I just planted the avocado tree in the photo above, on February 10, 2017. It’s a Hass from a five-gallon container. How long can I expect to wait for an avocado tree like this to bear fruit?
Short answer: three to four years.
I get such an expectation from the fact that the last Hass tree I planted was in July 2013, and we are currently eating its first fruit here in 2017. So, four years of waiting and we now have 73 Hass avocados on that tree.
But I planted some other avocado trees in July 2013 as well, and we ate the first fruit from two of them last year. That’s three years from planting to eating the first fruit — although we did only get from them a combined 15 avocados. This year, they have a more respectable 63. Here they are, the early birds, the Reed and Lamb:
Four-year old Reed and Lamb trees with their second crops of 35 and 28 avocados, respectively.
My trees seem to be average. A couple of people with much more avocado experience than me, Mary Lu Arpaia and Ben Faber, also say that new trees start to bear fruit in three or four years. (This linked page contains a great list of other frequently asked questions about avocados, by the way.)
Factors that will make your avocado tree fruit earlier
While trees typically bear in three to four years, you may get fruit earlier or later for a few reasons. One reason you might get fruit earlier is if you buy a bigger tree — 15-gallon size or more. That’s because the bigger tree will produce more flowers and therefore potential fruit. (For more on this, see my post, “Should you buy a big or small avocado tree?”)
Also, if you have an excellent environment for pollination, with many other avocado trees around and many pollinators like honeybees visiting the flowers, you’re likely to get fruit earlier. Avocado trees of the five-gallon size will often set fruit at nurseries each spring for this reason.
Some varieties of avocado are also known to be precocious, such as the Pinkerton, GEM, Lamb, and Carmen.
This Pinkerton was planted from a five-gallon container in March 2016 and it set fruit that spring that we’ll eat at the end of 2017. That’s less than two years.
Pinkerton avocado tree
Factors that will make your avocado tree fruit later
On the other hand, your tree might take longer than four years to give you fruit for a number of reasons. If you prune it hard or if a winter freeze kills many branches or if it is otherwise stressed — for example, by poor irrigation — then it’s not going to fruit as early as it otherwise would.
At the same time that I planted the Reed and Lamb trees above, in July 2013, I also planted a Sir-Prize avocado tree, but the Sir-Prize has yet to give us fruit and it’s partly because I’ve pruned it hard the last couple years in order to shape it. Avocados flower mostly toward the outside of their canopies, at the ends of their branches, so pruning inevitably reduces their potential to flower and set fruit. Every spring, my Sir-Prize has flowered lightly, but only next year will it flower heavily because I didn’t prune it this year, and it ought to finally set its first crop. (Sir-Prize is also known as a variety that starts bearing later than other varieties.)
One final reason an avocado tree might take more than four years to bear fruit is if it is grown from seed and not grafted. In general, seedlings take longer to bear fruit than grafted trees. A seedling in my mom’s backyard took about six years before it produced fruit.
Does waiting the typical three to four years for an avocado tree to bear fruit seem like a short or long time to you? It seemed like forever when I planted those trees back in 2013. But forever has arrived, and it tastes amazing.
You might also like to read my posts:
“It seemed like forever when I planted those trees back in 2013. But forever has arrived, and it tastes amazing” … what a great line and a nice perspective for me as I’ve just planted 3 avocados of my own!
I only get tiny avocados out my tree. Why
Hey Greg. A very informative site. Yes well I couldn’t afford to plant anything than advocating seeds. Because I have been building a place on a very sandy Island south of a SYDNEY AUSTRALIA And not there to water all the time I try to look back at old photos to work out how many year the trees have been in I have had to give up on quite a few But the biggest success was just a random planting of a large Reed seed as I left one day Just pushed it into the ground near the Lodge paving It grew like crazy ( more water run ofc I suppose ) It is now about 6 meters high. And ever spring I look for buds. To no avail. I think it is close to 4or 5 years old. But about 6 other Hass seedlings are only 2 meters high and struggling in the sandy soil and having their tops chewed of by Kangaroos. ( they love the leaves )
One of these days I will get fruit I suppose You have a very informative site
Hi David,
Thanks for sharing. Hope your Reed seedling blooms soon. A friend has a Reed seedling that didn’t produce fruit until it was around 30 feet tall, about the same height as yours, but it makes excellent fruit that is similar to Reed.
