Avocado Trees Survived Freeze

I had several Avocado trees planted in pots in the greenhouse last fall, hoping that electric heaters would keep it warm enough. They didn't, when the temperature dipped to -22 outside last December. They all froze. I couldn't give up on them, though, so I brought them all into the house and placed them in a room with southern exposure. The three one-foot-tall plants I grew from seed are now putting on shoots that are growing very rapidly. The Cold-Hardy Avocado has new limbs a foot long growing from the trunk, and a new leader stem at the top - all with leaves. Miracle of miracles, the tall Hass Avocado is putting out new growth, below the blackened leafless top, and I counted six new branches emerging on the grafted upper portion, and several on the rootstock below. Hass is not supposed to survive ANY freezing temps below 30 degrees, and it survived -22 so I'm considering this a plant miracle. :) I had to put chicken wire around the tree to keep the cats from eating the leaves. I have fed them leftover cooled coffee a couple of times, and I water once a week (did even when I thought they were dead). I almost moved the big Hass out in the snow, as I momentarily gave up on it, but I changed my mind, and am now glad I didn't give up.

1. One of the new branches on the Hass, in a very large pot by the south window.
2. A new branch on the Cold Hardy, sitting on top of a file cabinet beneath a painting on the other side of the room, receiving light from the big south window (I will move it, too, for more sunlight).

Never give up!

When the temps are so low but only very momentarily, a plant can recover. Freezing temps happen even in the tropics. Ya did the right thing. I know of a fellow that has a type of cold-hardy Avacado here but it has overhead protection.

I heard a rumor there's a guy in north Mississippi that has an outdoor avocado that is surviving. I would dearly love to believe it -- we rarely have temps below freezing for long, and north MS is a bit colder than here. I love avocados but the Hass in the stores here are all nasty and woody because they are too long in transit; I've given up buying them.

This year's winter was so mild a Cold Hardy Avocado would have survived outside; I think the lowest we got was 22F or 23F. But that's much warmer than normal.

You should try the cold hardy, maybe in a big pot so you could move it inside when temps get too cold.

I've done the pot thing... it's too much of a pain, particularly since any kind of growing area is a long, unpaved way from any kind of sheltered area. Although if anything could convince me to do it again it would be an avocado. My memories of California avocado trees are 30'+ tall with huge root systems; I don't see it producing happily in a pot that will fit through my basement door!

I do have a sheltered location that I think is 5 degrees warmer, but it's on the south side of the house and very shady. Oh well; as gardeners we hate to not e able to grow what we want but no one lives in a climate where you can grow everything.

You could mulch a Cold Hardy thickly in the fall, away from the trunk a bit, and even wrap it in thick insulation and plastic, until it gets above freezing. I buy mine from http://www.fast-growing-trees.com - I wish we had the weather that you folks have.