How long does it take for an avocado fruit to grow:- The avocado of the Latin name Persea Americana is an exotic fruit, considered one of the most nutritious. It originates from South and Central America, and its name comes from the word ahucatl, as it was called by the ancient Aztecs.
Seeing this fruit for the first time, the colonists called it an alligator pear because of its shape and the rough surface of the bark. Thanks to them, during the 19th century it spread to other tropical regions of the world.
Today, there are over 80 varieties of avocados, and among them are two varieties that are the most popular: California and Florida.
Avocado trees in their habitat grow on trees up to 20 meters high, yielding fruit weighing 150 grams up to 1 kg. In addition to being delicious, they are also very medicinal, and you will often hear that the extract of this herb is found in numerous cosmetic products.
Avocados – a complete fruit, vegetable, and medicine
Many studies prove that avocados have potent health benefits, even if they have a high-fat content. This unique fruit contains more than 25 essential nutrients, the vitamins, and minerals present in it are all important for protection against various diseases.
Besides, it is also very tasty and can be used in many ways, from sandwiches, salads, and spreads, you can always get a lot of benefits from this superfood.
- Avocado has low energy value and is suitable for diet, but is rich in minerals, vitamins, and other beneficial ingredients. Such as copper, beta-sitosterol, beta-carotene, vegetable fiber, vegetable fats, vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin E, iron, glutathione, dietary fiber, zeaxanthin, potassium, lutein, magnesium, sodium, niacin, monounsaturated fats, proteins, riboflavin, carbohydrates, folic acid, sugar …
- Raw foods are used in the diet: as a side dish, as a sauce, or as salad, salted, drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil. Garlic and other spices can be used with avocados. Avocado oil is also useful, so it is also used in the diet. In addition to its use in nutrition, avocado is also used in cosmetics for its beneficial effect on the skin, as an ingredient in many cosmetics, or as a face mask.
- Avocado is an antioxidant and a fast cleanser of the body and helps to cure some diseases and problems. Such as allergies, anemia, anxiety, asthma, heart disease, bronchitis, colds and flu, high blood pressure, obesity, loss of concentration. Depression, diabetes, impotence, heart attack, cough, kidney stone, macular degeneration, migraine, some cancers, infertility, insomnia, nervousness, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, elevated blood cholesterol. It favorably affects metabolism, favorably affects electrolyte balance, favorably affects pregnancy, favorably affects PMS, prostate problems, muscle problems, blood vessels problems, circulation problems, irritability, rheumatoid arthritis, eye diseases, sinusitis, fatigue reduction, stress, slows down aging processes, protects against UV radiation …
- It contains a large number of healthy fats. Avocados contain almost 20 times more fat than other fruit, but these are mostly monounsaturated fats, which are considered to be healthy types of fats.
- Increases nutrient absorption: The study found that people who include avocados in their salad have better nutrient absorption than those who do not include avocados. Participants who ate avocados absorbed 5 times the amount of carotenoids, a type of nutrient that includes beta-carotene and lycopene.
- It is good for your skin: Avocados have rejuvenating properties because they are rich in antioxidants, which is why avocado oil is used in many cosmetic products. The oil can make your skin look younger and also helps to heal a variety of skin problems.
- Protects you from stroke: Research has shown that avocados can reduce the risk of stroke due to the high levels of folic acid it contains. What’s more, vitamin E, monounsaturated fats, and glutathione present in avocados are also important in maintaining heart health.
- Controls blood pressure: Avocado is rich in potassium, 100 grams of avocado contains 14% of your daily dose of potassium, which is more than a banana (10%). This mineral is essential to support healthy blood pressure levels.
- It is rich in fiber: Avocados are rich in fiber, about 7%, which is important for optimal body function, such as aiding digestion, aiding weight loss, and reducing blood sugar.
- Avocado is good for eye health: Avocados have good effects on the eyes because of the carotenoids and lutein it contains. These ingredients are known to protect the eyes from age-related macular degeneration and cataracts.
