The Reed avocado variety is the first I ever grew. It is a great beginner’s avocado tree because it is relatively tough and productive. In addition, the fruit itself stands among the finest tasting avocados so it deserves consideration for planting by the first-time grower and the avocado aficionado.
Here are characteristics of the Reed avocado fruit, its history, the tree’s shape and growing habit, and a few remarkable strengths and weaknesses — all in order to help you decide whether a Reed avocado tree deserves a place in your yard.
Reed fruit
Reed avocados are green cannonballs. They are big and round and heavy. Although not as thick and hard as the skin of a variety like Nabal, Reed’s skin is shell-like such that it is ideally suited to scooping the flesh out with a spoon.
And a Reed half is a ready-made bowl for its own guacamole. (See “My favorite way to eat a Reed avocado.”)
Two downsides of Reed’s thick skin, however, are that it is challenging at first to discern when the fruit is ripe. What I sometimes do is pop off the stem button. If it pops off easily, it’s ripe. You can also poke a toothpick into the flesh through the stem opening to test its softness. But as a rule, cut into a Reed avocado before it feels very soft through the skin because if it does, it’s actually overripe.
A second downside of Reed’s skin is that, when cut open, it leaves bits of grit on the outer edge of the flesh similar to the varieties Lamb and GEM. Both of these negatives of Reed’s skin are inconsequential to the overall enjoyment of eating Reed avocados, but they are there.
The flesh of Reed is among the creamiest and smoothest of any avocado I have eaten. The eating experience always reminds me of firm, avocado-flavored butter.
Even though the seed of a Reed is fairly large, since it is a big avocado, it does not seem so in relation to the quantity of flesh.
In fact, Reed avocados are a bit bigger than I prefer. Some others feel this way too, and this is one reason that Reeds don’t find a home on the shelves of most grocery stores. But the main reason is that Reeds are the wrong color. If an avocado doesn’t turn black as it ripens, it has no chance in the commercial avocado climate of today because it will show black spots on its green skin that have been caused by mishandling of the fruit on its way from the farm to the eater.
As one avocado farmer put it, “Reed avocados are not meant to be sold by those who wish to treat avocados as rocks rather than a delicate and perishable fruit.”
Luckily, the Reed fruit coming off a tree in your yard will be treated delicately and never have such problems.
Like video? Here I profile the Reed avocado:
Reed history
Black skin was not a de facto requirement in a new avocado variety when Reed first appeared, some 70 years ago. It was around 1948 when the seed that produced the original Reed tree germinated on the property of James Reed in Carlsbad in San Diego County, California. Mr. Reed patented the variety in 1960. In 1967, the first mention of the Reed avocado was made in the California Avocado Society Yearbook in this article written by Oliver Atkins. In the early 70s, many growers in San Diego County were planting the Reed variety to try it out. At this time, the green-skinned Fuerte variety was still popular and it was thought that avocados with green skin had commercial potential. But soon the black-skinned Hass became dominant — with growers and eaters — and avocados with green skin have never again found a place in the market outside of specialty or farmers markets.
(This is true of most of the United States as well as much of the rest of the world although there are still many tropical locations that continue to grow and consume plenty of green-skinned avocados.)
Reed tree shape and appearance
For the home gardener, however, the skin color of an avocado is irrelevant. We are interested in a hundred other qualities, but skin color is not one of them. Tree shape is.
Reed avocado trees tend to grow more upright than some other varieties, such as Hass or Fuerte. In fact, they are so prone to standing erect that Reeds have been given a second life as a commercial variety because they are conducive to the “high density” growing method that is popular with avocado farmers today. With high-density plantings, a farmer grows avocado trees very close together and prunes them frequently to keep size in check. The result is that the trees are easier to pick and more fruit is produced on less land.
The closest I’ve ever seen Reed avocado trees planted in a commercial grove is five feet apart.
My own Reed tree today grows 7.5 feet from adjacent avocado trees.
Through pruning, this distance can be sustained. But a Reed tree will grow far wider if left unpruned. Reed is rightly called upright for an avocado, but it is not a columnar tree in a more general sense.
Individual branches on a Reed tree will in fact droop horizontally and sometimes weep all the way down to the ground when laden with heavy fruit.
I have had to prune side branches on my Reed many times because of this behavior. It both encroaches on neighboring trees and it exposes fruit and branches to sunburn, as well as to branch breaking.
See two old Reed avocado trees displaying these growth habits in this video:
Reed strengths and weaknesses
Nonetheless, a Reed avocado tree can be one of the most attractive of all avocado varieties. If watered moderately well, its leaves will appear healthy and green all year long in Southern California — this despite the leaf burn that many other varieties often show in the fall and winter, in part because of the constituents in our water. (“Avocado leaves turning brown? Here’s why and what to do.”)
Reed tolerates the salts in our water more than some other varieties, such as Hass. In my yard, Reed is consistently among the best-looking avocado trees during winter when many of my other trees have leaves with brown tips.
Reed is also relatively tolerant of heat. In 2016 my yard reached 109, and the least affected of my avocado trees was the Reed. In 2018 my yard reached 113 two days in a row, and the Reed canopy again had the least damage of all of my avocado trees. (* See below.) (Read more on this topic in this post: “Heat tolerance of avocado varieties.”)
Unfortunately, Reed’s flexibility with the heat doesn’t extend far in the thermometer’s opposite direction. It only handles cold about as well as Hass — that is to say, Reed gets some leaf damage when the temperature drops a bit below freezing, and it gets twig damage at around 26 degrees. The lowest my yard has gotten in the past six winters is 26, and during those nights the Reed incurred twig damage as far back as six inches but there was never any damage to the fruit inside the canopy, and the tree still flowered reasonably well the following springs.
Reed bearing habit
Reed is a late bloomer. It will put out a few flowers as early as March in my location (Ramona, inland San Diego County) but waits until May and June to peak in bloom. This is later than most other avocado varieties, and it is a great advantage in terms of turning flowers into fruit. (* Usually . . . see below.)
In May and June the air is warmer, which is more conducive to pollen tube growth during the pollination process of avocado flowers. And in May and June there are more bees and other pollinating insects active and visiting avocado flowers, which leads to increased pollination. This year, as I write this post on June 28, my Reed is still opening new flowers. The other varieties that bloomed in my yard this spring have been finished flowering for approximately a month already.
Video showing late bloom on my Reed on July 1, 2021:
One might suspect that it is a disadvantage for Reed to flower mostly at a different time from other avocado varieties because it reduces the potential for cross-pollination. But the evidence shows that Reed has no need. Farmers who grow Reed do not bother planting pollenizers (B-type avocado trees) to help with pollination, and they get lots of production. I’ve seen numerous Reed trees in yards throughout Southern California that make lots of fruit and yet have no other avocado tree nearby or have only another A-type avocado tree nearby.
In my own yard, my Reed has a Lamb avocado tree near it. I wondered if the Lamb flowers’ pollen was helping the Reed set more fruit. But in the spring of 2017 the Lamb did not flower at all and yet the Reed still set a heavy crop.
Reed avocado trees set fruit well, they do so regardless of the presence of other avocado trees nearby, and they set fruit consistently — year after year. This is the case with my own Reed tree as well as all Reed trees I’ve observed in other locations.
Compare Reed to Lamb, for example. (Lamb being the second best summer avocado variety, in my view.) Though the Lamb adjacent to my Reed has taken numerous years off, my Reed has never taken a year off. See these two trees exhibiting their levels of alternate bearing just before harvest in 2022 in this video (jump to three minutes in to see the Lamb and Reed):
*So, usually, Reed’s late bloom is an advantage, but in 2018 it turned out to be a vulnerability because that July’s heat wave was so intense and came so early in summer, just after the Reed bloom finished, when the baby fruit was very small. The smaller (younger) the avocado fruit, the more vulnerable to stresses.
This spring’s fruitset is once again looking healthy for eating in summer 2020. Let’s hope for no extreme heat in the near future.
Reed harvest season
Before Reed avocados are ready to be picked, they look ready to be picked. The flowers turn into fruit in May or June, and then by December the fruit is big, but don’t be fooled. The fruit need six more months on the tree, for a total of over a year.
Reed is a summer avocado (a “second” summer avocado, you could call it). If you have a Reed tree right now, you might have tiny young fruit on the tree hanging next to large mature fruit: two crops on the same tree at the same time.
I have picked Reeds from my tree as early as May and found them to taste acceptable, but they don’t taste great until deep into summer. If you live up north or in a milder climate within a couple miles of the beach, you’ll find that your Reed avocados take longer to build flavor so you’ll probably want to pick them later, maybe not until the very end of summer. Your Reeds will also hold on the tree and still taste good through fall. In my hotter inland location, I pick all of my Reeds usually by sometime in September or else they start to taste chalky.
Is Reed a fit for your yard?
Do you want to grow a Reed avocado tree in your yard? The harvest season of Reed being in summer makes it an excellent complement to winter and spring varieties. I often think of the threesome of Fuerte (winter), Hass (spring), and Reed (summer) as being insurmountable for many locations. That would provide the best-tasting avocados for almost every month of the year.
But what if you only have room for one avocado tree in your yard? Should it be a Reed? Maybe, maybe not.
Reed would be a good choice if the allotted space is not so wide but can go tall, something like 10 feet wide and 15 feet tall (although you could keep it smaller if you wanted) because of Reed’s tendency to grow up more than laterally. Reed could work, but would not be the ideal choice, if the allotted space were wider but not so tall.
Also, remember that Reed avocados are big. Do you want big avocados or would you prefer smaller, Hass-sized fruit? If I didn’t have a family of five to eat through large fruit, I might go for a smaller-fruited variety as my lone tree.
Finally, are there better summer varieties than Reed? There are other very good summer varieties, to be sure, such as Lamb and Nabal. But overall, considering eating quality, tree strengths and weaknesses, and bearing habits, I think I would choose Reed as the best summer avocado variety to grow in Southern California.
