Black vs Green Avocados: How to Know When Fruit Is Ready to Pick
Walking through an avocado grove reveals one of the most remarkable phenomenons in fruit farming: single branches carrying two completely separate crop…
When to Plant an Avocado Tree: Frost, Scorch and Your USDA Zone
A young avocado tree has two enemies in its first months: frost and scorching sun. Plant too late in the cool season…
Hass vs Fuerte vs GEM: How Avocado Varieties Grow Differently
Not every avocado tree grows the same shape. The variety makes a big difference. Fuerte trees tend to spread out wide. Hass…
How to Grow Avocado Trees: A Grower’s Complete Guide
Time to fruit, height, shallow roots, reading the leaves, pests, pruning and picking: how we grow avocado trees in Escondido.
How to Harvest Fruit Without Damaging Tree Branches: Proper Stem Snapping Techniques
Some harvest days are about efficiency. This one was about fun, and about the snapping. The short version of the technique: hold…
How Tall Do Avocado Trees Grow?
Left unchecked an avocado tree reaches 40 or even 50 feet. We keep ours at about fifteen, and the reason is entirely…
How Long Until an Avocado Tree Produces Fruit?
Most grafted avocado trees start producing a real crop between years five and seven. What that looks like on our grove, and…
Avocado Tree Sunburn and Pruning Water Sprouts: How to Protect Grove Yields
Avocado limbs sunburn when they lose the leaf cover that normally shades them, and the fix is to manage the canopy so…
Avocado Tree Leaf Health: Identifying New Growth, Leaf Shapes, and Pest Signs
Healthy new avocado growth is often reddish-bronze and soft, brown tips on older leaves in fall usually mean salt or chloride buildup,…
How to Save a Dying Avocado Tree: Diagnosing Root Compaction and Soil Stress
A dying avocado tree can often be saved if the problem is caught early and it is underground: compacted soil, waterlogged roots…
How to Stake Avocado Tree Branches: Protecting Fruit and Guiding Canopy Growth
To stake a sagging avocado branch, set a prop under the limb at its balance point, lift it 12 to 18 inches…
Shiny vs Dull Avocados: How to Tell Fruit Maturity on the Tree
On a Hass tree in spring and summer, shiny skin usually marks this year’s young fruit, still growing, while dull skin marks…
Fallen Avocados and Farming Regulations: Why Ground-Dropped Fruit Can’t Be Sold
Fallen avocados cannot be sold commercially because food safety rules treat contact with the soil as a contamination risk, so fruit that…
Avocado Tree Care: Why You Should Not Grow Plants Under the Canopy
You should not grow plants under an avocado tree because its feeder roots sit close to the surface, and anything planted beneath…
How to Care for Fallen or Hollowed-Out Avocado Trees: A Legacy Grove Guide
Managing an established or historic avocado grove frequently presents unique challenges that standard commercial farming guides do not cover. One of the…
