Does anyone have a Fantastic Avocado? I bought one at a Master Gardener plant sale. It has one avocado on it and I want to know how big the avocado gets and when it ripens. I realize that it doesn't ripen on the tree, but I would like to know about when I should pick it. All I know is that it has smooth, thin, green skin when mature.
Thanks
Fantastic (Pyor) Avocado
That's exciting! Didn't know avocados could be grown anywhere in Texas. I have no help for you though, just didn't want you to think you were being ignored.
It excites me too--we have recently been considering moving to Texas permanently (instead of the few years we initially planned on) and I would LOVE being able to grow my own avocados.
With the money I spent trying to grow my own trees, I could have bought enough avocados in the store to last me a lifetime. So, don't hold your breath.....
The only place where I can think it'd be successful would be in the valley, deep south TX.
You might try contacting the Master Gardeners in your area (through you local county extension agent most likely) and see if they can put you in contact with the person who was selling the trees and get some advice from them.
Hahaha Vossner. Avocados are not nearly as expensive here as they were in Boston. So yeah, I do plan to keep store-bought avocados on my grocery list!
Thanks for all of your input. I realize it is risky growing avocado trees in Deer Park that is why we planted a Fantastic because it is supposed to be the most cold tolerant. My husband and planted it about a year and a half ago. We lost a Joey because of a fungal disease while it was still in the pot.
Treesearch Farms supplied the avocados for the Master Gardener Plant Sale. I call them and said that the avocado would ripen the end of August or the first part of September. Treesearch is NW of Deer Park. They have a Fantastic avocado that is loaded with avocados.
I was listening to Randy Lemmon a few weeks ago (radio gardening show) and a lady from Deer Park called in about her Hass avocado tree. (Hass avocados are not supposed to grow in Deer Park because it is too cold. We are Zone 9.) She had a hundred avocados on her tree. She planted it in a protected area on the south side of her house between her house and the neighbor's house. She said that she planted it after hurricane Ike which was in 2008. (When you live near the coast you use hurricanes as time frames. We had two bad freezes after she planted it and it survived.) It has to be the microclimate that it is planted in.
There is a man who lives in Pasadena, TX (zone 9) who has a Joey and a Wilma. He had 20 avocados last year; none this year. Avocados can be grown in zone 9, but they have to be protected if we have a freeze. Although if we have a killer freeze like we had in 1989 they probably won’t survive. It is a gamble.
vossner did you lose your avocado trees to the cold? They do not like wet feet, plus the bark of young trees need to protected from sun scald.
stepanietx and carrielamont, unfortunately the Fort Worth area would be too cold for avocados. As you can see we are pushing the envelope in Zone 9.
I will let you know how my lone avocado turns out. Will we pick it in the correct time frame…that is the question?
:( Yes, I now know that. : ( Feeling glum about the avocados I won't ever have.
yes, I lost them to cold. I gave up on them a few years back but I'm sure that if I'd planted one in the last two years, they would be doing well as the past two winters have been so mild. But I would be positively heart-broken if I lost a 3 year or older tree.
I am familiar with the avocado tree @ Treesearch. It is ginormous and I'm jealous and mystified that it does so well there.
Can you have an avocado that you bring in in the winter? I'm totally jealous of anyone growing avocados!
I think they are big trees and would decline after a while from being potted.
When I first researched getting an avocado, I was told by a Master Gardener that planting it in a pot was desirable, it would keep it smaller and that the tree would survive just fine. I keep hoping that they will develop a dwarf. Mine was doing well in a large pot till my over zealous son oversprayed broad leaf killer and killed it last year. Sigh.
Joy, what a shame! Still, a zealous son is better than a lazy son, I guess.
amen to that! LOL