Here’s a brief video profile of the Reed variety of avocado tree:
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Thank you for writing about the Reed. I planted a 5 gallon tree this spring in my back yard and chose it for all the reasons you mentioned. It is looking good, too. It’s still alive and has leaves. However, the Myer lemons I plant (3 over the years) don’t seem to do well at all. It seemed to do well in the pot and I planted it and it went to Meyer Lemon Heaven. The pomegranate tree I planted 3 yrs. ago is doing great! Lots of flowers and now fruits coming. The plum and apple are both over 30 yrs. old and still producing. For some reason our neighborhood has rats now and last year they stripped my plum tree of its fruit. Got any ideas about scaring away uninvited fruit thieves? A change in my neighborhood is that we do have folks now with outdoor dogs and so their food could be a draw. Can’t do anything about that and I like the dogs being here, too. Cats are not interested. Not on their job profile. Thanks for the article.
Hi Gloria,
Thanks for the comments. I hope you enjoy your Reed as much as I enjoy mine.
If your plum tree doesn’t have any low branches that the rats can jump up to, then you could try wrapping the trunk with something slick such as hard plastic or metal so they can’t climb up into the tree. Otherwise, you’ve got to kill them, as far as I know.
thank you for all your great info
I have a 45/50 year old reed producing the Best avocados I have ever eaten.
The bark seems to be getting thick and chuncks are falling off?
any ideas?
Thanks for the great article and information! Really appreciated all the insight from your direct experience.
Oops! My comment was not in reply to aGloria’s post but to Greg.
Can you grow Reed avocados in south Louisiana
How many years from planting until you get fruits from Reed .,
Call an exterminator. You will never have to see the rats and it will the filthy critters away from your yard. Baits stations and pet and child proof and discrete. I speak from experience.
Can I grow a Reed avocado in NorCal? Like Benicia?
Hi Sylvia,
Probably. I would give Reed a try if I lived in Benicia. I would just be prepared to protect it during its first winter or two if there’s a bad cold spell.
Our 6-year old Reed is doing great in Aptos (Santa Cruz County) a mile from the beach. We got 7 or 8 fruit this past year.
I have a 3-ish year old Reed and (if I’m not mistaken) just today I distinguished the first flower shoots. I’m not 100% sure they’re flowers because the leaf buds look so much like the flower buds. I’m growing mine half a mile from the beach in Monterey, CA. I really hope for some fruit next year!
LOL, same reason I came looking for answers here on the odd looking buds on my Reed. I now have 9 various ‘cados planted in my yard hoping for year around delight.
Thank you for the great info, videos, and pics of the Reed avocado! I think I finally figured out what type of avocado tree is growing in our yard.
After eating the tastiest avocado bought from a grocery store, I decided to grow its seed and 7 years later we had our first harvest this year!
It bloomed here in Hawaii end of February 2022 but only 5 survived up until a few weeks ago. Some were picked too early or fell off for whatever reason.
Any ideas why a lot fell off while still very young starting at about 3 inches? We had about 50 fruit growing and ended with 6 growing full term.
Hi Rosey,
Lucky you! It’s normal to have that kind of fruit drop. Here is a post with lots more information on avocado fruit drop: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/avocado-fruit-drop-why-when-how-many/
thanks for the tip about waiting till summer to pick them. this is my first year (i have small fruitlets growing right now) and by next spring, i would’ve thought they’d be good to go based on size. but i’ll remind myself to wait till the summer (or around this time).
Hi Johnny,
I think you’ll be glad you resisted the temptation to pick the Reeds in spring. It’s hard, but it’s worth it for the increased flavor.
Good timing on this post. I just bought a Reed from Maddock nursery in Fallbrook. Haven’t even planted it yet and it has 11-12 fruitlets on it. Now I know I have to wait another year to eat them…. if they last that long. Anyway thanks for the informative post .
Hi Walter,
Very cool that you got your tree from Maddock, which is down the street from the Atkins ranch location where some of the first Reeds were grown in the 1960s.
Hey Greg,
Just planted my 5 gal Reed in May, am so grateful for you sharing all your tips and experience. I built a shelter with 4 sticks and 30% shade cloth. Do you think that’s overkill to keep it on all summer? Gets pretty dang hot here in Riverside, Ca.
Hi J,
I think that’s a great idea. Riverside gets hot, indeed. It’s even a little hotter than my location, and I often put some shade over new trees for their first summer.
Sometimes I only shade them when it’s 95 degrees or more, and I use 60- or 70-percent shade cloth. Sometimes I leave the shade cloth over the top only (not the sides) all summer to give them relief from the 10 AM to 4 PM intense sun. Both have worked well on baby avocado trees.
This summer I’m experimenting with a very light cloth that only blocks maybe 10 or 20 percent, and I’m going to leave it on all summer. My plan is to add a 60 percent layer on 100-degree days.
Anyway, your 30-percent shade cloth should not be overkill for this first summer.
Could you please recommend a nursery in CA or anywhere in USA/Mexico etc that will sell Australia some Mexicola or avocado like Mexicola with the black skin? I just want to be able to buy some seeds even? That would be amazing as I can’t find any in Australia yet. I don’t know of anyone who grows or sells Mexicola in Australia so I don’t know what else to do but just keep asking people if they know a place that will ship world wide or at least to Australia. I was told there was a place in California and Hawaii that sells avocado scions,plants,seeds etc internationally. So I was hoping you might know who they are?
Hi Rebecca,
I suggest you post your request on Tropical Fruit Forum: http://tropicalfruitforum.com/
Greg I’m not sure if I have an issue with my Hass avocado tree I live in Dana point and it looks like my tree is loaded with fruit but the leaves aren’t growing in at the top of the plant and I’m wondering about sunburn but ’m wondering if this is normal? Need some help what do I love your blog.
I have some pictures but I don’t know how to attach them to this comment.
Mike
I’m interested in a Gwen avocado tree. I can’t seem to find them in my local nursery. Can you recommend where to purchase a tree?
Tiffini, Atkins in San Diego County has Gwen periodically. I have (2) that I purchased from them in 2018.
Kevin K
Hi Tiffini,
I also bought a Gwen from Atkins. Try there or try Subtropica Nursery, both in Fallbrook. Please find their contact information in my post, “Where to buy an avocado tree.”
i have a reed myself first year in the ground it gave us 7 fruit small tree the next year heat wave it broke in half i was in shock did not no what to do they good people told me let it grow & that we did now in the 4 year its got 40 plus on it la habra cal. love it our baby ?
Hi Greg
I have a 2 yr old Reed, the leafs look like taco shells (folded up leafs) I seen your other post on avacado leafs, and some new growth looks like potential sun/wind burn. Mature leafs are just folded up. The tree is in a 25g pot and was in the direct sun all day. I water it about 5g a week. Am i under watering it? I usually do only 5g a week because it is heavily mulched. Any recommendations
Hi Sergio,
Five gallons per week sounds like it is in the ballpark for how much your tree needs. I have found that avocado trees in pots during the summer usually do better when they get water every day or at least every other day, but in small amounts. If you’re not doing that, try it out.
Regardless, Reed leaves naturally have a narrow and taco-shell shape so don’t worry about that shape. If the leaves looked bleached like they’re getting sunburned, it could be because of reflection from a nearby sidewalk or wall. Just an idea to think about.
I picked up my Reed avocado from Clausen Nursery several months back. They painted the trunk with a 1 part water and 1 part White Latex Paint, they also “Sprayed” the leaves with a further diluted mixture of latex paint, 3 parts water 1 part Paint to help with sunburn. I applied this to all my avocado tree leaves and so far so good. Most of my plants are 3 years or younger. 1 Lamb Hass, 2 Hass, 1 Reed, 1 Fuerte, 1 Sir Prize, 1 Pinkerton, 1 Bacon and 1 Nabal (Found it at Louie’s nursery in Riverside, had 15 or so more as of Thursday June 27th). On a hillside in Whittier, CA. Hoping to get avocados all year long and enough to give to family, friends and co-workers. Avocados seem to make people smile! I love it. Great job with the site and posts, I’ve been reading like crazy the last week, good stuff, Happy 4th!
Hi James,
Thanks for the contribution and feedback. I’ve never been to Louie’s. I’ll definitely stop by next time I’m in Riverside.
Whittier is an awesome place to grow avocados. A friend of mine grew up there in a two-storied house that was dwarfed in the shade of a magnificent old Fuerte tree. The family often gifted me a bag of fruit when I visited. There is no better gift for a visitor than to send them home with avocados in hand.
Hope your trees grow great this summer!
James – Whittier is avocado heaven. Prior to the ’50s the whole place was avocado orchards.
My grandfather was one of the very early avocado growers (trees and fruit) in Whittier. I always lived in Northern California and my dad never managed to make a go of avocado trees on our property, but my grandparents and cousins sent us avocados several times a year, and I enjoyed visiting them and seeing them pick the fruit right in front of me. I love reading about people still nurturing avocados in Whittier and environs.
Hi Mr. Brokaw,
Was your grandfather H.H. “Harry” Brokaw? The man who grafted all the first Hass avocado trees?
My Reed are the size of oranges want them bigger. When is the time to pick them off the tree? Could you give me a date ?
Hi Greg,
I had my gardener plant a 3-5 year old Reed avocado about a month ago. When planted the leaves looked fine, but very soon they began to fall off or just droop.
I had him put shade cloth over the top, but I don’t think it is very effective. I put some heavier cloth on the front about two weeks ago . Should I have him put another layer on top?
I have been watering it one gallon a day . It is showing new growth, barely, with little protrusions along all the stems.
So does it have transplant shock, too much sun, or not enough/too much water?
Here in Sierra Madre it gets very hot, and we have been having mid 90’s days. Nights are cool, mid 60’s.
Thanks for all the great info you provide; so helpful.
Hi Mary,
Hard to say what is going on there because there are so many possibilities. My first suspicion would be that roots were damaged in the planting process since avocado roots are so fragile.
If it doesn’t have leaves then you need to protect the bare branches, for sure. They will fry. Paint them with white latex in addition to the shade cloth. Incrementally, reduce the shade as leaves are able to protect the branches and the end of summer arrives. Honestly, this is going to be difficult unless the tree regains its foliage fast. Young avocados with bare branches in a hot place like Sierra Madre are so vulnerable.
