Below is my Bacon avocado tree, which is older than me. I don’t know who planted it, and it’s on public property.
Okay, so this isn’t officially my Bacon avocado tree, but it feels like that sometimes because I’ve been picking its fruit and paying attention to it for more than a decade when almost no one else has. More on this specific Bacon avocado tree later.
For now, let’s aim towards answering the question of whether you might like to plant a Bacon avocado tree in your own yard through discovering the variety’s history, strengths, growth and bearing habits, and first and foremost, the fruit’s taste.
Fruit description
A Bacon avocado has green skin with bright yellow dots, and the bottom end often has a dark spot, but the skin doesn’t change color overall as it ripens. The shape of the fruit is oval, similar to a giant egg. And Bacon avocados are bigger, on average, than Hass although not as big as Reed.
Cutting open a Bacon avocado leaves you with the impression that its seed is medium to large and its flesh is pale yellow. There’s not much green even at the perimeter of the flesh of a Bacon, especially compared to some varieties like Lamb.
Scooping it out to eat, you feel how smooth, creamy, buttery the texture is. That texture is Bacon’s prime distinguishing characteristic. But you also notice how thin the skin is. It’s annoyingly thin, and the skin won’t peel easily yet a spoon easily, accidentally cuts into it.
I like to use my Bacon avocados as slices on sandwiches or toast. On toast, I often add a dash of hot sauce.
I prefer other avocado varieties for guacamole or as cubes in a salad. In these instances I want a stronger flavor; Bacon is too mild. Bacon’s smooth texture is superior but the flavor is subtle, with a hint of sweetness. It is not the strong, anise-type flavor of a Mexicola, nor the nutty rich flavor of a Fuerte or Hass.
Some people call Bacons bland. They are indeed relatively bland. But Bacon’s texture in combination with its taste is preferred by some, especially in certain situations. My kids and I love to sit down in the yard and share slices of Bacon avocados drizzled with lime juice.
Once I attended an avocado tasting in May that featured about a dozen varieties, and more than one taster ranked Bacon first.
Here is a short video I made profiling the eating qualities of Bacon avocados:
Variety history
Nothing to do with cured pork, these avocados are named after James E. Bacon, who grew the original seedling tree of this variety on his ranch in Buena Park right by Knott’s Berry Farm. The seed was said to have been planted about 1928, and it was registered with the California Avocado Society in 1948.
In the 1950s, Bacon avocado trees began to make an impression on the industry, at least in Orange County. From an article in 1957: “A vigorous, upright newcomer, the Bacon is challenging the Fuerte in the colder areas of this county. It’s showing real promise.”
In the 1960s, growers continued to see a positive future for the Bacon variety. “The fruit is of excellent quality,” said one farm advisor in 1967. “The Bacon trees observed were outstanding in their ability to endure a severe freeze,” said a farmer in 1969.
But by 1983, the original Bacon tree was no more. “A motel is now on the site,” it was reported in that year’s California Avocado Society Yearbook.
Anyway, a few years later, commercial avocado growers grew sour on the Bacon variety. As Oliver Atkins, avocado nurseryman, put it in his Report of the Variety Committee: “It is to be hoped that 1987 will see the complete elimination of the Jim and the grafting over or abandonment of a large portion of the remaining Zutanos and Bacons.”
(Jim is the other avocado variety that James E. Bacon developed and named after himself. It is actually a seedling of Bacon. And the Jim avocado is sometimes referred to as the Jim Bacon avocado, which can be very confusing.)
What happened between the 1950s and the 1980s such that Oliver Atkins hoped that farmers would grow fewer Bacon avocados? The main thing was that the market for green thinskin avocados dried up as people got used to eating the black, thick-skinned Hass.
Today, if a farmer plants a Bacon tree it is almost exclusively to be used as a pollenizer for Hass, not to produce Bacon fruit to sell. But home gardeners continue to plant Bacon avocado trees for the fruit and as pollenizers, and for other good reasons.
Tree shape and appearance
Bacon avocado trees are among the most attractive with their exceptionally deep green foliage.
The trees also have a more upright shape than most avocado varieties. Young Bacon avocado trees often look like Christmas trees; they stand tall and erect compared to, say, Hass or Fuerte.
Tolerances and vulnerabilities
Bacon trees show some resistance to the leaf burn due to insufficient watering or poor water quality that often plagues other varieties during fall and winter in Southern California, but most people prize Bacon’s ability to take cold winter nights more. Oliver Atkins once characterized Bacon as “a beautiful hardy tree that stands the cold.” Because of this cold tolerance, growers in the central and northern parts of California are particularly drawn to Bacon.
The variety is commonly said to handle dips down to 24 degrees. It has never dipped down to 24 since I’ve been observing Bacon trees, but I have observed that dips just a bit below 30 have not damaged Bacons.
Bearing habits
Bacon is a productive avocado variety. Moreover, I have observed Bacon avocado trees producing well alone, without nearby A-type avocado trees for cross-pollination.
Bacon as pollenizer
Yet, Bacon seems to be a good pollenizer for A-type avocado trees in order to enhance the fruitfulness of those varieties. As far as my own observations go, I’ve noticed both Pinkerton and Hass trees producing very well when planted beside a Bacon tree.
But since farmers mostly grow Hass these days, formal studies have mostly been done on Hass. In a study in the 1980s, Bacon was found to increase the yield of a grove of Hass avocado trees by almost 50% compared to a nearby grove that did not contain any Bacon trees. (Reported in the California Avocado Society 1986 Yearbook.)
That being said, Bacon isn’t the only B type that can do a good job of providing pollen for A types. In fact, in one study Bacon increased the yield of Hass trees the least compared to six other B types (Zutano, Marvel, Ettinger, Fuerte, Nabal, and SirPrize). (“The California Cross Pollination Experiment.”)
Nevertheless, one might still choose to plant a Bacon over another B-type avocado tree because Bacon tastes better (vs. Zutano), handles cold better (vs. Nabal), has better tree structure (vs. SirPrize), or is likely to bear more of its own fruit (vs. Fuerte and Marvel).