Hello I bought an avocado graft from nursery. The graft died but the root stock has grown 7 feet tall and is 5 yet as old. Will it ever bear fruit?
It may or may not fruit. But if it does, you might mot like what you get out of it. Your best option might be to graft your favorite avo onto your tree. You should see fruit in 2 years.
It might, hard to tell what kind of fruit or when it will fruit though. Rootstock could take 10-15 years to fruit and might not be good fruit.
I envy you, my two avocado trees are only a year old and they are about 50cm tall. I always prune them thinking that then they will grow taller faster but i have learnt that I shouldn’t cause that will delay their fruiting. Thank you , this forum is very useful.
Hi Florence,
Thank you. It’s true that less pruning will result in earlier fruiting. Are you growing these trees in Botswana?
My Hass avocado are flowering at 18months. I have gotten two opposing expert advice. Expert 1 advises that the flowers and fruits be punched off because the trees aren’t strong enough to carry the weight. Expert 2 advises not to pinch off the flowers and fruits because this is tantamount to priming the trees to fruit abortion in subsequent bloomings. Which way now?
Hi Dickens,
It doesn’t matter if you pinch off the flowers, the tree has already decided it’s going to flower and you can’t alter this constitution. But there is a risk when pinching off flowers, which is that you’ll accidentally damage the vegetative bud that emerges from the center of most inflorescences on avocados. Because of this, I usually let a little tree flower but then remove fruit later as necessary. Or sometimes I remove flowers but only after they have elongated stems and it’s easy to pinch them off without doing other damage.
Thanks, Greg! I’m glad I’ve already gotten some fruit, even though not a lot, from my trees planted in the summer of 2014., It was delicious and I could have eaten some with every meal. p I’m looking forward to more in the coming years.
Many years ago I planted avocados trees from seeds. 4 years ago, I received nine avocados off this one tree. I lost that tree to a hurricane. I cut part of the tree. New growth has started where I made the cut. Will the tree. Continue to Bear In Time.
Hi Bobby,
It sounds like the tree should bear fruit again someday, probably soon since it’s now mature (even if it’s small from the hurricane damage and pruning).
Hi Greg – I am interested in why my avocado tree which is about 25-30′ tall only started to produce avocados in 2018 and I have lived in my home since 2001. I am unsure of the type of avocado I have. Looks like a Bacon or maybe a Zutano. I tried to attach a picture, but not successful. Right now it is covered with bees pollinating all day. The unfortunate thing is the avocados are good, but less meat, thin skinned and not as flavorful as Hass, for example. I would like to see some examples of various types to compare mine too. It has a long season and from Sept to Nov I am harvesting avocados. Where can I go to find out my type? Thanks for any help!
Hi Marlene,
Based on what you’ve said, I’d guess your tree is a seedling. If so, then it is not a Zutano or Bacon or anything else that has ever existed. It is your own unique type.
If you’d like to see photos of Bacon, Zutano, and a few other avocado varieties together, there is one in my Bacon profile: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/the-bacon-avocado-tree-a-profile/
(This exchange was copied and pasted here from another post because it might be useful to a reader of this post. Greg.)
From Cindy Haskell:
Hi, Greg, your website is fantastic! Thanks for all the great info!
I found it because the avocado tree I gave my husband as a 2015 Father’s Day gift just began making flowers yesterday and I was desperate for info. The tree had a bunch of little clusters of buds but at first I did not know if they would be leaves or flowers. We live on Cape Cod and just brought the tree indoors last month, as we do each year when temps drop to around 40 degrees (we are in zone 7a).
I was wondering if you think we might get any fruit the first year it flowers? I have to dig out the info; I think this is a Haas tree and I bought it from fastgrowingtrees.com. I believe it was between 1.5 and 2 years old when it arrived and I think it was grafted, perhaps in Florida or maybe Georgia (cannot remember). So, it might be a minimum of 4 years old now and that seems about right for flowers, as far as I can tell with only beginning my research.
I think Bob repotted it (for the second time) this past summer.
How much longer after the tree flowers might it set fruit and then how long would it take the fruit to grow before I would pick it to ripen? I still have a ton of research to do, but am so excited about seeing the cute little flowers for the first time!
Cannot wait until my daughter comes home for the holidays…she is an environmental science grad student out there at UC Davis in the Soils & Biogeochemistry Department.
Your boys are adorable, btw! Children are wonderful. I also have a son, 28, and another daughter, 22. And they all have been brought up loving vegetables; we also have a big garden.
