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Halcyon Daze

Hass avocado from seed

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I was just wondering what to expect from a seed grown Hass Avocado.

Are they worth growing from seed? Are they much different from a classic Hass? What has been your experience?

Cheers!

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it wont be the classic hass! the seed wont grow true to the fuit , it will grown a fast growing stock plant :wink:

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I have read totally contradictory information about this - some ppl say they're like apples, that they don't grow true to type & you may get a delicious avocado or you may get an inedible bitter block of wood. Others say this is a myth and they grow just fine from seed, so who bloody knows? Maybe it depends on the variety or something. Or maybe the first group are right & the second group are ppl who just ended up with a tree that resembled the parent by chance. The only person I've known who tried it used to just plant all his avocado seeds rather than composting them - I don't know if they were all true to form, but apparently he ended up with an orchard full of delicious avocadoes, so it may be worth a try if you have the time & space.

I've heard avo's are susceptible to root diseases, so if you want something reliable it's probably best to go for a grafted tree of a known variety - you'll get fruit quicker too. But if you try growing from seeds I'd be very interested to hear the results - this question has been bugging me for a while now!

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IME the growing true to type depends on the variety of apple or peach or whatever. Some variety are known to grow true and some do not

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I have read totally contradictory information about this - some ppl say they're like apples, that they don't grow true to type & you may get a delicious avocado or you may get an inedible bitter block of wood. Others say this is a myth and they grow just fine from seed, so who bloody knows? Maybe it depends on the variety or something. Or maybe the first group are right & the second group are ppl who just ended up with a tree that resembled the parent by chance. The only person I've known who tried it used to just plant all his avocado seeds rather than composting them - I don't know if they were all true to form, but apparently he ended up with an orchard full of delicious avocadoes, so it may be worth a try if you have the time & space.

I've heard avo's are susceptible to root diseases, so if you want something reliable it's probably best to go for a grafted tree of a known variety - you'll get fruit quicker too. But if you try growing from seeds I'd be very interested to hear the results - this question has been bugging me for a while now!

hey anodyne, i work @ a huge avo wholesale nursery and the owner is world leading in avo clones and grafts. he has over 40 years experience .

we grow over 20 thousand avo trees, the seed from a hass avo tree will not grow true to the fruit.

edit this is for a hass seed

Edited by bullit
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I can speak from personal experience that wildling fruit tends to be pretty shitty...full of grey/brown fibres.

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... the seed from a hass avo tree will not grow true to the fruit.

Cool, cheers for clearing that up for me bullit!

So do you know if the hass offspring show a range of types like apples, or do they revert to some single crappier form?

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Cheers for the replies. I know they won't be exact replicas of the hass, Only cloning will achieve that, but we are eating sooooo many awesome and massive Hass avo's from our grafted tree that it seems a waste not to sprout some of the big healthy seed. We have plenty of time and a few acres to plant them out.

I was hoping to find some variety among them and simply hit any shitty ones with the pointy end of a chainsaw. I don't mind if they are 90% shitty, there could be some real 'roses among the thorns'. I'm also planting some Shepard avo's and another awesome type from a massive neighborhood tree.

I guess I'll have to pick a favourite and start grafting it, although it's hard to imagine I'll ever beat the original Hass.

I'll let you know how she goes, CHEERS!

Edited by Halcyon Daze

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It is really hard to beat the Hass if you can grow it in your climate. Grafting is the way to go. Avocados are easy and you get get an auto-grafting tool to save the time if you are planting out a large number.

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So graft a Hass clone onto a seed-grown Hass stock you reckon, -that's genius!

(or crazy)

But prolly genius! :)

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Cool, cheers for clearing that up for me bullit!

So do you know if the hass offspring show a range of types like apples, or do they revert to some single crappier form?

hey anodyne, yes they show a range of types, many show the same looks as the reed avo.

So graft a Hass clone onto a seed-grown Hass stock you reckon, -that's genius!

