An entertaining explanation- how to grow an Avocado

[drcoastline]

[masraum]

Interesting.

I had an uncle that was in/around the fruit industry from the time he was a kid (his dad took him to work in the summers when he was a kid) and retired from the fruit industry. He had a citrus tree in his back yard that yielded something like 10-15 different varieties of citrus fruit from the same tree. He had a boss that had a single tree that would yield 31 different types of citrus. All from grafting. Something like that would be interesting with avocado.

[craigster59]

^^^^^^ They call that a "cocktail tree" here in SoCal.

At my old house I had a huge Fuerte avocado tree. It would put out a hundred or so avocados a year. One of the main things with the trees is never clean up the leaves around the base of the tree, they protect the roots from summer heat and help retain soil moisture.

[Baz]

Didn't watch the whole video - just the beginning. But to give an analogy - trying to get the same plant from a seed is like trying to get the same human being from a man and a woman's baby.

A seed is just like a human baby. It contains the dna from two different parents.

That's sexual propagation.

The alternative is asexual propagation - meaning reproduction without sex.

Such as cuttings or tissue culture.

With the animal kingdom we are doing stem cell work which involves using a complete dna profile - so that's even a step further in complete replication.

Fascinating stuff....

[stevej37]

The guy has a real gift with speech....entertaining. (can see that he is not reading)

[drcoastline]

Originally Posted by Baz

Didn't watch the whole video - just the beginning. But to give an analogy - trying to get the same plant from a seed is like trying to get the same human being from a man and a woman's baby.

A seed is just like a human baby. It contains the dna from two different parents.

That's sexual propagation.

The alternative is asexual propagation - meaning reproduction without sex.

Such as cuttings or tissue culture.

With the animal kingdom we are doing stem cell work which involves using a complete dna profile - so that's even a step further in complete replication.

Fascinating stuff....

That is exactly what he said and explained it in a very entering way.

[id10t]

On this note.... Mom has lots of wonderful citrus. Kumquats, several types of oranges and tangerines, pumelo, grape fruit, two types of lemons, and her neighbor has more variety as well.

I've got crappy ornamental ones that are so acidic animals don't eat them and if you play orange baseball using an aluminum bat the juice will etch the aluminum. But the root stock is good and hardy and they grow well....

So I'd like to do some grafting. Anyone know the hows and whens to do this?

[nota]

sure u-tube has a video basic is a V shape
notch do several as all
may not take but some will
wrap as instructed and wait

[stevej37]

^^^ Do you write instruction manuals for Asian built products??

[masraum]

Originally Posted by id10t

On this note.... Mom has lots of wonderful citrus. Kumquats, several types of oranges and tangerines, pumelo, grape fruit, two types of lemons, and her neighbor has more variety as well.

I've got crappy ornamental ones that are so acidic animals don't eat them and if you play orange baseball using an aluminum bat the juice will etch the aluminum. But the root stock is good and hardy and they grow well....

So I'd like to do some grafting. Anyone know the hows and whens to do this?

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=citrus+grafting

[Tervuren]

What about grapes?

Given how fanatical wine fanatics are is it just the soil differences of location, or same issues?

[id10t]

Originally Posted by Tervuren

What about grapes?

Given how fanatical wine fanatics are is it just the soil differences of location, or same issues?

The actual vine stock of course, but then after that comes the needed soil plus sun exposure plus temperatures plus water all at the right times in the growth and fruiting stages.

A good example I'm more familiar with are Vidalia onions. True Vidalias* come from a certain part of Georgia that naturally has very little/no sulfur in the soil/water/etc. You can take Vidalia starters and plant them somewhere else and they will still be pretty good sweet yellow onions, but they will gain back some of the onion-y aspect that Vidalias are known for not having. At the same time, you can take a strong onion and grow it in Vidalia county, Ga. and it will still be on the onion-y side of the spectrum, just less than the same starters grown elsewhere.

You can do the same with Jalapeño peppers - add sulfur to some potting soil in a 5 gallon bucket and grow some much-hotter-than-normal 'peener peppers.

* they of course copied France and trademarked/copyrighted/whatevered the term like Champagne - anything not from Champagne, France is "just" bubbly wine

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Baz

Didn't watch the whole video - just the beginning. But to give an analogy - trying to get the same plant from a seed is like trying to get the same human being from a man and a woman's baby.

As a horticulturist you should know better. There are hundreds if not thousands of varieties of vegetables, trees - everything- that reproduce from seed true to the parent. These days they are called “heirloom” plants because they have been passed down for generations and every offspring is identical to the parent. It’s called “open pollination” and means “not a hybrid.”
I don’t know what this guy is trying to say. I don’t know anything about avocados, but I grow apples, peaches, and pears and his nonsense about apples is just, well, nonsense.

[rusnak]

If you follow his logic, then each and every avocado has mixed DNA and is potentially uniquely different, depending on where the honey bee/ wasp/ hummingbird or whatever stopped at previously.

[KevinTodd]

Originally Posted by Tervuren

What about grapes?

Given how fanatical wine fanatics are is it just the soil differences of location, or same issues?

Location is everything when it comes to producing world-class wines.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by rusnak

If you follow his logic, then each and every avocado has mixed DNA and is potentially uniquely different, depending on where the honey bee/ wasp/ hummingbird or whatever stopped at previously.

Are you sure, or does the avocado always taste like the tree that it grew on, and what is different is the genetics of the seed inside the avocado (the seed being the product of 2 trees, but the fruit that feeds and protects the seed is the product of the tree that it's grown on)?

I think there are several folks here that have avocado trees that produce at their homes. Did any of you grow them from seed or were they all purchased.

[rusnak]

Originally Posted by masraum

the avocado always taste like the tree that it grew on, and what is different is the genetics of the seed inside the avocado (the seed being the product of 2 trees, but the fruit that feeds and protects the seed is the product of the tree that it's grown on)?

IMO, you have it correct here ^

[masraum]

Originally Posted by KevinTodd

Location is everything when it comes to producing world-class wines.

Meh, 5 gal bucket and some miracle grow...

I hear they make some good stuff in the toilets in prison.

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by masraum

Interesting.

I had an uncle that was in/around the fruit industry from the time he was a kid (his dad took him to work in the summers when he was a kid) and retired from the fruit industry. He had a citrus tree in his back yard that yielded something like 10-15 different varieties of citrus fruit from the same tree. He had a boss that had a single tree that would yield 31 different types of citrus. All from grafting. Something like that would be interesting with avocado.

Yup they are becoming more common too. There’s a few nurseries here that sell them already grafted.


It’s very common with Plumeria too. You’ll see one tree with tons of different flower colors if they are good at grafting. It’s also a way to get traits of two different trees! It’s wild once you start to learn how much you can do with some of these plants.