Also love your posts about chickens. We buy fresh eggs from a neighbor in southern Maine, where we have a second home, and his chickens are so friendly when we visit! Nothing store-bought compares to a fresh egg.
Thanks so much!
Correction: Sorry, it is a Cold Hardy Avocado; suggestion is that it could be planted with a Hass to increase yield, although it is a self-pollinator and does not need another tree to produce fruit.
Reply Greg Alder:
Hi Cindy,
An avocado tree for Father’s Day . . . sounds like a perfect gift!
The good news is that if an avocado tree flowers, it can set fruit — no matter how old it is. Avocado trees (grafted ones) just don’t usually set fruit until they’re a couple years old because their flowers are not very good at being pollinated. A giant avocado tree can have a million flowers (literally) but still only set a few hundred fruit; that’s a terrible batting average.
The bad news is that your avocado tree is in an exceptionally challenging environment in terms of pollination. Insects, particularly bees, do most avocado pollination. You’ll probably have to try your hand at hand-pollination since your tree is indoors, and even if you could bring it outside in the afternoon, I’d imagine their isn’t much bee activity around this time of year on Cape Cod. (Am I wrong about that?)
To hand-pollinate, you need to use a small paint brush or Q-tip or something similar to brush the anthers when the flower is male and the anthers are dehiscent (you can see little flaps up like the ends are tattered). If you do this, enough pollen (need at least 20 grains) may stick to the stigma and fertilize it if the stigma is still white and receptive. Otherwise, you have to collect and store pollen to later apply to female flowers, which gets more complicated.
As if that isn’t already complicated, right? See this link for images of what a male avocado flower looks like: http://ucavo.ucr.edu/Flowering/FloweringBasics.html
Avocado varieties differ as to how long it takes for the fruit to mature. The range is about six months up to 18 months. This variety you bought is unknown to me. “Cold Hardy Avocado” is something I’ve never heard of before. But after reading the website’s description and seeing customer photos, I’d guess it might be the variety called ‘Mexicola’. Regardless, the avocado varieties that have the most cold tolerance all mature their fruit relatively fast, so you’re probably looking at six to 12 months from flower to mature fruit.
An avocado afterthought: Because you need all the pollination help you can get, you might want to add a second avocado tree that is well-known to be highly fruitful. Hass is very fruitful, but some others are even more so. A couple varieties that come to mind are Lamb Hass and Reed. I know of a guy who grows a highly productive Reed avocado tree in a greenhouse in central Texas.
Davis is a great place. My favorite gardening radio show is the Davis Garden Show. Maybe your daughter has listened to it?
I love the whole package of having my kids growing up eating from the garden and caring for our chickens. It’s affirming to hear that your children have turned out well with a similar upbringing.
Sincerely,
Greg
I’m worried my avocado tree died it bared an enormous amount of fruit this year and then all the leaves turn brown is there hope there’s Sprout shooting out the trunk it’s 40 ft tall
If there’s a sprout coming from the trunk, then there must be some life in it.
Please send a picture.
I really enjoy growing Ovacadol but do you have handout for the same type of plant so that I can have wider knowledge of growing Ovacadol. I will really appreciate if I will receive your handout. I am a man aged 42 based in Zambia.
It has taken 6 yrs for our Haas avocado tree to bear fruit. We had 86 on the tree when the landscaper came to cut the lawn and helped himself to 69 of our 86 fruits. How do you know he took 69 you ask? Because I was so happy to have the avocados I planted, I would sit on my lounge every morning, drinking my coffee and counting the fruit. Anybody with an avocado tree can relate. I hope more fruit will come. The fruit wasn’t even ready. Will more come this season. This is the 1st yr bearing fruit.
We have him on video.
Ouch! Carlos, it hurt to read that. And yes, I can relate so well to counting your avocados. Sounds like your tree is very ready to produce big crops though. So if it’s flowering this spring, I’d expect another 86 or so for eating next year.
Hi, Greg! Was wondering if you’ve ever purchased an avocado in a 24″ box? They’re expensive, but I’m impatient! Will the larger size make it harder for the plant to acclimate?
Hi Dani,
The biggest avocado trees I’ve ever bought and planted were in 15-gallon containers. Yes, they are wildly expensive, but you do get a big tree that is capable of bearing a crop its first year in the ground. Those trees sometimes have fruit on them while still in the box.