Harvest season
Bacon also has the advantage of being mature and ready for harvest earlier than most other avocado varieties. I associate the beginning of Bacon’s harvest season with Halloween because in most years Bacon starts to taste acceptable on that date.
Bacon avocados usually taste their best starting just after Christmas in inland Southern California. Close to the beach and farther north, you might find Bacons tasting their best a month or two later. As I mentioned earlier, Bacons grown near the coast have seriously impressed taste testers in May.
I’ve picked good Bacon avocados from inland trees in March, but by that time they often begin to deteriorate while still hanging on the tree. The bottom of the fruit begins to crack and spoil.
So the Bacon harvest season runs roughly four months, but is at peak for only about two. That’s not long for an avocado variety, especially compared to a super-hanger like Hass, which will have fruit hanging on the tree up near peak taste for twice as long.
Is Bacon a fit for your yard?
You might consider planting a Bacon avocado tree in your yard if you want avocados to pick in winter. If you already have a spring or summer variety like Hass or Lamb, then a Bacon tree would add a few months of fruit to the beginning of your avocado year.
But you probably wouldn’t want to plant a Bacon as your only avocado tree. There are other varieties that produce as many or more avocados and have a longer harvest season. That’s the kind of tree that you want as your only tree. An exception might be if you live in a location that gets too cold to grow such a variety.
You also probably wouldn’t want to plant a Bacon tree unless you’ve tasted a Bacon avocado. They’re significantly different from Hass. In other words, they’re different from what most of us are used to. My sister-in-law loves Hass and avocado varieties that are similar to Hass, but she won’t even accept free Bacon avocados when I offer. She finds them unacceptably bland.
(Where to find a Bacon avocado to try? Farmer’s markets are your best bet.)
My Bacon avocado trees
I have other avocado trees in my yard, but I don’t have a Bacon because of the trees that I’ve adopted that I mentioned at the beginning of this profile. Yes, I meant trees, plural. There are actually a handful of those old Bacon avocado trees from which I can pick.
They are growing on the edge of the grounds of an elementary school in the town where I grew up. Like much of Southern California, my hometown was once filled with citrus and avocado groves before it was filled with houses and schools. Luckily in this case, the chainsaws and bulldozers spared some of the old fruit trees as the town morphed from agricultural to suburban.
When I visit my family during winter, I also visit my Bacons. I pick, and I share. In fact, I often recruit my family to join me in the Bacon picking and sharing.
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Nice write up. Thanks Greg! I don’t know if you recall, but I wrote you a couple weeks back about a tree I bought that I thought was reed- well, it’s actually bacon. And I agree with everything you say about taste- it is bland but creamy. Thanks again!
Hi Vincent,
Yes, of course I remember! My conversation with you was one of the inspirations to write this Bacon profile now. Thanks for the prompting.
What about Mexicola Grande Avocado quality n growth?
Hi Augustine,
I don’t have a lot of experience with Mexicola Grande. I don’t grow it myself. But of the trees I know elsewhere and of the fruit I have eaten, I can say that it’s a fast growing variety and the fruit tastes very good compared to the other varieties that are available in its season (roughly, October/November in Southern California).
The fruit is bigger than Mexicola but doesn’t have the anise background of Mexicola. The fruit is rich in flavor but not quite as tasty as Stewart. Compared to Bacon, Mexicola Grande matures earlier but has the downside of a seed whose seedcoat sticks to the flesh sometimes. Also, the fruit doesn’t hang on the tree as long as Bacon.
Hi, I bought my Bacon avocado tree about 9 or 10 years ago from a Home depot store in North Central Florida. It was about three feet high. It started bearing the second year after I got it. It is now 30 feet wide and towers over my pool cage. I am surprised that so many people say that they don’t like the flavor of the Bacon Avocado. I really like bot the flavor and consistency of mine very much. Perhaps bacons grown in Florida taste differently. It seems to have two different types of fruit on it. A smooth skinned very thin skinned one that has to be peeled like a pear with a knife, and a rougher skinned one that the skin can be easily peeled off. I have a huge crop this year. Mine bloom in January and seem good to eat between mid August and end of Oct. After that the ends start splitting on the tree. We get occasional freezes in this part of Florida. We have had some down as low as 28 which did no harm. Two years ago we got down in the low 20s for a couple of nights. Lost my blooms and a lot of the leaves but the tree survived and has at least 150 avocados on it this year. I have tried Florida avocados and they won’t take below 32. I have a couple of dozen trees grown from the seeds of my bacon. Do you think that they might some day produce fruit?
Greg, as usual, you are right on the money about Bacon Avocado from my experience. A friend bought an avocado groove in Ramona about 15 years ago – mostly Hass. I was helping him pick when I saw the large avocados and grabbed some. They looked good, but were not worth eating – he told me they were Bacon and for pollenating. I wouldn’t waste the planting space with a Bacon. I bought a Zutano based upon the falsehood on the tree label. It was just as lousy as a Bacon. I dug it up and grafted Reed to it. For your readers – I think the best tasting is Reed. Hass has the most positive attributes, turns dark when ripening, thick skin, not the best taste, but very good, dependable, no strings – veins, very productive, decent size. Fuerte is great tasting, but the large seed is a negative and they tend to be a little stringy. I started picking Fuerte 11-1-19 and that is all I have available now and I usually eat 1 a day until Hass is ready. My other B type I grew from a seed. I named it after my self – the Cadway Cado. It is about the same size as a Hass, thick skin, small to medium seed, great taste better than Hass, not stringy, does not brown (oxidize) like Hass, The Cadway Cado tree is upright like a xmas tree and side by side with a Hass tree it is twice as vigorous. The downside is alternate bearing – heavy crop every other year – but that could be my soil as well. If anyone is interested in a cutting to graft let me know at rick@cadway.net
Thanks, Rick. When is your Cadway’s harvest season?
I started picking Cadway Cados in Feb – a little early and will pick for another few months.