Also, if it has few or no leaves, then you need to only water once the soil is moist but no longer wet. It’s unlikely that you’ll need to water every day. It’s the leaves that pull up the water from the roots. If there are few leaves and the soil remains constantly wet, then you’ll rot the roots.
It has only lost about 25% of its leaves, and most of the rest are droopy. However there is a branch near the bottom that is doing fine.
Also the additional shade cloth I put over the top is a great help.
Thanks for your reply. And thanks to you, I think there’s hope.
It has only lost about 25 % of its leaves, and the rest are droopy. The leaves on a branch at the bottom is doing fine. The extra shade cloth I put on today is a great help.
I think there’s hope.
Hi Greg- great site! Long time lurker, first time commmenter. I just purchased a Reed in a 15 galllon pot this week. I have a spot in mind I’d really like to plant it, but I’m not sure it gets enough light to thrive. My backyard is small and I’m somewhat space limited. Everyone says Avocados need six hours of light to thrive, is that in summer or winter? The spot I’ve got picked out probably gets 7 hours of morning and midday sun in the summer, but will probably only get 3 to 4 hours of direct light in the winter. My small backyard is wedged between my house and a large detached garage. The Avocado would get a brief shot of east morning sun, then sun from the south and overhead until about two o’ clock or a little later close to the solstice. It would be nestled close to an east facing wall of my garage and it will never receive any afternoon west sun until it grows north around the corner of the garage or until it is tall enough to reach the light above the one-story flat roof. In the winter I think it might be able to get a half an hour of morning sun then about 3 hours of south sun around midday. I planted a 5 foot tall, thick trunked Hass in March in a very sunny spot in my backyard, probably getting 9 hours or more of mostly midday and late afternoon west sun. It looked happy until late June and now it looks miserable. Lots of crispy salt and sun burned tips.
So what do you think? Does the spot I described have enough light for a Reed? I live in coastal Long Beach, a little less than a mile from the ocean. Not full coastal climate, but definitely cooler than the parts of Long Beach north of the 405.
Hi Jerry,
I bet that spot will work. The worst that will happen in the long run is that the tree won’t be as fast-growing and fruitful as it could be.
Do try to get a feel for what has caused the struggle of your Hass since it might do the same for your Reed. Has it been not enough water or something in your soil? My first place to check would be the watering. Especially if the young tree got reflected heat from sidewalks or walls in addition to full late afternoon sun, I’d suspect lack of water. For new avocado trees that usually means the watering was too infrequent. Just an idea to consider.
Hi Greg- thanks for the reply! I started slow-drip, deep watering the Hass for a half hour at at time, twice weekly with a shallow watering inbetween since my last post. The Hass is now looking revived and showing new leaf growth. (Whew!) My soil is very heavy clay and I thought it was was probably best to let the top two inches dry out before re-watering the tree but apparently not. At least not once the summer sun and high temperatures kicked in. Let me know if you think this is foolhardy, but once things cool down a bit in September I think I am going to transplant the Hass which has only has only been in the ground about five months to the more shaded spot I just asked you about for the Reed. Since you mentioned Reed’s seem perfectly happy with lots of sun, warm weather and less-than-perfect water, I think the hot sunny spot that’s been roasting my Hass should be perfect for the Reed and hopefully the Hass will be happier in the other spot without the late afternoon sun.
Thanks again!
Hi Jerry. I just planted a couple trees that are in a similar type of location. I am hoping that the deep shade that my neighbor’s bamboo plants sheds on my trees after about 2:00 every day during the winter will not be a problem. Fortunately the plants get full morning sun during the winter and from late spring through early fall they should get sun nearly all day long.
On the subject of watering I may have found a useful way to give my newly planted trees what the need. I created a couple mounds of fast draining soil and dug large planting holes for the 15 gallon root balls. Before filling the holes with compost and planting the trees I did something that I have not tried before. I cut two-foot lengths of 4″ plastic drain pipe and positioned them at the edge of the planting hole with a couple inches of the pipes extending above the top of the hole.
After the trees were planted, I filled these pipes with water several times a day for the first couple of weeks. The trees appear to be getting enough water are looking very healthy one month in.
I travel quite a bit and will not be available to manually water my trees all the time so I came up with a simple solution. The trees are on a drip system with provides surface water. The pipes provide deep water. In order to automate the deep watering, I drilled a hole in the side of the pipes and inserted a 1/4″ drip tube without an emitter on the end. When the drip cycle goes on, (currently every other day), the surface gets soaked and the drain pipes provide several gallons of water to the roots whether I am around or not.
I am very pleased with this setup.
Jerry = If your going to replant, and have heavy or clay soil, replant on top of a large diameter mound so your soil drains better. Don’t add or mix compost into the soil as it decays and the mound will shrink. Add chips on top of the soil and never rake any leaves that drop.
Use mini sprinklers at least the first few years, not drip.
Hi Greg, I’ve read about Jerry’s “sufficient light “ for his Reed Avocado and your response. I have a Reed that I’ve grown from a pit 10 years ago and it’s in a large clay pot. It suffered from south sun and winds in the San Fernando Valley so I moved it to front yard several years ago. When we had the 115F degree heat wave it nearly died. I had to lop off the top 3’. It’s never flowered and, therefore, never produced any fruit. I still want to have a Reed in in a pot. What is your experience and recommendations with productivity when Reeds are confined to large containers?
Anne
Hi Anne,
It sounds like your tree is a Reed seedling so its growth habit and fruit will be at least a little different from a Reed. A friend has a Reed seedling tree that makes very good fruit, but it’s not the same as a grafted (true) Reed.
I’ve never grown a Reed in a container for very long nor have I seen any big ones in containers, actually. I imagine they would do about as well as any other avocado variety though, which is to say that in a hot place in the summer like the San Fernando Valley you’ll have to be really careful to water enough, but it sounds like you already know that. The challenge is that seedling trees take longer to fruit than grafted trees so your tree will probably be pretty big before it fruits.
Hi Greg, thanks for your posting about the Reed. I think I will add this variety to my collection.
On a side note, can you please tell me where you had those engraved wooden tree/garden markers made? I would love to get some.
Hi Linda,
My brother and sister-in-law make those custom engraved tree signs. I love them and actually need to order a few more for some new trees myself. Have a look at their page on Etsy here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/607631552/the-yard-posts-garden-sign-the-yard?ref=related-1
Greg, if Reeds are “second summer” fruits with two crops on the tree at the same time, when is pruning and fertilizing season for Reeds? Thanks much.
Hi Mike,
This is the challenge with (second) summer avocado varieties. I talked about it in my profile of the Lamb variety: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/the-lamb-hass-avocado-tree-a-profile/
There are two main options for pruning summer varieties like Reed and Lamb. All commercial growers that I know of prune their Lambs and Reeds immediately after harvest and once the potential damage from strong summer sun is reduced. This usually means September, especially late September, in Southern California.
For example, in my post “Pruning avocado trees to keep them small” I talk about a grove of Reeds that are maintained at eight feet tall. I visited that grove in early October, and the trees had just been pruned, as you can see in the photos.
The problem with this late September pruning time, at least for me, is that you’ve now cut off outer foliage that could have protected the inner foliage and fruit from any nasty freeze that might hit in the upcoming winter.
So I don’t prefer to prune my Reed and other summer varieties in September (although I do some minor pruning then and throughout the year). I prune in late winter, generally. And I prune back far enough so that whatever fruit sets in spring is in a part of the tree that I will not have to cut out the following winter (so I won’t have to cut out immature fruit then). I go into this a little more in my post on pruning avocado trees to keep them small, linked above.
Overall, pruning Reeds and other summer varieties is more difficult than winter and spring varieties, in my experience. There’s no easy, perfect time to do it. I choose late winter, but if I lived close to the beach (where winter cold damage is unlikely) I might choose late September.
As for fertilizing avocados generally, please see this post: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/fertilizing-avocado-trees/
As for fertilizing Reeds specifically, I don’t know of any peculiar requirements. I have only given my Reed some compost in its first year or two and then maintained a wood-chip mulch under and around the tree from then on. The convenience of using only compost and wood chips is that timing is not an important consideration.
Hi Greg. I am also in Ramona. What is your advice on the best nursery around us to purchase a Reed tree? I go to Walter Andersen quite a bit. Thanks
Hi Courtney,
Andersen’s does have good Reed trees sometimes. If you don’t find one there, I’d head up to Maddock in Fallbrook.
Will the Reed self pollinate or do I need to plant a male and female? Drawing up my landscape plans…
Thanks!
Hi Mercy,
Reed avocado trees reliably set fruit without another avocado tree around.
Thanks.
Thinking I may want to add another variety to increase yield. Which one flowers at the same time?
Hi Mercy,
That’s a hard question for Reed because it peaks in bloom later than every other variety that I grow. Nevertheless, every other variety still has flowers once Reed has started so there’s potential with every variety that I have seen.
A report from Israel once found that Ettinger and Fuerte pollenized Reed: http://www.avocadosource.com/CAS_Yearbooks/CAS_75_1991/CAS_1991_101.pdf
My own Reed has produced well being next to Lamb, but about 50 feet away from any other avocado tree.
Honestly, I would choose another variety to add based on other characteristics such as the variety’s harvest season, fruit quality, and productivity rather than whether its flowering season overlaps well with Reed because Reed seems to need cross-pollination the least of any avocado variety that I know, plus the fact that any variety will contribute somewhat to Reed’s yield.
All that being said, in my yard, of the good, common, and productive varieties, Lamb and Hass have peaked in bloom latest, and therefore closest to when Reed peaks. (And even though they are both A types like Reed, they can still be somewhat beneficial as pollenizers.)
I decided to abandon the fabric pot idea and planted the Reed in the ground in a mound as I felt it wasn’t a good idea as far as water requirements, and wasn’t interested in experimenting in territory that I can’t find much information about Growing avocados in 200 gal fabric pots, the reed is doing well, has grown many new leaves and branches, as far as the heat in banning it doesn’t get much over 96 degrees usually in the hottest months it can get infrequently to 100, during the record heat wave We had as few years back it didn’t register over 109 degrees here .
I have killed a number of avocado plants over the years. The main problem is that my yard is carved out of a sandstone hill and only as about a foot of decent soil. I have hopefully solved this problem by creating a couple three foot high mounds of fast training soil and planting two trees, (Haas and Fuerte).