The main downside is that the tree is likely to need staking and restaking for at least a couple years, especially if it sets a lot of fruit and that fruit imbalances it. This happened to a 24″-box Hass that my aunt had planted some years back. Some fruit and limbs got sunburned.
But I’m certain that if you buy such a tree that is healthy (uniformly green leaves, balanced canopy) and hasn’t been in the box for too long (not too many roots circling and poking out the bottom of the box), then you can acclimate the tree to your yard over time, and eventually it can be a freestanding beauty.
Hi Greg! I planted a holiday variety for a small backyard space six years this spring. She is spindly and not very bushy. I got just two tiny fruits last season. She sets out flowers and has the creamy roots you describe. A huge bottle brush supplies tons of bees and I have native wasps too. I don’t fertilize but keep a thick leaf cover. I think she’s not getting enough sun. I’m in Long Beach, Adobe soil. Other than the sun, she should be happy. Do you think it’s just sunlight keeping me from getting a better crop? Probably gets 10 total and six direct hours of sun per day, morning sun being blocked by the bottle brush tree. Any suggestions? Just found you, love your sight! Thank you.
Hi Amy,
Spindly growth does indicate low light. You’re probably right about that, and maybe you can trim back the bottlebrush?
In terms of productivity though, I know of Holiday trees in other yards that are around your tree’s age that still only get a couple fruits each year. In my experience and observations, Holiday avocado trees are not as productive as some other varieties especially when they’re the only avocado tree in a yard or neighborhood.
It sounds like you may not have space for an additional tree, but if you do (and you can keep it pruned small) you might consider a B type that fruits in winter or spring, such as Fuerte, Bacon, or Sharwil. Plant it right next to your Holiday for cross-pollination benefits.
Thanks Greg, I am going to try to make some room. And bring some light! Thank you for your reply.
I have a 40 year old Feurte avocado tree. It produces millions of flowers . Year ago it produced a lot of fruit. Now the fruit often sets on and then suddenly drops. It is healthy looking. We fertilize it twice a year and water it regularly. It is planted in soil that is really well drained on a slight slope. I am in El Cajon, CA. Perhaps we are watering incorrectly.
I would like some ideas. This year we had hundreds of 3 Lon fruits one day in a few days they were all on the ground. We recently wind up with about 50-60 fruits bur none this year. There is another tree at a neighbors house about 240 feet away. They don’t take care of it at all and it is very fruitful. Thanks for any ideas and help.
Hi Claire,
Tough to make any hard guesses without seeing the tree and knowing a little more about its past, but I’ll give you some things to consider.
One is that avocado trees sometimes have a lot of fruit one year and then little fruit the next year — sometimes even zero fruit. This is natural and inevitable.
Another idea is that many avocado trees, especially in inland areas like El Cajon, lost their young fruit this summer during the extreme heat of early July. Many of my trees lost most or even all of their young fruit.
Look at the leaves of your tree in December to judge how well you’re watering it. If the leaves are mostly green, keep up the good work. But if they have browned more than about a quarter of the leaf surfaces, then the tree would appreciate more water during the summer. In other words, it would probably fruit more if you gave it more water during the summer. See my post about this: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/avocado-leaves-turning-brown-why/
Lastly, I hate trees like your neighbor’s! It’s just not fair when some people try so hard to care for their trees yet have problems while others neglect their trees and get tons of fruit. That being said, is it a Fuerte? If it’s another, less tasty variety, then we don’t have to be so jealous.
I bought an avocado tree at a Master Gardener’s Pass-a-long plant sale this morning. Nobody knows who the original donor is, nor, anything about the tree, other than it is an avocado tree.
It was interesting looking, though pretty leggy. Being in North Carolina, I’ve never seen an avocado tree in person. Is there a way to tell the age and type of tree I purchased? Obviously, I’m a complete novice, so your website has been a bit overwhelming to say the least.
The tree is not flowering now, and the leaves do have some brown dots on them. Perhaps I wasted my money, but I’m very intrigued by all of the avocado aficionados on here, and am hoping someone can help me by starting with just the baby steps at first.
Somehow, by luck, I grow weeds and African Violets very, very well. Anything else should probably avoid my house.
Hi Tootsie,
Sorry that the avocado information here is a bit overwhelming, but please suggest any more basic avocado topics that I might be able to write about in the future. I really want the website and information to feel very accessible and accurate at the same time, as far as possible.
