In 2013, I planted a Lamb/Hass avocado tree because its fruit was said to be ready for harvest in summer. I didn’t know much else about the variety, and I’d never tasted its fruit (knowingly).
During the past five or six years I’ve learned a lot more about Lamb — both from my tree and from other Lambs I’ve seen and eaten from. I share this with you so you can be more informed than I when deciding whether Lamb is a good fit for your yard and avocado needs.
The most important consideration is how the fruit eats. Lamb makes for very good eating.
On the tree, the Lamb fruit has green skin until it’s mature, usually around May, when the skin turns black. It has a pear shape, often with a more blocky top than other avocados, such as Hass.
Cutting the fruit open, you find that the peel is a bit thicker and less pliable than Hass so it doesn’t peel as well. I use a spoon to scoop out my Lamb avocados.
But the color of the flesh is optimal, with a rich yellow in the center fading to green toward the peel. The texture is firm and without significant strings.
The seed is medium-small in size: not tiny like a Pinkerton, nor large like a Bacon. There is plenty of avocado to eat in there.
To me, the taste is very good. But taste being subjective, what do others think about Lamb? I’ve heard other people who are very experienced with avocado varieties say Lamb is “good,” “great,” “a really wonderful fruit,” and “equal to Hass.” I personally rate it slightly below Hass though.
Here is a video profile I made of the Lamb avocado fruit:
Lamb variety development and history
Lamb comes from the University of California’s avocado breeding program and was patented in 1996. That patent is now expired, but it makes for interesting reading. Here is a link to the patent.
In the patent, Lamb is called ‘Lamb/Hass,’ but these days people often write it ‘Lamb Hass,’ and many shorten it to just ‘Lamb.’
This makes sense because Lamb is not a Hass, not even half a Hass. Lamb is, according to the patent, an open-pollinated Gwen seedling, meaning that Gwen was its mother and its father is unknown. Gwen was a seedling of Thille, and finally, Thille was a seedling of Hass. So it can be said that Lamb is a great-grandchild of Hass, a very distant relation.
That being said, Lamb fruit can be found on the avocado shelf at the grocery store labeled as Hass, or sometimes called Jumbo Hass. (See my post on “Jumbo Hass” here.) You may have bought Lamb avocados thinking they were Hass; it’s very hard to distinguish the two. I bet I ate Lamb fruit from the grocery store unknowingly before I ever ate them from my tree.
The seed for Lamb was planted on the ranch of Bob Lamb in Camarillo, hence the name. It was one of tens of thousands of seeds planted under the avocado breeding program under the direction of Bob Bergh of U.C. Riverside.
(Read a narrative of the variety’s development as told by Bob Lamb’s son, John.)
Tree shape and appearance
Bergh chose to patent the Lamb seedling for many reasons, one of which was the tree’s slender, upright growing shape.
Lamb trees can easily be planted only eight or ten feet from another tree. My Lamb, for instance, is planted only 7.5 feet from a Reed avocado tree.
Lamb trees will spread wider than ten feet, but they can be kept to within ten feet easily through yearly pruning.
Many people, including myself, appreciate Lamb’s slender growth habit because it allows for growing more trees in a given space.
Tolerances and vulnerabilities
Another thing I like about Lamb is its tolerance to our irrigation water in Southern California. We have high chlorides, which some other avocado varieties have trouble with. Hass doesn’t tolerate these chlorides well. But Lamb doesn’t much mind, and that means that a Lamb tree will look better in the fall and winter because it will have less brown tips.
(See my post, “Avocado leaves turning brown? Here’s why and what to do.”)
In terms of heat and cold, I’ve found Lamb to also be possibly tougher than Hass. In the extreme heat of July 2018, when my yard peaked at 117 degrees, my Hass lost all of its fruit while my Lamb retained much of its crop. Both trees had similarly sized fruit and were irrigated the same. During cold winter nights, my Hass has always experienced a bit more damage than my Lamb.
But I make no hard conclusions based on my single trees in a single location. I have heard others say they find no difference between the heat and cold tolerance of Hass versus Lamb.
Bearing habits
Lamb fruits a lot and it fruits early, and I’ve never seen nor heard of a Lamb tree that is unsatisfactory in its bearing habit, in terms of its overall productivity. My tree in particular set its first crop in its second spring after planting, then providing six fruit to eat at harvest in 2016 (its third year in the ground). The tree was planted from a five-gallon container. In it’s fourth year, it set 68 avocados.
Alas, in the tree’s fifth year it barely flowered and set nothing. I’ve seen a few other Lamb trees in backyard settings alternate bear like this. And I’ve talked to some avocado farmers who experience this with Lamb as well.
It is often claimed that Lamb produces more than Hass. In fact, in the Lamb patent it is claimed that Lamb consistently yields 50% more than Hass. This can’t be counted on for a single tree in a backyard, however. For example, my own Lamb and Hass trees of the same age have seen the Hass produce more.
On the other hand, one way in which Lamb is certainly superior to Hass and many other varieties is that it sets its fruit on the interior of the canopy, protected by many leaves. The fruit ends up with no sunburn and good cold protection as well.
In addition, Lamb has the habit of producing much of its fruit in clusters. Often you’ll find a dozen avocados hanging next to one another.
Harvest season
Lamb avocados need to grow for a year to a year and a half before they’re ready for harvest. In other words, if the tree flowers in April, then the very earliest that the fruit will be ready to pick is the following April or May, but it will taste better if left until sometime in the summer. This is a longer maturation time than some other varieties, such as Fuerte or Hass. And it can be confusing because the fruit looks big and ready to pick even in the winter. Yet, similar to varieties such as Reed or Holiday, it must be left on the tree long after it is up to size in order for the flavor to develop. An easy way to tell when Lamb fruit is ready to pick is by skin color: if it’s black it’s ready.