I would also like to give the Reed variety a try but have not found a source for any small plants. I live in Encinitas, CA. Does anyone know of a supplier in my area that has any Reed Avocados in 5 gallon or smaller containers?
Thanks in advance.
Last week I picked up a Reed (and a Gem, Sir Prize and Sharwil) from Eli at Subtropica Nursery in Fallbrook
(subtropicanurseries.com). They are in small plastic sleeves probably 3 gallon or so for $32 each. It’s about 45 minutes from Encinitas. Spoke to Eli about how he grows them in peat moss so if you don’t plant them within a couple of months to fertilize them because the peat moss hass no nutritional value to the trees. The place is kind of a hole in the wall so call before to make sure he has the trees…oh and he mentioned how busy he is because of how Greg Alder put him on the map…thanks Greg
Hi Greg,
Love my Reed in Santa Ana, CA. No problem with critters. However, I have to fight the squirrels for my Fuerte fruit. They eat the small fruit, the size of a Quarter for the young seed. The only thing that works is to buy a gallon jug of Louisiana Hot Sauce at Smart and Final Grocery Store. for about $6 and mix it one third to one half sauce to water. Then I spray the fruit I can reach plus the limbs and trunk. It has worked for over five years. Hope others have success with this. It also works on green tomato theives.
Hi Bob,
I suspect your mound planting will work well. The only challenge I’ve found with mound plantings is that they dry out surprisingly fast and need water relatively frequently.
As Eric says, try Subtropica. Just contact Eli before going in order to make sure he sets aside the Reed on the rootstock that you want. See the website for contact info: https://www.subtropicanurseries.com/
Also consider trying Maddock, which is not far from Subtropica: http://www.maddockranchnursery.com/
And consider Clausen Nursery in Vista: https://clausennursery.com/
What a great sight for Avocados!
I am new to growing avocados and purchases a 2-year old Reed Avacado last summer. I live in Anaheim The plant was in a large pot and loaded with blooms and then small fruit. We had that heat spell and all of the fruit fell off. How long will it take to grow and harvest the fruit? I love avocados and have a small yard with a lot of sun. I would like to plant another Avacado to enjoy other times of the year. What tree would give the most fruit in the shortest amount of time? We have a small backyard mostly concrete with about 5-7 feet of planting space on the east and north side of the house and a large front yard on the northwest. we are in our early 60’s and don’t want to wait too long to enjoy the fruit. Ideas?
Hi Marcia,
You will enjoy reading my post, “How long until an avocado tree fruits?”: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/how-long-until-an-avocado-tree-fruits/
As for your Reed, if it is now healthy, then it will likely bloom again this coming spring. But Reed avocados do take about 14 months to mature so you wouldn’t be eating those fruit until around July of 2021. I realize that that sounds like a long time to wait. I wish it didn’t take so long, too.
Some other avocado varieties that bear fruit as early or earlier than Reed include Pinkerton, GEM, Carmen, Lamb, and Hass. All of those varieties except for Lamb have harvest seasons that are different from Reed and would make a great complement to your Reed.
As for avocado varieties whose fruit take fewer months to mature, those would include Mexicola, Stewart, Bacon, and Fuerte. Those varieties take from six to nine months to mature. They also start flowering earlier in any given year than Reed. For example, Reed might not start flowering much until April, but Mexicola might flower and set fruit in February and then be ready to eat in September.
Another factor involved in how long it takes for an avocado tree to fruit is how big the tree is so you can pay more to buy a bigger tree and possibly save some time. There is more to that story though, and you can read about it in my post, “Should you buy a big or small avocado tree?”: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/should-you-buy-a-big-or-small-avocado-tree/
I thoroughly sympathize with how hard it is to wait for avocado trees to bear fruit. I moved to a new yard in 2013 and had to plant new avocado trees and wait and wait and wait. Today, some of those trees are bearing a lot of fruit, yet I continue to plant new varieties and have to wait out those early years once again. Each spring at bloom time I get so excited and hopeful, and I try to just enjoy the process rather than get frustrated or impatient (I try!). And I still delight when a new variety sets fruit for the first time. It’s wonderful to watch the new avocados grow and color in unexpected ways.
Hey Greg,
Just wanted to “thank you” for all the valuable information you’ve given to us. I’ve been trying to grow a avocado tree for the last 17 years (on & off-not continuously) and they’ve all died. The last one I planted in Sept of this year-2019 seems to being doing quite well. I credit its success on your behalf.
Hi Jon,
Thanks for taking the time to share this. Makes me want to keep it up and make it better. I hope your tree continues growing well.
Hi Greg
I have a reed tree and when I picked them they are watery. Is that because I picked them too soon? They look good now but assume they won’t be ready until this time next year from what I just read.
Hi Matt,
That’s probably right. Reeds should taste as good as they get about now if you’re in Southern California so you are probably picking immature fruit that won’t be mature until next summer.
I live in Pomona, and have a 29 year old Reed avocado tree in my yard. It has produced loads of delicious avocados for many years. But this year the branches can’t seem to hold the weight of the fruit. A large number of the branches have broken off before the fruit is ripe. The tree looks really bad now, with only a few branches left. Is there anything I can do to save it? How long do Reed Avocado trees usually live?
Hi Judy,
Sorry about your Reed! If it’s any consolation, my Reed is also stressing under the weight of heavy fruit set this year. I think that it is due to, in part, the heat wave of July 2018 that caused it to drop almost all its young fruit. I’ve been thinning fruit and pruning branches and propping up branches with wooden supports in order to prevent limbs from breaking this year, and so far I’ve not had a branch break — fingers crossed!
For your Reed, it’s likely that it will recover if you can protect any exposed branches from sunburn (see my post about this here). Avocado trees in general are long lived, longer than 29 years can be expected. Avocado trees also bounce back from severe pruning, which is essentially what has happened to your tree, as long as they’re protected from sunburn.
Hi,
I love your details about the avocado varieties. From this article and video I now realize that I have a Reed avocado tree (it was grown from an unknown seed!). My question: since the Reed doesn’t turn black as it ripens AND it needs a long time to mature on the tree, how do I tell when the fruit is ready to pick? It’s now December and I am longing for some guacamole!
Hi Marilyn,
Thanks. Just to be clear, if your tree was grown from seed (and not grafted later) then you have a unique avocado tree. It is not a Reed. You can name the tree however you like because it is one of a kind.
As for when to pick avocados from any tree, please see my post, “When to pick avocados.”
BTW: I’m also reading about Gwen avocados. How would I tell the difference between a Reed vs a Gwen? Both are round and green varieties. For ex. Is the Reed fruit always super large? I’m wondering if I
might I have a Gwen tree instead of a Reed tree? The tree itself is very tall.
Thanks.
The main differences in outside appearance between Reed and Gwen are that Reed is bigger, rounder, and with smoother skin.
I’m glad to find this site, just in time. I have a great Gwen, but need ‘cados at a different time of the year, too. (I also lost a bumper crop of fruit and the next year’s bloom in that ’18 heat wave of 120 degrees here in Yorba Linda. Looking at a great Gwen crop nearing ripe now.) I bought a 5 gallon Reed at Louies in Riverside today. Would have preferred a 15 gallon, tho. I picked the healthier looking of the 2 in stock, but I’m not happy that the strongest looking branches are ground huggers. Too low to even prop them. Should I let them grow for now, and prune them off after the tree has settled? My site is just not suited for such low limbs. Thank you for your help on this site!
Hi David,
Thanks. I would leave them for now and prune them in March. You never know if we’ll get a crazy cold snap and you’ll need those branches to protect the rest of the tree.
Hi Greg ^_^
I’m also an avocado lover. We are a family of 4. We have a Hass for 6 years now about 15 feet tall. Our tree split itself into 5 different directions trunk since after we planted it in ground. It produces well in alternating year. I read your post a lot, but never ask questions because you are very good at explaining that I don’t have any questions left after reading your posts. Lol
Last spring we bought and planted a 5 gallon Reed per your reccomendation on your blog. It is now in ground for a year and is 4 feet tall. It looks like it will flower this Spring.
Should I let it flower or should I pluck them off and let the tree grow more?
I also just planted a 5 gallon Sharwil from San Diego nursery last week.
I had a 4 feet tall SirPrize avocado that broke in half during the super windy day in Los Angeles in January 2020. That made me very sad. I will be buying a replacement.
I would like to also have a GEM and Kahalu’u if I can find any.
Any other varieties you can recommend with high oil content, nutty, produce yearly.
Sorry for a very long post. Thank you for reading ^_^
Hi Kesirin,
Thanks! When I write I try to anticipate the questions that I might have as a reader, but that can be hard. Sometimes I wish I had an editor to help.
I would be careful about letting your Reed carry more than a couple avocados this year. If you really want to taste the fruit, then let it carry one or two at the most. Reed avocados get so big that small limbs or small trees have a hard time carrying them; the limbs or trees will bend or lean a lot.
It sounds like you’ve got your eye on some great varieties. Also satisfying your criteria, I’d add Gwen. Its harvest season is somewhat between Hass and Reed. And don’t pass up a Jan Boyce tree if you find one. You’ll surely like the taste of those, and the ones I know are sufficiently productive too.
Thank you Greg for fast and thorough reply. ^_^
I trust your advice. I plan to go to Green Scene this year. I have never been there. Jan Boyce will be at the top of my list.
Thank you so much for all the great information and time you took to help home growers. I really appreciate it. Stay safe this Coronavirus season.
Hello Greg. I am getting ready to plant 2 avocados in my yard, and went ahead and purchased a Haas. I wanted to find a Reed as you suggest to pair with it, but none of the nurseries around San Diego seem to have any. Do you have any advice where they might have some now? I would also be open to something else that would pair well with a haas. The nurseries I called have bacon, fuerte, holiday, Mexicola Grande, and one other I didnt recognize. I live in Escondido and there are a fair amount of avocado trees around, including in my neighborhood. Thanks for any advice you have.