The first thing you must do is try to determine if the tree is a seedling or grafted. Any idea? Do you see a line or bump on the trunk where it might have been grafted?
Hi Greg,
I often refer back to these posts when the timing is right, and today I noticed my very first avocado’s forming on the Reed I planted last October. I planted three trees, a Hass, Fuerte and Reed, per your other post about what to plant so I might have avocados ready to eat all year long. All three plants came from 15 gallon containers bought from Maddock in Fallbrook. All three plants got plenty of water but suffered a lot of tip burn over winter as I backed my watering times down, and the Hass dropped nearly all its leaves this spring, making me wonder if it would make it.
Reading all your posts on the various topics helped alleviate most of my concerns – the Hass grew all new leaves, on the other plants all the tip burned leaves have dropped and been replaced by nice new green ones. And today I discovered a whole bunch of tiny pea sized Avocado’s growing on the Reed. The Fuerte and Hass are still bare of fruit but otherwise healthy.
Next I will count them and keep the gardener away from those precious babies. If things go well looks like I may be eating my own avocados next summer. Thanks again for this whole site, its the very best on the subject of growing yummy stuff.
/Dave
Hi Dave,
What a pleasure it is to read this comment. Thanks for writing. I hope a couple of those Reed fruits hold for you!
Hi Greg. I live in central California on the coast (Santa Cruz County). Haas grow here pretty well but there is one that was created to grow just in our region. By chance do you know the name? Thanks. Have been enjoying everything you are writing.
Hi Ann,
Thanks. I have heard about some seedling avocado trees that have been found in your general area that produce well, but I don’t know how they taste so I can’t make any useful comments on them. If you haven’t already, check out what Epicenter has to say, as they will know better: http://www.epicenteravocados.com/
But if Hass does fine in your yard or neighborhood, then don’t hesitate to try all of the varieties we commonly grow down south. None are significantly more sensitive to cold than Hass.
Dave,
Reading your post was interesting to me as I’m about to make an identical purchse: 15Gal Reed, Hass, Fuerte from Maddock. I’m wondering, do you have an update on your production? Also, I’m inland in Murrieta: are you more coastal or inland?
Hi Greg. I also want to thank you for your wonderful site. You inspire and teach so many of us about avocados, gardening and so much more. I really appreciate what you do.
I bought my house 14 years ago in Glendale because it had two massive fuerte trees in the back( about 30 feet tall and even wider). They were more important to me than the house itself. Unfortunately one fell over from some kind of rot at the base and the other bigger one had slowly been declining and drying up no matter how I watered. Finally after heavy pruning( I mean a 20 foot limb and more) and the great rain we had this spring it is completely rebounded, lush with massive dark leaves. I can only see about 10 fruit on it but I figure it put its energy into leaf recovery for a while. Besides can’t see that high but hoping to get more.
Meanwhile in my panic of losing my last tree I bought a 36 inch box zutano, 15 gallon, lamb hass, bacon and sharwill, 5 gallon reed, hass, and mexicola.
My friends say I have turned into a full on avocado nut.
I have followed your watering advice with the micro sprinklers and I build a 2x 6 box around some and fill with mulch to keep dogs from getting to them then build shade structures for the summer.
The larger ones have fruit although the lamb hass and zutano dropped a bunch of baby fruit. Is that normal on its own? I thought maybe they can’t support so many so they drop some.
I’m just worried that after all I’ve done they might lose more. I will check the roots soon and probably get more wood chip mulch. It’s just heartbreaking to see so many little ones on the ground.
All of these were planted since last summer so I have hope hearing you say that it takes a few years for the real production to start.
I joined ca rare fruit growers association too to learn more and hopefully get a hang of grafting . My big fuerte has some of the best avocados I’ve ever had so it must live on.
Hi Bita,
Greetings from the Avocado Nuts Club. I don’t know how I ended up here either, but your friends will be frequent visitors to your house once you have all of those varieties fruiting!
And I have to mention that old avocados and Glendale have a personal history for me. My great-great grandfather lived there and grew a huge avocado seedling tree beside his house. I hope your big Fuerte recovers well. Nothing tastes better than a Fuerte, as far as my taste buds go.
I know it’s hard to watch, but your Lamb and Zutano might continue to drop fruitlets into the summer. That’s just the way young avocado trees do it, and even old avocado trees — except we don’t notice it and worry about it so much on the older trees. You can’t really count your avocado fruitset until around August. At that time, whatever remains on the tree is almost surely going to hang until maturity.