Hi Greg,
Great article. I’ve read a few this morning in my quest to figure out what variety of avocados my two trees are. My trees are large (two stories tall. The trunks are easily 20″ diameter. My husband has lived in this house for 40 years and it was his grandfathers house before that since the mid 60s. The trees trees were very large mature trees when he bought it. House was built in 1934 so I’m assuming they were planted sometime in the late 30s to 40s. I’m in the South Bay in southern California and it’s mid February the trees are flowering like crazy now. We get fruit each year but it alternates with one year being a huge crop and the next being much smaller. The cados stay green…pretty smooth but not shiny. Very very thin skinned (I have to peel them). Flavor is very much as you described the bacon variety to be..mild but so very creamy buttery and a little sweet. We love them. Because of your article here I’m heavily leaning towards them being Bacon trees but we typically get fruit from these in late summer to early fall not winter and the cados themselves can be pretty small to medium sized ( which I feel is on us and part of the reason I’m hoping to figure out what we have to better care for them). My husband says that when he was younger the avos were much much bigger than what we get now (like baseball sized). Any ideas?
Hi Neesi,
You’re in the South Bay of L.A. or San Diego? Sometimes avocado trees do make slightly larger fruit when they’re younger; they also make larger fruit depending on the weather and irrigation and general health of the tree or whether or not there is a heavy or light crop (light crops usually have larger fruit).
If it were my tree, I would prune it way back. I would use a chain saw to cut some of the bad heavy branches about 12 to 24 inches from the trunk and reduce the tree size to 50%. I would wait for new growth and larger and healthier fruit. Also, white wash any trunk and branches that face the hottest sun of the summer. To identify your fruit there are websites with charts you can compare the pictures to your fruit. Many times trees that are ignored will grow root stock into tree limbs and the graft can die off. You can also research what varieties were available and popular when your tree was planted. If the fruit tastes good without the negatives like strings – good to go!
Would the bacon avocados be okay to pick now? In early Oct.
Hi Omar,
I doubt Bacons would taste very good yet, but maybe your location is very early. If you have many, then try just one to see if it ripens well and tastes good to you.
Richard,
I will be planting a GEM avocado in the ground as soon as it dries a little after the heavy rains we just had and I would like to graft a B-Type pollenizer cutting sometime in March per Greg recommendations. I have a 4 year old Bacon in my yard that i bought together with Hass which I removed due to its high susceptibility to mite damage. Greg’s assessment of Bacon is spot on. I don’t mind the bland and somewhat sweet taste but the super thin skin is probably it’s worst characteristics. I will save your email and will contact around March next year for the cutting. My other choice for B-type graft would be Sir Prize but your home grown Cadway Cado intrigues me. When does it mature?
I have read about the GEM avocado and would like to grow one. Where did you get your GEM?
Hi Ines,
Greg here. If you’re in Southern California, the only reliable place to buy a GEM avocado tree that I know of is Subtropica Nurseries in Fallbrook, San Diego County. See their website here: https://www.subtropicanurseries.com/
Ines,
like Greg already mentioned in his reply I too bought it from the Subtropica Nursery fruit stand in Fallbrook. I bought the one on cloned rootstock which is resistant to salt and root rot. It has been in the ground now for 6 weeks. Has not grown much yet but it is healthy.
I would like to add a comment on 4 year old Bacon tree in my yard.
We had 22 fruits and just now we are finishing the harvest. I wanted to know how does it perform when picked in January so I was not picking every day. Interestingly my daughter prefers the taste of our avocados to any store bought. The fruits got little bigger since the Thanksgiving with smallest one being 245 g and largest one 400 g. The pits are quite large and skin too soft to reliably use spoon. Probably the best way is to peel the skin.
In 2019 I was picking my Cadway Cado up until July. I started in Feb, but probably better to pick in March. For some reason several years ago I was picking starting in Dec thru March along with Fuerte, but it has changed maybe due to weather or due to giving Epsom salts and gypsum.
Here is a tip – I live in a gated community on a hillside in 92120. There are rats that live in all the Ivy. I have noticed that no matter what fruit you have, they will tell you which is the sweetest and best tasting by eating those first and leaving remnants. For example, I grow many tangerines. I saw rind chewings under the Tahoe Gold tree – sure enough – those were ready. Then they chewed the Pixie. Then the Tarroco blood oranges, then the Cara Cara oranges. If you have a rat problem, then plant Gold Nugget tangerines – they don’t seem to bother them, but if there is nothing else to eat they will eat anything including rat poison. I think the Reed Avocado has the toughest skin and only see an occasional nibble on them. Not much chewing on the Cadway Cado or the Hass, but they will sit in the Fuerte tree and eat half a cado and move onto another, I guess because they are thin skin.
I live in Davis near Sacramento and a friend has a mature Bacon tree. You are right. It’s an attractive tree. My wife and I thought the fruit were very good. I have a young tree in the ground. Thanks for the article!
Hi Bob,
Thanks for sharing that. I’ve long been wondering about which avocado varieties do well in the Davis and Sacramento area.
I live in granite bay, NE of Sacramento. I have a bacon avocado tree I grow from seed. It flowered in spring 2020, and now I am picking lots of fruits from it. I think the bacon flavor is excellent: sweet, rich, buttery, and exceptionally creamy. Bacon’s flavor is more memorable than Haas’.
does Bacon pit grows true from seed ?
Avocados in general don’t grow true from seed, including Bacon.
Hi Than,
I’m also in Granite Bay and plan to plant some avocados. How long did your Bacon seedling take to produce fruit? During which months are the fruit ripe?
to Warren from Granite Bay:
I started my avocado from > seed in a cup > planted in a pot for one – two years > planted in ground, it took off and grew 15 ft tall in two – three years > it started to flower but no fruit the first two seasons > third season flowers covered the whole tree around March – April 2020, and I collected about 200 ripe avocados around Jan – Feb 2021. During 2021 summer, new growth almost double the tree size. However, there’s not a single flower in 2021. I read that Bacon bear fruits every other year.
