Now that it’s March and it’s very unlikely there will be any temperatures cold enough to be damaging to avocados through the rest of this winter, I took a walk around my yard to make some observations about how different avocado trees fared during the single freezing week we had in January.
The low temperature was on January 8, at 27 degrees. But on the succeeding nights it was 29 degrees three times. Over the course of nine days, from January 6 through January 14, it was 32 or below every night.
This isn’t extremely cold for my place. It’s been colder.
Maybe your place is warmer or maybe your place is always colder. Regardless, seeing the responses of my trees to the above temperatures might be useful:
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Thank you for this update! I generally don’t watch videos but you convinced me to change my ways with this one, since it’s a topic close to my heart. It’s nice to compare your damage to what our project here in the PNW saw this winter. It is very interesting that your January freeze was actually longer (nine freezing days) compared to mine here, though obviously it was quite a bit colder here, with a 14.7F low. Here’s a temperature report for the 6-day duration of that freeze here (1-11 to 1-16):
Highest temperature: 45.37°F (2024-01-11 14:02:55)
Average high temperature: 34.41°F
Days with high of 50°F+: 0
Lowest temperature: 14.73°F (2024-01-13 04:48:16)
Average low temperature: 19.59°F
Days with a freezing low: 6
Freezing hours: 104.8
Hours below 25°F: 69.4
Hours below 20°F: 26.5
Nearly all of the unprotected seedlings were killed to ground level by that freeze, as I expected, but there were a couple unexpected survivors. A seedling of Del Rio that is barely one year from seed was outside in a 12 gallon pot next to my house, where the thermometer read a low of 17F on the coldest night, and it did not even fully defoliate. All the other seedlings in that location were killed to soil level, but here’s the profile of the survivor:
https://www.drymifolia.org/profile.php?a=301
Other than that one freeze, I have not protected any of the outdoor trees this winter, but I did try a number of different kinds of protection that week. The tree that got the most protection was the one grafted with Poncho, because I do not have that one grafted on any greenhouse or potted trees as a backup:
https://www.drymifolia.org/profile.php?a=104
The one that got the next-best protection (some photos are on the profile) was this seedling of Mexicola Grande, which got an unheated polycarbonate box that only had a low of 19°F. It has essentially fully defoliated and looks like it will likely lose a significant part of the above-ground trunk/stems, but does have green buds and stems for the most part:
https://www.drymifolia.org/profile.php?a=37
Nothing has started flowering in the greenhouse yet, but the earliest of the cold hardy varieties are getting very close, like Jade:
https://www.drymifolia.org/profile.php?a=110
Anyhow, thank you for posting about cold damage!
Yikes, Winn. That is real cold that you experience. Thanks for the update. The Del Rio seedling is impressive. I look forward to seeing how it performs going forward.
Hello Greg, I Thank You for sharing your Yard Posts with us. I live in San Deigo and have a few avocado trees, Gems, Reed and Fuerte’s. A few friends of mine and I meet at the coffee shop before we make a run through the mountains and end up at Descanso Junction for Breakfast. How many acres do you have and are you on a well? Been looking at property near Highland Valley Rd. for the past years. The homes are larger than what I want but the acreage is there. My son is looking for a couple of acres in a nice area with a little grove close to San Diego, he is young and still working in San Diego. We know of areas that is more north but it’s to far to commute everyday. When the Gem season is ready I would like to order for the whole season. My Gems won’t be producing for 3 more years so until then I have to buy elsewhere. My Fuerte are excellent this year and just started picking them. 1 tree avocado size is 12oz to 15oz. I give most of them away, a am single and can’t eat a whole one, end up throwing the other half away, oxidize fairly quick and don’t like refrigerated avacado’s.
Keep up the good work and always looking forward to new posts.
Joe
Hello Greg,
My name is Angelo and I enjoy reading your posts and watching your videos. I would love to talk to you regarding my avocado trees. you obviously know a lot about them.
You can reach me at 585-820-0930.
Thanks,
Angelo
Hi Greg! I love your posts! I have a small tree that I grew from an avo seed when I lived on the coast in Santa Barbara, and had it grafted by an avocado grower friend. I live in Buellton now (wine country a bit above Santa Barbara) and it is a little bit colder than on the coast. I am 13 miles inland, not too far, but far enough to change the climate a bit. My tree is still in a pot and it’s still hanging in there after another cold winter. I’m hoping to be able to plant it one day… and have it bear fruit, so I pay attention to your posts. This one caught my eye. Thank you for all the great info.
Hi Greg: Excellent video/ editing; Great Job!! I think overall your trees held up well. Do you use any string lights to mitigate the frost damage or is it just unreasonable? I’m, surprised the Reed didn’t drop its fruit over the winter. Two questions: 1) Do you end up cutting back the burn damaged you showed?; 2) I think the Mexicola and Pinkerton were budding/flowering profusely. Do these flowers become leaves or fruit? Hard for me to tell. Thank you. Joe Oside
Hi Greg,
I live in Concord in the San Francisco Bay Area, and did not really experience any frost with maybe only two or three days of mild frost. I might add that I live on the East facing side of a ridge.
My dilemma is this. I harvested one of my Mexicola Grande on March 4 and ate it on March 12. It was ripe except the stem area not quite ripe. The pit had already grown roots and there was a stem emerging. The fruit never turned black, but I picked it anyway. Did I wait too long to harvest ? Thanks for any insight or experiences. Tony
That’s surprising, Tony. The seed sprouting says it was overmature, but the skin not turning black says undermature. I don’t know how your harvest times might differ from down here, but usually Mex. Grande fruit is done and fallen off trees by March in inland Southern California. Maybe your place is later and milder. Or maybe you have a mislabeled tree.
Hello Greg – This post is one of the more important to me living up in Humboldt. I have a Mexicola to deal with any really cold snap and it came though our cold winter of 2022 (several nights in the mid twenties and actually got snow on the ground for half a day) But as you pointed out, it puts out buds early – mine did for the first time but in January. We won’t see much bee activity until mid April on. So here’s an idea for a post – bloom times of various avocado because anywhere March into early April gets too cool for bees, bloom times are very important
Thanks again – Larry
Hello Greg,
I’d appreciate help on a problem getting a Stewart avocado to bear. It’s about 15 years old, from LaVerne nurseries, got it in Los Osos area and planted it here in northwestern Spain where I live. I´ve read that the flowers are possibly type A, possibly B, and that perhaps temperature issues make it not bear in certain climates.
It was about 20 feet tall, I cut it back to about 7 feet last year, and I´m going to try grafting onto the shoots in April. Not sure which varieties would be best pollinators. Other than that, I´m planting a Hass next to it, hoping for the best. Don’t have that much space.
Got about 30 fruits one year, but usually only get a few. Also their quality is not what I´ve seen in descriptions, because although the skin is papery it never turns purple. The fruit lately has large circular blemishes–anthracnose?
I am hoping that the tree itself will be useful for the newer varieties I graft on, since winters here sometimes get a few degrees below zero. The tree never has had problems from the cold. Would appreciate any advice or suggestions.