One unfortunate drawback to this later harvest season is that if you want to prune the tree, you don’t have a convenient window of time to do so. No matter when you prune, you sacrifice fruit.
If you prune in the winter or early spring, you sacrifice immature fruit. If you prune in summer or fall, you sacrifice branches that would flower the following spring — and new branches that grow only starting in summer or fall won’t be mature enough to flower the following spring.
In a pruning trial done in Valley Center by Gary Bender of the University of California comparing Lamb and Hass, it was Hass that outperformed Lamb in part because of this dilemma. (See a summary of the trial results here.)
Another unfortunate aspect to Lamb’s later harvest season is related to its juvenile habit of shedding fruit as the weather warms in spring. You’ll have a young Lamb tree with a crop of twenty avocados, and then in March as the tree begins to flower it also drops fruit. Not all drop, but some do, and it’s disheartening. Take heart: the tree does this less as it ages and it hurts less because the bigger tree carries a lot more fruit.
Summarizing the harvest season for Lamb, it starts around May in southern Southern California and starts a couple months later up near San Luis Obispo. I’m in inland San Diego County, and my Lamb fruits have tasted good as early as May.
Lamb has great hang time, as they say. So the harvest season doesn’t end until sometime in fall for me. September fruit still taste great from my tree. In comparison, Lamb hangs a couple months longer than Hass in my yard, and even longer than Reed. I’ve heard of people in locations with milder summer temperatures or farther north holding their Lamb fruit almost until Christmas. But personally, I consider the prime Lamb season as June through the end of September in my yard.
Is Lamb a fit for your yard?
Which yards and situations would a Lamb tree suit? I wouldn’t plant Lamb as my one and only avocado tree. I would plant Hass as my one and only. Then I would prune it to keep it to the size allocated in my yard.
(See my posts “Can I grow an avocado tree in a small yard?” and “What is the best kind of avocado to grow?”)
But if you don’t want to do much pruning, you could plant a Lamb and it would stay naturally smaller.
Lamb could also serve as a companion tree to Hass. The harvest seasons are different enough (Hass being earlier) that the two trees could provide delicious avocados for most months of the year. While true that both trees are A-flower types, and therefore don’t offer maximum cross-pollination opportunities, I wouldn’t pay that any mind. My Lamb has fruited well without a B-type anywhere nearby (as has my Hass), and this “self-fruitful” bearing habit has also been observed by many others.
Lamb would also be a good companion for Fuerte or Pinkerton or Bacon. Lamb would not be a good companion for Holiday or Reed, however, as the harvest seasons are too similar. Wait, didn’t I plant both a Lamb and Reed? Yes, but I have space and, OK I’ll admit it, a bit of an avocado problem.
I made a five-minute video about the Lamb/Hass avocado tree. It’s a summary of the above post, but with amazing — amazing! — motion and audio:
If you’d like to buy a Lamb/Hass avocado tree, check out my post “Where to buy an avocado tree.”
You might also like to read my post:
Hi Greg
Another great post. I’ve been watching Gary Matsuoka of Laguna Hills nursery on planting avocado, subtropical and tropical fruit tree. He said that the best soil to grow these are in sandy soil like decomposed granite. The worst thing you can do is putting compost in the soil. Do you generally agree with him?
Hi James,
As for avocados in particular, they do grow well in sandy soil. They can grow well in other soil types too though. Much depends on the drainage in the area, in addition to the attention given to irrigation, since avocados are susceptible to both underwatering and root rot. They are the hardest trees to water properly in my experience. You can’t just set a timer and walk away from your avocado tree. You have to get to know your soil through frequently feeling the moisture in it — or get lucky.
I agree that there’s no need to put compost in the planting hole of an avocado tree (or any other tree), and it is a dangerous practice too. The main reason for this is that compost continues to break down and this will cause your tree to sink over the years — depending on how much is put in the hole.
If you put in a lot, then you are, in effect, planting your tree below the grade of the surrounding soil, which is especially dangerous if your soil doesn’t drain rapidly. Water will sit around the trunk for extended periods. In a winter like this, where there has been a long stretch of cool and rainy weeks, you would be running the risk of drowning your avocado tree and/or inviting the proliferation of root or crown rot organisms.
Thank you for the informational video. Well put together.
I have had this problem in my backyard. Clay soil. Is there any advise to prepare the soil for an avocado tree? I killed one mature one already.
Hi Marina,
Check out this post: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/how-to-plant-and-stake-an-avocado-tree/
James- I made the mistake years ago “If a little is good , more is better”. I killed my second avocado by continuing to add compost to the soil by digging holes around the tree and adding kitchen scraps. It was great for retaining moisture and resulted in all kinds of fungus killing the root system. Add chips to the top of the soil and let them slowly rot. Don’t rake or mess with the soil and the roots will come up and live off the decaying chips. Also never rake up any of the leaves- let them rot, they act as fertilizer.
great detailed read! if you have a carmen, i would love to hear what you have experienced with it in the future.
Hi Johnny,
Check! I’ll plan a similar profile of Carmen.
It may have to wait a bit though because my own Carmen tree is small. Though I have secondhand experience through observing Carmen trees in other yards and farms, I’d like to write a detailed profile only after I’ve closely observed one in my own yard for enough years. But since Carmen is just a Hass with a couple quirks, maybe I’ll be able to write it sooner.
I am intending to start avocado production this year. Your assistance will be highly appreciated, I am in Botswana.
Hi Ronan,
I’m very curious about your endeavor to produce avocados in Botswana. Which part of the country are you in? Which varieties are you considering?
I’m sorry that I’ve never been to Botswana and so I don’t know the place firsthand, but I have been near you in Mozambique and South Africa, and I lived in Lesotho for a few years.
Have you visited any of the large avocado farms in the Limpopo province of South Africa?
Hi Greg,
It’s heartening to know that your avocado knowledge reaches even beyond California borders. Would you know anything about the ‘Maluma’ variety in South Africa ?