- Helps relieve arthritis pain: Phytonutrients present in avocados, such as polyphenols and flavonoids, have anti-inflammatory properties that will help reduce arthritis pain. Antioxidants such as vitamin C and E also help with inflammation and relieve arthritis symptoms.
- Avocados for you and your baby during pregnancy: Pregnant women should eat a cup of avocado daily, as it will provide 1/4 of the recommended daily dose of folic acid, which is very important for the health of the pregnant woman and also good for your baby.
- It improves brain function: Avocados are considered one of the best foods that you can maintain and improve brain health. Avocado improves memory and prevents Alzheimer’s disease.
Interesting facts that you may not know about avocado
Though avocado is gaining popularity in the kitchen of every household around the world, still not many of us know about this fruit. Here is some simple yet weird information about avocado which you may not know:
- Hass is the most popular avocado variety worldwide. It was first discovered in the backyard of Rudolph Hass in California in the 1930s.
- The word avocado comes from the old Native American word ahuácatl which means testicle. The reason for this reference is difficult to say, but it probably comes from the fruit’s shape.
- To grow about 0.5 kg of avocado you need as much as 318 liters of water.
- In Brazil, a mixture of avocado and ice cream is a very popular dessert.
- An avocado becomes edible only after it has been picked from the tree. If you let them hang, they can stay up to 7 months.
- All avocados are handpicked. This makes manpower and water the biggest expense item for those who grow the fruit.
- Avocados have been known since very ancient times. More recently, in the tombs of mummies dating back to 750 BC Avocado bones were found. So already then not only knew about this amazing fruit but also loved it. Rock paintings of avocados that are more than 12,000 years old have also been found.
- It seems to us that an avocado always looks the same. About a hundred varieties of avocados are distinguished. They vary from each other in size (from 100 grams to 2 kg), shape (round, oval, pear-shaped), color (from dark green to dark purple), taste and fat content.
- An avocado belongs to the laurel family, that is, it is a direct relative of our usual bay leaf.
- The name Avocado was given to this fruit by the Spaniards, the first of Europeans to try it.
- Avocados were the first to be tamed by the ancient Aztecs, who considered this fruit a symbol of love and fertility. The fact is that the avocado tree cannot self-pollinate, it needs a couple that will grow nearby. The first evidence of eating avocados dates back to 8000 BC.
- The most common avocado variety is called Hass and is named after the American postman Rudolf Hass, who discovered an avocado tree with very tasty fruit in his yard and patented it in 1935. All Hass avocado trees come from the same tree, and it still bears fruit.
How does an avocado tree grow?
In the wild, avocado trees grow up to 20 m in height and form a spreading crown with an abundance of bright green leaves. During flowering, the southern giants are not highly decorative.
Nondescript inflorescences of yellowish-green color, collected in panicles, do not stand out against the background of lush green greens. Depending on the variety, the fruit needs from 7 to 15 months to ripen
On an industrial scale, hybrid varieties of avocados bred by selection are grown. Often, grafted seedlings are used as planting material, in which grafts are grafted on seed stock that grows from the seeds.
This is the simplest and most effective way, allowing you to properly grow strong, resistant to various diseases trees, with a good root system and high productivity.
Where does it grow?
Today, an avocado tree grows as a local plant in:
- Spain
- South Africa
- Australia
- Malaysia
- Indonesia
- the territory near the Black Sea coast is the only place in Russia where avocados grow in the OG.
How much time passes between the flower and the fruit of an avocado?
Avocado trees are the native trees of tropical America, but the trees can also be grown in subtropical climates. Trees are now being cultivated in many regions of the world because of the edible and tasty green fruit they produce.
The fruit of the avocado is produced from the flowers that sprout on the tree. Once the flowers appear, gardeners have a concrete idea of when they can expect to see the fruit.
