Cut, Don’t Yank: Picking Avocados With Pruners So They Last Longer
Never yank an avocado off the tree. Use pruners and cut it off instead. That one habit protects the tree, protects the…
Avocado Fruit Drop After Windstorms: Why Ground Fruit Can’t Be Sold
Avocado fruit drop is an unavoidable part of orchard life, but when severe weather sweeps through Southern California, the losses become immediately…
Twice a Week, Six to Twelve Hours: Why the Sprinkler Head Matters More Than the Clock
How often do you water an avocado tree? On our farm, the answer has been about twice a week, with each run…
Healthy Avocado Tree but No Fruit? Two Things We Check First
Why isn’t your avocado tree producing avocados? There can be a number of reasons, but two come up again and again. Either…
Day Eight Results: Counter, Paper Bag or Fridge for Ripening Avocados
This is the final day of our avocado ripening experiment: day eight since the fruit came off the tree. The results in…
How Tough Is an Avocado Tree? The Fuerte Kirk Climbed as a Kid
Avocado trees are tougher than they look. The best evidence we have is a Fuerte that Kirk used to climb when he…
Why Is the American Farmer Disappearing? The Question Becca Asked After a Hard Week
Why is the American farmer disappearing? Becca asked Kirk that one morning this week, with him behind the camera and an avocado…
How to Check Soil Moisture With a Probe: Our Nine-Inch Test Under a Fuerte
How do you know your avocado tree is actually getting enough water? You look. A soil probe pulls up a thin core…
From Brown Tips to a Green Flush: How Our Fuerte Tree Bounced Back
Can an avocado tree recover from brown leaf tips? Ours did. Earlier in the season, a lot of our leaves had crispy…
Is Your Grocery Store Hass Avocado Real? Mislabeling in the Produce Aisle
Most avocados sold as Hass in US stores are Hass, but growers we have talked with say other dark-skinned varieties sometimes get…
