Mexicola Grande Avocado
2007: 5/26/2007: Planted from 5-gallon container. Added some fish scraps for
fertilizer from a
salmon that we had recently bought. This tree was selected because
of its hardiness. The Hass could not handle our cold or hot weather. Also, this
tree is of the complementary type to the Bacon with respect to pollination, and
the fruit ripens earlier than the Bacon, so when both trees become productive we
could have avocadoes from August to December. 6/19/07: I cut one of the
avocadoes about 10 days ago to allow the tree to focus on root-growth instead
of fruit. Another avocado dried out, so I plucked it off two days ago. The
tree is not in great health, likely due to the 100-degree day we had last week.
I sprayed CloudCover, but that didn't entirely prevent damage. 11/??/07: Picked
the single fruit somewhat late, as I waited for it to soften on the tree. But
avocadoes ripen off the tree, so this should have been harvested when the skin
turned dark.
2008: 3/13/08: The new growth is ready to start, but so far the tree seems to like being dormant. 3/23/08: New growth has just begun. The particular location where we planted this tree has had two trees previously, a fig tree that never grew much, and an orange tree that wouldn't grow at all, until we transplanted it to a pot. So, we are highly suspicious that there is something wrong with this location, and therefore we are concerned that this tree does not have a bright future. 6/7/08: The tree has shed all of its poor leaves, added about 4 inches in height, and has been looking quite well for some weeks now with its new leaves. 9/7/08: The leaves are turning brown, and the tree has grown very little. I cleared some excess dirt away from the root crown, but perhaps not in time to avoid some much browning. I'm not sure what the real problem is, as no tree planted in this particular spot has ever done well. It might be the hot, 100+ degree days that we've had of late. 11/22/08: New leaves began in late September. The tree has added a few inches in height. But it's still a very skinny tree.
2009: 2/20/09: The new growth was stalled by some cold weather in December-January, but damage to the tree was minimal. It's still a very spindly tree, but I hope that the fertilzer kicks in and gives the tree some bulk. 3/26/09: This tree handled the December/January frosts pretty well. New leaves are still coming, the tree is adding slightly to its height, but is still very spindly. 4/23/09: The little tree seems very hardy, and willing to grow leaves even when the Bacon Avocado seems stunted.
2012: 3/22/12: We have some new growth as of 4-6 weeks ago. We even have some blossom clusters that I first noticed about 2 weeks ago. I doubt that we'll have any fruit, though, because there are so few blossoms and the tree remains spindly and has barely added 2 inches since we first planted it 4 years ago.