A. Plantation
Properly plant avocado trees to ensure good fruiting that occurs according to the tree’s natural calendar. Optimally, the pH of the soil should be between 6.0 and 6.5.
Cover the ground around the tree with two inches (5 centimeters) of woody mulch in a ring that begins six or eight inches (15 or 20 centimeters) from the base of the trunk. Avocado trees like full sun, but frost and high winds can harm them. Trees can be propagated from the seeds that come out of the fruit.
B. Flowers
The flowers appear on the avocado tree even before the leaves, in January and March. The flowers are small and yellow-green, growing up to 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) wide.
The flowers can grow on the tree at other times of the year and will often turn into fruit, even when they grow out of season. Hundreds of flowers appear on the tree at once, but most flowers will not bear fruit. Avocado fruit only appears on the tree after the flowers have been pollinated.
C. Pollination
The best fruit of avocado trees are generated by cross-pollination, so it is advisable to plant at least two trees together. However, trees pollinate on their own, so there is no need to plant more than one tree if space is limited. Bees, wasps, and wind play an active role in pollinating avocado blossoms.
D. Fruit
Avocado trees take several years to bear fruit after planting but bear fruit every year or every two years once they started bearing fruit. The fruit does not ripen on the tree, but only after they have been harvested, but will grow to maturity as long as they are attached to its branches.
Some fruit can fall from the tree in early summer before they are ripe. Discard these fruit and don’t eat them. The fruit ripens three to eight days after they are harvested. It is not necessary to collect the fruit at the same time, although they will fall from the tree if left long.
Avocado fruit takes a long time to appear and ripen. Mexican crops will mature six to eight months after the first bloom. Guatemalan avocados, on the other hand, ripen 12 to 18 months later.
Therefore, the time of the fruit-bearing depends on the species o the type of the avocado tree. Some of them are listed below:
-
Guatemalan avocado
By requiring the longest time to mature, the Guatemalan avocado needs 15 to 18 months to go from its flowering period to complete harvest. On average, the tree blooms in March and April, but will not be ready for harvest until the following year, between September and January.
The ripening time can be extended further until the fruit has reached its maximum pear-shaped size. You can test to see if the fruit is ready for harvest by removing one from the tree and allowing it to ripen indoors for up to eight days.
The fruit ready for harvest will soften during this period. If you remove Guatemalan fruit from the tree during harvest time, they are sturdy for storage in case you don’t need them right away.
However, allowing them to fall from the tree is not the best course of action; the fruit may be bruised or damaged by the fall.
-
Antillean avocado
If you’re looking for a relatively quick maturity time, look no further than the West Indies avocado variety. Lacking the high fruit oil content of other varieties, it will take the West Indies avocado no more than 8 months to move from blooms to fruit.
The flowering season begins in February or March, and you can see ripe avocados ready to harvest between May and September. Weighing up to 5 pounds, these fruits are one of the largest varieties available.
-
Mexican avocado
With a smooth fruit exterior, the Mexican avocado variety requires an average ripening time while only producing fruit that weighs no more than 1 pound.
Starting with a flowering season between January and February, this avocado tree is the earliest to start its growing season compared to the other varieties.
Taking up to 8 months between flowering and fruit ready for harvest, you will see edible fruit between June and October, depending on growing conditions and the local environment.
-
Fuerte
Fuerte is another variety of avocado fruit that has the snow-white colored fruit pulp. The fruit s elongated with a pear shape. The fat content of the fruit is very high. Its peel is thin and smooth so easy to clean.
The color of the peel is green which is neither dark nor light. The average weight of the fruit is 200-250 grams and the best season for this plant to grow is summer and autumn.
The tree was started growing in 1911 in Mexico City. The Fuerte from South Africa is the tastiest one and the from Peru and Israel are less tasty, although they are also very good.
The Fuerte ripening season in warmer parts is about august onward. In some years, the fruit can be picked in July as well.
