Crazy Avocado Ideas

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This spring I built a bed using the “sandwich/lasagna” method - basically filling the bottom with unfinished materials and layering up to finished compost/soil on top. Since we eat a lot of avocados, I believe I’ve had a few of the pits sprout and produce some fairly healthy looking seedlings (see pic).

avocado seedling
avocado seedling1920×2560 432 KB

Does anyone have any ideas for what to do with them? I live in Zone 7A with occasional dips to ~ -10F so I don’t think there’s any hope of them surviving outdoors even with protection. I don’t have space for them to over-winter inside once they get larger than a couple of feet tall. So in short following the normal ways will result in the trees eventually heading back to the compost.

The idea of a cold-hardy avocado is super interesting to me. Persea borbonia or redbay is in the same genus and is native to the Southeast as far north as Virginia. Would it be totally crazy to try grafting the avocados on redbay rootstock?

I also saw a recent report indicating that Nicotiana benthamiana can successfully act as an inter-graft between plants of different families: Scientists identify an enzyme that facilitates grafting between plants of different families, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abc3710. If this is possible, then there are many possibilities for cold tolerant rootstock - Lindera benzoin or spicebush for example grows as far north as Canada.

Anyways, just wanted to see if anyone had any cool ideas. Thanks in advance!

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There has been a lot of work done on breeding cold hardy varieties. I think some have reached zone 8a hardiness, which is pretty impressive.

I will see if I can dig up some of the info I have come across in the past.

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Thanks, will be interested to see!

Apparently avocado grafting to red bay has been tried a long time ago and failed: Can you graft avocado on to red bay? - #3 by JoeReal - General Fruit Growing - Growing Fruit

That Science paper I linked is really interesting - they showed that Nicotiana can successfully act as a bridge between a brassica and a tomato and an aster and a tomato, which is quite mind boggling in my opinion. They also showed that Nicotiana can scion onto camphor tree, which is in the same family as avocado… It begs the question then if these grafted plants might be more willing to hybridize via pollen and create a true hybrid eventually.

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Here is probably a good place to start…

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I can’t seem to find the original story, but if you search “Aravaipa Avocado” you will find lots of different info about a 100 year old “wild” Arizona avocado which has endured cold, extreme heat, and flooding.

Apparently it is commercially available but also difficult to find.

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