I originally bought my avocados from the farm stands and I didn’t know what type it was. However, I like the taste so I planted the seed. The fruits match the Bacon variety descriptions. I have two other avocado trees also from seeds, but these two trees are smaller in size and had few flowers but no fruits, yet!!
Hi so when we moved into our current home there was a small avocado tree in the front yard. Didn’t know which type until former owner explained it was a Bacon variety. The tree is now about fifteen feet tall and approximately 23 years old. We live in the Bay Area. A very good producer of fruit. And I have everyone in my world wanting them. They love them to no end. The only exception is my daughter who likes Hass. It’s a beautiful tree as well. Just thought I would give my two cents in support of the Bacon variety and it’s popularity with the friends and coworkers in my world.
Hi Rick yes I’m interested, I’ve tried many time but haven’t been successful.
Very good description of this avocado. I’m guessing you’ll be doing this with other varieties as well. Can you make mention of whether or not the leaves are suitable for cooking per variety. I forgot whether it’s full Mexican or full Guatemalan that you can use as seasonings. One or the other is toxic.
Hi Bob,
Thanks. My plan is to profile another avocado variety every few months, but I will only profile varieties that I know well and grow in my yard (with some minor exceptions such as Bacon!). So far, I’ve done Reed, Lamb, and now Bacon. I think Fuerte or Hass or Pinkerton will be next. My goal is to eventually have profiles for all common varieties, as well as worthy-but-less-common varieties, so that folks can make informed choices as to which variety is best suited to their situation and their yard.
I’ve never used avocado leaves for cooking, actually. So I can only tell you what I’ve read, which is that “Mexican” varieties are used in that way. “Guatemalan” varieties are said to be toxic. I have no idea if any of this is true though.
What anyone even means by “Mexican” or “Guatemalan” varieties of avocado is also a huge question: people use these terms in varied and often vague ways.
Wow, thanks guys for this awesome caddo advice. Helps tremendously. Greg thanks for that nice history lesson on the bacon. I must admit my confusion on using the bacon as a pollenizer at all if (for me) the bottom line with any ? is taste. There ARE a lot of “pros” but the one “con” …TASTE has me looking for other type B varieties. Great article thank you Greg for writing the fantastic profile and most importantly for sharing your avocado wisdom with us. I’m constantly looking for other growers personal/practical experiences. Much appreciated!
Bland but creamy is right. Its good on chips with salt and siracha sauce or toast with salt and siracha or garlic powder.
For this time of year, its the best thing going. Theres not reeds or other more oily avocados around now so that argument isnt very useful. Unless you are limited to one tree. But then it would also make an excellent only tree to also graft other types onto. The column shape doesnt take up much space.
One other thing to add, the skin is very thin but if the fruit is soft the skin peels easily. Ive been surprised how nicely they peel.
I think bacon is good enough that the stewart and mexicolas are not worth growing. This is my favorite fruit for november/december.
Hi Brad,
Thanks for adding the idea of using a Bacon tree to graft on other varieties. I forgot to mention it. Great idea.
I have also heard that Bacon is resistant to Persea mites, and that grafting a branch into another tree affords that tree protection as well. What has your experience been?
Hi Cynthia,
I’ve never heard of this idea although I’ve certainly observed that persea mites like some avocado varieties more than others. I’ll look out for trees that have Bacon grafted on, but such trees are not common. I have a couple, actually, but there are almost zero persea mites on my trees so they are not useful to observe for this effect.
We love our 5 year old 12′ Bacon! Here in Lakeside have been harvesting since Oct. 14, 25 fruits so far with about 20 on the tree. So much better that the cheap imported “Hass” from COSTCO. Are you sure the “Jim Bacon” was developed by him? On the UC Avocado Variety List (with over 1000 varieties) there is no “Jim Bacon”, only “Jim” attributed to John M. Reinecke 1943, at the bottom of the citation is the note, “(J.R. Frink 1998) (=Jim Bacon).” Could you clear this up? I’ve spent hours on the net trying to determine the facts……
Hi Frank,
Good point about Bacons from your tree being better than the imported Hass in stores. Even if you like Hass better than Bacon in general, you can’t get good Hass now unless you’re buying late-season fruit from growers up on the Central Coast (Morro Bay, e.g.).
Glad you brought up the entry in the Avocado Variety Database. I hadn’t seen that. My guess is that Julie Frink got things mixed up when writing that entry for Jim. Here is a link to the Database, in case anyone else would like to read the entry.
The information that seems to add clarity is found in the 1975-76 Yearbook of the California Avocado Society, which has a description of the Jim variety, saying it was a seedling of Bacon and originally grew on the property of James E. Bacon. The photo of the fruit looks like all of the Jim avocados that I’ve ever seen. Yet this article includes an important note: “A seedling variety named ‘Jim’ was registered with the Society in 1943 (1950 Yearbook pg. 191). It was rated as an inferior fruit with uneven ripening and a very large seed. To our knowledge it has never been propagated.”
So the story might be that John M. Reinecke grew a seedling in San Diego that he called Jim first, and he registered it with the California Avocado Society in 1943. But the fruit/tree never became popular.
Then a couple decades later, in 1961, James E. Bacon grew a seedling of his Bacon variety that he also registered with the name Jim, and apparently the C.A.S. allowed it because Reinecke’s variety called Jim had already become obsolete.
Then when Julie Frink was compiling the Database entry she accidentally combined information on the two distinct varieties called Jim. That could easily be done. There should never have been allowed two varieties registered with the same name.
Now I’ll try to contact Julie and some others who might be able to confirm if this story is right or nuts!
Thanks, this clears it up. Good news as a few weeks ago I planted 2 “Jim Bacons” as the article in the 1984 CAS year book by Bob Bergh spoke so highly of “Jim”, “best of the early varities combining the better quality of the Bacon and the productivity of Zutano on a tree superior to them.”
