This grafted avocado tree grows in front of my house in Kuala Lumpur. It was planted in June 1997 and first flowered in Mar 2002 but did not produce fruits. It next flowered in May 2003 and produced 55 fruits. Since then it has fruited at unpredictable intervals, roughly once a year, the last time producing 156 fruits. This picture was taken today, 9 Oct 2011. The tree has been kept small by pruning. It is about 12 ft tall and 12 ft in diameter. Without pruning it would have grown to over 30 ft tall and the fruits would have been out of reach. By keeping the tree small, I was able to harvest all the fruits by hand or with a long-handled fruit-picker.
The flowering month varies from year to year: in this case the sequence was Mar 02, Dec 02, Mar 04, Aug 06, Mar 07, Nov 07, Jan 09, Jan 10, Feb 11.
In modern fruit orchards, trees are kept small by pruning so that fruits can be harvested carefully. Any fruit that hits the ground is effectively damaged because the tissues will be bruised at the point of impact.
10 comments:
Great tips. Wish we could grow avocado here:)
Greetings from Japan...
We have so many avocados seedlings that sprouted out from the seeds of fruits we bought from the stores...the plants are still too small for fruiting...
I am looking for grafted avocado seedlings in Sabah, do you know of any reliable suppliers around here?
I have not seen grafted avocado plants for sale anywhere in Malaysia. The demand for grafted plants is too small. The next best alternative is to plant seeds from trees that are known to produce good fruits regularly in your particular locality.
Hi Dr Ng,
possible to get some seeds from you? i m interested in planting this fruit tree.. songpeng from Muar..
please email me at spliang@hotmail.com
Great to hear about the progress of your avocado tree, Dr Francis. I planted a Wurtz from seed and wonder if it'll be true to type. I wish I could find a grafted plant.
Would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the many hours I've enjoyed at the Secret Garden at 1U. Truly a plant sanctuary. Thanks so much.
I get one or two requests every month for seeds, seedlings, budwood or grafted avocado plants but I am not able to help. It does not take me long to write a comment at my computer, but organising to supply living materials is something else. I used to try, but found that each request would take at least a few hours of attention. I once got a nursery to help me but that nursery has gone out of business and I have not found an alternative.
Hi Dr Ng
I would like to grow an avocado tree. Unfortunately I don't have access to an actual tree that has successfully grown the fruit.
I understand that it is quite difficult to grow a tree from the seed of fruits obtained from the store but would like to attempt this. Would you be able to recommend a particular avocado variety which may be more suitable for our weather in Malaysia? Thanks Dr Ng!
Peggy, It is not difficult at all to grow seeds from imported fruits. Just bury them slightly below the soil surface in a pot. There have been no variety trials in Malaysia.
Hi everyone, If you are interested... we have regular discussions on avocado grafted plants:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/avocadoloversmalaysia/
Post a Comment