Hi Sean,
I would first try to get a Reed tree at Subtropica Nursery since I saw some there last week. They are in Fallbrook, a short drive up the 15, exit Mission Road. And I know that Maddock in Fallbrook also grows Reed, as does Clausen in Vista. For some contact info, see my post “Where to buy an avocado tree.”
A nice alternative to Reed is Lamb because it also matures in summer so it complements the Hass spring harvest well. Or you could do Fuerte, which is mature in winter before Hass is quite ready.
Thanks Greg. After I wrote this I called Clausen Nursery in Vista, they have multiple. He suggested I do Fuerte and Lamb Hass instead, but your article states Hass and Reed a good combo. They have good ones in 15 gallon of all 4. Opinion?
Hi Sean,
Fuerte and Lamb is a good combo too. In fact, it’s even better in terms of the two having distinct harvest seasons. Fuerte can be picked earlier than Hass and Lamb can be picked even later than Reed. There is truly no overlap in harvest seasons for Fuerte and Lamb, which is perfect.
I’d say you’re pretty safe with that combination in Escondido as Fuerte usually produces well there as far as I’ve seen. And Lamb is sure to produce well there also, but . . .
The reasons I usually prefer the combination of Hass and Reed are that Hass produces better than Fuerte overall and Reed produces better than Lamb overall, usually. Hass sets a good crop almost every year and everywhere whereas Fuerte tends to have more off years. Reed also sets a good crop pretty much every year whereas Lamb has a tendency to alternate bear more even though when it does bloom it sets a lot of fruit.
Still, Fuerte and Lamb would be a great combination; they’re both delicious avocados, and you’ll probably get satisfactory crops from them in most years.
I purchased a 5 gallon reed tree and there are shoots coming out at the graft location. They appear to be right at the graft but not on the root stock. I can’t tell if the leaves match the rest of the reed. Should I leave the growth or should I remove them?i took a photo but don’t see an option to add it here. Any input is appreciated!
Hi Alec,
I’d just remove those. It’s the safe option, and you probably don’t want branches growing from that low on the trunk in the long run anyway.
I have a Reed tree that will be 4 yrs old this fall. Your feed back has be great right on target in the past.My reed is 9′ tall, it’s carrying my first crop of 18 grape fruit size avocados. I’ll harvest late summer and into the fall. Our very first crop. We had a crop in 2017 but the heat wave caused all to drop when they were the size of walnuts. It’s covered with blooms this year so I have great hopes. I mulch heavily.
The first summer when I dug into the mulch there were lots of perfect little white feeder root into the wood chip mulch. Our soil is clay and although I added lots of compost to the initial mix and prepared the hole oversized and deep, the feeder roots are no longer white. In fact they are light brown. I don’t know if this indicates a type of root rot. Would it be helpful to add gypson and if so how much?
The initial mulch I used were wood chips. But over the past two seasons I’m added compost incluiding tree clipping I cut up with my lawn mower. Should I continue this or go back to wood chips?
Third question. I’ve saved a lot of rain water this year. Does it help if I dulute it with tap water? I know I don’t have enough to get me thru our summer. I live in Mission Viejo and August-Sept in past years are really toasty. Last year and thru the winter this year my tree has shown a lot of salt burn on the leaf tips. My other option to stretch out my rain water is the add reverse osmosis water from our home system. I can get over a gal a day so with my clay soil I don’t need as much water as your recommend. Your thoughts?
Thank you in advance for your response.
Hi Ron,
Even though the roots you are finding don’t appear white on the outside, how do they look on the inside when you break one? As long as it’s white inside you’re fine. And not every root you find needs to be perfect because roots here and there get damaged all the time by birds scratching or heat from being too close to the surface, etc. Also, during some parts of the year it’s harder to find many white roots because the roots haven’t been growing a lot lately.
It sounds like you should keep adding the mulch you are adding. The only thing you want to avoid is something that will mat too much and possibly become hydrophobic, such as a lot of grass clippings at once or a lot of coffee grounds at once. But anything in moderation works fine in my experience. Continuing to add wood chips is great though because they are so coarse and airy.
I would do whatever is easiest with your rainwater. Don’t sweat not being able to water the tree through summer and fall with it. The most important thing is that the tree gets enough water through summer and fall, not that it has the best water (rainwater). The tip burn on leaves can show up due to both the salts in our irrigation water and insufficient water overall.
I’ve played with different ways of using my stored rainwater. Some years I’ve used it up by early summer, other years I’ve only used it once per month in summer in an effort to leach, and I’ve used it to water small trees the entire summer and fall. What I’ve noticed through it all is that you’re going to get some leaf burn on some trees showing up in the winter no matter. (The exception is with small trees that I’ve watered sufficiently with rainwater all year, which didn’t have any leaf burn.)
Some of this leaf burn seems clearly due to the sensitivity of certain rootstocks. I’ve got one tree that gets terrible leaf burn on it no matter how much I water it and no matter the scion variety (I’ve grafted multiple varieties onto it). So what I focus on now is just making sure that I get the trees sufficient water during summer and fall, no matter which kind of water, and then accepting a certain amount of leaf burn on some of them. That’s just the reality for most of us in Southern California.
Hi Greg, I just stumbled upon your site today. LOVE! I want to plant at least two avocado trees in the front yard. We are at the end of a culdesac, large yard with half lawn/ half succulents with wood chips. Located 30 min east of Laguna Beach. Yard gets full sun from 10am to 6pm every day. I like the idea of planting 2-3 varieties in one hole in the lawn location. If that’s a possibility with 5 gal containers, the goal would be to use Hass, Reed and another. Our neighbor across the street has a Hass in their lawn that has grown quickly from a 5 gal to 10 ft tall and 10 feet wide in approximately 5-6 years. I don’t think they do anything to it and it produces a lot of fruit. Our location seems to be good for avocados. The free lawn space is roughly 15’ x 25’ With two 25 year old Queen palms on what would be to the east of where avocados would be planted. Do you have another suggestion for the combination or should it be two of the one variety and one of the other? Or is a two-plant option fine? Do you recommend a different planting arrangement or is it possible to plant two or three together in the same hole or what would your other suggestion be? Thank you so much. Really appreciate your Awesome page here.
Hi Tina,
Thank you for the kind words. With 15′ x 25′ to work with, I’d plant the trees in their own spaces rather than one hole because they’ll be easier to manage that way and you can allow the trees to spread wider and therefore produce more avocados.
When you plant a couple trees in one hole you have to do a little more work and be more careful not to let one tree dominate and shade the other. It’s not so hard, but it is harder.
Just a Hass and Reed would be a great pair there. I would probably stick with them, and plant about eight feet apart. I happen to have planted a Reed and a Lamb 7.5 feet apart, and a Hass and Sir-Prize 7.5 feet apart, and these plantings have worked pretty well in terms of spacing. The trees end up intermingling their canopies in the middle after some time and starting to look like a single large tree.
Just to note, we’re close to finishing the fruit from our Hass tree now (we didn’t have that much this year, only about 70 avocados), and the Reed fruit is nearly mature. There should be a smooth transition from variety to variety over the next month or so. I imagine your trees working like that for you too. Unfortunately, there will likely be a gap between the last of the Reeds and the first of the new Hass crop every year, the gap usually running from around October through the end of the year.
Thank you so much!! Appreciate your time. Good luck with your trees. I look forward to seeing more of them.
Hello. I know this is an old post but wanted to know how your Reeds are today April 2020. My Reed gave us three avocados set last spring. I’m tempted to pick, but I see I should wait. I live in San Diego. So do you think July would be a good time to pick my first one? Thanks for all the info.
Hi Greg! Did you visit the orchard that had the reeds planted 5ft apart?
Hi Chiles,
Yes, I did. I only use photos here on my website that I’ve taken, except for a few over the years that I’ve noted. That farm is located in Bonsall. First, they planted the Reeds at ten feet apart, and then after a couple years they interplanted new Reed trees to make the five-foot spacing down the rows.
Hi Greg found your website today searching for when to pick Reeds. I knew to wait until late summer but was concerned that I have large softball sized fruits now and also newer baby fruit about fingernail sized. If I understand you those baby fruit will be ready to pick next summer?
I live in East San Marcos and have mixture of 10 avocado trees. 1 Reed, 2 Mexicola, 1 Pinkerton, 3 large Fuertes and Rest a mix of Hass and Lamb Hass. So get fruit year round.
Yes, David. Exactly right. You’ll pick the big fruit this summer, and the tiny new fruit will be next summer’s avocados.
What are your favorites so far among all of the varieties you’re growing?
When is your normal harvest window for Mexicolas?
My Mexicola trees are only 2 years old. So still small. I read they are a fall harvest. Sept-Nov when skin is black. They replaced a Bacon variety that died. Recommended by a landscape person saying they grow well and taste great.
As for my favorite? Gosh I like them all. Hass and Lamb Hass great for guacamole and they are ready opposite times of the year.
Had many Fuerte last year. Good to mix with Hass in guacamole or spread on toast or sandwich as a mayo substitute. Great with omelette also.
Pinkerton can get like a long gourd. Slice in half and add tuna salad. A full meal.
Thanks for asking.
I love that idea of adding the tuna salad to the Pinkerton half. I’m definitely trying that.
Thanks for this article!! I love eating Reeds and grew a bunch from the seeds, but living in Seattle, they are doomed to be potted to survive the winters until I move!
Just planted my Reed in Murrieta CA. I just finished your article. I am a little confused in two items. 1. Do I need a pollinator tree?
2. Tree was 5 gallon and has plenty of buds, we have to wait till fall 2020 or 20201 to eat fruit?
Hi Robin,
No need for a pollenizer tree. Reed will produce plenty on its own.
Reed fruit need to grow on the tree for at least a year, which means that if your tree is flowering here in June 2020 you will eat that fruit starting in June 2021 (but a bit later for better flavor).