-
Zutano
The Zutano avocado fruit has the pulp white in color or sometimes even white-yellow color. The fruit is elongated with pear shape and large round seed. The fat content of the fruit is high and the skin of the fruit is thin and smooth therefore easy to clean.
The color of its skin is green and the average weight of the fruit is 170 to 400 gm. The cultivation of the tree began in California in 1926. The tree can be grown all year round. The most elegant variety, in taste, is close to South African Fuerto.
Although very tasty, it is again the South African Zutano, and not the Israeli ones, which lose much in taste and fat content. Zutano Avocado trees, when purchased as a graft and planted, may produce fruit in 3-4 years. But when grown from seed, the tree may mature and produce fruit in 5-13 years.
-
Ettinger
Ettinger avocado fruit has light yellow-green pulp with the taste that resembles pine nuts or cheese or creamy yogurt. The fruit is elongated with the pear shape in nature.
The fat content of the fruit is medium but with very high tasty qualities. The seed of the fruit is large, white, and droplet shape. The skin of the fruit is very thin and green in color. The ideal season for the growth of this tree is from late September to January.
The growth of the tree began from Israel since 1947. This is one of the few varieties of avocado that is truly super tasty with low-fat levels. And this is the only avocado variety that does not deteriorate when it lies for a long time, but only gets tastier, acquiring new flavoring shades and consistency.
This type of avocado tree if grown from the pit can take from 10 to 15 years to bear fruit. While if planted from a nursery, then the tree would bear the fruit after 3-4 years.
-
Ryan
Ryan avocado fruit has the bright yellow colored pulp with the peel of green in color. The seed of the fruit is very large with round shape. The fruit is elongated with pear shape or oval in shape.
The average weight of the fruit can be from 300-400gm and the ideal season for the growth of the tree is from October to December. The growth of the tree started in 1927. Ryan most often has the taste of the most delicious mashed potatoes, sometimes like mashed potatoes with herbs and butter.
If Ryan is picked up too early, then they ripen very poorly and begin to deteriorate without really ripening. If the tree is grown from the seed, it can take up to 15 years for the tree to bear the fruit. While the tree planted from the graft can take 3-4 years to bear the fruit.
-
Hass
Hass avocado fruit is oval with the white yellow-green pulp. The seed of the fruit is small or medium in size with the purple-black color thick pimpled peel. The average weight of the fruit can be from 140-340 gm.
The growth of this tree began in California since 1936. the ideal season for the growth of this tree is from September to March. The fat content of the fruit is high and it is considered as one of the tastiest species of avocado.
The tree will begin bearing fruit after about 1 1/2 years of age, and keep producing fruit for about 30 years in total.
-
Pinkerton
The Pinkerton avocado tree bears the fruit that is shaped like a pear and has the white yellow-green pulp. The fat content of the fruit varies in summer and winter being high in summer and low in winter.
The seed of the fruit is very small and round while the color of the peel is green with a thick pimple in nature. The average weight of the fruit can vary from 200-510 gm.
The ideal season for the cultivation of the tree can be from late autumn to spring. The growth of the tree started in 1972. the tastiest species of this variety is the South African variety with very high palatability and fat content.
Israeli Pinkerton, on the contrary, is low-fat and often taste like carrots. All Pinkertones are united by the fact that they have a tiny bone, as well as a pear-shaped and peppy peel. The Pinkerton tree can start bearing fruit within 2 years of its plantation if taken good care of.
But there can be some climatic, geographical, and temperature variations that can affect the period of the three for fruit-bearing. In such conditions, the tree can take about 4 years to bear the fruit.
-
Gwen
The Gwen avocado tree bears the fruit that is round in shape, has a small or medium-sized seed with yellow-colored pulp. The shell of the fruit is thick and pimpled with green in color.
The average weight of the fruit can be from 140-425 gm. The ideal season for the growth of the tree can be from September to December. Gwen is often found with the taste of scrambled eggs, very tasty and oily.