Hi Joe,
I know a little about Maluma, but I don’t know very much insider or firsthand information. I don’t have a Maluma tree, for example. And I’ve never even seen one in person. But I have talked to a farmer who grows the variety (in South Africa) and I’ve talked to many people who have seen the trees and eaten the fruit. And I’ve attended presentations on Maluma and watched the Allesbeste videos on the variety. Let me know if there’s anything in particular that you’d like to know about Maluma.
Hi Greg, my Lamb avocado has had a productive year. My observation is that from time to time I find mature fruit that has fallen from the tree laying on the ground. This has happened 3 times so far. The fruit lands on the cushion of leaves and because I check under the tree often, I do not lose it. Also from time to time I open a ripe avocado and find the pit has split and often there will be a tiny root that has started growing and is headed out the bottom. This seems to indicate that the fruit is in a hurry to come off the tree, but I don’t want to have large amounts of fruit off the tree and ripening. Flavor of fruit is still excellent. Any advice? I don’t want to discover that I waited too long and the flavor is bad. Thanks.
David.
Hi Greg, thanks a lot for this week’s post. The excellent video is an idealaddition to all the information that you have shared. I planted a Lamb Hass tree (15 gallons size) close to a Fuerte and a Hass 4 months ago. Your post has very good tips that I didn’t know. Thank you so much
Thank you, Juan. Glad you liked the video. I wasn’t sure if it was redundant or superficial or what.
I really like your combination of Lamb, Fuerte, and Hass. You should ultimately get top notch avocados almost every month of the year from those three trees.
I planted a 5 gallon Lamb/Hass about 4 years ago. It hasn’t done much. Part of the issue I think is the location and soil. Last year it set 2 fruit and I was wondering when to pick them and now I know thanks to your article. It is interesting how they planted lots of trees and selected the Lamb to patent.
In 2005 I got a great tasting avocado and I planted the seed in a glass of water. It grew into a nice plant. I planted it outside and it took off. It fruited in about 4 years. I named it after myself “Cadway Cado”. It has a medium skin a little less bumpy than a Hass. Great flesh color and holds color longer after cutting than a Fuerte or Hass. Medium size. Average pit except those fertilized by my Mexicola Grande have large seeds, and tastes better than a Hass. The tree grows vertically as the Lamb and is more vigorous than the Hass. I was thinking of sharing the budwood and was wondering what you would suggest.
Hi Richard,
The Cadway sounds like a winner! I would contact the folks at your local chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers or post about it at Tropical Fruit Forum.
At those places you’ll find lots of enthusiastic people who love to try out new varieties and can also give good feedback.
If you get the chance, send a couple photos of the tree and fruit my way. I’d love to see them.
All of my success with stone fruits and other trees seems to have been offset by my attempts at planting avocados. Right now I’ve got a tiny sir prize, a bushy but small edranol, a leafless Charlie Brown Christmas tree nabal, and a 5 foot tall lamb hass. There were probably at least 6 fatalities to get to this point. That same July just about killed my nabal and did kill a sir prize. The lamb has held on but lost a lot of leaves while the edranol seemed to thrive, at least as compared to the others. I have to concur that the lamb hass leaves seem to do better with our San Diego water, though. The lh was put in back in 2015 and along with my other avocados hasn’t really seemed to grow like other types of trees I’ve planted. I’ve got a mango tree that’s grown more than any avocado I’ve got here and for that matter my coffee tree is almost taller than the lh tree and they’re planted close to each other so have the same growing conditions. My suspicion for my difficulties is that I’ve got some pretty dense plantings going on over here and they’re all robbing each other and the avocados are the ones suffering, however, I persist and am hopeful that I will have some avocados in 18 months from one of the trees. I chose these four varieties in the hopes of year round avocados.
Hi Bob,
I send my best luck your way. I have a good feeling about this year for avocados. We’ve got all the rain we could ask for, and the summer just can’t be as nasty as last summer (right?!). This is a hopeful season right now, too, since the trees are starting to bloom.
Thank you Greg. I appreciate the thoughts of a Lamb and Haas for my garden.
Hi Greg,
I have a few questions regarding my two hass avocado trees. They are both mature trees that have been historically underwatered. I live in pacific beach in san diego. One has a 40′ canopy and another with a 10′ canopy. The smaller tree in the south has drooping leaves and was planted in slow draining soil not really on a mound.
My first question. We accidently got the 2″ specialty mulch instead of the coarse mulch from the miramar landfill. Would this more compact mulch make any difference in terms of aeration for the ecosystem that needs to live under the mulch?
Also, with the smaller tree that has drooping leaves in the back. Would it be beneficial to dig up the clay soil and add some beach sand to it to help remove the water away from the soil surface? This tree produced about 20 avocados without really being watered very much historically.
I’m confused about the growth of new red leaves on a tree with drooping leaves on it. I have only watered the trees twice since the mulch was added and both trees responded well to the mulch.
Thank you for creating this website and the information you share.
Hi David,
Thanks for writing. I wouldn’t dig up your soil, nor add beach sand. It sounds like your tree with drooping leaves might be suffering from soil saturation during this wet February. All might improve as the soil dries and warms, and the fact that you have new red leaves is a good sign.
The mulch you’ve added is great. The 2″ mulch is acceptable; it’s just that the coarser stuff is better in a couple ways. Next chance, add some of the coarser stuff.
Hi, our lamb tree is about 25 years old. It has produced excellent fruit up until a couple of years ago. The fruit looks great but is watery and tasteless. We live on Kauai, Hawaii. Any ideas would be appreciated. Aloha, Valeri
Hi Val,
This is curious. I’ve never known an avocado tree to produce significantly different fruit as it ages. Can you be sure that rootstock has not grown up and is now producing this watery and tasteless fruit? That would be my first guess.
