First Avocado Tree in San Diego County: The Surprising History of Escondido Avocados

According to San Diego County Farm Bureau records, the first avocado tree in San Diego County was planted in Escondido in 1892. San Diego County went on to become the largest avocado-growing county in California, and that story started long before commercial packing houses and modern irrigation systems dotted the hillsides.

Understanding the roots of local agriculture gives us immense appreciation for the grove we manage today. When preparing for a recent presentation at the Escondido Rotary Club, we uncovered the historical records that established Escondido as the foundational home of San Diego avocados.

The 1892 Milestone: San Diego Farm Bureau Records

While avocados were introduced to Los Angeles County and coastal Santa Barbara in the mid-19th century, Southern California’s inland valleys proved to provide an exceptional microclimate for subtropical fruit trees. According to historical archives preserved by the San Diego County Farm Bureau, the region’s inaugural avocado planting took place in Escondido in 1892.

The combination of warm valley days, cool marine layer airflow at night, and well-draining hillside soils created ideal conditions for avocado rootstocks. Following that initial 1892 planting, local growers quickly realized that Escondido and surrounding areas like Fallbrook and Valley Center possessed the perfect natural environment for expanding commercial avocado production.

Read nextSan Diego Avocado History: Why Escondido Needs Avocado Trees on City Property

How Did Avocados First Come to California?

The Escondido planting came about four decades after the first California trees. Avocado Production in California: A Cultural Handbook for Growers, Book One, published by UC Cooperative Extension and the California Avocado Society, traces the story this way:

• Around 1850: the first California plantings probably went in.
• 1856: a state agricultural report recorded a tree grown by Dr. Thomas White in San Gabriel. It left no known offspring.
• 1871: Judge R. B. Ord planted three seedling trees from Mexico in Santa Barbara. These are generally considered the foundation of the California avocado industry.
• 1892: the same year as the Escondido tree, Juan Murrieta of Los Angeles imported fruit from Atlixco, Mexico, and handed out the seeds. Several early varieties came from them.
• 1895: nurseryman Kinton Stevens planted 120 seedlings in Montecito, the first avocado orchard. It died after several dry years.
• 1914: the first orchard of Fuerte, the variety the California industry was built on, was planted near Yorba Linda.

So the 1892 Escondido tree belongs to the seedling era, when growers were still planting seeds from whatever fruit they could get and waiting to see what grew. Named, grafted varieties came later.

Why North San Diego County Became Avocado Country

The hills around Escondido, Fallbrook and Valley Center kept turning up in the industry’s history:

• Size. By the 2001–02 season San Diego County had 22,862 acres of Hass, more than any other county in the state.
• Local discoveries. The Zutano variety is believed to have started as a seedling on the Truitt Ranch in Fallbrook. The Reed was found in Carlsbad in 1948. The Thomas rootstock, one of the root-rot-tolerant stocks that came out of the UC root rot research program, is listed with Escondido as its origin.
• Grower know-how. When Gwen avocados kept setting poorly in San Diego County, it was Escondido grower Tom Markle who found that Gwen needs a B-type pollinizer nearby.
• Hillside planting. Cold air drains downhill, so slopes above the frost line stay warmer than valley floors. From the 1970s, low-volume irrigation made it practical to plant avocados on steep slopes, which is why so many North County groves climb the hillsides.

The same history also shows the costs. San Diego County groves depend on imported water, and by 2012 the handbook recorded district water at $1,100 an acre-foot in Fallbrook and $1,300 to $1,400 in the Valley Center district, which set off a run of groves going out of business. For scale, the handbook’s irrigation chapter says most San Diego County groves need about 3 to 3.5 acre-feet of water per acre each year.

A City Identity Rooted in Agriculture

The avocado’s impact on Escondido was both immediate and enduring. As orchards began spreading across the valley through the early 20th century, the fruit became synonymous with the town’s identity and economic prosperity.

In fact, the avocado is so deeply ingrained in local heritage that it is permanently embedded into the official seal of the City of Escondido. For generations, local families have cultivated these hillsides, transitioning from early varieties like Fuerte and seedling trials to the modern Hass orchards that dominate the landscape today. Statewide, Hass passed Fuerte in volume in 1972 and made up almost 97% of California’s crop by 2011–12. You can read how that happened in the history of Hass patent 139.

Preserving California Family Farm Heritage

Operating a family avocado grove in Southern California today comes with real modern challenges, from steep water costs to unpredictable weather events. Yet, understanding that we are standing on the very soil where San Diego’s avocado story originated over 130 years ago provides powerful motivation to keep pushing forward.

Our daily work centers on sustainable grove management, including:

• Implementing efficient, targeted irrigation systems to conserve local water resources.
• Utilizing natural fallen leaf mulch to preserve soil microbial life and root health.
• Carrying forward multi-generational farming traditions that keep local food systems alive.

Join Our Family Grove Journey

Every avocado harvested from our grove represents a continuation of the pioneering spirit that began in Escondido back in 1892. We are committed to transparency, community education, and sharing the true realities of California family farming.

Whether you have questions about caring for backyard avocado trees or want to follow along as we preserve our family grove, we invite you to explore our farm updates, grove tips, and farm-fresh harvest offerings directly at Holmes Grown USA.

This is part of our complete guide to the history of California avocados — the early introductions, the varieties that won, and the growers who are left.