(or crazy)

But prolly genius! :)

u can , your better getting a few reed avo seeds for stock and grab bud wood of your mother hass/ sheperd plant for the graft.

also hass seedlings are a shit stock plant because of dissease .

u dont wanna grow seedlings for fruit ,mr daze they take fucken many years[ up to 15] to fruit..

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Bit of a digression, but does anyone know what are good avo varieties for colder temperate climate?

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Bit of a digression, but does anyone know what are good avo varieties for colder temperate climate?

hey mushfun, this is a quote from my boss . from gardening australia interview a couple years ago

For a cool climate where the temperature doesn't get below -8 to -10, there's only one choice and that's the Baconcultivar. It's an amazing variety. Its cold hardiness or the anti-freeze, is the anise, or aniseed which contributes to the frost tolerance, and it's a good indicator in an avocado cultivar.

Edited by bullit
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Thanks for that bull. One more thing, what would be the best pollinator for that one?

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Bacon is a great variety, but tats the problem.. it's a B type & i'm hard strapped finding an A type (for pollination) that is close to being as cold hardy as the bacon..

same goes for most of the more cold hardy varieties.. they all seem to be B types.. i guess we just need to try as many A's as possible & keep the ones that can survive the frost.. that said, it seems there are a bunch of varieties that may be able to handle much more cold than it might initially seem.. with a bit of microclimate in the early years i'm sure we'd be surprised.. i will report back in ten years when i have something useful to add from my own experiments..

Hass won't grow 'true to type' but the odds aren't too bad that you will get a tree with nice fruit that produces well.. certainly better odds than apples generally speaking.. If you've only got very limited space though i think it'd be much more worth your while to invest in some good cultivars..

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Thanks for that bull. One more thing, what would be the best pollinator for that one?

u can grow it without a type a avo and get fruit , if u want to grow a type a for cross pollination and get more fruit try wurtz it can handle the cooler coniditions no worries.

i disagree paradox , sorry, hass seedlings are shit for cropping and they get many problems with root rot.

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Fair enough bull, to be honest I don't actually know about hass in particular, my statement was just a general one about growing any random avo variety from seed, in comparison to apples..

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I've had a lot of luck growing apples and peaches from seed.

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Good to know I should get rid of my 7ft hass avocado seedling and re-use the artesian pot I never moved it out of....

So does anyone know how one gets hold of a "bacon" cultivar plant in SA?

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they're another one which sells out within days of them being available anywhere.. i can send you a couple of scions in a year or so if you still haven't got one..

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i work @ a huge avo wholesale nursery

You are now officially my favourite member of the forum...provided you hook me up with a truckload of free avos haha. Avocados are the only drug I really need.

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You are now officially my favourite member of the forum...provided you hook me up with a truckload of free avos haha. Avocados are the only drug I really need.

hahaah awesum G'man , i can get hold of a few very good rootstock seeds now and then, like Velvick, bw 2 , bw197, and the best of all stocks Ashdot.

so hit us up to time to time c that i can do

Edited by bullit
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I have 4 avo plants growing from seed. No idea what variety they are but they look fucking great. Fruit. ...who knows

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I have 4 avo plants growing from seed. No idea what variety they are but they look fucking great. Fruit. ...who knows

good as a shade tree, i dont think they will fruit for u m8.

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Up in PNG (a great place to learn about self sufficiency) avo's are grown from seed only. They are known to take a while to bear fruit and some 'neighborhood' trees are said to be non-fruiters which eventually get the axe. The Avo's are known as 'butterfruit', and are used in place of butter. They are green, fairly creamy, but not really as good as Hass.

Some neighborhood trees were known to give poor/ watery fruit. Trees like that usually get the axe too. I can imagine something similar happening with seed grown Hass.

I often find Avo's growing wild at picnic areas in SE QLD/Nthn NSW. Mainly in the wetter mountain areas from memory. I reckon I might have to start looking for some of the better individuals, and grow out some of those seed.

I know I could just graft Hass for the rest of my life but I do like diversity.

I'll find some good clones and cross them, Luther Burbank style. I'm in no rush.

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