Growing avocado trees in Central Valley could be challenging. It is important to select adapted cultivars. I have personal experience with five avocado cultivars: Mexicola, Duke, Aravaipa, Royal-Wright, and Second Red. The latest two are my introductions from old (most likely seedlings) trees in Santa Rosa.
Mexicola
The tree is large and vigorous. I planted my tree in 2001 on the northwest corner of my house. It started producing in 3-4 years after planting. The fruits are black, small, very flavorful, creamy and nutty with soft edible skin. It produces good crop every year between September and November. The trees of this cultivar are available at the retail nurseries.
Duke
This is an old Californian cultivar. Was commercially grown before Haas. The mother tree grows at the old Oroville Depot. Chaffin Family farm still produces them, and the fruits are occasionally available at the Chico market in October. Bill Bird wrote about this cultivar back in 2012. The fruits are green, thin skinned, larger than Mexicola, not so complex in flavor, but creamy and smooth. This is a good cultivar to grow in Central Valley, because it's cold tolerant, maybe the most frost resistant cultivar that we have here. The seedlings of this cultivar make good rootstocks for our area. See how the Duke fruits compare with Mexicola in the picture below. Dukes are the green fruits on the left.
Aravaipa
This cultivar came from Arizona desert and said to tolerate the temperatures between 14F and 120F.
In my experience, it is a very fast and vigorous grower. The grafts and trees bloom in the second year after grafting, with good production in the third year. The fruiting season is October and November. The fruits are green, larger than Mexicola, not so rich in flavor, but quite good for guacamole. I really like to use the seedlings of this cultivar as rootstocks; they germinate soon after planting, and grow fast. I guess they might be as good rootstocks as the Duke seedlings. In the below picture two Aravaipa fruits are on the right. The black ones are Mexicola.
The cut fruits of Aravaipa (upper left), Mexicola (upper right), and Duke (bottom) in the image below.
Second Red
The original tree of this cultivar grows in Santa Rosa, CA on Second street. The fruits are red, hence the name. I collected the scions in 2016, and made the first trees then. This cultivar seems to be the most cold sensitive from the ones described here. Nevertheless, the tree made it fine after 3 years in ground. It was planted in 2016, and at the time it was a few months old newly grafted tree. The temperature range it has experienced was from 23F to 108F. Now, after the third winter in ground, the tree has no damage at all. In the first and second winters, the upper growth was affected. I didn't use any frost protective measures. The tree is about 6 feet wide and tall now, and it didn't fruit yet. The fruit I tried from the tree in Santa Rosa was excellent. The fruits are large, dark red and glossy. The flavor is nutty and complex. The texture is smooth and oily. They are ready in February - March. See the fruit in the picture below. I'm looking forward to tasting my own fruits from this tree.
Second Red avocado tree is also very ornamental in spring when it produces deep red new leaves, see the picture below.
Royal-Wright
The original mature tree grows in a private yard in Santa Rosa, CA. I collected the material in 2016 and started grafting. Two small grafted trees were planted in Vacaville in summer of 2016. This is a frost tolerant (23F with slight damage of young tree, no damage last winter), fast growing, precocious, spring producing avocado. I harvested the first fruits from one of my trees this year. As this is the spring ripening avocado, the fruits should be on the tree for about a year. The fruiting season is March to May. The tree blooms in April and May. The fruits are large, green, creamy and nutty in flavor. See the fruit size in the picture below.
The new growth on this avocado is also very ornamental in spring. The new shoots and leaves are deep brown-red. The picture below shows the tree color in May (left) vs March (right).
The last four varieties are not available as trees in commercial nurseries, with the exception of Aravaipa, that is available occasionally at https://www.greenlifebyshamusoleary.com/ in Arizona.
I distributed the scions from all these trees through the Sacramento CRFG grafting meetings and green wood exchanges. Occasionally, I sell the scionwood at ReallyGoodPlants.com
I distributed the scions from all these trees through the Sacramento CRFG grafting meetings and green wood exchanges. Occasionally, I sell the scionwood at ReallyGoodPlants.com
Excellent! Do you have any issues with salt in your irrigation water
ReplyDeleteHi Ben, No I do not have any issues with salts. The Mexicola that was purchased in 2001 is on unknown rootstock and tolerates my city water of ~400-500uS well. The Dukes, Aravaipa, Royal-Wright, and Second Red are all on Duke seedlings rootstocks. They are on a well water that is of a better quality, ~200uS
ReplyDeletereally wonderful information!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, is the red avocado in Santa rosa on private property?
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, is the red avocado in Santa rosa on private property?
