Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Survivor: Avocado Edition

Any bets on who dies first?

Contestant #1 is a tropical South Florida avocado, started from a pit in the compost pile. She's now residing in the front yard, on the edge of the oak canopy. Her roots are buried in good organic matter... yet her pedigree suggests she won't survive the brutal sub-freezing overnight lows of Norther Central Florida...


Contestant #2 is a 4' tall well-established Thai variety who spent his first winter safely inside my greenhouse. Now he's been planted in poor soil deep beneath the cover of a water oak. Right now, all seems well... but will the limited canopy above his head be enough to prevent him from... death?


Contestant #3 is the daughter of a California "Hass" avocado with diminutive fruit. As an embryo, she was saved from the trash at a party... then planted in a melon pit out front. Will she take the cold better than her totally tropical competitors in this fight against the elements?


Only winter will tell. There are just a couple of months left before things get interesting.

Stay tuned...

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4 Comments:

At September 4, 2013 at 8:40 AM , Blogger stevo_61 said...

#1 dies first. Best of luck. I can't keep them from freezing in central Fl. But, I local friend who somehow keeps one from freezing gave me one that I'm trying to root. Don't avocados you started from seed take longer to fruit than store bought?

 
At September 4, 2013 at 9:28 AM , Blogger David The Good said...

Yes, they do take longer from seed - but not by much. With good care you can have fruit in four years. I also think seed-started avocados are tougher.

The reason I'm letting all these grow in my yard is to hopefully bring forth some cold-hardy genes in at least one of them... I don't have much hope, but I have a little.

 
At September 5, 2013 at 8:35 AM , Blogger Ten at Eat Your Sands said...

i bet the small california avocado lasts longest.

 
At September 5, 2013 at 2:11 PM , Blogger David The Good said...

I think we need a prize for whoever guesses the winner.

Maybe guacamole?

 

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