Greg, we have a bacon avocado tree which is very healthy and produces many flowers but zero avocados. We have had it 6 years and it was 3-5 years old when it was planted. It is surrounded by other neighbors avocado trees (I believe to be hass) so I am wondering if we could graft it in order to get avocados.
I think Bacons are great trees if you have room for another avocado, because they mature in the winter when anything is better than those little imported Hass with bad turning flesh.
Great looking tree, great pollenizer, but not great flavor. If you can live with a little added hot sauce of your choice or lemon juice then that Bacon flavor is not bad.
For me Bacon’s downfall is that it doesn’t like heat spells in my limited opinion. The last two years of high heat spells caused all the fruit to drop. Can’t live with that, so I replaced it with a Mexicola.
I would recommend some research in this area.
Hi Dal,
Thanks for the observations of your Bacon during high heat. I will try to learn more about it.
Sunset Mag. had two avocado articles that mentioned Bacon’s heat problems
March 1985 and May 1979.
Where is this Bacon tree in of the elementary school?!?! That looks like a familiar street I live walking distance from ?
Hi Travis,
That Bacon tree is in the other valley, the San Gabriel Valley.
It look extremely similar to the trees in front of Cullen Elementary in Glendora.
Can anyone tell me how to keep critters away from my Dwarf Bacon avocado tree? It is full of fruit but now and then I’ll find chewed up immature fruit on the ground…frustrating.
I have been fighting the squirrels over avocados, and yes, they DO LOVE the thin skinned Bacons. So far I have kept them away with PEPPER SPRAY, cloud or fog type, sprayed once a week. One shot does the job. I then leave the area for a few hours, and do not pick fruit for a day or two. I have not detected the pepper by smell, touch, or taste, but squirrel, skunk, raccoon, etc senses are 100x that of humans. Also my cars and BBQ are right next to the trees, and no problems.
In the summer spray your tree down at night. I did this it was so hot here in Yuba City 108 and up.
Hi Greg,
I have a couple of avocado trees that I grow in my backyards. Sir Prize and Reed. I bought them from a nursery in the Bonsall/Fallbrook area in March of 2019. These were in a 15 gallon containers. I planted them in the ground in April. Starting in september, the trees are having problem with salt burn due to salty water and nutrient deficient. I went to ucavo.ucr.edu and it said that a young avocado tree needs about 1 lbs of nitrogen a year. Since I like to use organic fertilizer, a 10 lbs organics citrus fertilizer box from down to earth brand has an npk of 6-3-3. In order to get 1 lbs of nitrogen a year, I need about 17 lbs of organic fertilizer to satisfy the nitrogen requirement for each tree. Is this a correct calculation? For this year, I only used about 1.5 lbs of fertilizer at most because the direction on the box said 1 cup per 1″ of trunk diameter (the trunk diameter of the tree is little thicker than 1″). But 17 lbs of total fertilizer is a bit much don’t you think? Is it possible to use synthetic fertilizer in conjunction with organic fertilizer to meet annual requirement of nitrogen? For example, for each fertilization application, I will apply half the amount of nitrogen from an organic source and half the amount of nitrogen from a synthetic fertilizer? Thank you.
James: I would recommend you go real easy with any fertilizer as their root system is not designed to accept anything but light amounts at any one time. I know, because I killed a Mexicola with one wheelbarrow of horse manure. Dumbest thing I ever did.
Dal, there is a silver lining – Mexicola is not a big loss. I bought a Mexicola Grande about 7 years ago. It grew pretty fast, but the fruit is very watery and the seed is massive. The skin is super thin and the rats had a field day chewing into most of them. Last year I cut the top of the tree off and grafted Reed and Nabal to sprouts off the trunk. In my opinion, the Mexicola is only good for grafting to and the fruit is probably one of the worst in many aspects although the taste was reasonable.
Hi James,
I echo Dal about being cautious about fertilizing young avocado trees like yours. Please have a look at my post, “Fertilizing avocado trees.” If you still have a question about what you should do in your situation, let me know in a comment there.
Greg,
First, thanks for the awesome content on growing citrus and avocados in Southern California.
Second, I have a small collection of potted avocado trees I’m growing at my home in Orange County: Wurtz (Littlecado), Hass, Sir Prize, Carmen Hass and Bacon. The Bacon is relatively immature (I bought it last summer as a 5 gallon at the local big box store on a whim). Based on this article, I’m contemplating swapping it out for a variety with a better quality fruit. Given the other four varieties I have, what would you recommend for a tastier, but still complementary, fifth variety?
Finally, I bought my Sir Prize last summer as a somewhat neglected 15 gallon tree and didn’t get any flowers on it last year. I’m hoping it flowers this year. Do you know when it’s usual to start getting flowers on the Sir Prize?
Thanks,
Jon
Hi Jon,
Thanks! That’s a nice collection you have. Before getting rid of the Bacon, try tasting some fruit from a farmer’s market right now before the season ends. You might like it. Bacon is definitely not a poor tasting avocado, especially when the fruit is mature like it is here in late February.
For an additional variety, you’d probably want to go early or late since you have a lot to be harvested starting in late winter into summer with your other varieties. For early fruit, Fuerte wins for taste, if you ask me. But it might be better to go for a late variety. In that case, I’d consider Reed or Lamb. Either one of those will take you through summer and into fall. At that point, you’d start with your Carmen’s off-bloom crop or wait until Bacon or Sir-Prize are ready.
Sir-Prize is not known to be precocious. Mine started flowering a bit later than other varieties, and I’ve known others with the same experience. But from a 15-gallon tree, I’d guess you should get some decent bloom this spring unless the tree wasn’t in great health last year. In that case, you’d expect it next spring (2021).
In Bonsall, Ca. near Camp Pendleton helped cut to 24″ stump older Avacado trees.
In order to “splice in” young new growth Avacado trees. We also changed the types, from Fuetes to Hass.
Hass travel better since their skin is thicker. Today, for me the fruit sold in markets do not have sufficient oil content to develop the nutty flavor and butter consistency.
The Bacon variety was my favorite, no longer seen.