ReplyDeleteSorry for such a delayed reply. I just found this comment waiting for moderation. The Second Red Abocado is accessible as it grows in the parking lot of medical business offices on the Second Street. The tree is above the large trash container next to a wall. I need to check the business names in that location to give you the more precise spot
ReplyDeleteHi, I am growing some avo's in santa rosa and would love to he able to graft a cutting of this second red, any chance of a more precise location on 2nd st... thx a million!
DeleteIt grows by the back wall of L Squared Salon.
DeleteDo you expect to have additional scions of Second Red avocado available soon? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteMaybe in a few months.
DeleteWhen will you have second red avocado tree and royal-wright for sell again?
DeleteI might have few by the end of this spring
DeleteHi Marta,
ReplyDeleteI am French, and I travel through Island of Guadeloupe. There I came across various avocado varieties, but I don't have any background, reference to analyze what I see..
Maybe you can recognize some of them..
Here is the link of the topic I posted on a dedicated forum
https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=45001.0
Hi Nill, there are many avocado seedling trees in Mexico, as it is the origin of at least one lineage of avocado. They would not be of any particular selection/cultivar likely, just seedlings.
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteWill Second Red or Eoyal Wright be available soon?
I have not decided yet if I will be taking small orders this winter. I will try to do larger orders to nurseries that will propagate them
DeleteGot a Second Red scion from you (Marta) and loved the red leaves...then after all that wind I was checking branches and much to my surprise it has fruited! I will watch for the color change and report back once I harvest!!
DeleteGlad to hear that it is fruiting right away for you
DeleteIt was grafted close to the main trunk about 4' high and I didnt even see it before now...the Aravaipo I grafted at the same time doesnt have fruit yet...maybe its the pollination between Second Red and the main Mexicola Grande tree. Will watch grafts better next time to compare. Its bumpy and still very green ...watching for the red blush!!
DeleteAny updates on second red or royal Wright availability?
ReplyDeleteI will make them available this weekend. Will be shipping once a week
DeleteWill you have any seeds in the near future? (Duke, Second Red, Royal-Wright, Aravaipa).
ReplyDeleteNot sure is I have any available Royal Wright this spring (fruiting in March - April). Duke and Aravaipa fruit in September - November. Check with me by then
ReplyDeleteHello Marla,Thank you for the excellent information. I live in Santa Rosa and would like to grow a couple of backyard avacado trees. Do you know where I can purchase rootstock, such as from Aravaipa? So then later I can graft on second red. Thank you. Thembi
ReplyDeleteHi Thembi, I don't know of any suppliers that sell such seedlings. I made all myself. You may want to check the gardening groups at Facebook or come to the CRFG scion exchange in San Rosa on February 6 to meet more people. You might need to be a member of CRFG to attend this year. You will need to check with the Redwood Empire chapter.
DeleteHello Marta, Thank you so much for your response. I just joined the CRFG Redwood Empire chapter and hope to attend a meeting soon. Also, thank you for this excellent post, it was inspirational. Thembi
Deleteim interested in cuttings please get in touch. would like to buy some of each thanks! leeann
ReplyDeleteI do not have any available now, check with me in a couple of months
DeleteI see lots of advice online about grafting when the spring flush of growth occurs. If you have avocados growing in a growth chamber (artificial light and little warmer at night, never frost/freezing) does this change when one can graft? I just built the structure so my avocado nurse seedlings wouldn't freeze but am anxious to graft now when I have fewer gardening chores
ReplyDeleteIf your trees are in a chamber and happy, you can graft them anytime
DeleteI tried grafting some avocado scions taken from outdoor trees to be added to the seedlings in my growth chamber. Even with this being my first time grafting, I had about 75% success. I'm pretty happy with that and ordered a bunch of scions from reallygoodplants.com to see if I could add some variety to my seedlings before I plant in the field
DeleteHy Martha, Do you know if Aravaïpa is type A or type B avocado? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteNo, I never checked the flowers opening stages. It fruits just fine when alone, at least in the Sacramento Valley.
DeleteThank you Martha, my question was just for curiosity but glad to hear It fruits just fine when alone. I bought a few of your scions last year (managed to have them brought to south of France) and one of my Aravaipa plants grafted in april 2023 had its first opened flowers 3 days ago. The plant is in the grenhouse frost-free for the moment.
ReplyDeleteThe thing with avocado flowers, you usually need hundreds of them to get one fruit. You also don’t want your young grafts to fruit early and spend the energy to fruits instead of working on the canopy development
DeleteHi, my sister lives in Vacaville and would like an avocado tree for her new house. Do you have any grafted trees available? I visit in late November. Thanks, Will
ReplyDeleteNo, I don’t make trees for sale lately. Also, November is not the best month to plant an avocado tree in our area. I recommend you get one in spring.
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