A warning about Lamb, however, is that it tends to drop a few fruit just at the edge of maturity again around April or May. This fruit is usually edible, but not nearly as good tasting as the ones that are allowed to hang deep into summer (around 18 months after flowering).
I love CRFG. They are such a wonderful group of people. Now you are going to have two addictions put together: avocados and grafting. Pretty soon you’ll have avocado trees with multiple varieties on them. Then your friends will get really worried.
Hi Greg,
First of all I want to thank you for your wonderful advise and for sharing your wealth of knowledge with the e-community-it is much appreciated.
W are in Sydney and have planted 4 Avocado trees. A Bacon, a Pinkerton, a Wurtz and a Secondo. They are all grafted. The Bacon and Wurtz we planted in pots in January 2018.
This year (2019) in March we transplanted them into the ground and planted the new ones. Last year the two original trees filled with flowers and I cut them off. Cutting the flowers off had a detrimental effect on the Bacon Avocado.It’s growth has been stunted.
If they flower again, should I just let them be and let the tree do its own thing?
So far the poor little thing is half its original size. I have not fed them anything as I am too afraid to kill them.
I also wanted to know if I can feed them aged and composed chicken manure?
Thank you for your advice.
Kind Regards,
Yvonne
Hi Yvonne,
Thanks for your kind words. I almost never cut flowers off trees and the young ones still grow fine. I know experienced people who recommend it, but I’ve never found it to make a difference. I just make sure that young trees don’t end up carrying a bunch of fruit, but usually they shed fruitlets soon after the fruit starts to grow so you don’t need to interfere.
Because I have chickens, I add some aged and composted chicken manure to the surface (not tilled in) around my young avocado trees. I do this at planting time (lightly) and again after six months to a year or so. I find that the trees respond well to this regimen.
Hi Greg,
This summer, I successfully grafted scion wood from mature avocado trees onto seedlings that I started last year. I see grafted avocados at Home Depot, how long do you think store bought trees have been grown out since they’ve been grafted before they are sold?
Second question, am I still looking at 3-4 years before I see fruit? Or am I looking at 4-5 years because I just grafted them this year?
Thanks!
Lee
Hi Lee,
Congratulations on your successful grafts!
My guess is that those trees in five-gallon containers at Home Depot were probably grafted just under a year prior to when you see them for sale there. They could be bit younger than that depending on what time of year they were grafted, which variety they are, and whether they were kept in a heated greenhouse.
Generally, I would add a year for your trees since they’ll only be near five-gallon size next summer. So yes, think 4-5 years before you’re eating fruit from them, realistically.
But you could get lucky and get fruit earlier, for sure. If you’ve got a great growing environment with ground that has a southern aspect, the trees are going to grow exceptionally fast. And if you’ve got multiple varieties in proximity with lots of insect activity, then you’ll get fruitset as soon as the little trees flower. Finally, it depends on the varieties, as some flower earlier than others.
Thanks for these wonderful posts! Hands down the most informative and clear avocado reads I’ve found online, and I’ve been reading up a lot! I’m planning on planting a GEM avocado tree this January in SoCal zone9. Would you consider that a dangerous time to plant it due to potential cold weather? I’m going to get a 15 gallon plant as I’d like to have the tree bear fruit sooner. I’m planting it on a south facing wall that has protection on 2 sides.
Thank you, Nadeem. Your choice: plant in winter but be prepared to protect from cold, or wait until March and you no longer need to worry about cold (until next winter, anyway).
I’ve done it both ways many times. Planting in winter is more work and worry, but having the patience to wait until March can also be hard!
As a fun project, I started a Hass avocado from seed when my kids were little. That was 25 years ago! The tree was repotted several times in larger pots than eventually planted in the yard.
It was never grafted and hasn’t produced any fruit until, to our pleasant surprise, a few very small avocados last year. This year it has several but they are all small and only present on a small portion of the tree. This tree is now over 30 ft tall and beautiful. We never noticed blossoms until just a couple years ago.
Is this just the start of great things to come? Production is more every year but all fruit is small (large fig size) perfect for sandwich serving. Will fruit get bigger and will the entire tree eventually produce with time? Comments appreciated. -Chip-
Hi Chip,
What a fun and surprising story! My guess is that the tree will produce something every year or every other year from now on, but I’d also guess that it will never be a heavy producer. Avocado trees seem to be consistent like that: If they’re going to be heavy and consistent producers, then they show that habit early on.
