Did you know that avocados are the only fruit apart from olives to contain monounsaturated fats? Monounsaturated fat is a healthy fat. Yes there is a thing called healthy fats! Healthy fats help you absorb essential fat-soluble nutrients (such as vitamin E), reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, help maintain a healthy heart and promote healthy skin.
It’s not just the healthy fats that make avocados so good. There are nearly 20 vitamins and minerals in this nutrient dense fruit. Avocados can help keep your immune system healthy, support mental performance, combat tiredness and even support a good mood.
They are not only a delicious way to ensure you are getting optimum nutrition per day, research shows adding avocado to a salad can increase your ability to absorb nutrients from other ingredients.
But avocados can be expensive in the shops….. so let’s grow our own!
Avocados love warm tropical climates. While you can easily grow an avocado from seed it is not recommended as seed grown avocados may not fruit or fruit successfully every year. It is always best to grow a grafted avocado, grafted by a reputable grower.
Avocados can grow over 6m in perfect conditions. Many of us could not handle this in our backyards which is why we recommend the dwarf growing varieties of avocados or keeping your avocado tree trimmed.
Wutrz and Fuerte are our two favourite varieties for growing in this area.
Avocados don’t need another avocado to fruit as the flowers are botanically classed as ‘bisexual’, carrying both male and female reproductive organs. However having more than one is beneficial and having both Type A and Type B flower types is even more beneficial. They tend to fruit more vigorously when they have friends.
Avocado flowers open twice over a two-day period - the first day as a female and the second day as a male.
Type A avocado flowers are ready to be pollinated in the morning, but any blossoms flowering in the afternoon are releasing their pollen.
Type B therefore, release pollen in the morning and are ready for fertilising in the afternoon.
This means the crawling and flying insects trying to harvest the pollen don't always get to their female counterparts to fertilise the fruit. Luckily, the trees usually flower for up to a month, so don’t panic if you can’t find type A and Type B. Just one Type will be enough to get fruit. If you plan on feeding the neighbourhood getting Type A and Type B might be a good idea. Wutrz are a Type A and Fuerte are classed as a Type B both grow fantastic in Ipswich region.
When growing either of these trees make sure it’s in a full sun position, well draining soil and protected from frosts. We recommend using good quality garden mix like Searles Garden Mix or excellent quality potting mix like Searles Platinum mix.
The trees should be fertilized every three months with a good quality organic slow release complete fertiliser like Organic Link. A liquid fertilizer, like Triple Boost should be applied fortnightly through the growing season. A good liquid trace element mix like Bio-Trace should be given about twice a year. Plant health is very important for best fruiting results.
Avocado – Wurtz
Wurtz Avocado is a gorgeous small tree perfect for pots or small gardens. It naturally small and only grows to around 3m. While it may be small in statue it still produces a consistent, heavy crop of beautiful fruit! It has pear-shaped fruit with dark green skin and can fruit from August till October.
Wurtz are classed as a Type A pollinator so would be beneficial to plant a Type B Avocado.
Get your mini orchard going in your backyard today.
Avocado - Fuerte
Fuerte is marginally oily with a rich, creamy flavour with notes of hazelnuts and is often hailed as the tastiest of all avocados. This B-Type avocado not only improves the pollination of A-Type varieties such as ‘Hass’ and ‘Wurtz’, but it also produces delicious pear-shaped fruit of its own from winter into spring. It has easy to peel fruit that crops better every second year. One of the best cold tolerant avocardos.
Fun Fact : The Fuerte avocado got it’s name as it was the only variety to survive the great freeze of 1913 in Los Angeles, California. Fuerte, means “strong” in Spanish. This avocado cultivar built the Californian avocado industry until the 1930s when Hass took over as it had a thicker skin (not better tasting) and therefore could be transported better.