Hi I am looking at importing Reed Avocados from anyone growing them. It would great if anyone can connect me with farmers growing them. Thanks in advance 🙂
Hi Shival,
I would contact Del Rey Avocado Company, as I know that they handle Reed avocados: https://www.delreyavocado.com/
Hi. I’ve got a small Reed tree in my yard ( in the ground for 2 years, approx. 3-4 ft tall and wide. It was growing and filling out nicely until this spring when we had an early heat spike after which is dropped a lot of its foliage. Despite dropping the foliage it did flower and set some fruit for the first time. However, after another heat spike the few fruitlets I had dried up and dropped. Since then the tree seems to be hanging in there, but it is not leafing out much at all. I water regularly and have given it some fertilizer ( fish emulsion) and several applications of foliar spray (seaweed extract). Due to its slow recovery, I’m thinking of moving it to a better spot in the yard (more sun, space) before it dies. Any ideas on why this tree doesn’t seem to want to recover? Better odds to leave it in place rather than risk moving it? Thanks for your comments.
Hi Jonathan,
Sorry about your baby Reed. It would be great to learn for sure if the tree’s problem is due to thirst during the heat or something else. If a young avocado tree is healthy going into a heat wave but doesn’t have enough water during the heat, it usually wilts and gets sunburned but doesn’t drop all of its leaves unless the thirst and heat were both severe.
What I’m wondering is whether the tree has a root system that is healthy and big enough to bring the tree back at all.
I would scrape around under the tree in search of white root tips. If you quickly find some, that’s a great sign. If not, then your tree might be in dire shape.
Let me know what you see when you scrape around for roots.
Hi Greg:
I think you’re right. It was pretty dry on the surface, thinner mulch than I thought, and I did not see white roots near the surface. So, I think it’s a water issue.
What course of action would you recommend at this point?
Hi Jonathan,
As long as you still find white roots deeper in the soil, then I’d give the tree a shot at recovering in its current location. Add mulch. Once the tree has grown back more leaves, then water more often than you had before it lost them — but don’t water a lot while the canopy is bare because it’s the leaves that pull the water up from the soil (you’ll just rot the roots if you keep the soil under a leafless avocado tree constantly wet). Sunburn is going to be your enemy. Paint bare branches as necessary: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/avocado-trees-get-sunburned-what-to-do/
If by the end of August you don’t see a lot of new leaves, then I’d give up. At that point, make sure your drainage is good and plant a new tree (on a mound if the drainage isn’t so good).
Lastly, don’t add anymore fertilizer of any kind. Young avocado trees usually grow fine without any fertilizer, but can grow a bit faster with a small amount of fertilizer. It’s correct watering that a young avocado tree needs the most.
Thank you very much for taking the time to put out this information – very helpful. I’m from Australia (Southern Highlands) and creating a productive garden. The winters get down to about freezing and summers get up to about 44 degrees celsius – so similar to your environment.
You’re very welcome, Leyla. I read that your area is a wine region, as is mine. Sounds like a very similar environment indeed. Best wishes on your productive garden.
I don’t see my original comment so…
Thank your Greg for all the wonderful information regarding avocado trees.
I have a newly acquired property with a mature (25-30 ft height with similar spread, trimmed to be 6-7 ft off the ground) that had a fungal problem. I treated the tree in the early spring with a systemic fungicide I found advertised on the internet and the tree has beautiful green leaves and drops yellow ones to the ground–a scant single layer each week which I faithfully rake away.It is full of little green fruitlets about the size of figs and so is the ground with some black ones.
It produced one very large, bigger than a softball sized fruit which fell from the tree one night. The sin was thick and hard but when cut into crumbled badly ruining the fruit with a gritty dust. Neighbors report that this characteristic has been a characteristic of the fruit for awhile. There are no more large avocados, just the fruitlets.
The tree lives 2 blocks to the beach in San Diego and provides magnificent shade.
Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.
The tree is a haas variety.
Hi Theresa,
Your tree certainly sounds like it is acting strange. What you describe doesn’t sound like Hass though. What makes you think it is Hass? Did the previous owners tell you so? The proof is in the fruit.
How did you know the tree had a fungal disease? Which disease?
My name Matt I live in north part of Thailand. I plant REED Avocado about 5 years and produce heavy crops,but the problems is shave of fruit like a pear is not round like the one you have and skin very thin and small fruit 5 to 6 fruits per kilogram .the meat of fruit very butter more than HASS Avocado, my problems is Why my REED avocado is not round and skin is not thick and hard to peel off.My landmark or location is 400 metre above sea level,friend of my grow the same REED with i have at the sea level above 800 metres up and shave of fruit is vary round most avocados grow in Thailand have flowers start from middle DEC.to middle of March most flowers pollination between JAN.thru March ,such as HASS,PINKERTON,,LAMBHASS,,RUSSELL Avocado flowers at same times but fruits pick up is difference time depend on types of avocados
Hi Matthew,
Did you plant a seed from a Reed avocado or did you plant a grafted Reed tree?
If you planted a grafted Reed tree, do you know who grafted it and where they got the scion wood from?
It’s very possible that you don’t have a Reed after all, or that the tree’s rootstock took over and the fruit you’re getting is from the rootstock. That said, avocado fruit does vary in shape and size when it’s grown in different locations. I just don’t know if a Reed could vary so much to be like yours.
Hi Greg! Last May we bought a 107 year old house with two avocado trees in the back. One is a Reed, easily 30ft , and the other is a Fuerte, about 25ft. Throughout the year that work was done on the house, we would be “gifted” with large Reeds plummeting to the ground, they were delicious. We have added landscaping, garden and irrigation to the backyard, and this summer both trees are laden, and are dropping (excess?) fruit. We use the paper bag and apple trick on the Fuerte, to good result, but the reeds just shrink up and wrinkle. In reading your article, I realize that these are going to be for next year, but is there a reason the early dropped fruit just shrivels? I hate for them to go to waste.
Thanks!
Hi Khymn,
What luck that you got those trees along with your new house! Unfortunately, anything that drops from your Reed between now and next May will be for the compost pile, as it will just shrivel as you described because it is immature. There’s nothing you can do about that.
Like other summer varieties, Reeds drop immature fruit all the way until proper harvest time. It’s just something to get used to. But if you compost the fruit and add the compost back under the tree later, then it doesn’t feel so wasted.
G’Day Greg, I come from the Land Downunder. Perth, Western Australia. Perth Climate is similar to yours but six months in front. Six years ago we planted a Cannon Ball seed & now tree is huge 20ft tall . We think it is bearing its first flower buds…think.. because they might be tiny tiny leaves but we watch closely. Our Cannonball lives alongside a Hass which is the same age & bearing a lot of flowers. But we are unsure if our Cannonball is flowering. Where can we find pictures of the flowering progress. Hope your Bushfires are soon under control.
Hello to you in Australia, Lou. I’ve always heard Perth has a similar climate. Towards the end of this post I have a couple photos of Pinkerton and Fuerte with emerging flower buds: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/grafting-a-pollenizer-branch-into-your-fruit-tree/
It can be hard to tell if buds are vegetative or floral much earlier than the stage shown in those photos, but in general the floral buds are fatter and less pointy on top.
Thank you for the well wishes regarding the fires.
I just planted an avocado orchard throughout my front and backyard in banning, ca also have a few existing older avocado trees.(2)20 yr old trees Mexicola Grande 10 ft tall only because top branches of it died back,( it’s the only one of all my avocado trees planted directly in heavy clay) and wurtz littlecado 12 ft tall on a raised mound, because my soil is heavy clay i cannot plant My avocados in the heavy clay soil This is what I have recently planted 2 holidays both growing on raised mounds one 5 gal from home depot one shipped from four winds growers they both are growing well for one year in the ground, 1 Jim bacon 5 gal from home depot in ground 1 year on raised mound, growing well. 2 lamb hass 1 year growing on a raised mound both from 5 gal home depot, 1 gwen 5 gal purchased from a private nursery off Craigslist in San Bernardino/highland growing well on a raised mound for one year, 1 zutano 5 gal from home depot growing on a raised mound for one year, and lastly a bacon and reed both 5 gal from home depot growing in fabric pot planters both just planted fall 2020, the bacon is in a 100 gallon, on the soil, i cut the bottom out of the smart pot so that the roots can go into the ground however the reed is in a 200 gallon fabric pot on a South facing concrete patio, do you think that this reed tree can be productive and stay in this fabric pot permanently? I’ve read that the roots get air pruned so there is no need to repot? Plus the pot is 5 feet in diameter and 3 feet deep. What is your experience or knowledge of growing avocado trees permanently in very large fabric pots? Do you think this would be productive? I’ve found that fabric pots dry out faster? I have all avocado trees on drip irrigation, some are on sprinkler system, plus I hand water.
Hi John,
I have no experience growing in fabric pots. The volume for roots in those containers are enough to grow a large tree for a potted tree. Because of that, I think you could keep the trees happy for many years.
My only other thought is that in a place like Banning you will eventually have a challenge on your hands in the summer when it’s 110 degrees and you have avocado trees with roots entirely filling their limited soil volume. As you know, avocado trees in the ground with unlimited rooting volume suffer in such heat so I’d expect the potted trees to suffer more as they have less access to soil moisture. I would try to shade the sides of the fabric pots or else, especially on the south sides, you probably won’t have any roots growing there because of the heat.
Hi Greg thanks for all the helpful info and pictures on your website I’ve found it very informative I just added a second 5 gal home depot reed in the ground on a mound to my avocado home orchard. and it is really growing vigorously
hi greg Thanks for the info i decided to replant the reed out of the fabric pot and into the ground in a mound as I was not able to find info on the internet about growing avocado trees to maturity in large fabric pots. It is growing nicely many new branching and height and new leaves feed it fish emulsion and Schultz liquid plant food in dilute almost everyday being that fits first year out of the pot.
I also purchased a mystery avocado that didn’t have a tag at home depot but it grew vigorously the first year and now 6 ft tall in its second year was wondering can you tell the cultivar/variety by examining the leaf only?
Hi John,
A few people can do this. I can sometimes identify an avocado variety by its leaves, but more often I can just eliminate the possibility of other varieties and narrow the options.
I just moved into a home with n avocado tree that is at lease 10-15 years old if not older.
I thought it was a Reed but the fruit is not totally round like the pictures but slightly oblong.
Very large and heavy.
Is it really a Reed or some other variety? Also some of the fruits have black spots what could Ido for that?
Thank you
Hi Marian,
Reeds can be slightly oblong. They’re rarely perfectly round. The fruit shape can be dependent on the climate the tree is grown in, among other factors. Where are you?