Same with fruit size and quality. Some trees have fruit that varies more than others each year. For instance, the size and shape will vary slightly and the amount of fibers inside will vary. But the amount of change is not extreme. I’ve never seen nor heard of an avocado tree that once produced fig-sized fruit but later produced softball-sized fruit.
I planted a ‘little cado’ avocado tree in the ground earlier this year. I know its a grafted tree but am new to this so not sure how to identify the graft. At the soil level, i see two branches growing one more vigorous than the other. I am concerned that the more vigorous one might be from the rootstock. If so, I think it might need to be removed? If so how can I identify which branch to cut off.Would winter be a good time to remove it?
Hi Aparna,
If the branches are growing at the soil level, then they are likely rootstock suckers. If the tree has at least a couple branches above those low branches, then I’d cut them off even if you’re not sure if they’re rootstock because it will later be annoying to have branches so low anyway; when they set fruit they’re likely to get weighed down and drag the fruit on the ground.
If you ever get frost on the ground in your yard, then wait until March to cut those branches. (They’ll offer some amount of cold protection to the tree overall during a cold snap, should we get one in the next couple months.) But if you never see frost, then cut them immediately.
How long until an avacado tree bears fruit?
Short anser: 3 or 4 years
My god.. you answered my question when i was looking for it. Thank you whoever decided that. Thank you
All is well mostly because of your advice Greg. My 10′ high reed now in its 3rd year, planted from a 5 gal size has 18 gigantic fruits. We were targeting early fall as you suggested. A possum knocked three off and only ate one. Both of them rippened in about 8-9 days. They tasted great so I can only imagine how they good they will been in a few more months. I put up an electric fence to keep any possums or raccoon out. So far very effective.
The reed must have a gazillion flower buds this year and we have lots of bees. Just when I thought with so many flowers I see the tree growing and putting out even more flowers. So I’m hoping we have a bumper crop of new reeds for next year.
The Fuerte now in it’s second year has also grown nicely. 9′ high and has already grown 18″ this spring both top and lateral branches. The flower count appears to be lower than the reed, which I attribute to the trees age. Thank you for all your wonderful advice.
Great news, Ron. Indeed, if your Reed is ten feet tall and full of flowers, and you have lots of bees around, then you are almost surely looking forward to a big crop of avocados for next summer. That must feel satisfying!
I’m looking for a 3-4 year old Haas avocado tree as I want a tree that will bear fruit right away. Any suggestions where I can purchase?
I’m in Los Angeles (zip – 90066)
Hi K,
Have a look at this post: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/where-to-buy-an-avocado-tree/
If a nearby retailer doesn’t have a large Hass in stock, one can likely be special ordered.
Hi Greg thank you for all your great information! I purchased some land in San Marcos, San Diego about 4 years ago. I took a subtropical fruit course (with a dedicated portion for avocado growing) at Mira Costa college about 3 years ago to help me get going . The course was great and taught by the well known retired avocado/farm advisor Dr. Bender (great guy and forefather on high density growing). I can truly say I’ve learned more about growing avocados from you.
While I’ve planted 10’s of fruit trees sadly I only recently planted 8 varieties, all 15 gallon, this June and followed your planting and watering guidelines (I’m now a diagnosed avocado growing nerd)….and I’ve got 5 other varieties I’m waiting to plant in fall or spring. The planted trees seem to be establishing themselves nicely. It’s now been almost 2 months and there is new leaf growth on all the trees except my Reed. The Reed tree seemed to have a lot of Growmulch or similar product when I planted it. I accidentally knocked off about 6” of the dominant main branch and it seemed to be overwatered after going through the same water schedule the other happy trees had. Then to make matters worse we had a heat wave and high UV index (4 days 95+) and it got most of it’s leaves sunburnt. Almost all the leaves of the Reed have fallen off, but I remain hopeful because there are still a few small branches with what looks like budding leaves..
Ok finally..my two big questions:
1) should I dig up 🙁 my Reed and start with a new one? I’ve read about you saying that sometimes it’s better to start over than try and baby a tree back to health.