I would bribe my Marine commanding officer with a lug of ‘about to drop’ fruit. (1991-95) Knowing how a “real” Avacado should taste, I am disappointed the rubbery tasteless fruit that is sold in markets today.
Hi Gregory,
Thanks for sharing that. I am with you on the fruit in markets today being disappointing. I often wonder how many farmers or packers ever try this fruit that they’re selling to the public; my impression is very few. They force us to try to grow our own avocado trees — even in the smallest of suburban yards — in order to get that “real” avocado taste.
Its all about picking very green so that the fruit has a long shelf life. Consumers have become accustomed to paying a premium for garbage and there’s your problem. Try getting an eating tomato which is juice, tasty and red ripe. Mission impossible! That’s why we’re growing our own food, at least what we are able to on a small suburban block of dirt.
Hey Greg! I have a bacon avocado and want to put wood chips underneath the canopy. Is this ok?
Oh yeah, David! Put down the wood chips liberally under that Bacon. Check out my post, “Using wood chips as mulch for fruit trees.”
In order to be a good pollinator, Is it best for my new Bacon avocado to be place in between my new Hass and Stewart? Or does placement of the Bacon matter so long as it is in the same orchard?
Hi Tamara,
The closer the pollenizer tree, the more cross-pollination opportunities. So it is best to have that Bacon in between the Hass and Stewart. On the other hand, you’ll likely get fine production from all of those trees as long as they’re in the same orchard. I know of many Hass and Bacon trees that produce lots even though they’re nowhere close to another type of avocado. And Stewarts can fruit so heavily that you might not want too much cross-pollination help!
Thank you very much for the write up on Bacon. Saved me precious suburban yard space and years of effort. I was seriously considering a Bacon as I chanced upon a site saying it tasted just like bacon! Now I know it’s all just marketing!
I’m growing a Hass from seed, now in its third year. The older leaves are hardening off and don’t wilt in the sun. I’m planning on planting it into the ground when rains start this Fall/ Winter.
Question is When it first goes into the ground how often and how much, should I water? It now gets watered twice a week in pot. Thank you, I good sleuthing and sharing your findings! ?
Hi Elaine,
So strange that someone would say Bacon avocados taste like bacon!
For watering your young avocado tree after planting, see this post: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/how-to-water-a-newly-planted-avocado-tree/
Thanks!
Thanks for responding to my post the other day about the stake. Helpful! You mentioned picking Bacon avocados from public trees? Do you know of any public avocado trees in San Diego? Lol ….I live in Rancho Bernardo. I have a Fuerte and Hass in my backyard. Hass is 4 years old – has only 13 avocados growing. The Fuerte is a baby – only 3 feet tall. Growing avocado trees takes time, but will be worth it someday.
Hi Elisha,
You’re so right that avocado trees test our patience with how long they take to give us fruit, but it is worth it.
I don’t know of any public trees in your area, but I would guess there are some in Escondido. It’s the places in Southern California that were all citrus and avocado groves almost a hundred years ago where you find these trees remaining because when the towns were urbanized some of the trees weren’t cut down — in backyards, school grounds, parks, parking lots, hillsides, golf courses. Unfortunately, every year fewer of these trees remain.
Where I grew up, there was a giant Fuerte that I could pick from in an empty field across the street from the post office. But a few years ago the field was turned into condos.
Other nearby areas where there are possibly some “public” avocado trees remaining: Encinitas, Fallbrook, Carlsbad, Vista.
Try this site to see public fruit trees in your area. https://fallingfruit.org/ Many of the trees are not one I would eat, like Queen palms but there lots of others too.
Hey what’s up Greg? Hope you’re having a nice beginning of fall. I’ve got a relatively newly planters bacon avo tree that finally has 10 fruit on it. One of them is pretty big so I was considering pulling it down. It fills up my hand and I’ve got pretty big hands. Too early or go for it? I live by Palomar airport. Thanks!
Hi JC,
I really am enjoying the fall right now since it has finally cooled down. Sure, pick the big one. My guess is that it will be on the bland side, but you can never know for sure unless you pick it. Bacons usually don’t taste so good until Halloween, but it’s only a couple weeks before that, and maybe yours bloomed a bit early this spring. Worst outcome is you decide you won’t pick another for a month.
Greg, I am new to growing avocados. I live near San Juan Capistrano. I have a beautiful bacon tree I planted in August 2019. It bloomed excessively this spring & held over 50 nice size fruit for a long time until July when it dropped all but 11. These are now nice size. My question is simple but may be dumb but I read a lot of conflicting info. Are Bacons ready to eat the same year they bloom and fruit (i.e. Nov-Jan) which would be only 6-7 months maturity or do I have to wait another year?
Hi Joe,
Simple question, but not dumb at all. Bacon avocados do mature the same year they bloom. So if the bloom is around April of 2020, then the fruit grows through the summer and is ready to pick that fall, around November 2020. That would put it at about 7 months from flowering to harvesting. (Although do remember that the fruit will taste better if you let it hang a month or two longer.)
hi Greg . i am half round away from US. but have very keen in avocados. i have watched lots of your vid on avocado profiles… Actually i have two different avocado tree in my backyard. but could not identify one variety. though one variety i belive is sharwil as it matches most of its characteristics but with another one i still could not recognize. its shape matches with bacon , skin color and texture matches near with fuerte , but gets dark purple while ripens.. please can you help me identify the variety. i can send you pics n vid if you need thanks
Hi Manoj,
Do you know for sure that it is a grafted tree? If not, if it was grown from seed, then it is a unique avocado and you can give it whatever name you like. Otherwise, the only named variety that I know that is similar in shape to Bacon but gets purple when ripe is Mexicola Grande, originally called 3-1-1. Find it here: http://ucavo.ucr.edu/AvocadoVarieties/VarietyFrame.html
thank you very much Greg for the information.. grateful to your reply..
Hi Greg,
My yard has one large 30-feet tall Bacon avocado tree from the ex-owner. I have a hard time to pick its fruits above15 feet. How tall should I let it go? Should I have it pruned? Please let me know some ways to maintain this tall tree. Thanks.
