The Sideways Fuerte: A Wind-Toppled Tree That Kept Growing
This tree used to stand upright like any other. Then a windstorm pushed it over, and its main trunk ended up lying along the ground. Most people would have written it off. The tree did not.
Even after falling, it kept growing. New branches sprouted from the fallen trunk and went straight up, and today it is two things at once: a productive Fuerte tree and the best climbing tree our two boys have.
What happened to it?
You can still read the story in the tree. At one end is where the roots were when it stood up. Running away from them is the main trunk, now lying more or less sideways where the wind put it. Enough of the root system stayed in the ground to keep the tree alive, and it responded the way avocados often do: by pushing out new growth.
How can a fallen tree grow new branches?
Kirk forgets the technical term in the video, and it is an easy one to forget. Avocados, like many trees, carry dormant buds under the bark. When a tree is stressed, cut back hard, or suddenly finds a limb lying in full sun, those buds can wake up and send out vigorous upright shoots. Growers often call these water sprouts, or watershoots. The UC growers’ handbook describes the same thing in a grove: when light reaches limbs that were shaded, it wakes dormant buds and new vegetative growth follows.
On a standing tree, water sprouts are something we manage, and sometimes leave as shade for exposed limbs, which we covered in avocado sunburn and pruning water sprouts. On a fallen one, those shoots are the whole new canopy.
Not every toppled or damaged tree comes back, and some are safer removed. We went through how we assess them in caring for fallen or hollowed-out avocado trees.
Does it still produce fruit?
It does. This one is a Fuerte, the green-skinned heritage variety that was California’s leading avocado before Hass took over. When we filmed in July, it was carrying little baby avocados that will be ready next year.
That long wait is normal for avocados in general: fruit set in spring hangs on the tree for many months before it is ready. Fuerte is traditionally a winter avocado, picked roughly November through March in a 1996 UC variety chart, which puts it on a different calendar from Hass. Some Fuerte trees also flower over a long stretch, sometimes from October to July, so it is not unusual to find small fruit on one in summer. Aging Fuerte trees also come with their own quirks, from heavy low limbs to trunk problems, which we wrote about in Fuerte tree care for aging trees.
The best jungle gym on the farm
The sideways trunk sits low and wide, with upright branches coming off it at handy intervals. For two young boys, that is irresistible. Plenty of trees on the property are good to look at; this is the one they actually climb.
We like that it earns its keep both ways. It feeds us and it gives the kids somewhere to be kids, which matters to us as much as the fruit does.
If you want to taste what a stubborn old Fuerte produces, keep an eye on our 4lb Fuerte box. It ships free when the Fuertes are on, and between seasons you can join the waitlist on the page and we will email you when they are ready.
This post is part of our guide to life on our family grove.