Hi Greg,
I am in Bakersfield looking to buy a Lamb. Any nursery recommendations anywhere in LA/OC or Central CA that has them regularly? Thanks! This post is great.
Hi Todd,
I can’t say I know of anywhere in those areas that carries Lamb regularly, but I do know that Armstrong Garden Centers sometimes have them. See my post “Where to buy an avocado tree” for more ideas. For example, you might be able to get one through Home Depot or Lowe’s even if they don’t regularly stock them. And you can definitely have Four Winds Growers ship you one.
I just purchased at 5 gallon Lamb (3 feet tall) from Ricardo’s Nursery in Long Beach, CA this week. They had about 8 of them. They also about the same amount of Reeds there. I also purchased a 5 gallon Sir Prize (4 ft tall) there, which they had 4 more as well as 2- 15 gallon ones.
Thanks for that tip, Paul. It looks like Ricardo’s Nursery buys trees grown by La Verne Nursery (grower of avocados, among other kinds). I’ve never been there, but it sounds like a good place to check. Here’s Ricardo’s website: https://ricardosnursery.com/
I’m looking to plant an avocado tree in my back “small” yard in Norwalk. I have clay soil I mean “real clay” super sticky when wet and really hard when dry. I have read some of your recommendations thinking of lamb because of its size but have always “thought” hass was the best but really worried about the size. I like the harvest time of the lamb, so in short you have sold me on the lamb. How will it do in clay? I only have room for one tree so should it be a lamb or hass?
Hi Xavier,
For more on Hass versus Lamb, you should check out my post: “What’s the best kind of avocado to grow?” I would go with Hass unless the space in your yard is very narrow, less than about 12 feet. You’ll likely get more fruit and a longer harvest season from Hass.
All avocado varieties need to have their roots in soil with decent drainage so if your yard has puddles for a long time in winter, that’s inauspicious. Check my post about planting an avocado tree and test your drainage and consider building a mound for yours: “How to plant and stake an avocado tree.”
I just saw several Lamb Hass at Parkview Nursery in Riverside (they were at the one on Jackson). In fact, I found this article while doing some research on them, since I was in the market for another avo. Already have a Bacon and Stewart. So now I’m deciding between a Reed, Pinkerton, or the Lamb Hass. You may have sold me on the Lamb Hass with this article.
I just got a variety of avos, including a Lamb and a Gwen, which I’ve been seeking, at Otto & Sons in Bardsdale. We are in a dense avo ranch area. They seem to step up with the less-traveled varieties for residential gardeners. They have a big sale in December that might be worth the 90 min drive from Bakersfield. But Otto’s specializes in roses. If you enjoy roses, a visit to Otto & Sons is a must-not-miss. Stunning acres of beautiful roses, arranged in tableaus, pergolas, fences, patios, planters, hillocks. Just eye-popping. We go for the roses but leave with the fruit trees.
We used to buy from La Verne in Piru, but they’ve been bought by Everde and no longer sell to their neighbors. 🙁 They were so awesome.
Thank you for sharing this, Helena. I know of Otto & Sons but have never visited. I’m going to make a point to visit the next time I’m travelling the 126.
Too bad about La Verne and Everde. Everde has also bought some nurseries down here in San Diego County too.
Hi Greg,
My lamb hass (3-4 ft) for some reasons like to stay small, not just 1 but all 3. My oldest lamb is the same age as your in the ground and produces like 40 avocado during harvest time. Most of the fruits sit on the ground. I am not complaining for I think the phenomenon is pretty cool. On the down side, my Lamb can’t take the heat. That 1 year when we had a heat wave (San Jose, CA) 110- 112 F, 80-90% of the fruits dropped. I think it might be a watering issue. Ever since, when ever the temperature reach 97 F, I would go out before noon to spray the tree and the surrounding mulch with lot of water. I am so impressed with the fruiting, I planted three 15 gal lamb (5-6ft) late Fall 2018. Not sure if I want to let them hold any fruit though.
Hi Greg,
Hass it is. My yard doesn’t really puddle in the rain season maybe the fill soil is clay. I will still mound it just in case. I plan to plant it in the back corner of my yard that is surrounded by a block wall. Typical southern california 6′ tall block wall (pink blocks). How close from the corner or of the block wall can I plant it? I want to keep it as close as possible because of future yard use (a room addition) so I don’t regret it because of the space it takes up. Also that area would be easier to control the water on the tree because I have a lawn with sprikles in my back yard. I plan to keep it pruned to keep it small as you recomend. And further more can I plant it now or should I wait for a better time to plant.
I have learned so much about avocados from your page and information.
Thanks in advance for your time and valuable insight.
Hi Xavier,
You can plant an avocado tree now; just be prepared to protect it if we get an extreme cold spell this winter.
If you don’t care if the tree goes over the top of the wall eventually, then you could plant it up to a couple feet from the wall. But if you want it to be totally within your yard and you want to be able to walk between the tree and the wall, then you’ll probably want to plant it more like ten feet from the wall.
Thank you so so much. I wish I had found this before I purchased my mature lamb as my only tree. I took the last 2 years fruit off the tree at a good size but found them tasteless and watery. Now I know I need to leave them for a long while.
Wish I put in a hass but moving forward I’m thinking I will try and graft a hass onto the lamb or maybe a B type flowering one.
From what I have seen online, you need to cut it back pretty severely to do some grafts so I think I may leave it a few years as it’s a 7 year old tree that’s been in the ground for a year only.
Thanks again
Hi Ben,
Thanks for writing. I’m unsure if the timing will be slightly different where you are, but here in Southern California, Lambs start tasting good only at the beginning of summer. It’s still spring here in mid-May, and my Lamb has dropped a couple fruit (one negative characteristic of Lamb) as if they’re mature but they’re not. They still taste bland.
You could probably graft onto your Lamb now or soon without cutting it back much or at all. I have grafted in branches on many of my avocado trees that range from small to large. I did write about one — a Pinkerton graft into a Fuerte tree — in this post: “Grafting a pollenizer branch into your fruit tree.”