The tree may take around 5 years to bear the fruit however, it also depends on the care you provide, and the climatic condition, geography, and soil condition where the tree has been planted.
-
Reed
The Reed avocado tree bears the fruit with the average weight of 225-510 grams with the pulp of yellow. The fruit is round in shape with the seed of medium size.
The seed is round in shape and the cover of the fruit is thick and pimpled of green in color. The fat content of the fruit is high and the ideal season of the fruit growth is summer. The growth of the tree began in 1948.
Trees can be slender and upright, but and can reach up to 37 feet tall. Reed avocado must be grafted onto rootstock for vegetative propagation, and usually bears fruit within one to two years of plantation.
-
Ardith
The Ardith avocado tree bears the fruit that has the pulp that is white or yellow or green. The fruit is oval or round with medium-sized seed.
The fat content of the fruit is medium or high, and the skin of the fruit is thick but slightly speckled with green color. The ideal season for cultivating this type of tree in spring and the average weight of the fruit can vary from 150-180gms. The fruit is oily but super tasty.
The taste is slightly reminiscent of the Hass variety. How long it takes for this avocado tree to bear depends on how you planted it. If the tree is grown from the seed, the tree may bear fruit after 4-5 years. If the tree has been grown from the graft, the tree may bear the fruit after 2 years.
-
Bacon
The cultivation of the bacon avocado tree has begun since 1954. it bears the fruit weighing on average 150-170gms. The pulp of the fruit is white and the shape of the fruit is oval or elongated.
The flesh of the fruit is completely non-greasy and watery so it is not ideal to make the paste or guacamole. The size of the seed is medium in size and the color of the fruit skin is thin, smooth, and green in color. The ideal season for the growth of this fruit in autumn.
It is considered as far from the best variety as the meat of the fruit is watery. It depends on various conditions for the bacon avocado tree to bear the fruit. If the bacon tree has been planted via graft, it may take for the tree about 3-4 years to bear the fruit.
If the tree has been planted from the pit, then it may take a longer time varying from 10-15 years to bear the fruit.
-
Bernecker
The Bernecker avocado tree can be planted in the autumn which is the ideal season for this type of avocado tree. The pulp of the fruit is beige in a color that tastes like the egg yolk.
The fruit is shaped like a pear and the skin of the fruit is smooth and thin. The color of the peel is light to pale green. The average weight of the fruit can be 200 gm and the fat content of the fruit is medium. The seed of the fruit is oval in shape and lightweight.
Like other species of avocado trees, this also depends on how you planted the tree. If the tree has been planted from the seed, it may take 4-5 years for the tree to bear the fruit. If the tree has been planted from the graft, it may take 2-3 years for the tree to bear the fruit.
Summary
They differ in the place of growth, ripening, fruit size, and degree of resistance to freezing temperatures. In the wild, young seedlings are hidden from sunlight under the dense shadow of mother plants.
Therefore, fruiting in such trees begins soon. After all, avocados, like most fruit, are tied and grow only with plenty of light.
On an industrial scale, avocados are grown in areas with high humidity in open, windless areas. To prevent fruit picking, the tree is not allowed to stretch to the highest possible height.
After the seedling reaches the desired size, proceed to the formation of the crown. Where and how best to cut off excess shoots depends on the varietal characteristics of the plant, because each of them grows with significant differences. How to grow avocados is determined by experimentation.
Over maturity
If you allow your avocado tree to mature beyond its main period, its fruit may suffer internally. Normally, heavy avocado fruit will fall from the tree and will stop maturing. They will begin to soften or mature as they are no longer attached to the tree.
However, the strong fruit that remains on the tree will begin seed growth. The large internal seeds will create sprouts that will destroy the surrounding fruit by cutting its meat.
Choosing the right time to harvest by pulling a fruit and testing its ripening time within eight days will ensure that your avocados are not damaged internally by the fall or internal growth of the seed.