Do the black spots appear before or after you pick the fruit?
Last year was the first my Reed produced avocado’s. 12 in all, of which either the rats, possums or racoons got 8 of them. This year I made the mistake of not watering as much as I should have out of fear that my clay might be overwatered. So while I had a hugh fruit set all but 5 are left. Can you suggest any way I can protect them. Bags, tin foil, wire mesh, or perhaps the quart size black plastic nursery pots.
I spoke to a large avocado grower and they have the same problem. But he said they produce so many avocados they accept the loss of some of them to the critters.
Hi Ron,
I know that rats and squirrels will chew on avocados, but I’ve never seen raccoons or possums with my own two eyes — though I wouldn’t be surprised to see them chewing on avocados too.
I don’t know of anything that will stop these critters from eating avocados, except for keeping them out of the trees or killing them. I have kept possums out of a small apple tree through netting the entire canopy, but that’s likely impractical for your Reed.
If you don’t want to trap and kill, then I would try mesh bags over each fruit since you have so few, and maybe that will be just enough of a deterrent.
Hello Greg,
I’m so happy to read your posts. I do have a question for you: Once in a while, I swing by Starbucks where they save for me all used ground coffee from that morning, about 20 pounds easy. Then I just spread under the canopy of my avocados trees, not around the trunk. So far, I cant see any damages by doing this. Should I continue doing this?
Hi Carlos,
I do this too, or at least I used to when I visited coffee houses more often. I never saw anything negative from it except that if the grounds are thick they become hydrophobic so I would make sure to mix them with coarse wood chips to counter that.
Thank you for your great blog I have had a Reed for about 3 years. It had fruited the first year but after that there was no fruit. It would flower, then very small fruit would appear and later they would drop off. Is that a pollination problem or insects? I don’t have any other avocado trees. Thanks!
Hi Way,
It’s normal for small fruit to drop. It might be that the tree is still too small to carry many avocados. I like to wait until a tree is about as tall as me before I let it carry fruit to maturity; if you let it carry fruit earlier, you often stunt the tree to a degree and it can take a year or two for the tree to recover and fruit again.
Hi I am in Australia I have an avocado tree the fruit is the same round shape as the reed but when I pick my avocados mine ripen go a dark colour like the Hass, my tree has been grown from seed which was given to me by a avocado grower friend who has passed away and never did get the name of the type variety.
I was hoping that someone may know the name of this variety, I usually start picking in may, also missed picking some and were on till November because of the coastal climate they get a brownie tinge from sun burn as I live in a subtropical climate, or is this just a freak of nature they are very tasty, I have sliced and frozen them even after 12 months in freezer still tasty.
Bill from OZ the land down under
Hi Bill,
If the tree was grown from seed, then it is unique. You can give it a name of your own choosing. Sounds like a good variety.
Hi Greg,
Just picked up two 4′ Reeds from a Vista, CA nursery. Want to raise them in pots/containers until my son in a 3 to 4 years has his own house (LA) and then surprise him with mature-ish trees as a house warming gift. Would you have suggesting for potting soil, container, etc?
Hi Patrick,
I’ve been wanting to write a post about potting mixes for avocados — as well as growing avocados in pots generally — for years. Have to get to it!
Until then, I can say that there are lots of different mixes that I’ve seen people use successfully and that I have used also.
In terms of products that you can buy in a bag ready to go rather than mix ingredients yourself, I would use either GB Organics Blue Ribbon Blend Potting Soil or Recipe 420 Potting Soil.
As for a container, just make sure you increase the size incrementally. Don’t put small trees in giant containers. Also, don’t keep the trees in their current containers for too long.
Carefully slide the trees out of their current containers to see how many roots there are. If there are roots covering almost the entire sides of the mix then “pot them up.” If not, let them remain in that container for a while longer.
Three to four years is a long time though. You might need a forklift to transport those trees by then!
Thanks Greg, this good intel. Much appreciated.
Had my own Reed Avocado tree while living in Calif. Since moving out of state I have not been able to find a place to purchase Reed Avocado or even a Reed Avocado tree. Wish I had saved some seed. Have a perfect place for planting. Can anyone tell me where I can purchase for shipment to So./Cen. Texas?
Would purchase fruit in crate if someone can please tell me where to find an order. Fruit or Tree or both. I am interested. Please reply to email.
Hi Nina,
Every grower I know is out or almost out of Reeds just now. You’re a few weeks too late to get good Reeds shipped to you from Southern California, and I’m sorry but I don’t know anyone up north who ships Reeds. Next year in July, get in touch and I’ll sell you a box from my tree or I’ll connect you to a nearby farmer who will.
As for Reed trees, buy from Four Winds Growers (they ship avocado trees to Texas): https://www.fourwindsgrowers.com/products/reed-avocado
My Reed went into the ground in December 2019. It was about three feet tall. I planted it in an 8×8 cedar planter with an open bottom that I made–because my soil is hardpan. Now it’s Nov 2021 and not only is it a gorgeous, robust tree, but it bore about 30 fruits! The wind knocked off maybe 30% of the 2.5 inch fruits a couple of months ago, but what is left is beautiful! They are now about 5″ long, fat and glossy green. I love the healthy, full leaves too. It’s a wonderful tree for a beginner like me! Very gratifying. My other tree is a Sir Prize, and is also healthy, but not nearly as beautiful–and no fruit yet.
Love hearing this, Susan. Thanks for sharing. Wish you a great harvest next summer.
Hi Greg,
Thanks so much for all this info. It’s fantastic! Based on what you’ve written I’ve decided to get a Reed to compliment my Haas. The Haas is a 15 gallon I planted a year and a half ago that has been struggling for a multitude of reasons. I think it’ll be okay though. My question is should I wait until spring to plant a Reed, or can I plant one in the next month or so. Also, I’m planning on planting it where there is currently a mature apple tree (we have 3 and the apples aren’t that tasty). Are there any issues in planting in a location where there was recently another tree? I’ll of course take out the root ball but I’m not sure I can get to all the roots. Thanks!
PS – I live in the LA area
Hi Mike,
You’re welcome! You can plant the Reed now, but if your yard gets frosty in the winter sometimes you will want to be ready to protect the baby tree.
It’s okay to plant where the apple gets removed, but you will probably want to plant on a slight mound since the area might settle a bit as the apple crown and roots decompose over the next couple years. No need to try to dig out all the roots.
It so happens that I planted an avocado a couple years ago where I cut down an old apple in my own yard. The tree is an Ettinger and is growing well and now has its first crop.
My uncle James Sterling Reed. I grew up on
Reeds. My Aunt Dorothy Reed got a patient on the Reed after my uncle her husband died in 1964. Stress from having to sell the property that had the mother tree in Carlsbad Ca.
Hi Linda,
What a gift your aunt and uncle left us with! I’ve been meaning to try to visit the part of Carlsbad where I’ve been told the mother tree grew. It is the favorite variety of many California commercial avocado farmers today. That is saying a lot.
Thank you Greg for your awesome post on the Reeds. The city forced them to sell as they wanted the property for the School to expand. I went back to the homestead in Carlsbad several years ago. So sad for me. Part of the house was used in the school. Where the house and grove were is now totally unrecognizable. I have many precious pictures. They bought property in Fallbrook which is now 4014 Rancho Mia. The property was subdivided after Dorothy passed.
Oops the property is 1441 Rancho Mia not 4014
I’ve got some Reeds that have been on my tree that formed last year. When can I pick them? They are big and are not changing in size. I’m in SD.
Thank you
Hi Matt,
I’d wait until June to test one although they can taste acceptable in May sometimes.
Okay thx. I’ve had a semi hard Reed and didnt like it, so think I’ll wait.
Hi Greg,
I am a fellow Reed avocado lover and,. I enjoyed your informative essay about the tree. I liked them so much that I grew a tree from a seed that is now about 10 feet tall. There is one question about avocado trees that has never been answered for me. I have read that Reed avocado trees must be grafted to root stock of another tree. Is this true? Is that why my tree has never produced flowers or fruit? If so, what is the reason? Nobody has ever explained why grafting is necessary.
Hi June,
I believe your questions are answered in these two posts:
https://gregalder.com/yardposts/what-kind-of-avocado-tree-do-you-get-when-you-plant-a-seed/
https://gregalder.com/yardposts/fruit-tree-grafted/
Hi Greg, I’m in San Gabriel Valley, can you please tell me what month I can expect my Kona Sharwil to flower? I know Reed doesn’t need a pollinator, but will it cross pollinate with my Reed, Carmen, GEM or Jan Boyce? My neighbor has a Fuerte which I believe is cross-pollinating with my Carmen and GEM now. I still have space, so if you have a recommendation as to my next avocado tree, I welcome it! Thank you
Hi Byron,
My Sharwil is blooming now (although not as much as I’d like!). Sharwil blooms from about March into May, but you can get some flowers a bit earlier too.
Yes, Sharwil’s bloom will overlap some with all of those varieties.
You have a fantastic array of varieties already. I might add a Gwen to that lineup for my next tree.
Hi Greg,
Thanks for creating such a wonderful resource for beginners like myself! Wasn’t sure where to ask this question so commenting on this article and hoping you will see.
Last year we bought a house in Altadena with a large Avocado tree in the backyard. The tree is approximately 25ft x 25ft and produces a lot (250+) of avocados. Based on what I’ve read on your site I’m reasonably sure it is a Fuerte avocado tree. The only thing that is ‘unusual’ is that the fruit seem to be ready more in spring that in winter. This year, March has been our biggest harvest.
I would like to plant an additional avocado tree in the front yard and was wondering if you had a recommendation. Since our Fuerte produces in the spring, I figured a Haas might produce much of it’s fruit during the same time, and am leaning towards planting a Reed. Any thoughts on this approach? Any other recommendations?
Thanks very much!
Andrew
P.S. My wife grew up in Ramona and we visit her parents there often. Every time we drive through my eyes are peeled looking for a grove of avocado trees I might recognize.
