville trees seem to have stopped producing as well.
How long has this been going on? Does it set fruit at all, or even bloom?
As I don’t live there I don’t know whether it was effected by any of the fires in 2018, 2020, or 2024.
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I don’t know about 2023 bloom or fruiting before then, but they bloomed profusely last March.
The first time I visited the tree was on Christmas Eve, 2023. No fruit on it then, but I was probably late and I hear that people do pick the trees. Last I visited was on Nov 18, 2024. Not a single fruit on either tree. I suppose people may pick them hard, but I couldn’t see any even in their uppermost treetops or leftovers on the ground. Possibly just bad luck, or perhaps the trees are simply too old now with their dying limbs, I don’t know.
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Also this may be a dumb question but would taking scions from a tree no longer producing be able to become productive again? Or is the fruiting process over for than genetic material?
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I’m still fairly unexperienced with grafting in general, so I wouldn’t know. I do know that other people have successfully gotten Duke to fruit for them. @Marta should be able to chime in on this.
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I never thought of that but my gut says that the production is probably due to the rootstock, age, and/or the locality (perhaps the soil has changed in a detrimental way) and cuttings would probably be just fine.
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Duke trees are fast growing, vigorous, precious and productive. I made 2 in 2016 on the tiny seedlings and by 2020 these were huge and productive. One of those trees I’m actually trying to re-establish in my new orchard. It already went through 2 planting sites and two drastic size reductions (roots and canopy). It’s still alive and seems to be growing ok on its third planting site. It’s now back to about 2 ft from the ground level with about 3 inch trunk diameter at the base. If it survives this winter, I expect to have fruits in a couple of years.
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Depends on the plant. For many plants it probably doesn’t matter, but almonds for example are susceptible to a genetic condition called non-infectious bud failure, and taking propagation material from older trees with the condition results in young trees that never fruit well and have tons of blind buds. Low yield can also be due to viral infections, and new plants from infected parents may have poor yield. This used to be common with grapes and fan leaf virus.
I’m guessing that if the trees aren’t well irrigated, many of the developing fruit might have fried in the early summer heatwave we had.
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Joe, the one i have is 12 ft tall. Not many Branches so ill need to graft a few on but here on the oregon coast the DUKE is doing Great. My cold Hardy one from fast growing trees is at 4 feet tall and 2 yrs older . but both kicking it im hyped .
im wanting to grow a couple more cold hardy any one know where i can get seedlings or seeds ? and how do i get it to branch out more ?
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Marta at reallygoodplants is a good source for seeds and scion. In Fall when her trees are fruiting, she sells whole fruit and seeds. I got to try Mexicola and Aravaipa from her back in Sep-Oct and planted the seeds for future rootstock. I don’t think she has any seeds left, but she’s currently selling scions if you’re interested.
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thank you . i love eating the fruit … and i know 8-13 yrs before seedlings will produce i will need a source … ill check them out .
im looking into bud grafts as well my tree has 3 branches on it and im sure it should have more even if i have to make them Smiles .
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@JoeReal Hey Joe mu duke is 12 ft tall while my reed is only around 4 ft tall and 4 yrs older . But my Question is both are Type A. do i need to get a type B to pollinate them ? this is out of my studies with you and stan so i honestly don’t totally understand it . i know you need a male and female in the avocado kinda like you need 2 pawpaw and in some apple varieties you need 2 for some that are not self polinating . but i dont know about the avocados .
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Duke is a type B based on my own tests. It could be showing type A pattern in other locations. Reed is Type A. The problem with Duke and Reed is that they may not bloom at the same time. You need something of different flower types that have good bloom time overlap.
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So Joe you know i’m in florence oregon . what would you suggest for me since i need something to pollinate them ? the one actually had 1 flower not a bunch as i have seen others have but 1 last yr too close to winter so i picked it off . but the tree has 3 branches towards the top it went poof in the green house the first yr and i think that had a lot to do with the fertilizer i used . might sound crazy but both avocado trees where in the green house so i could acclimate them and only the duke was planted in 100% rabbit manure the first yr . i think it was a good one for it because its 3x the size the the reed . George in fallbrook sent me 2 reed avocados with my cherimoya order and said Plant the seeds he thought they would grow here LOL
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from what i can find out and i know you would know more . the duke is self pollinating ? but the reed is not so i was looking up what would work as a B type i found a Sir prise avocado but i do not know if it is cold hardy enough to live in my location . I am wondering if i could get some pollen shipped and self pollinate ? any thoughts on that ?
I went there for cuttings just a little over a year ago and didn’t see a single fruit anywhere. That’s odd for a huge avocado tree. Any other massive avocado tree I’ve seen has lots of seeds on the ground, buried in the dirt. I suppose it’s possible they all got gathered up. It is a popular tree, attracting growers from hundreds of miles.
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Avocados should all be somewhat self-fruitful and this gets better with size. You don’t need a Type B, but getting it should increase production.
Any avocado tree has both male (pollen shedding) and female (pollen receptive) flowers that can polinate each other, but they open on different days, like female flowers on the first day and male on the second day for Type A. The difference between Type A and B the day each type of flower opens. Opposite of Type A, Type B has male flowers on the first day and female for the second, so it matches up perfectly to pollinate Type A.
A single type will inevitably have some overlap on bloom so they will self-pollinate some. My understanding is the amount depends some on climate and variety, but larger, and more trees generally helps. Swincher (Winn) talks some about temperature affecting bloom timings here: The great Seattle cold-hardy avocado trial - #29 by swincher
At least for SoCal, I read that Reed avocado growers don’t bother interplanting with a Type B and still get good yields.
In terms cold hardy Type B varieties, I suppose Duke is one, along with Jade, poncho/pancho, and Joey to name a few. Here’s a thread on this: Type B avocado to grow with Mexicola?
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