Blog by Tina Saravia
A few years ago I purchased a Bacon Avocado (Persea americana) in a 5-gallon can. As its botanical name indicates, it is native to the Americas (Mexico, Central America, and South America) and belongs to the Laurel family. It is an evergreen tree that can grow up to 66 feet or 20 meters.
I must admit that my main interest is not to learn about its background but to consume it. I want fresh avocados any time of day, any day of the week.
So, I bought it and nurtured it. I gave it plenty of water by hand as I didn’t have automatic drip irrigation when I first got it. In the winter, I would cover it and surround it with 1-gallon water jars to keep it warm.
When the leaves started burning in the hot summer sun, I put it under cover by enclosing it in a wire cage and shade cloth. In nature, the mother avocado plant would shade it in from the scorching sun until it is large enough to be in direct sunlight.
Years later, it is still alive. It is still in its enclosure and has grown a lot of branches and leaves, but still no fruit.
The plant has been putting out flowers in the last couple of winters, but this tree needs a partner. Avocado trees are self-fertilizing, (I don’t think my tree knows that) but having both A and B types will produce more fruit.
My Bacon Avocado is what’s considered a “B” plant. It needs an “A” plant to fertilize the flowers so they will turn into delicious avocados. It has something to do with the timing of the opening of male and female flowers on each type of tree.
This link can explain it better than I can: https://avocado.ucr.edu/avocado-flowering-basics.
In the early spring, I got a Mexicola Grande, an A-type plant, to keep my Bacon company. Unfortunately, I knocked out the few flowers on the new avocado when I was repositioning it; and Bacon’s flowers slowly dropped without getting fertilized.
The good news is, that both plants have been growing new leaves, and who knows, maybe next year is the beginning of years of endless avocado. I’ll have to wait.
The better news is, my dwarf Mulberry (Morus nigra) plant has started bearing delicious, right off the plant, fruits. But that’s a story for another time.