Wednesday, January 11, 2023

John Herd and Sir Prize avocados


 The post describes the first fruits I collected from the grafts of John Herd and Sir Prize avocados residing on my mature Mexicola tree. 

Sir Prize was grafted in 2016, and produced and ripened the first 5 fruits 2022-2023. It is a vigorous graft, with 5-6 feet of upright growth. However, it appears to be a shy producer. The pictures below show the second fruit harvested in January 2023.

The texture is very smooth with no fibers at all, and low oil content. The flavor is very clean, a vegetable type with no strong notes. I hope it will become more complex in the later harvested fruits. We had a very cold November- December here in the Sacramento Valley. The weather might have impacted the proper development of the fruit oils and flavors.

John Herd was grafted in 2020 and the fruit described is the first one produced just 2 years after grafting. The fruit stem was broken by a rodent in January 2023, otherwise I would keep it on the tree longer. Never the less, the fruit ripened fine on the counter in about a week. 
This fruit is pretty good flavored, a bit nutty, and with a better oil content. More complex in the flavor than my Sir Prize fruit. The texture is smooth with no fibers. This branch is lower on the tree than the Sir Prize branch and could have been exposed less to the cold masses this winter.



Cuttings sale in June of 2024

Update: No shipping after June 27, 2024 and until the winter sale. The orders placed after June 27 need to be picked up in person.  This pos...