How many feet is recommended for a lamb Hass from a building structure?
Hi Tony,
See this post: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/how-far-apart-to-plant-avocado-trees/
Nice profile on the Lamb Hass!
I am in Australia (Sub Tropical) and have had a Wurtz in the ground for 16 years now – and I usually get 100 – 150 nice sized fruit from it.
I have just purchased a 1 year old Lamb Hass tree to plant in my garden in a raised garden bed (like my other trees).
I was wondering if you have to deal with Anthracnose Fungus there, being what I suspect is a generally drier climate than I have here? I was under the impression that Anthracnose Fungus is demonstrated by the browning tips and flower and young fruit drop? Do you have an opinion or knowledge of that?
Thanks again!
Jeff
Hi Greg and thanks for the post & YouTube video on the Lamb, very informative.
I have two Lambs, about the size of yours, planted in DG up in De Luz Heights and look very much the same, like the taco leaves.
I’m assuming our weather is about the same and I’m wondering about your watering regime for the Lamb. I’ve been watering every third day during the current hot weather with about 20 gallons per tree. They recently had a large growth spurt with new foliage and look health, but I’m concerned about appropriate watering.
What signs do you look for to determine if you’re over or under watering your Lamb?
Thanks Greg
Hi Stephen,
Those are great questions. I tend to underwater plants rather than overwater them, in general. And with avocados, it’s easy to gauge how you’ve watered through the summer once tip burn starts to show in fall, sometimes as early as September. If there’s a lot of tip burn, you’ve underwatered.
My Lamb has never had much tip burn so I think I’ve been watering it enough.
If I were overwatering it, I’d expect to see some yellowing and drooping of the leaves eventually. But since my soil drains fast (as I imagine yours does), this would be hard to achieve.
I’ve been experimenting this summer with watering my avocados daily when the temperature is over 95. I haven’t increased the volume of water to the trees, but have increased the frequency, especially when it’s hotter than normal. The trees look good as of now, and they seem to be holding onto as much or more fruit than in past years (less drop).
We’ll see how they look in winter though. That’s when the truth is revealed.
Hi Greg. I just signed up for your blog and am very appreciative of your great guidance and advice that I’ve read thus far. Some years ago, we bought a Holiday Avocado for our bank. We live on a just slightly larger than normal city lot, so space is a real concern. Our Holiday grew beautifully for a number of years and finally matured and produced 2 gigantic fruit –over 1 lb each–and they were delicious. That was just as we left for a 5-month vacation in our RV. When we returned, we discovered that our drip system had failed at some point, and our tree looked awful. It’s never recovered, but it’s still there limping along.
We then bought another Holiday, but once again, the drip system failed and it died. Undaunted, we’ve tried to find another Holiday (not easy) in the past year to plant. Today, I finally ordered a small plant from Four Winds Growers.
As I now have been reading through your blog, I think I realize we have really been in la-la land about our desire for a Holiday avocado and eventual fruit. The sad truth is that we are in our mid 70’s and the reality is that we may not see our Holiday ever mature, and at best, it’s years away. Based on something I read on your blog, should we have opted for another type and size/maturity of avocado plant–something that will bear fruit much more rapidly? You said that by keeping your trees trimmed, you can manage to have even some of the bigger varieties in a relatively small yard. I’m thinking perhaps that might be a reasonable course for us?
I’m wondering if, given my comments, you might suggest a good approach for us? I was thinking about a Haas or Lamb Haas as a possibility? A 5-gal sized plant would be about the largest I’d be able to physically manage.
Thanks for any guidance you may have to offer.
Stan
Hi Stan,
Great to read your message. I sympathize. I would certainly like to see you try a different variety than Holiday.
In your situation, a precocious and productive variety is best. Don’t even think about what anyone says about the ultimate size a variety might attain. That is both irrelevant and easily manipulated.
A handful of precocious and productive varieties that also taste excellent are: Pinkerton, Hass, Carmen, Gwen, GEM, Lamb. Whichever you can find in your desired five-gallon size will serve you far better than the Holiday trees, I promise.
If you need any guidance on where to buy such a tree, please see this post: “Where to buy an avocado tree.”
By the way, at Subtropica Nursery in Fallbrook, trees are sold in 3.5 gallon plastic sleeves and they are far lighter and easier to plant than five-gallon containers. If you’re anywhere near Fallbrook, this might be the best place for you to buy a tree.
If you plant one of these varieties as a 3.5 or five-gallon tree today and care for it well (not necessarily superbly), you should expect to eat at least some fruit from it in three years, four at the most, and possibly two.
Finally, you might consider switching your irrigation method to a mini-sprinkler instead of drip. This will wet a larger volume of soil and make your tree somewhat more resilient if the system fails. Here is a video of how I water my avocado trees with such mini-sprinklers.
Please let me know if I can help further.
I’ve got about a 6 year old Lamb – went in as 5 gal and fruited the following year. Here in Santa Cruz – a couple miles inland – the latest crop of about 60 fruit has been on the tree for a year and a half. None have gone dark – all still green – and they take about 10 days to ripen after harvest, but the fruit ripen just fine and are really flavorful.
Hi Larry,
Great to know this. Sounds like your Lamb harvest is roughly three months later than mine in San Diego county. I’m guessing your Lambs will easily hang until the end of the year and still not taste overmature. But please let us know if that’s not the case.
Hi Greg, great article with lots of very useful information. I planted a reed/hass seed 6 years ago and this is the 2nd year I’ve been harvesting what looks like a Lamb Hass. It only takes 9 to 10 months to be ready to pick and eat so the harvest starts in December. However, it does take 12 to 14 days to ripen after cutting off the tree. It is now March 3, 2020 and I still have about a dozen still hanging. They are a dark green now they will turn black by April 15th. I waited too long last year thinking the harvest date would be more like a Reed!
