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).
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?
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.
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.
