Does anyone have any experience in growing these Don Gillogly Avocado trees? I have two and was wondering if anyone else has ventured into this area. Thanks for all replies- fred
Don Gillogly Avocado
I haven't but wanted to try them next year so I'm curious about the replies you'll get. Where IS everybody??
I have one I bought 2 years ago. It was so small, it still had the grafting band wrapped around the whip. It's about 3 feet tall now and needs to go into a larger pot. It overwinters inside a heated greenhouse. It's still too young to bear fruit. Last year, it summered on the east side of the house where it received sun until around 2:00PM and bright light the rest of the day. I need to give it more sun this year while still protecting the pot from the heat. I found the following on a website I visited:
"My favorite avocado is the Don Gillogly. When I first tasted this variety, about five years ago, I knew I had reached avocado heaven. I have yet to taste a better avocado. A semi-dwarf plant, the Don Gillogly is a small tree, well suited to home gardens. The fruit season is especially long, and it stores well on the tree, from spring through late fall. The fruit of a Don Gillogly avocado has the unique quality of not browning after it is cut.
Barkmen, also a UC master gardener and member of the California Rare Fruit Growers, extols the virtues of a variety called Kona Sharwil. She reports the flavor as outstanding and says it fruits over an extremely long period, from February until November. Unfortunately, you won't find Kona Sharwil for sale anywhere. Barkmen and I are attempting to convince a commercial grower to graft a few of this variety for sale, perhaps as early as next year. Avocado growers are a fickle group, so we'll see. As I write this, I have a Kona Sharwil fruit, courtesy of Barkmen, ripening on my desktop. I can hardly wait.
All avocados need perfect drainage. Water should move through the soil very quickly. Planting an avocado in clay soil will result in a quick and irreversible decline. Plant either in raised beds, on a slope or on a mound if you just can't be without great-tasting avocados from your own garden.
Cool roots and moist soil are also keys to success. Keep the roots cool and moist by maintaining a very thick layer of compost, mulch or fallen leaves. Regular, light applications of a mild organic fertilizer are best. More potent fertilizers could burn an avocado tree's shallow roots.
Finally, be careful not to sunburn a young plant. Unlike other trees, avocados do not develop a protective bark on their branches. An avocado's stems and branches are green, and they perform photosynthesis, just like leaves. In nature, young avocados grow under the shaded canopy of their mature parents. Not until they become large and develop their own umbrella of protective foliage do they experience the full effects of the sun."
The California Rare Fruit Assoc. is always a good source of information:
http://crfg.org/pubs/ff/avocado.html
Veronica
How many years until they bear fruit typically?
Grafted trees may produce a few fruit two years after they become established. I couldn't find any information specific to Don Gillogly.
bettydee did you ever get fruit from the Don Gillogy? Saw it in parks and they said 14 months before fruiting...
I'm just glad my Don Gillogy survived the summer. The grasshoppers were so bad they ate almost everything in sight. I lost a lot of plants to them. They stripped the leaves off. When those were gone they started eating the tender bark. It did start to regrow from above the graft so I guess this is a slight set back.