Hi Roger,
That’s really interesting. They taste good too? What luck you’ve had!
They taste great and lots of oil. The 1st year it held 15 and his year I’ve picked 63 so far.
Is it possible to leave or grow in a pot? My backyard had a pool filled with concrete and bad soil so I really cant grow anything on the ground. Anything deeper than 3ft is full of broken slabs and rocks.
I think I may actually get some fruit from my Lamb in 2020. Planted it in October 2016, and 5 months later it was looking like it had lost its will to live – https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi1Pt2WjzCh/
But new 3 years after planting, it’s looking happier – https://www.instagram.com/p/B3w6Vq5AvGL/
About 20 fruit of semi-decent size on it currently.
It dropped all fruit last year by this time, but the ones covered completely with leaves this year seem like they may survive, and at least made it through the hot summer. So now will just have to be patient for another 6 months or so I guess. I thought I was getting close to harvest time for it, so I went googling. From your write up, it sounds like I’m not quite as close as I though 🙂
Hi Gregory,
Tree looks good! Seems like you’ll be eating those twenty avocados this time around. It’s hard to wait for Lambs, but the earliest they will taste good is probably around May. If you leave them until August or so, they should be prime.
But be forewarned: you’d be very lucky if all of them hang until August. Most likely, some will fall off in April, May, and early summer. That’s just what Lambs do. Keep your eye out for this. Pick the fruit up, ripen it, and eat it. Then let the others hang until they taste really good in late summer. That’s my routine with Lamb anyway.
Got my first batch of 7 last week, and found another good sized one today that seemed ready. As you mentioned, a few had fallen off. And the remaining 7 I’ll watch to see how they do. But yeah, May is looking like it’s my time to pick them. The remaining 7 don’t look like they need too much longer.
When I cut one open, it seemed like there was lots of moisture in it. That’s a good thing, right?
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_0ZbxvAIHF/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_0Zq3bACC9/
Good to hear, Gregory. I’ve had a lot of Lambs falling the last couple weeks too, but they are ripening on the kitchen counter and tasting acceptable. When you cut them open and they look wet, with a shiny surface like that, it indicates that they aren’t totally mature and they haven’t developed the oil content that they will if left to hang on the tree longer. If you were to pick a Lamb in August, you’d likely find that the cut surface was not so shiny, and then the taste would be thicker and richer.
Just want to say I love your site and thank you for sharing all this great information. I live in L.A. and have planted one Haas avocado tree. I want to try planting a few others in order to have fruit for more of the year and it’s hard to find where to buy varieties other than Haas and Fuerte. This is a great resource.
Hi Andrew,
Thanks so much for taking the time to write this. I’d guess you’ve found these other posts already, but I’ll link them here in case others haven’t: “Avocado varieties for year-round harvest,” and “Where to buy an avocado tree.”
Hi Greg,
Thanks for the post. I am experimenting with Lamb Hass in my pilot avocado orchard in India. I am trying it on west Indian rootstocks from the Israeli selection.
The temperatures go above 44 degrees C during peak summer, just before monsoon. Do you know any other black skin cultivars (not patented or protected varieties) that can withstand so much heat?
Looking forward to your reply.
Hi Harshit,
Wow! Not for your sake, but for your avocados, I hope that there’s some humidity during those days of 44 degrees C and above!
I don’t have any Lambs on the VC/Israel West Indian rootstocks, but I do have a few young trees of other varieties on a few of them and they are doing well so far in our California conditions.
The only other cultivars with black skin that I’ve been told (by University of California researchers) can withstand more heat than Hass are the protected varieties GEM and Harvest. I can’t think of any that are not protected/patented.
I assume you’ve tried Hass? In hot parts of California (the San Joaquin Valley), it can perform acceptably except that the fruit doesn’t grow as big as in milder areas. But our heat is dry heat.
I’ve got an old post about the heat tolerance of avocado varieties here: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/heat-tolerance-of-avocado-varieties/
It is in need of an update, and I will try to add information soon, but even now it might still be of interest to you.
Hi Greg, Thanks for the reply.
It is dry heat. The exposure period of 44-45 degree C, is about a week usually for 3-4 hours per day during that week. And then the monsoon hits.
I am will have Hass, Lamb Hass, Pinkerton, Ettinger and Reed.
I have been told that irrigating needs are very high during that time. So am prepared for that.
Thanks, I will check out that post.
Hi Harshit,
I see. I thought to mention Pinkerton even though it is a greenskin because I’ve noticed in my location and other hot locations in Southern California that while this variety’s foliage doesn’t take heat well, the fruit does. Pinkerton fruit holds very well through extreme heat, as far as I’ve seen. And I’ve read that experiences with Pinkerton in Israel are similar.
I agree that providing ample irrigation is key to getting avocados through high heat. I’ve seen it work on my own trees, and I’ve heard many other very experienced growers say this as well. If you haven’t seen it, you might enjoy reading my post on avocados and heat, “Protecting avocados from heat.”
Thank you for the profile on Lamb. This is the first article I came across that notes its tendency to drop its fruit as a young tree. Sure enough, as soon as I read this, my little Lamb that I had bought last year as a 5 gallon tree dropped its one and only fruit a week ago. The tree was only 4 feet tall when it held on to a full sized fruit even through some whipping Santa Ana winds a few months ago. Reading this article lessened my heartbreak when I saw the fruit on the ground on a clear and sunny windless day. I did pick it up immediately and let it soften for a week out of curiosity to see if it was still edible. Surprisingly it tasted good! Maybe not as rich and buttery as it should taste in the summertime, but definitely glad I didn’t throw it away after it fell off the tree. 🙂
Hi Steve,
You’re very welcome. I’m so glad you didn’t throw away that Lamb fruit too!
