Thanks for all the replies! No, we don't know what "type" or variety it is unfortunately. It's a tree that was already established when we bought our house 4 years ago. It stands around 3-4m tall.
It was also suggested we could graft a small cutting from a fruiting tree on to this one. won't hurt to try I guess?
Yeah in Tawa, weather not overly warm - certainly not regularly. Probably makes sense which is why they do so well up north.
Probably not game enough to try Bees!
Nevermind, my nearly 2 year old eats Avo likes its going out of fashion but so expensive. and frustrating to know we have a tree out the back. Nevermind!
91zero,
Sep 21, 8:05am
We have a large avo tree that produces thousands of buds but they never develop into fruit. I suspect it needs a pollinator?
If this is the case, can we just buy a small tree from the garden centre and hope it helps out once it grows? Any other ideas?
Cheers :)
lythande1,
Sep 21, 9:09am
The trees do not start fruiting until at least five years after planting. Avocado flowers are open two days. . The flowers are pollinated by bees or wind.
It likes warm conditions, so only grows in the North Island from the Bay of Plenty northwards. Avocado growers find it hard to provide a regular supply of fruit because the trees only give a good crop every second year.
However then there is this:
By planting several different varieties you will not only increase the flower pollination with better fruit set, but you will also have fruit throughout many months of the year as they ripen at different times.
Correct site selection is the biggest influencer of the success or failure when growing avocado trees.
They grow best in a warm situation with fertile, well drained soil in full sun and need protection from both strong winds and frost while the plants are young.
Do you know what variety you have already? There a 'A' types and 'B' types, 1 of each is best for pollination.
golfdiver,
Sep 21, 2:50pm
You don't need one of each. They actually change sex. I'm playing golf on Saturday with a bloke who has a huge avo orchard I'll show him your post.
bottynoodle,
Sep 21, 3:38pm
Avocados do well in Golden Bay,which for those who don't know,is in the South Island.
gabbysnana,
Sep 21, 3:47pm
Need a hard prune back so they grow on new wood.
dibble35,
Sep 22, 2:04am
I thought that especially in the warmer parts of the country that it is better to have a type A and a type B, this helps with pollination as the male and female flowers open at different times of the day on the same plant and in warmer areas it makes it harder for pollination to occur. Having the correct 2 varieties will provide better pollination. ETA. "Just found this online after a quick search. Avocado flowers are pollinated by insects, so growers bring honey bee hives into the orchard in the flowering season. Most avocado orchards have two different cultivars so that, when some trees have flowers at the female stage, other trees have male flowers. This means the bees need to collect pollen from male flowers of one cultivar (called the polleniser) and transfer it to females of another cultivar." Interesting article, seems like you need lots of bees visiting the trees. https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/73-avocado-pollination
jia5,
Sep 22, 2:37am
I have a two and a half year old avocado tree and it has fruit on it that is nearly ready to be picked, yum. There is no other avocado tree in five houses surrounding us, so you don't always need another tree, I guess it depends on the variety.
harm_less,
Mar 19, 1:51am
Some good info in that article but a couple of points worth noting are that the type A/B polleniser strategy isn't particularly applicable in NZ as our variable weather conditions often result in a single tree having flowers open in both the male and female phases simultaneously. Most commercial orchards here are single variety (Hass) plantings.
The more likely reason for a lack of fruiting despite good flowering is a lack of nighttime warmth during flowering. Even if successfully pollinated flowers then require a period of 48 hours (2 nights) with a minimum temperature of around 12 degrees. Once pollinated it takes this long for the pollen tube to reach the flower ovary in order for fertilisation to occur. If the temperature drops below this the flower will abort - end of story. Avocado 'droughts' over the past few years have been caused by cool spring weather in the Bay of Plenty resulting in poor or no fruitset in many orchards. I'm guessing that this may be a major hurdle for you in Porirua.
One other point is that if bees are lacking you can use flies for pollination. An orchardist near us in the Bay of Plenty actually hung pieces of meat in his orchard in order to attract flies for this reason. Probably not a good idea if you are in a residential setting though!
Since the public registrations are closed, you must have an invite from a current member to be able to register and post in this thread.
Have an account? Login here.