Hi EP,
It’s entirely up to you. You can get an extension pole to pick avocados higher up. That’s what I do with tall Bacons. See this post: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/how-to-harvest-avocados/
Or you can bring down the height and keep it down. It’s manageable to keep a Bacon at about 15 feet tall by pruning yearly or twice each year. See this post: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/pruning-avocado-trees/
And see this post: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/pruning-avocado-trees-to-keep-them-small/
Thanks a million for your practical guide, Greg. I’m still studying your posts regarding pruning the tree.
I have a Jim Bacon Avocado tree and it always produces a ton of avocados but to me they taste bitter. Have you ever heard someone say this about a Jim Bacon. My Jim Bacon is right next to a Hass that produces delicious Avocados.
I haven’t eaten a Jim in about ten years. I don’t remember tasting bitterness. Maybe it depends on how mature the fruit is. Some avocados have bitterness when they’re not fully mature.
I was visiting a friend the other day and he told me he was cutting down his Jim tree because he just didn’t like the flavor: it was “off.” He didn’t use the word bitter, but maybe he detected the bitterness you’re talking about.
Hi Greg. We are a block from the coast in Pacific Palisades. (Santa Monica to the South, Malibu to the North). With our mild climate, Bacons stay intact on the tree easily into April and May. If you pick them at this time, the oil content is higher, with both the texture and flavor being superb. It compares favorably with a Fuerte picked in March. The problem that you mentioned, the ends starting to crack and rot don’t happen here at all. I have seen that inland where the hot days get too hot. In general, with a coastal climate, all varieties seem to stay on the tree without deteriorating longer, as compared to inland. At our property near Valley Center, I see that problem with Bacons, but here not at all. So maybe they are a good variety for the coast. The tree grows like weeds. We are having good luck with Haas and Fuerte as well.
Hi Douglas,
Thanks for taking the time to share this. It so happens that I was near you in Santa Monica last week. I saw some beautiful old avocado trees in the area.
You’re absolutely right about avocados hanging on the tree much longer close to the ocean. I’m surprised to hear that your Bacons never split on the bottom though. I figured it would happen to them even close to the beach, just much later. Then again, I can’t think of a Bacon tree I know that is within a block or two of the ocean so thanks for cluing me in on this.
I live in the south bay in SoCal and have a Bacon in my back yard . They were still good in June. They just started not tasting as good in July but there are still avocados on the tree. My property is about 3 miles inland from the ocean so I have the same experiences as Douglas.
Thank you for taking the time to contribute this, Richard.
I have a fuerte, hass and bacon, all 3 producing nice crops. I disagree, I enjoy the flavor and creamy texture of all 3 including the bacon. A very nice taste. I have planted a sharwil avocado tree that should produce next year. Has anybody tasted the Hawaiian sharwil?
Hi Steven,
Here’s my profile video of the Sharwil fruit: on my page of avocado variety profiles, and on YouTube.
Sharwil is associated with Hawaii for some people (specifically, Kona), but it comes from Australia.
My great grandfather planted a bacon avocado tree from a cutting sometime in the 80s. It’s now over 60 feet tall and we trim it so doesn’t get taller. It’s the only avocado tree in the neighborhood and it usually produces between 150-350 pounds of fruit every year. I don’t find the skin to be too thin. It’s a little annoying to peel but it’s not too difficult to spoon out. By itself, the flesh is mild, but with salt it is very flavorful. It does make great guacamole when seasoned right. My friend (who is Mexican and eats a lot of guac) says it’s the best guacamole she’s ever had. The texture is so creamy, my favorite way to eat it is salt and peppered on a cracker. My grandmother has grown a few seeds at her house and she’s gotten fruit within 3-5 years of planting without any special care. The fruit from those trees are tasty, but not as creamy or big as the fruit from the parent.
I’m a Bacon avocado snob. Simply obsessed with the creamy rich flavor and love how much more predictable the ripening process is compared to Haas. This was a great read, thanks for sharing. It can get into the low 20s where I live now, which is disappointing.
Thanks for the profile Greg.
It’s funny I will give and share exotic Guatemalan types with my family and relatives and throw in some Bacon and often times Bacon is the winner!
It makes perfect sense though. If you like avocados and then you will like Bacon and the fact that it tastes nothing like you usually find in stores.
In fact I am going to plant a Jim Bacon for my relatives and for variety and of the course the winter fruiting B pollinator are added bonuses. Up here in the bay area the Jim Bacons develop a red hue which is interesting to see as well.
I have a question. I have seen huge Bacon trees. Yet I am under the impression that Jim Bacon trees are slightly smaller. Have you noticed that too? Or do you find that Jim Bacon trees get huge too like the Bacon trees at the school?
Thanks!
Hi Greg,
I can’t say for sure how big Jim Bacon trees get compared to Bacon trees, but of the trees I know the Jims are all smaller for their age.
Thanks Greg. From what I have seen they seem smaller to compared with their mother Bacon. I have seen huge Bacon trees that have over entire backyards.
Much appreciated!
Hi Greg,
I picked up a Jim Bacon and planted it. I have growing mostly Guatemalan types but I wanted to be sure I had more variety.
I noticed that it seems to be a much denser tree. Should be easier to keep small.
Funny thing about Bacon is that as mentioned before I know people who don’t like avocados except for Bacon.
I have a question about the age of Bacon trees and the amount they can produce after a certain point.
We have a 70 year old tree, it was grafted long ago, you can see the scar. So far, the grafted on Bacon part is the only producing part of the tree. It’s a huge tree which we topped 10 years ago, thinking it would help to produce with less height. Nope. I have watered, fertilized and waited and waited, this year we have exactly two very big avos, that’s it. Is my tree “over the hill”?
Hi Meridee,
This is strange. I know some old Bacons that still produce fine. I don’t think they get “over the hill.” Your tree probably has something else going on.
Is your tree only Bacon, or are there other limbs of another variety? Did it produce much last year?