Some people complain a lot about Lamb’s habit of dropping fruit, but I don’t think it’s a big deal because it sets so much fruit in the first place that it still holds a respectable crop until maturity. So maybe the tree sets 100 avocados but drops 20 before the summer. You’re still left with 80 great pieces of fruit. Compare that to some less productive varieties that only set 50 avocados in the first place. That’s the right way to think about it, I think.
But you’ve also noted a good point, which is that the fruit that drops is still often decent tasting — so it’s not a total loss. For a home grower, Lamb can work out fine with this dropping habit.
Commercial farmers hate it though because that dropped fruit is a total loss for them. It’s actually illegal for them to sell it because of a recent law which says that fruit that has touched the ground cannot be sold.
I have 1 acre for planting. My concern is choosing the variety, which is stressful. Cant decide between Lamb Hass or Hass. Any recommendations?
My climate is pretty hostile during winter, nights are below 10C But during summer it’s ok.
Spain has gone for the Lamb which supposedly produces more which is equal to more $ and lets be honest, we producers care a lot about this.
Thanks for your very detailed and personal experience Greg, it’s very helpful, may God Bless you.
Hi Alan,
Thanks! The early claims about Lamb being more productive than Hass haven’t turned out to be the case, as far as I can see here in California. A few examples that I know of:
In my own yard, my one Hass outproduces my one Lamb, both of which were planted at the same time on the same rootstock.
Much more useful is an ongoing study in Ventura County, California where numerous varieties are being grown on numerous rootstocks. These trees were planted in 2012, and Hass has yielded about 30 percent than Lamb.
In an older trial in San Diego County where the trees were planted at high density and pruned to eight feet tall each year, Hass also outproduced Lamb.
In both of these trials, the Lambs were pruned in September or October, immediately after harvest was finished.
Part of the reason for these results is that pruning affects Lamb more than it does Hass. With Hass, you can prune in the late winter and use/market all of the fruit you prune off as it is mature then; however, with Lamb — since it is harvested later, in summer — no matter when you prune you are cutting off some fruit that is immature and a total loss.
Another factor is alternate bearing. A grower in Ventura County told me he is removing all of his Lambs because they alternate too much. With Hass, he girdles and controls alternate bearing, but he finds that Lamb isn’t vigorous enough to handle girdling.
With my own trees, Lamb has alternated more than Hass also.
My grove has a critter problem, I think the tree squirrels get to my Hass before they are ripen. They have wiped out most of my Hass, vey disheartening. These critters are very clever, they will take a bite of each fruit and leave them hang and will come back later to harvest them. So far they are leaving the Lamb alone as they are not quite ready to pick. (believe me they can tell) Any idea on how to deal with this?
Hi CeCe,
Squirrels are tough. I am constantly battling them. I’ve been using the Squirrelinator for the last couple years successfully. I’ve been told that Tube Traps also work well. See more in my post, “Dealing with squirrels in a food garden.”
hello Greg! Is it possible to have avocados during all months of the year in the Mediterranean climate ? I live in Europe, Portugal, on the outskirts of
Lisbon. Thanks 🙂
Hi Daniel,
I don’t know for sure, but I don’t see why not. I know that avocados grow well in some parts of Portugal, and I know that nearby in the south of Spain many of the same varieties that do well we also have good results with in California (Fuerte, Hass, and others). So I’d guess that if you planted enough varieties, and the right varieties, you could have delicious avocados to pick from your trees in every month of the year.
You might like to check out this post: “Avocado varieties for year-round harvest.”
Hi Greg,
Would you happen to know where one could purchase Lamb bud wood for grafting in Southern California?
After reading and watching your you tube videos on this variety, I would like to try grafting it to a rootstock that I just grafted the Fuerte avocado too.
My Lamb Hass is about 6′ high, and while I clipped the tip, it branched off in other ways to grow taller. I’m all good with that.
What I’m curious about is how to prune it in an ongoing way.
Bad pic, no doubt – I’m working on cleaning up the things behind it.
http://www.gthomson.us/projects/trees/lambhass/avo3-may2020.jpg
What I’m wondering…
If I prune off too many of those lower branches – any branches that are in the bottom 12″, might that cause next summer’s heat in SoCal to put too much heat on the shallow roots?
Do those low branches help protect the roots from too much heat?
Your instincts are correct. In a hot place like Corona, or where I live in Ramona, I’d try to leave an avocado tree’s skirt down to the ground. Not only does it keep the roots shaded and cooler, but it also keeps the leaves and other mulch from blowing away as easily.
Hello!
I apologize if this question is in the comments. I noticed there were A LOT of comments so decided to go straight to my question. Do you sell clippings for grafting? We have a 4ft. Lamb tree growing from a pit. We’d like to graft it to grow our own avocados. My former coworker used to bring them into the office and they were DELICIOUS. But I have changed jobs and he has moved out of state. ? any help you can offer is so greatly appreciated. Thank you!
I grew a Hass from seed and grafted from my existing Hass. Seemed like all was great until I took it our of the small container and put it in a 20 container. I drilled holes around the bottom for drainage. Now the edges of some of the leaves a turning brown and I don’t want to let it go until it dies. Maybe the drainage is bad.
Hi Kenneth,
There are many possibilities. Could be coincidence since this is the time of year (assuming you’re in California) when leaf burn appears anyway. Could be that roots were damaged in the transplant. Could be that the tree doesn’t like the new soil medium. Could have been a heat or drought consequence.
Hi Greg. I live in Melbourne, Australia, where we can grow cool climate Avocado varieties. I planted a one year old Fuerte and a one year old Lamb Hass two years ago, and the difference between them now is amazing. The Fuerte is two metres high and 1.5 metres wide, while the Lamb Hass is only 1.2 metres high and 1.2 metres wide. This is to be expected since Fuerte is large-growing and vigorous, while Lamb Hass is semi-dwarf. What worries me though is the Lamb Hass drops most of its mature leaves as the new Spring growth takes place, and many of its young branches have a drooping, slightly twisted habit without many leaves. Is this normal for a young Lamb Hass?
