by Greg Alder | Oct 4, 2025 | Avocados |
You’ve never been to an avocado grove like John Schoustra’s. At least I haven’t. From afar, it’s just avocado trees on some hills and it doesn’t appear unique. But up close, and with a guide to explain what you are seeing, you realize...
by Greg Alder | Sep 26, 2025 | Fruit |
When my friend Brad started growing dragon fruit some years back, his friend Simon told him not to bother with any variety except 8-S, which is also called Sugar Dragon. “I’ve tried all the other ones,” Simon told him. “Don’t bother. Just grow 8-S.” “But I have to try...
by Greg Alder | Sep 19, 2025 | Avocados |
Right on the coast this is less important, but inland you’ll find it beneficial to thin the crop on certain branches of avocado trees. By inland, I mean roughly five miles or farther from the water, and by thin, I mean remove some of the avocados. Rather than...
by Greg Alder | Sep 19, 2025 | Avocados |
Below is my video profile of the Hellen variety of avocado. You can read my full profile of the Hellen variety here, where I share my experience with the Hellen tree and its characteristics also. Interested in buying an avocado tree or finding scion wood to graft? See...
by Greg Alder | Aug 29, 2025 | Avocados |
In June of 2023, I planted a GEM avocado tree. It was a good-looking tree, on top and bottom. The leaves showed healthy new growth and the roots were abundant and with new white tips. I planted in the best way I knew, a way in which I’d planted many trees before that...
by Greg Alder | Aug 22, 2025 | Avocados |
“The skin is tough and leathery and peels easily (as a glove would),” wrote Carter Barrett of the Hellen avocado in the 1939 Yearbook of the California Avocado Society. Mr. Barrett was right. Hellen avocados do peel like a glove. They are also large, usually weighing...
by Greg Alder | Aug 7, 2025 | Avocados |
On August 23, you can join John Schoustra in a tasting of six varieties that are in season at Apricot Lane Farms in Moorpark, Ventura County: Pinkerton, Hass, Nabal, Reed, Lamb, and Gelado. Schoustra is the orchard manager at Apricot Lane. In addition, he cultivates...
by Greg Alder | Jul 19, 2025 | Fruit |
Among the first words out of my two year-old son’s mouth every morning was, “Can I have a banana?” He would have eaten five a day if allowed. So I was hearing the call to grow more in our yard. Here in Southern California? Can you really grow bananas? Climate for...
by Greg Alder | Jul 12, 2025 | Avocados |
In 1956, when Bob Bergh began developing new varieties at the University of California, Fuerte was the most popular avocado in California. Frustrating for farmers, some Fuerte trees were fruitful whereas others were not. And Fuerte trees made more avocados in certain...
by Greg Alder | Jun 27, 2025 | Avocados |
While I like many things about the Lamb variety of avocado (one of which is how late the fruit can hang on the tree), one of its weaknesses is that it tends to make a lot of avocados one year but little the next. Alternate bearing, this is called. So a handful of...
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