2) Should I wait to plant my other 5 avocados trees (they’re in 5 gallon) until fall or even March? If yes should I up-plant into 15 gallon containers with the native dg they’ll be planted in? Im worried that they will get root bound. It’s now the beginning of August. I’m also noticing that the weather is predicted to be under 90F for at least the next 10 days. I wanted these beauties in the ground now so I can set my harvest clock..lol, but want the best for them.
Hi Dan,
Thanks for the kind words! I took a class from Gary Bender on avocados also, back in 2012. He’s a great guy, I agree.
Since that Reed was planted as a 15 gallon, I’m thinking you should give it a chance to recover. Bigger trees like that have a greater likelihood of recovering from stress or damage, in my experience. My guess is that it’s because they’ve got a bigger root system.
I’m sure you know to paint for sunburn on that Reed, and be careful not to overwater since it has few leaves to use the water right now.
I’d get those other trees in the ground. We’ll likely have one more heat wave, but the late summer heat waves are never as dangerous as the early summer heat waves. Just water amply before the heat hits. You should get nice root growth and leaf growth on those trees before winter, then they’ll jam when it warms up in spring. Set that harvest clock!
hi greg, i have 2 year old grafted avocado trees – one Hass and one Shepard. They are both only 2 years old , they were smallish when i planted them.
they both have baby fruit, the Hass in particular has a lot of baby fruit.
But i suspect they are too young to bear fruit. what do you think? should i remove some or all of the fruit? what’s your experience. i don’t want to stress the trees.
Hi Margrette,
As a rule of thumb, I think it’s best for the health of the young tree to not let it carry more than one or two avocados until it is about as tall as you.
Not to say that you have to do this or that I’ve always followed this rule myself, but it generally pays dividends later if you let the young tree grow lots of leaves and branches before trying to develop fruit. By the time it’s about as tall as you (and as wide as your wingspan), let it carry up to maybe 10 avocados.
thank you so much greg. i’ve followed your advice and removed all but about 10 of the baby fruits on each tree. and followed up with rooster booster. cross fingers. thanks again. information on your posts is really great and clear
Hi Greg, I’ve just planted a GEM avocado 5 gallon tree here in los angeles. Its only about 4 ft tall, but its got lots of flowers forming. My question is should I let the tree do its thing or clip those flowers in order to grow a taller tree? Thanks , Bert
Hi Humberto,
My routine is to let the tree flower but remove any fruit that sets on such a small tree. I talk about this question in some more detail at about 44 minutes into this video: https://youtu.be/kwQw9PfwF7Q
Hi Greg,
We’re in Camarillo, CA and our Haas has been in the ground for 3 years. About 5 months ago (?) the tree was covered in blooms, and it looked like teeny tiny avocados had formed at the ends of lots of the blossoms. But about a week or two later, almost ALL of those teeny tiny avocados fell off. Is that normal or is that called fruit drop? I have googled and read many articles but no one mentions this happening. When they discuss fruit drop it seems to be when the avocado fruits are much larger. Thanks so much for your insight.
Best,
Lauren
Hi Lauren,
This is normal. It’s not really fruit drop, which is as you said the drop of fruit later in the year.
The amount of those BB fruitlets that drop varies, but it is always a lot, way more than half.
Thank you so much. I feel much better now!
Greg – my young Hass tree that I just planted 8 months ago from 15 gallon already has a single avocado fruit forming. Should I allow this to grow or remove it from the tree to allow the tree to focus on growing more branches? My other Hass that is now 15 months old has around 6-10 fruits, should I remove those?
Hi Sean,
See this post: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/should-you-remove-avocados-from-a-small-tree/
Hi Greg,
i started my 3 trees from seeds 01/2018 and just planted them in ground march 2021. I have 1 tree that has 1 large trunk (brownish green) and it has 2 greener truncks growing around it from the soil and are the same height as the large (7ft)truck do u think i shoulld cute then or continue to let them grow?
thank you for any advice from Soouthern Calif, zone 18/24
crystal
Im in canada and have a tree in an oil drum…I put it under lights in the winter and roll it out in summer…I got flowers for the first time…my goal..be one of the first to get an avocado in Canada.ahaha
You can do it, Konrad! Keep me updated.
It sounds like, when people say it takes 3-4 years for an avocado tree to fruit, or 3-4 years from planting, they’re talking about a tree that’s already 2-3 years old, so the tree is then 5-7 years old when it begins fruiting, is that correct? Or are we talking about the first 3-4 years of the tree’s life?