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Growing avocados in Oregon?

63K views 33 replies 22 participants last post by  CptnMorgan 
#1 ·
I've seen people advertising avocado trees on CL lately. Can you really grow them successfully in Oregon? Anybody with first hand experience? I'm skeptical, but dang that would be cool.
 
#3 ·
Avocado's grow in zones 9 through 11, and the only zone 9 in OR is a thin strip of the south coast, around Bandon, Brookings, Gold Beach area. So unless you've got a huuuge greenhouse, I'd say you're outta luck. Any freezing temps or frost will kill them, and even if you could keep them alive you're yield would be tiny at best.
Down here in HI, however, they grow wild. First time I saw a fully loaded avo tree in the woods, I was in heaven.
 
#4 ·
Avocado trees grow fine in Oregon. I have grown a lot of them.

But inside the house and I wouldn't count on any fruit. They can go outside in the summer, but it is just a big houseplant. Unless somebody has dwarfed them, but it would probably still need to be an inside plant.
 
#5 ·
The vast majority of Avacado's (like other fruit species) are grafted trees. The seed is fairly easy to grow and fun for kids... they make reasonably good houseplants but that's about it around here. zip
 
#8 ·
I'd say no. They can handle a light frost, but low temps for extended periods of time will kill them, or at least the smaller branches. We had them in the bay area, and they would handle most of the cooler, occasional below zero weather, but in a bad year, it would kill the new growth and the harvest. Great trees if we could get away with it.
 
#12 ·
Trees get too large to do well here after a quick look. They can match a large overgrown apple tree in size. Wonder if you could root bound one and bansai a tree in an old whiskey barrel or similar indoors.

Twitch, can you help here and share the pot size of your plant.
 
#15 ·
They do have dwarf avocados. We had one down in california, I miss that thing.
__________

Container Cultivars
The container dwarf avocado variety Wurtz, or Little Cado, grows to 10 feet tall and produces 8- to 14-ounce fruit. This cultivar withstands temperatures as cool as 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Wurtz requires protection from high winds and direct sunlight during year one. Holiday, a Guatemalan cultivar, produces fruit up to 2 pounds. Holiday grows from 10 to 12 feet tall. Don Gillogly Persea americana produces two crops of black-skinned avocados each year. The tree grows to 10 feet tall, but can be pruned to shorter heights.
 
#18 ·
Our weather here just won't support growing them outside unprotected.

Sprouting avacados is really simple. As mentioned just stick the pit in some dirt and they will grow. Keep in mind though that the Hass avacados you find in the store are from cloned trees from the same mother tree and not grown from seed. There is a huge amount of variation in trees grown from seed so trees are traditionally propagated using cuttings or grafting. It is the only way to get consistently good fruit for the commercial market.

Another option for growing of course is a greenhouse. My mother has a tropical greenhouse in Boise, Idaho which gets and stays far colder than we do in the Willamette valley. She has successfully grown bananas with fruit, coffee, and cocoa. She is also growing some African walnut vines for us and has a permit for importing seeds from over seas.
 
#19 ·
Koka, the way we used to do it when I was a kid was to stick three or four toothpicks into the pit and place it over the mouth of a jar full of water, with the bottom end in the water. Put it in the window and watch it sprout, then transplant. Good lesson for kids, like sprouting lima beans on a grander scale.
 
#21 ·
Don't know about Albany but there is an 12 foot avocado tree three house down from my house that was loaded this year. It is planted close to the house on the south facing side so it is somewhat protected and warmed in the winter.


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#22 · (Edited)
I've seen people advertising avocado trees on CL lately. Can you really grow them successfully in Oregon? Anybody with first hand experience? I'm skeptical, but dang that would be cool.[/QUOTE

No. Friend has a 5 acre orchard in So. Ca. Dip below 32 and you have a problem. Get a hard freeze for a few days and you have serious problems. Trees will die or parts of them. Saw the orchard after a hard freeze a few years ago and there was a lot of damage and they were using smudge pots. Smudge pots I believe are illegal now so you'd have to have a wind machine to keep the air moving. That's just in So. Ca. so can't imagine growing them even in No. Ca. let alone OR.

Having said that, it could depend on the type of avocado. Friend has hass and bacon (I think) that don't do well in cold weather.
 
#24 ·
Try using avocado leaves as a seasoning in Mexican dishes. It has a kind of bay leaf thing going on.

I used to use them all the time, problem is I haven't been able to sprout the seed the last few times I've tried, they just rot with the tooth-pick glass of water method. :shrug:

Smj
 
#25 ·
Talked with my neighbor this morning about their tree. It is a mexicola avocado. She says its important to mulch a few inches above the graft every winter and to cover with a tarp when we have those yearly cold spells. Her tree is about 12 years. She tried growing the Hass you buy in the store and they just die.


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#27 · (Edited)
Sounds like the lady has it figured out. Warm side of the house and protects it from long term cold. All I know she had about 200 avocados on it last May. My wife taking the kids to the bus was talking about the avocado tree and I didn't believe her till I saw it.

When I get my house this upcoming year and plan my garden I am hoping to espalier a fruit orchard, I already know I am putting in a pomegranate and a kiwi with the local normal stuff, might have to make a place for an avocado.


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#29 ·
I'd appreciate any info you guys have on obtaining a mexicola tree or maybe even kiwi or others that are hardy around here. I've been wanting to try some for the corners of my garden, especially avocado since I eat a lot of them. I'm sure I'll still have to do a little wintertime covering or something also.


Aluminumworksbyjd.com
 
#30 ·
She got the mexicola avocado from the Mexican grocery store and started it from a pit. Jerry has some good leads for Kiwi's in the Salem Area. Also up in Portland he listed a nursery that has an awesome selection of "tropical" fruits, quality of plant might need a little extra care though to get the established.


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#31 ·
Captain, I like your thinking on espaliered fruits. I see there are a number of cold hardy pomegranate cultivars that can take it down to 7 degrees. I simply never gave much thought to growing avocados and pomegranates right here in good old Oregon.

:applause:
 
#32 ·
I love espalier to because you cut down the footprint of the tree. Plus for like the "tropical" fruits you can make a brick wall to help heat up the plants in the winter months, even go as far as making a heat pump in the wall taking advantage of the warm soil a few feet below ground level and making a 3/4 green house. Plus that type of growth produces a ton of fruit to size of plant. You are still trimming the tree like the orchard just keeping it in 2d instead of 3d..


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