Hi Andrew,
What you describe is normal. My older Lamb no longer does this but in its first years it also dropped most of its leaves during bloom and spring flush. I’ve seen other young Lambs do the same. I can’t say for sure that older Lambs don’t do this, but mine hasn’t in the last couple years at least.
Lamb also has naturally drooping branches as you described. It’s a strange habit where the fruit will set and the branches with clusters of fruit hang down and new branches grow out to cover them. It’s unlike most other avocado varieties. I’ve also noticed that those inside branches with fruit on them do tend to lose their leaves after a while. There forms a sort of cave inside the Lamb tree where many fruit are but few leaves.
Thanks very much for your reply Greg. I’m greatly relieved to hear that my young Lamb Hass tree is growing normally.
Deseo adquirir algunos ejemplares de Lamb Hass (certificados no de semilla), para experimentar
si la variedad se adapta al suelo y clima de mi región (Argentina – Mendoza).
Apelo a su amabilidad para informarme datos de contacto de un distribuidor en Sudamerica o EEUU
que sea confiable respecto al origen de los ejemplares.
Desde ya agradecido.
Hola Dario,
Puede injertar? Are you able to graft?
Si, soy bastante bueno en injertos.
La idea, estimado Greg, es contar con un ejemplar “original” de Lamb
y desde el mismo, reproducir por clonación los ejemplares suficientes para un terreno grande.
Hi Greg, I’ve been reading for a few years, now, and returned to gain more wisdom from this post. We put several avocados in the ground recently, a Fuerte, Gwen and Lamb. We have 3 others in the front yard that have not fruited well, a Hass, Bacon, and some other. Pinkerton, maybe. We have taken a long time to experiment with placing our trees where they can get some relief from the sun (we are in Fillmore). We shade the front ones in the summer now, and they look better, but I only got 2 Bacons this year. They’re large and taste great.
Back to the new kids: Our new Lamb looks different from the other two. 5 gallon planting, the color and health of the leaves is excellent, but they curl up slightly like tacos. Exactly like the 7th photo down on your page here. My husband is worried about it, it looks different from all the other trees. We called the nursery and they didn’t have any wisdom. Have you noticed this leaf habit to be a consistent difference between Lamb and other varieties?
I’m embarrassed to note that you carefully explained this Lamb taco-factor in your excellent video on this page. Well we are relieved. Thank you for the excellent info that you provide so generously.
Hi Helena,
You got it: the taco leaves are a Lamb trait and nothing to worry about. In fact, leaves on any avocado tree that curl upward are never a concern. Only leaves sagging downward are sometimes a concern, as it can mean the tree is thirsty or heat stressed.
Hi Greg-
Love your informative posts that you share so generously! Total newbie here with two trees that I planted almost 3 years ago. One is a Lamb/Hass. Last season was the first that it had a few avocados hang on to full size. The tree is now almost bare – lost all its old leaves with the lastest wind storm, and lots of new growth can be seen all over the tree…baby leaves and buds. My question: it has two full-size avocados that should ripen when it warms up. But I’m a little concerned that they may be zapping all the energy from the tree. Should I pick them and sacrifice them in hopes that the tree can devote its energy to the new growth? Hard to do when they’ve been maturing for 16 months…but just a little shocked that most of the leaves went at once this time. It has been cooler and stormier this year, so the leaves dropped more slowly last spring. Thanks for any tips.
hello i have a question where can i get some lambhas plants for turkey can you help
Hi Greg,
I have my heart set on my childhood favorite avocado tree, which is fuerte. So what would you pair with a fuerte to extend the season and give me the most yield…..Hass, Lamb hass, Carmen, or GEM?
Thank you,
Hi Jerry,
Strictly in terms of season extension, I would pair Fuerte with Lamb or Reed. Once mature, the Fuerte season will run roughly December into May, and then the Lamb or Reed season will run roughly June through September. In October and November you can eat late season Lambs and Reeds, or in November you can eat early season Fuertes. These seasons are for most Southern California locations.
Hi Greg, I have a lamb that I thought would be my only avocado tree but I’ve gathered the motivation to try to squeeze one more in. Based on reading your posts I’ve narrowed my options down to a Bacon or Hass, but I’m still open minded to other options. I was wondering if you have any recommendations. I would like something with a relatively small footprint and prefer a tree that bears abundantly and consistently, and that produces quality fruit. I’m unsure if the benefit of adding a B type is worth choosing the Bacon over the Hass, but it seems you might lean toward pairing a hass with the lamb and not worrying about the supposed benefit of an A and B type. Open to other suggestions too. Thanks for all you do with the Yard Posts!!!!
Hi Jake,
If you’ve eaten a Bacon and like the fruit, go for it. But some people don’t like it much so I wouldn’t plant one without having tried the fruit first.
Most likely, you’ll get enough fruit with just a Lamb and Hass together. Where are you located? That might influence your decision.
Hi Greg, I live in the western part of Vista here in San Diego County and get a few mornings of frost per year. I’ve never tried a bacon avocado before. I don’t consider myself and my family to be real picky but I’d guess you are right that we have certain expectations for avocado flavor given what is traditionally available. We love the fruit our lamb produces.
Hi Greg,
We just purchased a Lamb Avocado and it is still in its container so it can acclimate itself to North Orange County weather. It will be planted in our garden at a later date. Will one tree give us fruit in the future or should I have purchased another tree?
I have a Lamb that is about 8 years old. It did not fruit this summer at all. I think that was due to a cold spell we had here in Altadena after the tree flowered. But prior to that I think the most fruit that I have gotten from the tree has been only 16. So I am ready to purchase another avacado tree and based on information that I have gleaned from this wonderful site, it seems like my Lamb may benefit from me planting an avacado tree with a B type flower. Any advise as to which one?