Hi Greg, I have a young Reed I planted in Nov 2020 from a 5 gallon container. It didn’t do much of anything until this spring in terms of growing, but has always looked nice. This spring it’s now taking off, has flowered and has many young fruit on it. I’m located in Santa Barbara. From your post, I was surprised how much “ahead” of schedule it seems to trees in San Diego. I’m not necessarily looking for fruit, and am guessing it will mostly or all fall off. If it doesn’t prune itself naturally, I’d plan on letting it carry 2 fruit, just to see what happens.
My Reed pit is producing three sprouts. I live in Hemet. I’m not concerned about Hemet, but what do I do about t he three 2″ sprouts?
Hi Bruce,
“I’m not concerned about Hemet.” I love that.
Avocado seeds sometimes do this, especially if an initial sprout gets damaged. You can let all three grow or remove one or two. It just depends on what kind of tree you want to grow. Here’s an example of an avocado tree with multiple trunks: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/the-story-of-one-avocado-tree-that-sprouted-from-a-compost-heap/
We have a Reed tree about 30 feet tall here on the island of Kauai. This is the first year it has produced though it was here on the property in 2005 when we moved in. We have recently gotten some very large avocados—2.8 pounds and a girth of over 15 inches. The fruit is delicious! The climate here is perfect for avocados and we have not been watering or fertilizing our tree since 2006. Thank you for the info about the history of this great avocado!
Hi, Greg. I have avocados on my Reed and admit I’ve lost track of their progress this year. How big are next summer’s Reeds right now? If one’s I pick don’t shrivel and seem to have good fat content, I can assume they are holdovers from this year’s crop?
Funny timing with this question, John. Just the other day I found a couple of avocados on the ground under my Reed tree. I thought they were young fruit that had dropped because they weren’t as big as mature Reeds normally are, but then they ripened in the kitchen without any shrivel. I cut them open to find that they were late fruit that I must have not seen high up in the canopy when harvesting the last few months. They were delicious; their seeds were only slightly sprouted inside.
This time of year it becomes hard to distinguish between old and new crop on Reeds. Individual avocados of each can be the same size although on average the old crop fruit will certainly be larger.
Besides size, the characteristics that I use to distinguish old from new crop are the dullness of the skin and the color of the stem. Old crop will not have shiny skin compared to new crop. The old crop skin will also be more of an army green compared to the lighter, yellower green of new crop. The stem connecting new crop fruit will also be lighter green compared to darker green old crop stems.
Hey Greg
I have a enjoyed your avocado content for a few years abd really appreciated your in depth write ups and videos.
You inspired me to hunt down mexicola in Australia which is extremely rare here.
Do you remember the name of the reed farm that had the trees at 5ft spacings? I am considering doing a small high density planting of them here in oz and and looking to find out more information about the california farms which grow them.
Regards,
Sam Gardner
Hi Sam,
That’s very cool. I do know the farm with Reeds at 5 feet apart. Unfortunately, you won’t find any information about them online. You should check out this article from Reuben Hofshi, who pioneered planting Reeds at high density: https://www.avocadosource.com/papers/research_articles/hofshireuben.1999.pdf
Hi Greg,
Thanks for your article. As a result I bought a Reed about a year ago and it has been doing very well (I live in the LA area in SoCal). However, it is a tall and skinny young tree; about 6 feet tall. It has been tied to a fat stake that it came with from the nursery until about 6-8 weeks ago when it snapped in one of those storms we had. The trunk bent completely over, but did not snap. I re-stakes it with a bunch of flexible skinnier metal stakes, but they are shorter and the top flops around, especially in the wind. It doesn’t seem to have sustained real damage. What do you recommend I do? Should I just get another heavy duty stake, or is there some way to gently ween this thing off the stakes? I hesitate to cut the top because it seems to be a central leader. Too skinny, too tall and top-heavy. Advice please. Thanks so much!
Greg, I have a Reed that’s about 3-4 years old. It’s flowering and has its first main crop of about 25 fruit. The avocados are large and starting to drop now. The seeds inside are just starting to sprout. They taste delicious and I’m not complaining, I just I thought they were supposed to be ready in the summer into the fall. I live in Mission Viejo. Did the wet weather this winter cause this? Is this normal for reeds?
Hi Eric,
It’s not unusual for Reeds to drop a few fruit in April and May, before they reach their peak flavor. I am surprised there are sprouting seeds inside though. Maybe your tree set fruit a little earlier than normal last spring, or maybe it’s because your tree is young. Sometimes avocados can mature faster (and not hang as long) on young trees because they are exposed to more warmth since they’re not deep inside a large canopy — at least that is the reason I have always given to explain the phenomenon.
I just reread this page and watched the Reed video again Greg. I’m in Santa Barbara, was starting to be tempted to pick one of the 7 fruit from my Reed, but now will hold off for at least a couple of months.
Here’s a question if you have time. In the video, you mentioned early set and late set fruits, and how they would spread the harvest season out. I’m guessing the only way to tell them apart the following year is my their skin? Earlier set fruits may be duller than the shinier late set fruit? I just compared the skin of a couple of Hass that I picked today to the Reeds on the tree, and I can convince myself there’s a bit of a difference in shiny vs dull, but it’s not very obvious to me. Maybe those Hass (11.5 and 13.5 oz fruit) could have hung longer, but their gone be very good I know.
Hi Matt,
Thanks a lot for your support!
I wish there were a simple way to tell the most mature avocados on a Reed tree (or any other type) but I don’t know of one. Here are some clues though: the bigger the fruit the more mature, usually; the duller the skin the more mature; the corkier (brown lenticels) the skin the more mature; the more the stem is yellow or brown (vs. green) the more mature; and sometimes the fruit near the outside of the canopy matures earlier.
You’re welcome Greg, I definitely have learned a ton reading your posts and responses to questions.
And thanks for these other signs that indicate a more mature fruit!
Greg,
3 or 4 years ago I planted two 5-gallon avocados in North Tustin, CA around 10 ft apart: a Sir Prize and a Reed on a sunny, south facing well-drained slope. Each is watered with a microsprinkler fairly frequently. The issue is, the Sir Prize has been growing great and produces a few fruit per season, but the Reed is still tiny and wimpy with just a few branches. It now has many buds, but hasn’t produced any fruit — I suspect it’s too small yet. I long ago painted the tops of the exposed branches with white latex paint to prevent sunburn.
What am I doing wrong? The contrast between the two trees is huge. The soil and conditions are identical.
From where I can purchase Reed Avocado seeds other good varieties ( good for tropical enviorment )
Hi, Greg:
Not sure why, but some of my Reeds start dropping in their second spring, as early as late April when under heavy flowering. I never know if it’s underwatering or overwatering, but I seem to think that any changes to moisture and mulch makes my Reed and Carmen Hass drop some fruit in April. Any suggestions?
Greg – My Reed Avocados appear to show signs of shrinking and are no longer completely round, they almost have divisions in them like you see when you peel an orange. This is on the outside of the fruit that won’t be mature until next summer. Any idea what this could be? We live in Alamo, CA and temps have been in the low 40’s during the night.
Hi Greg, in one of your YouTube videos I think I remember you talked about the Reed dropping fruit (or you had a branch break) and you were able to ripen the fruit on the counter and they still turned out delicious. Do you think that Reed could potentially be harvested early and eaten that way? I’m thinking this could give more like a half-year harvest period or more if the fruit is good.
Hi Ariel,
Reeds will ripen with acceptable texture from about April. So any that drop from a tree then can be eaten. But it’s only in about July that Reeds get their flavor.
If you just want that buttery texture from Reed, then yes, you can harvest them for around six months out of the year (April-September). If you’re looking for texture plus flavor, then the window narrows to more like 3-4 months.
So let me see if I have this right as to the Reed avocado:
year x = fruit will set from flowers;
year x+1 : fruit will set from flowers, while right next to the x+1 fruit will be fruit from year x (year x fruit to be picked later that summer);
year x+2 : fruit will set from flowers, while right next to the x+2 fruit will be fruit from year x+1 (year x+1 fruit to be picked later that summer);
etc., etc.
Is that correct?
Thank you so much for this extended article about Reed trees & fruit. About twelve years ago I moved into a senior community in San Marcos, California, where I have limited yard space and the HOA requirement is to keep trees at or below roof height. In my case that means below about fifteen feet. My yard already had a mature naval orange & a mature Valencia orange, so there isn’t room for much more in the way of fruit trees. But am a San Diego native, raised since childhood with sprouting avocado seeds for fun, so I sprouted a Reed seed shortly after moving here. As the little tree grew, I gradually moved it from pot to pot until it was finally of a size that required going into the ground. That was about ten years ago and I never really expected to have more than an attractive tree, but this past Spring it flowered for the first time & I have five visible fruits about the size of walnuts! So I can attest that Reed trees planted from seed can eventually fruit & don’t require a neighboring tree to pollinate & be fruitful. From your article I see that I will be able to prune this tree to keep it’s size small without harm to the tree or its fruitfulness & that it will take a full year for the avocados to reach maturity. Also loved your photos & videos. Thank you again so much!
Hi Sally,
Thank you very much for your support and for the story of your tree!
Since your tree grew from a Reed seed, it will be different from a Reed; it might be very different or it might be almost the same. Check out this post on the topic: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/what-kind-of-avocado-tree-do-you-get-when-you-plant-a-seed/
All the same, you will be able to keep it small enough to meet the HOA demands and still get plenty of fruit. Can’t wait to see what the fruit is like.
Hi Greg. I came across your site, when looking for the height of a Reed avocado. Our tree is already about 29-25 feet tall! We live in the Algarve in Portugal, and I’m wondering if I need to cut it back? It is less than 1 mt from the house, and looms 6 feet above the roof. We get about 2-300 fruit per year off it. It makes a lovely shade. Gets a lot of wind damage, so not a pretty as yours. We LOVE it! Been here 3 years. I only water it once a week, as there is a water shortage here. We lose a lot of avocados, but only 2 of us, so still plenty for others. Many thanks for all your info! 😘
Hi Tamar,
Sure sounds like your Reed is happy. Cut it back to whatever height you want, or never cut it back: the tree doesn’t care. Do what suits your needs. If you cut it back, the tree would use less water, which sounds like it might be helpful considering your shortage.
Thanks Greg. I will. 😄
By the way, first year here, we are out last Reed at Christmas!