Fruit Trees

Aloe Vera - Green Thumb Sunday

I thought for this Green Thumb Sunday I would share a flowering Aloe Vera Plant. It is amazing how quickly these flowers shoot up and flower. Their drooping behavior is quite eye catching and they are quite high up for a plant that spends most of it's time low to the ground.
Here is a wide angle view of the same Aloe Vera plant.

Dwarf Avocado Trees - Fuss Pots

Avocado Trees are one of the hardest fruit trees to grow because they are "fuss pots" With all the pitfalls Growing Avocado Trees in the backyard is still a favourite of Queenslanders and NSW people with Victorians usually growing the Bacon Avocado Tree which can handle their colder climates.

As kids we had a seedling Avocado Tree which took 15 years before it fruited and then straight after that with a big downpoor it died. This is why Grafted Avocados are best. You can usually get fruit within 3-4 years and the Secondo Avocado Tree is known to give crops in 2 years.

Now I mentioned that they are "fuss pots" and that is why I am not just using any pot but the King of all pots so I can give their root system maximum drainage and room to spread it's roots. Avocados like water going past their roots but it can be fatal if their roots are immersed in water.
The Secondo which is a staff favourite at Daleys is pictured above. I am also growing in an identical pot the Wurtz Dwarf Avocado Tree (very top photo). My bet is that the Secondo will out perform the Wurtz so I think it is a good controlled test. The Secondo and Wurtz are both A-Type varieties and although the Secondo is known to set fruit with no other B-Type avocado in sight you can get an even bigger crop by growing B-Type avocado close by. My choice will be the Sharwill over the Fuete because the Fuete sometimes fruits every second year and the Sharwill every year. The Sharwill usually is flowering when the Secondo is which should enourage good pollination.

My other choice of Avocado which I won't be growing but will someday is the Reed Avocado which is out of this world in size. You could fit 3 Hass avocados inside one Reed and the taste although a little different is still just as good I think.

Avocado Ripening Tip: Place it in a paper bag with a banana or apple and it will ripen quicker.

Another point is that avocado varities don't all ripen at the same time. And like mandarine trees for example where you get early, mid and late varieties by getting a few different varitites of avocados growing you can have avocados ripening for most of the year and what could be better than that? I guess after just planting these avocados I am a bit obssessed with them at the moment.