Hi Greg
I so appreciate you getting back to me on this. It’s a big puzzle, we have never had a significant or mostly a single avocado most years. The neighbors that have been here longer than we have say that the lady who lived here before us probably had grafting experience via our local jr. college ag classes. So I have no idea what is grafted onto what, but she used to put out boxes of avos for the neighborhood and we don’t get any!
My only possible observation is that squirrels seems to love the buds, and I wonder if they don’t strip the tree before it has a chance. But then how did it is produce for so long and now not at all? It has plenty of room around it to grow, lots of light. We are about a mile from the ocean here on a bluff. Costa Mesa!
I think the tree looks very healthy, lush green leaves.
Thank you for your thoughts on this. I am a fairly experienced gardener but this tree has a mind of its own.
Meridee Thompson
Hello Greg,
I’m hoping you can help me identify two of my avocado trees. I have three trees: Hass, Bacon and Stewart, but I’ve lost track of which one is which. Two of them have fruit this year. The Hass and one of the others. I’m pretty sure of the Hass. I see photos of Bacon and Stewart online that don’t look right. I think a lot of them are stock photos or there are more people in my situation and don’t know what they have. The photos I have are of what I think are Hass and Stewart, but I’ve been told the Stewart is actually Bacon. If I send the photos can you help identify them?
Thank you
Hi Tracy,
It should be easy for you to distinguish between those three varieties. Using the fruit, Stewart has very smooth skin, Bacon has smooth skin, and Hass has bumpy skin. Bacon never changes from green, but Stewart starts to turn black while still on the tree here in the fall whereas Hass will only turn black while still on the tree starting around late spring (not now).
If that doesn’t get your trees figured out, let me know and I’ll tell you how to distinguish between them using the leaf and stem differences. I can let you send the photos too, but writing this stuff here helps others as well.
P.S. You’re right that many nurseries and other websites use inaccurate photos.
Thank you Greg.
I really appreciate you taking the time to help. Please excuse my inexperience but, can I post photos here? I can reply by email and attach photos there if it makes more sense. I’m very interested in knowing how to tell the difference by looking at leaves and branches. The problem I have is I don’t know if images I find online are true and accurate. I have several seedling grafted with varieties purchased online and may run into this dilemma again.
Hi Greg, Greetings from New Zealand. I found this article from a web search and wanted to thank and commend you for your great service to horticulture. I was considering planting another avocado and as Bacon is available in my nursery I wanted to know about it. Your article is so good, and the comments section also useful, I am convinced that Bacon is a great choice for a new tree.
I live in an avocado growing area ( called the Bay of Plenty…;-) ) but I am in a little valley which is a frost pocket. I can grow citrus, covering the young trees in the first few years, but the avocados were killed by the frosts. I have one paddock up the side of the valley (100ft from the valley floor) quite steep for good frost drainage and decided to try avocados there. I kept a Hass alive for 3 years, and then planted a Reed, and later a Cleopatra which is an A variety and a semi dwarf. The trees are flowering and I did get one fruit set on the Reed ( but I picked it too soon) and it looks like I have more fruit this year ( January). The Hass is 7, the Reed 5, and the Cleopatra 3 yrs old. Encouraged by all this I think I will plant a Bacon, for pollination, spreading the harvest, and because it is cold hardy, based on your advice.
Hi Ian,
Thank you. This is the first time I’ve heard of Cleopatra; sounds like an interesting variety. I hope Bacon does well for you. It should prove to be tougher than Hass and Reed in the cold.
Hi Greg!! I’ve been babying 3 avocado trees and getting ready to plant here in the next month or so. I have a Jim Bacon, Haas and Zutano. All in 5 gallon nursery pots. I live in Escalon, in the Central Valley California and do have gophers terribly. I plan on using gopher baskets and my question is…. I’ve heard Haas are hard to maintain in the Central Valley heat. If something happens to the Haas, will the other 2 still pollinate each other and get fruit? Also…. How far apart do I need to plant them from each other? I’ve killed 5 avocado trees already and these 3 are my last effort in avocados. I do have 16 other fruit trees planted in my yard that are doing quite well.
Hi Greg, How far into the year would inland Bacons, such as “your Bacons” in front of the school, continue to yield fruit? May, June? (as long as it’s not gotten too hot?) Thanks
Hi Cindy,
Bacons start to crack on the bottom end when they are very mature, and that can start to happen as early as about February but there are usually some fruit on a big tree that still are in good shape until around April in an inland Southern California location. I’ve eaten quality Bacons in May, but they have been from trees closer to the beach. I wouldn’t count on getting many good Bacons into May and June in an inland location even though you might get a few.
Hello, I bought a Jim Bacon thinking it was the same thing as a Bacon. After reading this profile now I know better. Does anyone have any advice about which one is preferable generally? I still have time to switch them out as I haven’t put them in the ground yet. I’m planting it near a Hass in central coastal CA. It looks like they have roughly similar ripening dates and both will be an early crop and thus complementary to the Hass. I like the flavor of Bacon avocados but I have never tried the Jim Bacon. If they are pretty much the same I would just keep the one I have. Any feedback from folks who have experience with both varieties would be appreciated. Cheers!
Normally I begin to harvest my Bacon (in Anaheim, California) on Christmas day, but this year (2023-24) the harvest season seems quite delayed. It’s January 25th, and my first harvest was today. The harvested fruit is still rock hard but hopefully will ripen. Has anyone else experienced a delayed harvest this season?
Hi John,
I have noticed that some avocados from some trees are late this year, specifically some Bacons and Fuertes and Hass.
I bought a bacon avocado tree in 2017 at Riverside nursery in Fresno and I’m finally getting fruit. Feels good.
Hi Greg, I have a quick question. Does the other Bacon variety named Jim, have red-specked spots on the new growth? I just bought a small avocado tree labeled Jim, and it has those red spots, just like a Fuerte or Sharwil.
This is a outstanding informational post! I have a bacon avocado tree in my backyard.